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SOC 87 Consumer
Credit and Society |
Instructor: |
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Tuesdays 9:30-11:20 |
(One-unit
freshman seminar) |
Akos
Rona-Tas |
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SSB 414 |
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aronatas@ucsd.edu |
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Office Hours: |
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T Th
12:30-1:30 |
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SSB 488 |
We
are in the midst of a deep credit crisis. Homes are being foreclosed,
personal
bankruptcy is on the rise. Over 80 percent of you carry at least one
credit
card and the average balance on those cards is over $2000. We live in a
society
where the consumption of material goods is one of our principal
pursuits
supported by an elaborate system of consumer credit. This class will
discuss
how consumer credit developed and how it works today.
In
this course, we will watch documentaries and read articles and book
chapter and
one book (available from the UCSD bookstore) on consumerism and
consumer credit
in this country. To pass this course, you have to come to class,
participate in
the discussion, do the readings and pass a short final quiz at the end.
The
quiz is going to ask you about content covered in the movies and the
readings.
For those of you interested in further reading I have listed a few
other
titles.
The
course web site with links is http://weber.ucsd.edu/~aronatas/Consumer%20Credit%20and%20Society.htm
April 13
Consumer
Society
Movie:
Affluenza
[videorecording] / producers, John de Graaf, Vivia Boe ; writer, John
de Graaf
April 20
Consumerism
and Credit
Movie:
The
Overspent American Why We Want What We Don't Need / [Videorecording]:
With
Juliet Schor
Required
The
New
Politics of Consumption Debate in the Boston Review, Summer 1999,
pp.1-26.
Recommended
Galbraith,
John Kenneth, The Affluent Society
Veblen,
Thorstein, Theory of the Leisure Class available on line at http://xroads.virginia.edu/~HYPER/VEBLEN/veb_toc.html
Marx,
Karl, Capital, Chapter 3 on Commodity Fetishism, on line at http://www.wsu.edu/~dee/MODERN/FETISH.HTM
Shor,
Juliet, The overspent American : upscaling, downshifting, and the new
consumer
Lecture
notes on consumerism in the US
April 27
Credit Cards
and the Credit Industry
Priceless!
Homer Simpson pitches MasterCard. Link to the commercial.
Movie:
The
Secret History
of the Credit Card, PBS Frontline (available on line)�
Required
Evans
and Schmalensee, Paying with Plastic Chapters 1 (pp.1-18) , Chapter 2
(pp.19-36)
, Chapter 4 (pp.61-84), Chapter 5 (p.85-110). Available
electronically through the library.
Recommended
Mandel,
Lewis, The Credit Card Industry, A History
Ritzer,
George, Expressing
Manning,
Robert D. Credit Card Nation: The Consequences of
Lecture
notes on credit cards in the
US
May 4
The Subprime
Mortgage Crisis and Bankruptcy
Required
Robert
J. Shiller, The Subprime Solution. Princeton University Press (available at the Bookstore)
Michelle
J. White. 2007. Bankruptcy Reform and Credit Cards. Journal of Economic
Perspectives
Recommended
Ross,
Stephen L. and John Yinger. The color of credit : mortgage
discrimination,
research methodology, and fair-lending enforcement.
Sullivan,
Teresa A. The fragile middle class : Americans in debt / Teresa A.
Sullivan,
Warren,
Jay Lawrence Westbrook. Publisher
Final
Quiz