I. Structure of Course

 

II. Consumption as the "Vanguard of History" (Daniel Miller)

A. Consumption drives global economy
B. Miller: "Consumption... is the one arena where most of us still feel we have some power left to influence what we might become" (20)
C. Two questions

1. Why is consumption so important?
2. What took anthropologists so long to recognize this?

 

III. Production and Exchange in the Development of Anthropology

A. Origins of social science (Marx, Durkheim, Weber)

1. Changes in 19th century Europe: industrialization, urbanization
2. Human evolution as march of technological progress
3. Changing modes of production propel system

B. 1920s: Anthropologists like Mauss, Malinowski focus on exchange

1. Commodities, money = impersonal
2. Gifts, barter = reciprocity, mutual obligation, social relationships

 

IV. Consumption as a Form of Imperialism

A. Consumption seen as destroying indigenous cultures

a. Trinidadians drinking Coca-Cola or Malaysian teenagers wearing Levi's
b. Symbolic violence, neo-imperialism, Westernization

B. Anti-American nationalist and socialist movements

 

V. Shifts in the Organization of Late Capitalism Promote Consumption

A. Consumption rises with income, stimulates production

Per Capita Income and Personal Consumption Expenditures

(in 2000 dollars)

Year	Gross national product	Personal income	Disposable personal income	Personal consumption expenditures
				Durable goods	Nondurable goods	Services	Total
1950	$1,950	$1,516	$1,388	$203	$648	$420	$1,270
1960	2,935	2,283	2,026	240	846	753	1,838
1970	51,010	4,101	3,591	414	1,326	1,424	3,164
1980	12,431	10,205	8,869	940	3,057	3,744	7,741
1990	23,331	19,614	17,176	1,871	4,985	8,472	15,327
1998	32,444	27,447	23,491	2,562	6,315	12,767	21,644
1999	33,927	28,489	24,242	2,787	6,708	13,399	22,895
2000	35,802	30,205	25,528	2,976	7,224	14,230	24,429

Source: U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of Economic Analysis, July 2001.

Web: www.bea.gov.

B. Vertical integration

1. Producers are distributors
2. Gap, Ann Taylor, supermarket brands: flexible, efficient, fast in responding to consumer demands

C. Shifts in consumption in developing countries

1. Attractive markets
2. sneakers

 

VI. The Collapse of Communism

A. Slavenka Drakulik: communism failed to produce basic necessities like sanitary napkins
B. Capitalism meets consumer needs, makes products accessible

 

VII. Critiques Linking Consumption with Production

A. Industrial revolution, globalizaton have increased quantity of goods, lowered prices
B. American consumption of clothing

1. 1998: 17.2 billion articles of clothing purchased, 16% increase over 1993
2. Clothing prices dropped 10% from 1999-2008, increase for all consumer goods was 22% (source: http://www.bls.gov/data/home.htm)

C. American consumption depends on exploitation of producers

1. Low wages, long hours, poor conditions abroad
2. Domestic "outsourcing"

 

VIII. Consumption, Pleasure, and Cultural Distinctiveness

A. Self-expression, pleasure
B. Miller: Coca-cola in Trinidad
C. Consumption of mass-produced goods can promote heterogeneity