REL 286(F) (formerly 308) Shopping: Desire, Compulsion and Consumption
If the workplace was the essential site of modernity, then the shopping mall is the quintessential site of postmodernity; the place where consumption trumps production and, it has been argued, our only remaining public space. This course will focus on the experience of shopping, focusing on three themes. First we will explore the manufacturing of desire on which consumption must depend. We will critique the tired critiques of advertising and explore in more depth the neurotic and erotic dimensions of the creation of desire for objects. We will then turn to some comparative and historical analysis contrasting the experience of shopping in traditional bazaars and contemporary malls, as well as exploring the history of consumerism from the eighteenth century through the current phenomena of globalization. Finally, we will explore the place of shopping in our collective imaginations, attending especially to the relation between the gendering of the shopping experience and expressions of contempt and outrage toward consumerism, with a special focus on the discourse on Christmas in American society.
Format: lecture/discussion. Requirements: three essays (4-6 pages) and one ethnographic account (4-6 pages).
No prerequisites. Enrollment limit: 40 (expected: 20). Open to all.
Hour: DARROW