Degree Programs

This seminar explores the history of consumer culture in the United States from the 18th-century consumer revolution to e-tail. Topics include the development of trademarks, packaging, branding, advertising, and marketing; shopping spaces and practices; corporations; mass consumption; gender/sexuality, race/ethnicity, economic inequality, and selfhood and citizenship in consumer society; moralizing discourse; and consumer resistance. Sources considered include goods and services, retail venues, advertisements, prescriptive literature, novels, film, television, and the Internet, as well as cultural commentary and recent scholarship. 3 credits.