Week 1
Thursday
September 24

Introductions: The Consuming Society

The Consumer Society takes a nose dive.

And what about this:

Obama Chicken Fingers!

Former AOL exec Bob Pittman argues in Fortune that the so-called advertising industry should get a bail out . He writes, "There's a reason that America is the largest consumer market in the world: It also happens to be the largest advertising market in the world. Advertising works—and it has been proven again and again for over a century."

2
3

View: Part 1 Century of the Self: Happiness Machines

Century of Self, First Lines:

This theory of human nature was put forward by Sigmund Freud. He had discovered, he said, primitive sexual and aggressive forces hidden deep inside the minds of all human beings, forces, which, if not controlled, led individuals and societies to chaos and destruction. This series is about how those in power have used Freud's theories to control the dangerous crowd in an age of mass democracy.

The Right to Wipe: Toilet Paper Controversy

Bad Bank This may seem a bit slow. But it explains the basics of the banking crisis (now affecting all of our lives and our futures), and concludes: "We are the problem." Or, I would say, we as participants in the consumer society are the problem.
Wikipedia on Documentary, Century of Self
A Brief over view of Consumerism
Frontline Video: Hidden Persuaders
Coke Commercial: Happiness Factory?
To keep an eye on the insane world of advertising check out AdFreak.

Read and Discuss: Setting the Course, 1900-1930, 1-16 in Reader
Blog Entry 2: Write a Response to "Setting the Course."

What product used the catchphrase, "so round, so firm, so fully packed..." So round, so firm, so fully packed--let your imagination play with that.

TP Reconsidered

Matt Taibbi article, "The Big Takeover," in Rolling Stone, a must read for insight into the financial crisis.
Freud Museum, London
Freud Archives
Here's Looking At You or: Zip Code Consumer Analysis

Week 3
Tuesday
October 6

Read: Why The Self is Empty, 17-29 in reader.

Blog Entry on Why the Self is Empty.

Human Behavior Experiments

Visuwords

Marx on Money (1844) sounds strangely familiar:

That which is for me through the medium of money — that for which I can pay (i.e., which money can buy) — that am I myself, the possessor of the money. The extent of the power of money is the extent of my power. Money’s properties are my — the possessor’s — properties and essential powers. Thus, what I am and am capable of is by no means determined by my individuality. I am ugly, but I can buy for myself the most beautiful of women. Therefore I am not ugly, for the effect of ugliness — its deterrent power — is nullified by money. I, according to my individual characteristics, am lame, but money furnishes me with twenty-four feet. Therefore I am not lame. I am bad, dishonest, unscrupulous, stupid; but money is honoured, and hence its possessor. Money is the supreme good, therefore its possessor is good. Money, besides, saves me the trouble of being dishonest: I am therefore presumed honest. I am brainless, but money is the real brain of all things and how then should its possessor be brainless? Besides, he can buy clever people for himself, and is he who has a power over the clever not more clever than the clever? Do not I, who thanks to money am capable of all that the human heart longs for, possess all human capacities? Does not my money, therefore, transform all my incapacities into their contrary?

Six Ways to Make Friends:

Summary from Dale Carnegie's How to Win Friends and Influence People:

Six ways to make people like you

Read: "The True Cost of Gadgets," 41-52.
Blog response to "The True Cost of Gadgets." Bring hardcopy of your response to class.
View Part 2: Century of the Self: The Engineering of Consent

In the early 80's bumper stickers appeared with this slogan:

At the soccer game, students would count down along with the clock to 420?

4/20 at UC Santa Cruz according to Wiki

If you want to lose weight I strongly recommend:

Tonight, October 8 at 7:30 & 9:30 pm in UCSB Campbell Hall

For more go to:

Week 4
Tuesday
October 13

Read: "Introduction: Consumption, Narcissism, and Mass Culture," 29-38
Blog Entry: Possible first paragraphs (paper 1)

First Paragraphs, 2-315

First Paragraphs, 330-445

Brief Selection from The Dumbest Generation: How the Digital Age Stupefies Young Americans and Jeopardizes Our Future

View Part 3: Century of the Self: There is a Policeman Inside All Our Heads: He Must Be Destroyed
Carl's Juniors: fantasy land

Appeals to the Unconscious? Once again the Torch of Freedom, but all wet this time:

Thursday
October 15

Read also: "Infantilizing Consumers: The Coming of Kidults," 39-56.

