21H.206 | Fall 2007 | Undergraduate

American Consumer Culture

Calendar

WEEK # TOPICS KEY DATES
1 Introduction to the world of goods  
Part I: the rise of a mass market at the turn of the century
2 Downtown shopping  
3 Leisure time Paper proposal due
4 The business of consumption  
Part II: making a middle-class society in interwar America
5 No class: meet to discuss papers  
6 Roaring twenties Detailed bibliography due
7 Advertising the American dream One best source due
8 Abundance and its critics (I)  
Part III: mass culture in postwar America
9 Status seeking in the suburbs Introduction and outline due
10 Age of television  
Part IV: conspicuous consumption at century’s end
11 McDonalds, microwaves, and the mega-rich Rough draft due
12 Abundance and its critics (II)  
13 E-bay and beyond Final paper due

Course Info

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Fall 2007