CONSUMPTION

IN THE UNITED STATES: FROM WEDGWOOD TO WAL-MART

LOUIS HYMAN, LHYMAN@FAS.HARVARD.EDU

Whether buying at a general store, shopping at a department store, or loitering

at a mall, consumption has always formed an important part of the American
experience. More than just commodities bought and sold, consumption is also
about the institutions, social practices, cultural meanings, and economic
functions that have surrounded the merchandise. This course will look at the
changing meanings consumption has had for life, politics, and economy in the US
over the past 300 years.
REQUIRED READING:
Lawrence Glickman, ed, Consumer Society in American History
Michael Zakim, Ready-Made Democracy: A History of Men's Dress in the
American Republic
Kathy Peiss, Cheap Amusements
William Leach, Land of Desire
Lendol Calder, Financing the American Dream
Jackson Lears, Fables of Abundance
Lary May, Recasting America: Culture and Politics in the Age of Cold War
Lizabeth Cohen, A Consumers' Republic
Bruce Schulman, The Seventies
Andy Warhol, The Philosophy of Andy Warhol
GRADING:
20% Section Participation
20% Midterm
30% Ten page paper
30% Final exam
SECTIONS:
Sections are a crucial part of this class. In section, you will discuss the reading
for the week as well as the important themes of the lecture. Participation and
attendance are mandatory.
PAPERS:
All sources must be footnoted in the proper Chicago Manual of Style format. For
more information on footnoting, please see
http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/tools_citationguide.html and Kate Turabian
A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, and Dissertation. Plagiarism will
not be tolerated.
LECTURES:
Week 1: Consumption in History
January 30: Why Study Consumption?

Reading:
T.H. Breen, An Empire of Goods Journal of British Studies, (Oct., 1986): 467-499
Lawrence Glickman, Born to Shop? Consumer Society in American History

Week 2: Consumption in the Eighteenth Century

February 4: Consumption and Empire
February 6: Consumption, Revolution, and Counter-Revolution
Reading:
T.H. Breen, Narrative of Commercial Life Consumer Society in American
History (CSAH)
James Axtell, The First Consumer Revolution, CSAH
Week 3: Consumption in Antebellum America
February 11: Luxury and Class Performance
February 13: Consuming Race
Reading:
Michael Zakim, Ready-Made Democracy: A History of Men's Dress in the
American Republic
Week 4: Consumption in the Late 19th Century
February 18: HOLIDAY
February 20: Catalogues and the Department Store
Reading:
William Leach, Land of Desire
Week 5: In The City
February 25: Dancing and Drinking in the City
February 27: Consumer Reform in the Progressive Age: Food Laws and Child
Labor
Reading:
Kathy Peiss, Cheap Amusements
Find three contemporary reviews of Upton Sinclairs The Jungle (1906)
using ProQuest
PAPER ASSIGNMENTS

IN CLASS,

FEBRUARY 27

Week 6: Progressive Consumption

March 3: From 'Bread and Roses' to 'No Beer, No Work': Working-Class
Consumption and Protest
March 5: Selling the Goods: Distribution and Advertising
Reading:
Jackson Lears, Fables of Abundance, parts 1 and 2.
2

Find a 1920s advertisement and bring to section using ProQuest

Week 7: The 1920s
March 10: Paying for the Goods: The Installment Credit Revolution
March 13: The Movies: Silents, Talkies, and Everyday Consumption
Reading:
Lendol Calder, Financing the American Dream, 3-28, 156-256
Films: It (1927)

Week 8: The 1930s

March 17: Mass Production, Mass Consumption, and the New Deal
March 20: Mid-Term
Reading:
Lizabeth Cohen, Encountering Mass Culture at the Grassroots, CSAH
Andrew Heinze, From Scarcity to Abundance, CSAH
Cheryl Greenberg, Dont Buy Where You Cant Work, CSAH
Film: The Thin Man (1934)
March 22: Spring Break
March 25: Spring Break
Week 9: War and Postwar
March 31: Becoming White: Consumption, Ethnic Assimilation, and Jim Crow
from the Great Depression
to the Postwar
April 2 : Mobilizing Consumption, Buying Freedom
Reading:
Elaine May, Explosive Issues, Recasting America
Clifford Clark, Ranch-House Suburbia, Recasting America
Jackson Lears, A Matter of Taste, Recasting America
Week 10: Watching and Buying
April 7: Inventing Television
April 9: Historicizing the Mall
Readings:
Thomas Hanchett, U.S. Tax Policy ... American Historical Review (Oct.
1996): 1082-1110.
Film: Prelinger Archives, selections
The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit (1956)
3

Week 11: Postwar Life/Suburban Life

April 14: From Greensboro to the Afro: Consumption, Culture, and Civil Rights
April 16: Consumer Revolts and Ghetto Rebellions
Reading:
Lizabeth Cohen, Consumers' Republic, Parts 2-3
Kim Moody, When High Wage Jobs CSAH
Robert Weems, The Revolution Will Be Marketed, CSAH

Week 12: The Politics of Consumption

April 21: Consumer Reform in the Age of Volatility
April 23: Warhola/Warhol, Disco Riots, and Deindustrialization
PAPER DUE

IN

CLASS, APRIL 23

Reading:
Lizabeth Cohen, Consumer's Republic, Part 4
Andy Warhol, The Philosophy of Andy Warhol
Film: Dawn of the Dead (1978)
Week 13: Consumer Identity in Post-Fordist America, 1970-2000
April 28: Latte Liberals vs Wal-Mart?
April 30: Consumption, Capitalism, and Democracy
Reading:
Bruce Schulman, The Seventies, chapters 2, 3, 4, 6
Film: Fight Club (1999)