Sociology of Consumption

This course analyses the consumption of goods and services that is both the driver of our economy and a daily personal activity. Patterns of consumption vary according to class, ethnicity, and gender, and this course examines these differences in detail. The possibility of resistance to prevailing trends and the question of ecological constraints on consumption are probed as alternatives to the dominant mythology of the market. The growth of consumer culture is examined from a variety of classical and contemporary perspectives, including thinkers such as Marx, Weber, Veblen, Simmel, Adorno, Galbraith, and Bourdieu.