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.

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.

Introduction to Sociology 2e adheres to the scope and sequence of a typical, one-semester introductory sociology course. It offers comprehensive coverage of core concepts, foundational scholars, and emerging theories, which are supported by a wealth of engaging learning materials. The textbook presents detailed section reviews with rich questions, discussions that help students apply their knowledge, and features that draw learners into the discipline in meaningful ways. The second edition retains the book’s conceptual organization, aligning to most courses, and has been significantly updated to reflect the latest research and provide examples most relevant to today’s students. In order to help instructors transition to the revised version, the 2e changes are described within the preface.

Understand the sociological concept of reality as a social constructDefine roles and describe their places in people’s daily interactionsExplain how individuals present themselves and perceive themselves in a social context

Textbook, slide presentations, and class activities related to social structure and interaction, and the economy. Primary text: OpenStax Introduction to Sociology 2e

While current economic theory focuses on prices and games, this book models economic settings where harmony is established through one of the following societal conventions:

• A power relation according to which stronger agents are able to force weaker ones to do things against their will.
• A norm that categorizes actions as permissible or forbidden.
• A status relation over alternatives which limits each agent's choices.
• Systematic biases in agents' preferences.

These four conventions are analysed using simple and mathematically straightforward models, without any pretensions regarding direct applied usefulness. While we do not advocate for the adoption of any of these conventions specifically – we do advocate that when modelling an economic situation, alternative equilibrium notions should be considered, rather than automatically reaching for the familiar approaches of prices or games.

This sites provides three interactive games related to social class and personal possessions indicative of class.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"Help from a co-worker is generally viewed as a good thing. But that isn’t always the case. Researchers are exploring an often-ignored form of help that is not always welcomed by those receiving it. It’s called anticipatory help. Anticipatory help is when an employee anticipates the needs of a co-worker and offers or provides help on a task without being asked to do so. That anticipatory help is unsolicited is what distinguishes it from reactive help, which is assisting a co-worker who has explicitly asked for help. According to the team behind the study, a prevailing viewpoint in organizational scholarship is that employees who help their co-workers generally receive positive reactions. But this perspective is based on research that has not deliberately differentiated the outcomes of anticipatory helping from reactive helping..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.