Week 5
Tuesday
October 20

Rough Draft of Paper 1 Due
Bring as much as possible of your rough draft to class, hardcopy.

Reader Response Procedure
Citation Styles Plus Some Grammar Page.

"Few things are more significant than your relationship to your Michelin tires."

"If beef was meant to be frozen wouldn't cows be raised in Anarctica."

Edward Bernays
he pierced through the bewildered herds'
collective skull
translating subconscious needs
with the help of
his Uncle Freud's manifesto
Because of him, our primal drives
became profitable,
malleable, but foremost to
Bernay's parlay into history books,
lies in his money driven
mass manipulation
continuing to produce successive generations
of faithful consumers
consumed with the belief
that these tangible goods which Bernays force fed us
would actually, as advertised,
sustain us.

Stephanie B's little poem

View Part 4: Century of the Self: Eight People Sipping Wine in Kettering
More ads

HIstory of the Credit Card

ebay
Smartwater again:
She's Gorgeous
Live the Fantasy!
Custom Cars

RD

Research Day
PLEASE NOTE: WE WILL MEET THIS THURSDAY IN A COMPUTER LAB: AS FOLLOWS:

CLASS FROM 02:00 - 03:20P MEET IN Mesa Lab-Phelps Hall 1525.

CLASS FROM 03:30 - 04:50P MEET IN Mesa Lab-Phelps Hall 1525.

You will start researching a possible paper topic. You will collect URLs and other information needed for your assignment next Tuesday.

Bring examples--two or three page printouts--of materials possibly relate to your research topic.

Also blog selected urls to the W109SS blog.

Consumer confidence
Taking Out the Trash

Friday
October 23

Paper 1 due by 5 PM via email attachment.
Please note. My deadlines are flexible.
I would like to have as many papers as possible by the Friday deadline.
I know, though, this is midterms. If another 24 hrs would help you do a better job, take it.
If you need more time than that, send me an email and let me know what's up.
I will not, however, accept papers after noon on Monday, October 26.

Bring examples of research materials you have gathered to class for discussion and analysis.
Be sure to do blog entry 6: blog research URLs.

Also download and bring hard copy--two or three or four pages--from articles related to your possible research topic.

Kids Watch More TV
Reader Response Sheet for Research Proposal
Oral Report Example

Research Proposal Overview

Some Examples: Research Proposals

As I said in class, the research proposal should have four basic parts.

A Title: Indicating as exactly as you can the direction of your research.

An introduction: a couple of thick paragraphs in which you define the topic of research and give a sense of its importance to our understanding of the consumer society.

The Body: this consists of at least 8 sources. You can use the citation form with which you are most familiar. Write two or more sentences for each source indicating what it is about.

Conclusion: Write your conclusion after you have had others look at the rough draft of your research proposal. Generally the conclusion indicates how you feel about your topic so far, what sources you still might have to consult, and whether perhaps you will need to narrow your topic further. Here too you may incorporate comments from the readers of the rough draft of your research proposal.

Killing us Softly
Commercialiaztion

Rough Draft of Research Proposal Due
Information on Social Science Data Bases
Apple1
Apple2

MAC/PC

1st paragraph

Rough Draft 1: Organic Food
Rough Draft 2: Is Google Making Us Stupid

Did You Know?: information on and questions about the technological revolution and its educational implications.

Week 8
Tuesday
November 10

Thursday
November 12

Week 9
Tuesday
November 17

Week 10
Tuesday
November 24

Thursday
December 3

Friday
December 4

Research Paper Due by 5 PM via email attachment.

You can take till Monday, December 7, at noon to get the paper in with no markdown in grade or need to notify me.

The absolute last day I will be able to accept papers is Thursday, December 10. If you need till then please notify me.

Basic Specifications for Research Paper

Paper margins inch to inch and a half on all sides.
Font: Times New Roman. 12 point.
Do not justify right hand margin.
Paper should have a title (seperate title page not necessary).
Paper should be 10 pages minimum.
Paper should reference a minimum of 8 citations.
Paper should have a works cited page.
Paper should employ consistently one of the primary citation styles (MLA, APA, Chicago).
No not included URL's for web pages within the text of the paper. Include them in the works cited page. Instructions for Web Sources MLA, APA .
Section headings may be employed but are not obligatory.
Images may be included, but will not count toward the ten page minimum.