POLITICAL SCIENCE 414 - Shopping:Consumers as Citizens

Institution:

Hobart William Smith Colleges

Subject:

Description:

Following the attacks of September 11, 2001, President George W. Bush urged Americans to hug their children, return to their daily lives, and go shopping. Why This seems a rather odd way to mobilize the population for a war on terror. Yet, perhaps it fits with an America that has forsworn saving and sacrifice for the pleasures of consumption. And, perhaps it fits as well with an America that has seen its political spaces and opportunities reconfigured through the commodification of ever more aspects of our lives. We will consider these issues by learning the history of consumption in America and engaging various theories (psychological, economic, social, political) of shopping. Our concern will be with the political effects of a privatized mobilization, that is, with the spaces and subjectivities produced within the current ideological matrix. Texts will include A Consumers Republic, A Theory of Shopping, and Confronting Consumption. ( Dean)

Credits:

3.00

Credit Hours:

Prerequisites:

Corequisites:

Exclusions:

Level:

Instructional Type:

Lecture

Notes:

Additional Information:

Historical Version(s):

Institution Website:

WWW.HWS.EDU

Phone Number:

(315) 781-3000

Regional Accreditation:

Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools

Calendar System:

Semester

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