CCS 379.01B: Communication, Consumption and Climate

University of Montana ScholarWorks at University of Montana Syllabi Course Syllabi 1-2013 CCS 379.01B: Communication, Consumption and Climate Steven J. Schwarze University of Montana - Missoula, steven.schwarze@umontana.edu Let us know how access to this document benefits you. Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.umt.edu/syllabi Recommended Citation Schwarze, Steven J., "CCS 379.01B: Communication, Consumption and Climate" (2013). Syllabi. 850. https://scholarworks.umt.edu/syllabi/850 This Syllabus is brought to you for free and open access by the Course Syllabi at ScholarWorks at University of Montana. It has been accepted for inclusion in Syllabi by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks at University of Montana. For more information, please contact scholarworks@mso.umt.edu. Consumption, Media, and Environment COMM 379/EVST 379 Instructor: Steve Schwarze, Ph.D. Office: LA 358 Phone: 243-4901 Email: steven.schwarze@umontana.edu Office Hours: Tues & Wed. 1-3 pm, and by appt. Course Description The purpose of this course is to help you engage the problem of consumption. By "problem," I do not m ean that consumption is a bad thing—although we will spend much of our time in the course examining the negative aspects of consumption (rather than uncritically celebrating it, which you can do throughout the rest of the culture). Instead, I mean that the course aims to problematize consumption, to examine and question it rather than take it for granted. You will confront the problem of consumption on individual, social, and environmental levels, in order that you m ight achieve some degree of freedom in relation to the power of contemporary consumer discourses. The course is explicitly cross-disciplinary, but we will persistently attend to the communicative dimensions of consumption. We will start by reading some classic texts on consumption and consider how consumption itself can be a form of communication. Then, we will consider how contemporary forms of public discourse work rhetorically to encourage consumption, w ith particular attention given to advertising. Finally, we will confront the environmental consequences of consumption directly, and explore a range of strategies by which citizens have begun to resist the culture of consumption. The course also will persistently return to the topic of climate change, one of the most significant environmental dimensions of contemporary consumption. I hope you will learn how consumption contributes to climate change, how communication influences our understanding of that relationship, and how scholars and practitioners are engaging the challenges of communicating effectively about consumption and climate change. Because of this focus, the course contributes to the proposed Climate Change Studies minor. O ur approach will challenge your "common sense" by taking a critical stance in relation to contem porary public discourse. The readings for the course will demonstrate aspects of this discourse that are (arguably) morally and politically troublesome. I don't expect or require you to agree with everything we encounter, hut I do expect you comprehend the arguments of the course to such a degree that you are able to incorporate course concepts in your working vocabulary. By the end of the course, you should be able to: • Explain how consumption is a fundamentally social process that is both constituted through and influenced by communication practices. • Identify and explain typical persuasive strategies and appeals use to influence consumption • Describe how the mass media is systematically distorted in favor of consumption • Articulate the environmental consequences of consumer culture, especially w ith regard to climate. • Discuss the strengths and weaknesses of different strategies for addressing the problems of consumption You will be evaluated for proficiency in each of these three areas, as described later in this document. 2 Texts 1. The Consumer Society Reader, eds. Juliet B. Schor and Douglas B. Holt. The New Press, 2000. 2. Electronic Reserve materials (password: COMM379) Evaluation and Grading To achieve the objectives listed above, you will have a set of assignments that provide an opportunity to demonstrate your proficiency. 1) SHORT PAPERS (1/3 of final grade). You will write three to five short papers (and I mean short—one page, single-spaced) that require critical engagement w ith the course readings, critical analysis of contemporary consumption-related discourses (ad-supported media, political rhetoric, PR campaigns, local sustainability events, etc), or other exercises related to the course The purpose is to train your critical eye and hone your w riting skills. Due dates and assignment details will be provided in class. 2) FIRST EXAM (1/3). You will have an examination on the first unit of the course. It will be a mix of objective, short answer, and essay questions (i.e. it will be somewhat different from COMM 250 exams.) Details and a review guide will be provided in class. 