Consumption & Consumer Culture in the USA Sample Exam Questions PDF

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Paper 26 Revision Questions Consumption and commodities in the Atlantic world Women consumers: morality and activism Class, luxury, refinement, and distinction in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries Industrial food, industrial landscape "In the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the industrial food system turned 'crops' into 'commodities' and 'customers' into 'consumers'." Discuss. “Sites of production, consumption, and waste disposal have become more physically separate; this has allowed Americans to ignore the consequences of their consumer choices.” Discuss. Leisure time Did the growing market for leisure activities in the late 19th and early 20th centuries offer similar opportunities to both women and men? Labor, wages, and debt Advertising and the democracy of desire “Advertising never sold Americans anything they didn’t need.” Discuss. Empire and consumerism Postwar mass consumption and its exclusions Did the post-war promise of affluence and representations of 'the good life' belie the reality of everyday existence for most Americans? Countercultures, including the simple life To what extent have Americans attempting to live the simple life ever truly rejected consumerism? Did corporate co-optation undermine the 'authenticity' of countercultures in the 1960s and 70s? Segmented marketing and communities of consumption Did segmented marketing have either political origins or political consequences?

Global commodity markets "Globalization has opened up new avenues for the United States to exploit the countries it does business with." Discuss in relation to patterns of consumption at the end of the 20th century and beginning of the 21st century. Is the term ‘imperialism’ helpful to describe the United States’ relationships with other nations in the late 20th and 21st centuries? Dilemmas of modern consumerism “Less is more”. Does this accurately describe changes in late 20 th- and 21st-century consumer habits? Gender and consumerism Consumption and the environment ‘The extent to which American consumption has a negative effect on the environment continually grows as time passes.’ Discuss. Consumer activism...