Brief: Reading list- Globalisation and Consumption Lecture programme

Week 2: The Age of Consumption: Globally we have become consumed by consumption. The industrial revolution, the political economies of the colonial age, the rise of shopping as a leisure activity and boom in advertising in the post World War two era set on track a journey that has led to unparalleled economic growth and a rise in the power of multinational companies. This week will sketch out the historical circumstances that have led to the production and purchasing of goods and services being a defining feature of modern life.

Essential Reading:
Gabriel, Y. and Lang, T. (2006) The Unmanageable Consumer London: Sage Publications Pg 10 - 24
Sassatelli, R. (2007) Consumer Culture: History, Theory and Politics, London: Sage Publications Pg 32 – 51

Books
Appadurai, A. (1986a) The Social Life of Things: Commodities in Cultural Perspectives, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Campbell, C. (1987) The Romantic Ethic and the Spirit of Modern Consumerism, Oxford: Basil Blackwell.
De Vries, J. (1993) ‘Between purchasing and the world of goods’, in J Bewer and R. Porter (eds) Consumption and the World of Goods, London: Routledge
Hirsch, J. (1991) Fordism and post-Fordism: The present crisis and its consequences in W, Bonefeld and J, Holloway (eds), Post-Fordism and Social Form: A Marxist Debate in the post-Fordist state. Houndmills: Macmillan Academic and Professional.
McCraken, G. (1988) Culture and Consumption: New Approaches to the Symbolic Character of Consumer Goods and Activities, Bloomington: Indianan University Press.
Sombart, W. (1967) Luxury and Capitalism, Ann Abour: University of Michigan
Stearns, P. (2001) Consumerism in World History. The Global Transformation of Desire, London: Routledge.
Williams, R.H. (1982) Dream Worlds. Mass Consumption in Late Nineteeth Century France, Berkeley: University of California Press.

Journals:
Arvidsson, A. (2001) ‘From counterculture to consumer culture: Vespa and the Italian youth market, 1958 – 78’, Journal of Consumer Culture, 1(1): 47 - 71
De Grazia, V. and Cohen, L. (eds) (1996) ‘Class and Consumption’, special issue of International Labour and Working Class History, 55 Spring
Fairchilds, C. (1998) ‘Consumption in early modern Europe. A review article’, Comparative Studies in Society and History, 35: 850 – 58.
Hilton, M. (2004) ‘The legacy of luxury: moralities of consumption since the eighteenth century’, Journal of Consumer Culture, 4 (1):101 -23
Laermans, R. (1993) ‘Learning to consume: early department stores and the shaping of modern consumer culture, 1896 – 1914’, Theory, Culture and Society, 10 (4) 79 – 102.
Miller, N. And Rose, N. (1997) ‘Mobilizing the consumer: Assembling the object of desire’, in Theory, Culture and Society, 14 (1): 1- 36

Exhibition Websites:
Art, Fashion and Identity Royal Academy 2011 http://www.royalacademy.org.uk/exhibitions/gsk-contemporary-season-2010/
Modernism: Designing a New World V&A 2006 http://www.vam.ac.uk/vastatic/microsites/1331_modernism/home.html

Websites:
Chris Jordan http://www.chrisjordan.com/
Post Consumers: http://www.postconsumers.com/

Week 3: Theories of Consumption
Industry and innovation, the availability of choice and credit and a desire for the new and fashionable have fuelled a society dominated by consumption. This session will introduce you to how anthropologists, social scientists, evolutionary psychologists and economists have developed frameworks that allow us critically examine how economic and cultural motivations drive our desire for material things.

Essential Reading:
Daniel Miller (2008) The Comfort of Things, Cambridge: Polity (you will be assigned chapters in groups at week 2)

Books:
Baudrillard, J. (1998) The Consumer Society: Myths and Structures, London: Sage (1970)
Bourdieu, P. (1984) Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgement of Taste
Douglas, M. And Isherwood, B. (1978) The World of Goods: Towards an Anthropology of Consumption. London: Allen Lane
Giddens, A. (1991) Modernity and self Identity: Self and Society in the Late Modern Age. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press
Miller, D. (1987) Material Culture and Mass Consumption. Oxford: Blackwell
Miller, G. (2009) Spent: Sex, Evolution, and Consumer Behaviour
Scitovsky, T. (1976) The Joyless Economy: An inquiry into Human Satisfaction and Consumer Dissatisfaction. New York: Oxford University Press.
Slater, D. (2007) Consumer Culture and Modernity
Veblen, T. (1994) The Theory of the Leisure Class, London: MacMillan (1899)

