Module overview
Aims and Objectives
Learning Outcomes
Cognitive Skills
Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:
- structure your ideas and research findings into well-ordered presentations and essays
- analyse and critically evaluate a variety of textual, visual and material culture sources
- participate fully and constructively in group discussion, arguing your case by drawing on your reading, knowledge and understanding
- contextualise a range of primary source material
- actively engage with the secondary literature on the history of shopping, contributing to the debates relating to mass consumption and the origins and development of the consumer society
Knowledge and Understanding
Having successfully completed this module, you will be able to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of:
- the origins and development of the consumer society;
- the roles played by those who have influenced the way in which we shop;
- key secondary sources exploring the history of shopping and the birth of the consumer society;
- key primary sources illustrating aspects of working in shops and the wider shopping experience including the promotion of stores and their wares
- how shopping is connected with wider social, economic, political and cultural debates;
Transferable and Generic Skills
Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:
- develop your time-management skills
- research historical questions and communicate your findings convincingly and concisely in written reports
- develop your presentation skills
- locate and use effective textual, visual and material culture sources in the library and on-line
- participate effectively in group discussion
Syllabus
Learning and Teaching
Teaching and learning methods
Type | Hours |
---|---|
Revision | 25 |
Lecture | 12 |
Tutorial | 1 |
Seminar | 12 |
Preparation for scheduled sessions | 50 |
Completion of assessment task | 50 |
Total study time | 150 |
Resources & Reading list
General Resources
We will draw on a range of primary source material relating to shopping and working in shops, including contemporary catalogues, advertisements, newspaper and magazine articles, diaries and letters. We will also explore contemporary writings on the birth of the consumer society and mass consumerism, including texts by Daniel DeFoe, Charles Baudelaire, Denis Diderot, Karl Marx, Thorstein Veblen and Vance Packard..
Textbooks
Rappaport, Erika (2001). Shopping for pleasure: Women and the Making of London’s West End. Princeton UP.
Davis, Dorothy (2010). A History of Shopping. Oxford and New York: Routledge.
Klein, Naomi (2000). No Logo. London: Flamingo.
Packard, Vance (1961). The Hidden Persuaders. Harmondsworth: Penguin.
Wood, Martin (2014). Liberty Style. London: Frances Lincoln.
Bevan, Judi (2007). The rise and fall of Marks & Spencer. London: Profile Books.
Cox, Pamela (2014). Shopgirls; The true story of life behind the counter. London: Hutchinson.
Marx, Karl (1990). Capital, vol. 1, (1867), trans. Ben Fowkes. Harmondsworth: Penguin Classics.
Bourdieu, Pierre (1984). Distinction: A Social Critique on the Judgement of Taste, trans. Richard Nice. London: Routledge.
Briggs, Asa (1984). Marks & Spencer 1884 - 1984: A Centenary History. London: Octopus.
Hebdige, Dick (1988). Hiding in the Light. London: Routledge.
Fraser, W. Hamish (1981). The coming of the mass market, 1850 - 1914. London and Basingstoke: Macmillan.
Miller, Daniel (1987). Material Culture and Mass Consumption. Oxford: OUP.
Forty, Adrian (1986). Objects of Desire. London: Thames and Hudson.
Sassatelli, Roberta (2007). Consumer Culture: History, Theory and Politics. London: Sage.
Baudrillard, Jean (1998). The Consumer Society. London: Sage.
Veblen, Thorstein (1925). Theory of the Leisure Class. London: Allen and Unwin.
Mauss, Marcel (2002). The Gift. London: Routledge Classics.
Zola, Emile (2012). The Ladies’ Paradise. Oxford: OUP.
Douglas, Mary and Baron Isherwood (1979). The World of Goods. London: Routledge.
Glancy, Jonathan (2014). A very British Revolution: 150 years of John Lewis. London: Laurence King.
Assessment
Summative
This is how we’ll formally assess what you have learned in this module.
Method | Percentage contribution |
---|---|
Essay | 60% |
Commentary exercise | 40% |
Referral
This is how we’ll assess you if you don’t meet the criteria to pass this module.
Method | Percentage contribution |
---|---|
Resubmit assessments | 100% |
Repeat Information
Repeat type: Internal & External