Module overview
Aims and Objectives
Learning Outcomes
Cognitive Skills
Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:
- 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
- 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
- structure your ideas and research findings into well-ordered presentations and essays
Transferable and Generic Skills
Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:
- research historical questions and communicate your findings convincingly and concisely in written reports
- locate and use effective textual, visual and material culture sources in the library and on-line
- develop your presentation skills
- participate effectively in group discussion
- develop your time-management skills
Knowledge and Understanding
Having successfully completed this module, you will be able to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of:
- 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
- the origins and development of the consumer society;
- how shopping is connected with wider social, economic, political and cultural debates;
- the roles played by those who have influenced the way in which we shop;
Syllabus
Learning and Teaching
Teaching and learning methods
Type | Hours |
---|---|
Seminar | 12 |
Lecture | 12 |
Tutorial | 1 |
Completion of assessment task | 50 |
Revision | 25 |
Preparation for scheduled sessions | 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
Briggs, Asa (1984). Marks & Spencer 1884 - 1984: A Centenary History. London: Octopus.
Rappaport, Erika (2001). Shopping for pleasure: Women and the Making of London’s West End. Princeton UP.
Marx, Karl (1990). Capital, vol. 1, (1867), trans. Ben Fowkes. Harmondsworth: Penguin Classics.
Wood, Martin (2014). Liberty Style. London: Frances Lincoln.
Packard, Vance (1961). The Hidden Persuaders. Harmondsworth: Penguin.
Sassatelli, Roberta (2007). Consumer Culture: History, Theory and Politics. London: Sage.
Klein, Naomi (2000). No Logo. London: Flamingo.
Miller, Daniel (1987). Material Culture and Mass Consumption. Oxford: OUP.
Douglas, Mary and Baron Isherwood (1979). The World of Goods. London: Routledge.
Forty, Adrian (1986). Objects of Desire. London: Thames and Hudson.
Fraser, W. Hamish (1981). The coming of the mass market, 1850 - 1914. London and Basingstoke: Macmillan.
Glancy, Jonathan (2014). A very British Revolution: 150 years of John Lewis. London: Laurence King.
Veblen, Thorstein (1925). Theory of the Leisure Class. London: Allen and Unwin.
Bevan, Judi (2007). The rise and fall of Marks & Spencer. London: Profile Books.
Davis, Dorothy (2010). A History of Shopping. Oxford and New York: Routledge.
Baudrillard, Jean (1998). The Consumer Society. London: Sage.
Mauss, Marcel (2002). The Gift. London: Routledge Classics.
Bourdieu, Pierre (1984). Distinction: A Social Critique on the Judgement of Taste, trans. Richard Nice. London: Routledge.
Hebdige, Dick (1988). Hiding in the Light. London: Routledge.
Zola, Emile (2012). The Ladies’ Paradise. Oxford: OUP.
Cox, Pamela (2014). Shopgirls; The true story of life behind the counter. London: Hutchinson.
Assessment
Summative
This is how we’ll formally assess what you have learned in this module.
Method | Percentage contribution |
---|---|
Commentary exercise | 40% |
Essay | 60% |
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