Easily Distracted

History 88 The Social History of Consumption
Spring 2008
Professor Burke
Swarthmore College

Monday January 21st
Introduction and overview

Transitions to Consumption

Wed. January 23th
Lisa Jardine, Worldly Goods, pp. 3-132

Monday January 28th
Lisa Jardine, Wordly Goods, pp. 229-330, pp. 377-436

Wednesday January 30
Jean-Christophe Agnew, “Coming Up For Air: Consumer Culture in Historical Perspective” and
Joyce Appleby, “Consumption in Early Modern Social Thought”
In Brewer and Porter, eds., Consumption and the World of Goods

Monday February 4th
Jan de Vries, “Purchasing Power and the World of Goods” and
Lorna Wetherill, “The Meaning of Consumer Behavior”
In Brewer and Porter, eds., Consumption and the World of Goods

Wednesday February 6th
*T.H. Breen, “The Meaning of Things” and
*Simon Schama, “Perishable Commodities”
In Brewer and Porter eds., Consumption and the World of Goods

The Making of a Consumer Society

Monday February 11th
*Stephen Nissenbaum, The Battle For Christmas, Chapter Four

Wednesday February 13th
William Leach, Land of Desire, all

Monday February 18th
*Susan Strasser, Satisfaction Guaranteed, selection
First paper due

Wed February 20th
*Elaine Abelson, When Ladies Go A-Thieving, Chapter 5 and 6

Monday February 25th
*Andrew Heinze, Adapting to Abundance, Chapter 2

Wednesday February 27th
*Rachel Bowlby, Carried Away: The Invention of Modern Shopping, Chapter 4, 5 and 7

Monday March 3rd
*Lendol Calder, Financing the American Dream: A Cultural History of Consumer Credit, Chapter 1 and Chapter 5

Begin consumer diaries

Wednesday March 5th
Lizabeth Cohen, Consumers’ Republic, all

SPRING BREAK

Globalization and the World of Goods

Monday March 17th
Pietra Rivoli, The Travels of a T-Shirt in the Global Economy
End consumer diaries

Wednesday March 19th
Rivoli, Travels of a T-Shirt

Monday March 24th
*Jeremy Prestholdt, Domesticating the World, Chapter 2
*Constance Classen, “Sugar Cane, Coca-Cola and Hypermarkets”, in Howes, ed., Cross-Cultural Consumption
*Jean-Marc Philibert and Christine Jourdain, “Perishable Goods: Modes of Consumption in the Pacific Islands”, in Howes, ed., Cross-Cultural Consumption
*Mary Beth Mills, Thai Women in the Global Labor Force, Chapter 7

Wednesday March 26th
*Mara Domosh, American Commodities in an Age of Empire, Chapter 5
*Roland Kelts, Japanamerica: How Japanese Pop Culture Has Invaded the United States, Chapter 4

Commodity History

Monday March 31st
Textiles
*Jane Schneider, “Rumpelstiltskin’s Bargain”, in Jane Schneider, ed., Cloth and Human Experience
*Misty Bastian, “Female Alhajis and Entrepreneurial Fashions”, in Hendrickson, ed., Clothing and Difference

Wednesday April 2nd
Cosmetics
*Kathy Peiss, Hope in a Jar, Chapter 5 and 6
Consumer diaries paper due

Monday April 7th
Sugar
Sidney Mintz, Sweetness and Power, Chapter 3

Wednesday April 9th
Coffee
*Stewart Lee Allen, The Devil’s Cup: Coffee, the Driving Force of History, selection
*Brad Weiss, Sacred Trees, Bitter Harvest, Chapter 3
Topics for commodity history paper due

Monday April 15th
Sushi
Sasha Issenberg, The Sushi Economy

Wednesday April 17th
Barbie
Yona McDonough, The Barbie Chronicles
*Erica Rand, Barbie’s Queer Accessories, selection

Advertising

Monday April 21st
*Michael Schudson, Advertising, The Uneasy Persuasion, selection
*Walter Friedman, Birth of a Salesman: The Transformation of Selling in America, selection
*Seth Godin, All Marketers Are Liars, selection
“Mad Men”

Wednesday April 23rd
Taschen advertising collections
*Manring, Slave in a Box, Chapter Five
*Warren Dotz, Meet Mr. Product: The Art of the Advertiser
*Miles Beller, Hey Skinny! Great Advertisements From the Golden Age of Comic Books

Monday April 28th
Things and Meaning

*Joshua Glenn, Taking Things Seriously, selection
John Freyer, All My Life For Sale, selection

Wednesday April 30th
The Debate Over Consumerism

*James Twitchell, Lead Us Into Temptation, selection
*Juliet Schor, The Overspent American, selection

Final commodity history research paper due May 9th.