Journals:
Arnould, E J. And Wilk, R. ‘Why do the natives wear Adidas? Advances of Consumer Research, 15: 139 – 68
Belk, R. W., Wallendorf, M. And Sherry, J. (1989) ‘The Sacred and the profane in consumer behaviour’, Journal of Consumer Research, 16:1-38
Blumer, H. (1969) ‘Fashion: from class differentiation to collective selection’, Sociological Quarterly. 10:275 – 91
Friedman J. (1991) ‘Consuming desires: strategies for selfhood and appropriation’, Cultural Anthropology, 6(2): 154 – 64
Garnham, N. and Willaims, R. (1980)’Pierre Bourdieu and the sociology of culture’, Media Culture and Society, 2:209 – 23.
Gell, A. (1988) ‘Anthropology, material culture and consumerism’, Journal of the Anthropological Society, 19 (1):66 - 112.
Liebenstien, H. (1950) Bandwagon, snob and Veblen effects in the theory of consumers’ demands’, Quarterly Journal of Economics, 64: 183 – 207.
Rook, D. (1985) ‘The ritual dimension of consumer behaviour’, Journal of Consumer Research, 12: 251 – 64.
Simmel, G. (1991) ‘The problem of Style’, Theory, Culture and Society, S: 63 – 71.

Week 4: Consumerism the Handmade of Capitalism
Capitalism, the current dominate economic model, is the most effective mechanism the world has seen for providing goods and services and creating financial wealth but nearly 1 billion people still survive in abject poverty on less than $1 a day and the world’s natural resources are rapidly being depleted. This session will consider the implications of this system where corporations are concerned with maximising profits and accumulating capital.

Essential Readings:

Porritt, J. (2005) Capitalism as if the World Mattered, London: Earthscan. Pages 65 – 87
Klein, N. (2000) No Logo, London: Flamingo. Section 1 - No Space

Books:
Amin, S. (1997) Capitalism in the Age of Globalisation, London: Zed Books
Bauman, Z, (1998) Globalization: The Human Consequences, Cambridge: Polity Press
Blythman, J (2004) Shopped: The shocking power of British supermarkets, London: Harper Perennial
Durning, A. (1992), How much is enough: the consumer society and the future of the Earth, London: Earthscan
Foster, H. (ed) (1985) Post-Modern Culture, London: Pluto Press
Giddens, A, (1990) The Consequences of Modernity, Cambridge: Polity Press.
Hertz, N. (2002) The Silent Takeover: Global Capitalism and the Death of Democracy,
Sklair, L. (2002) Gloablisation Capitalism and its Alternatives, Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Journals:
Fejes, F. (1980) ‘The Growth of the Multinational Advertising Agencies in Latin America’, Journal of Communication, 30 (Autumn) 36 – 49
Fernandes, L. (2000) ‘Nationalizing the Global: Media Images, Cultural Politics and the Middle Class in India’. Media, Culture and Society 22/5:611-28.
Goss, J. (1993)’ The magic of the mall: an analysis of form, function and meaning in the contemporary built environment’ Annuals of the Association of American Geographers, 83 (1) 18 – 47
McGurkin, E. (1997) ‘Tibetan Carpets: From Folk Art to Global Commodity’, Journal of Material Culture, 2/3:291 – 310
Monga , Y.D. (2000) ‘Dollars and Lipsticks: The United States through the Eyes of African Women’. Africa 70/2: 192 – 208.
Robinson, W. (1997) ‘ A Case Study of Globalisation Processes in the Third World A Transnational Agenda in Nicaragua.’ Global Society, 11/1 61 - 91
Spencer, R. (2004) Corporate Law and Structures: Exposing the roots of the problem. Corporate Watch http://www.corporatewatch.org.uk/?lid=2592

Exhibition Websites:
The Robert Opie Collection: http://www.robertopiecollection.com/Application/Corporate/museum2GB.asp
V&A Brand New:
http://www.vam.ac.uk/vastatic/microsites/BrandNew_Site/intro.html

Websites:
Adbusters: http://www.adbusters.org/
The Corporation: http://www.thecorporation.com/
The Story of Stuff: http://www.storyofstuff.com/