Automobiles in window of the Washington-Cadillac Co., Washington, D.C. (Image courtesy of Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, FSA-OWI Collection, [reproduction number LC-USZ62-111329 DLC].)
Instructor(s)
Prof. Meg Jacobs
MIT Course Number
21H.206
As Taught In
Fall 2007
Level
Undergraduate
Translated Versions
Course Description
Course Features
Course Highlights
This course features archived syllabi from various semesters.
Course Description
This class examines how and why twentieth-century Americans came to define the "good life" through consumption, leisure, and material abundance. We will explore how such things as department stores, nationally advertised brand-name goods, mass-produced cars, and suburbs transformed the American economy, society, and politics. The course is organized both thematically and chronologically. Each period deals with a new development in the history of consumer culture. Throughout we explore both celebrations and critiques of mass consumption and abundance.
