POLI 3390
Politics of Consumption
The course examines the political and economic importance of consumption and critical perspectives on the ecological, social, and wellbeing impacts of consumer society. Topics include: the emergence of consumer society, consumption during the Depression and war years, the central role of expanded consumption in the post-war “golden age” of capitalism, the struggles of marginalized groups to participate in consumer society, growing inequalities of consumption in the neoliberal era, consumption in communist and post-communist societies, and political and ethical consumerism. The environmental impacts of consumer society are a prominent theme in the course, along with competing perspectives on how to achieve “sustainable consumption.”
Sections
From the syllabus
From the Winter 2023 syllabus by Anders Hayden. Open the PDF
Grading
Textbooks
- A Consumer’s Republic: The Politics of Mass Consumption in Postwar America, L. Cohen
- Consumption, I. Hudson and M. Hudson
- The Day the World Stops Shopping, J. B. MacKinnon
Course rules
- Research paper late work
- Proposals and reflections lose 5% of their component value per day; papers lose 2% per day.
- Paper grace period
- The paper has a two-day penalty-free grace period, but papers submitted during it receive no comments.
- Paper deadline
- Papers must be submitted by April 24 at the latest.
- QIPs
- Submit reflections before Monday class; a maximum of 10 may be submitted.
- Presentation
- Presentations are 10 minutes, followed by 5 minutes for questions; the time limit is strictly enforced.
- Grading choices
- By January 20, choose two of QIPs, presentation, and final exam; all three cannot be completed for later selection.
- Masks
- Masks are required in class under Winter 2023 university protocols; presenters may remove them when 2 metres from others.
Have a more recent syllabus for POLI 3390? Sign in to share it