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CS92PROD
Culture and Consumption
ANTH 317
Fall 2020 not offered

This seminar examines the formation, development, and contemporary forms of cultures of consumption in EuroAmerican societies and their gobal exportation and adaptation to diverse local situations. The course is premised on the idea that the spectacular and continuous rise of commodity consumption that began in the late 17th century is as much a cultural as an economic process, one that both shaped and was shaped by shifts in ideas about personal and social development. Once associated with negative meanings of waste, excess, and depletion, consuming, especially of clothes, domestic goods, new foods and beverages, and artistic forms, came to be seen as a critical dimension of self-fashioning and sociability. While the course situates these developments in the context of expanding markets and new modes of distribution, it will emphasize the post-purchase moments of consumption, that is, the ways in which consumers incorporate goods into their everyday lives. Among the themes we will consider are the gendering of consumption, the social dynamics of taste, commodity consumption and ideologies of authenticity, consumption and social inequality, the consequences of consumption, and the emergence of the ethical consumer.
Credit: 1 Gen Ed Area Dept: SBS ANTH
Course Format: SeminarGrading Mode: Graded
Level: UGRD Prerequisites: None
Fulfills a Major Requirement for: (ANTH)

Last Updated on MAR-28-2024
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