Category Archives: Consumerism, Advertising, Commodities

What Meets in Vegas, Stays in Vegas

Posted on September 2, 2011 by Timothy Burke

I wouldn’t quite say I was surprised at this report of unrest within the American Sociological Association over the choice of Las Vegas as the location for the 2011 meeting. And I’m fairly certain that some of the more extreme … Continue reading →

Posted in Academia, Consumerism, Advertising, Commodities, Good Quote, Bad Quote, Popular Culture | 6 Comments

I Want My AuthenticiTV

Posted on August 2, 2010 by Timothy Burke

I largely believe in the everyday critical capacity of contemporary audiences. In many ways, I think cultural consumers today are the most sophisticated in human history. To some extent, that’s because their toolkits, both intellectual and technological, have a lot … Continue reading →

Posted in Blogging, Consumerism, Advertising, Commodities, Politics, Popular Culture | 3 Comments

I For One Welcome My New Infrared Faucet Overlord

Posted on November 17, 2009 by Timothy Burke

Interesting post and discussion at 11d on Sandra Tsing Loh’s latest essay in the Atlantic Monthly, which I read on the train this week. I thought the essay was terrible for a variety of reasons, many of them stylistic. There’s … Continue reading →

Posted in Academia, Books, Consumerism, Advertising, Commodities, Domestic Life, Miscellany | 12 Comments

A Facepalm Moment

Posted on September 30, 2009 by Timothy Burke

There’s a lot of discussion going around gaming sites about Stardock CEO Brad Wardell announcing that his company would boycott UPS because UPS was pulling its ads from Fox. Wardell’s backtracking since the story began to circulate is the kind … Continue reading →

Posted in Consumerism, Advertising, Commodities, Games and Gaming, Information Technology and Information Literacy | Comments Off

Simplicity vs. Sustainability

Posted on September 24, 2009 by Timothy Burke

Last week, I was at an event where there was some talk about Swarthmore trying to embrace sustainability and simplicity to a greater degree. Afterwards, I was trying to parse out why those two words provoke really different gut-level reactions … Continue reading →

Posted in Academia, Consumerism, Advertising, Commodities, Domestic Life, Swarthmore | 5 Comments

Social Production, the Good Life, and the Ways of Desire

Posted on March 6, 2009 by Timothy Burke

Ever since I studied the history of consumption and commodities, I’ve been uncomfortable with the conventional terms of what James Twitchell has called the “jeremiad against consumerism”. I’m still uncomfortable with the proposition that what we now need to aim … Continue reading →

Posted in Consumerism, Advertising, Commodities | 1 Comment

Different Cliffs, Different Bottoms, Different Parachutes

Posted on February 11, 2009 by Timothy Burke

There is a kind of confusion that happens anytime there is a major historical conjuncture where histories of failure and crisis which have independent roots happen to coincide. Because they coincide, they become part of the same “event”, and by … Continue reading →

Posted in Consumerism, Advertising, Commodities | 16 Comments

The Manufacture of Culture

Posted on July 15, 2008 by Timothy Burke

You know, we worry too much about the Punch-and-Judy show of political blogging, not to mention the quiet, relatively cobwebbed corner of the Internet occupied by self-declared academic blogs. If you want a look at what blogs are really for, … Continue reading →

Posted in Academia, Consumerism, Advertising, Commodities, Food | 10 Comments

History 88 The Social History of Consumption, Spring 2008

Posted on November 21, 2007 by Timothy Burke

Here’s the current draft of a course I’ve been teaching here pretty much since I arrived. Spruced up here and there, but this syllabus tends to be one of the most architecturally stable of my courses. One thing I always … Continue reading →

Posted in Academia, Consumerism, Advertising, Commodities | 11 Comments

Hiroo Onoda: The Toys and Cartoons Edition

Posted on September 19, 2007 by Timothy Burke

The historian Gary Cross published an editorial on toys, collecting and commercialism in the New York Times this weekend. Cross’ scholarly work is very good. I’ve cited it, read it, and assigned it. But he’s also a dues-paying signatory to … Continue reading →

Posted in Consumerism, Advertising, Commodities, Popular Culture | 28 Comments