3) SECOND EXAM (1/3). You will have a second examination on the second unit of the course. It will again be a mix of questions, but w ith a greater proportion of short answer and essay questions. For the latter, we will develop a set of questions that address the core issues regarding personal, social and political change connected to consumption practices, especially in light of climate impacts. Details and a review guide will be provided in class. W ith a large class, it is difficult to grade on participation, so that is not a formal component of evaluation. However, I will bum p the final grades of those who engage in 'sustainable participation' (consistent, thoughtful, responsive to and respectful of others) throughout the course. Students with Disabilities If you have a disability that may require modification of some element of the course, please obtain the appropriate documentation and then see me so we can make arrangements. Academic Misconduct Academic misconduct includes cheating, plagiarism, and deliberate interference w ith the w ork of others. It is the intellectual equivalent of theft, the aesthetic equivalent of plastic surgery. Like the former, it ruins the trust necessary for a well-functioning community; like the latter, it sacrifices your unique contributions and characteristics and replaces them with a disfigured, false ideal. There is a clear statement about plagiarism and a specific process for dealing w ith potential plagiarism cases in the Student Conduct Code, available for download from the Student Life web page: http://life.um t.edu/vpsa/nam e/S tudentC o n d u ctC o d e. Read it. In this course, it is prim arily a m atter of conducting scholarship ethically: giving credit to others for their ideas, and fairly and accurately gathering and representing the discourse of others (your "data"). It results in an on the particular piece of w ork and, in some cases, an 'F' on your course transcript. Bottom line: don't do it. COMM 379, CCS Proposal Fall 2008 3 Attitude This is a course that will force you to examine some of your m ost deeply ingrained habits, and will generally make you uncomfortable. I see that as a good thing. Discomfort, disgust, and other visceral responses provide the impetus to investigate, resist, and transform reprehensible social practices. Thus, you may have these feelings during the course. (Other responses from students have included feelings of desperation, symptoms of depression, and statements such as, "My life is soooo shallow" and "W hat the @#$A&* are people thinking?") Another typical response is denial, a defiant insistence that they are not implicated in consumption and that no evidence justifies the critique of unconstrained consumption. That sort of response is understandable, but inadequate in the context of this course. You may ultimately reject many of the arguments m ade in the course, but during this semester you will need to engage them, and keep an open m ind Communication, Consumption, and Climate Course Schedule Location of readings: TCSR = The Consumer Society Reader,, ERES = Electronic Reserve. The Big Picture Week 1______ Introduction Peter Goodman, "A Shopping Guernica Captures the Moment," (NYT 11/30) H andout Michael Pollan, "W hy Bother?," New York Times April 20, 2008. ERES Communicative Dimensions of Consumption Week 2______ Commodification as (Distorted) Communication Don Slater, "Consumer C ulture and Modernity" ERES Karl Marx, "The Fetishism of the Commodity and the Secret Thereof" TCSR Week 3_____ Conspicuous and Competitive Consumption Thorstein Veblen, "Pecuniary Emulation" ERES Thorstein Veblen, "Conspicuous Consumption" TCSR View: The Overspent American Week 4_____ Communication and the Creation of Needs John Kenneth Galbraith, "The Dependence Effect" TCSR Jean Baudrillard, "The Ideological Genesis of Needs" TCSR View: The Sneetches Week 5_____ Consumption, Identity, and Meaning James Twitchell, "Two Cheers for Materialism." TCSR Alex Kotlowitz, "False Connections," TCSR View: Advertising and the End of the World Week 6 Catch-up, FIRST EXAM Tim Jackson, "Live Better by Consuming Less?: Is There a "Double Dividend" in Sustainable Consumption?" ERES Commercial Rhetoric and the Struggle over Meaning Week 7______ Hypercommercialism and the Consumption Imperative COMM 379, CCS Proposal Fall 2008 4 M atthew P. McAllister, from The Commercialization of American Culture. ERES Robert W. McChesney, "The Age of Hyper-Commercialism/' ERES View: Behind the Screens: Hollywood Goes Hyper commercial Week 8______ Rhetorical Strategies in Advertising Robert Goldman and Stephen Papson, "Advertising in the Age of Accelerated Meaning" TCSR Julia Corbett, "A Faint Green Sell: Advertising and the Natural W orld" ERES Shane Gunster, "'You Belong Outside': Advertising, Nature, and the SUV." ERES Week 9______ The Rhetoric of Green Consumerism M. Jimmie Killingsworth and Jacqueline S. Palmer, "Liberal and Pragmatic Trends in the Discourse of Green Consumerism" ERES, Timothy Luke, "Green Consumerism: Ecology and the Ruse of Recycling" ERES *Michael Maniates, "Individualization: Plant a Tree, Buy a Bike, Save the World?" Available via Mansfield Library website in the electronic book, Confronting Consumption , ch. 3 SPRING BREAK Week 10_____ Culture Jammine Kalle Lasn, "Culture Jamming" TCSR Christine Harold, "Anti-Logos: Sabotaging the Brand through Parody" ERES View: What Would Jesus Buy Consumption, Environment, and Strategies for Change Week 11_____ The Big Picture Betsy Taylor and Dave Tilford, "W hy Consumption Matters" TCSR UM Greenhouse Gas Inventory, ERES Footprint Exercise Week 12_____ Voluntary Simplicity Duane Elgin, "Voluntary Simplicity" TCSR Michael Maniates, "In Search of Consumptive Resistance: The Voluntary Simplicity Movement." E-book, ch. 9 Week 13_____ Communicating the C onsum ption/C lim ate Connection WWF-UK, Weathercocks & Signposts: The Environment Movement at a Crossroads ERES Kenton DeKirby, et al, "Irrationality W ants to Be Your Friend" ERES Susanne Moser, "Communication Strategies" ERES Week 14_____ Back to the Big Picture Juliet B. Schor, "Towards a New Politics of Consumption" TCSR Michael Renner, "M oving Toward a Less Consumptive Economy" ERES Finals_______ SECOND EXAM. Thursday May 14, 8-10 am COMM 379, CCS Proposal Fall 2008