consumerism — Bunk History

Ferris wheel at Cony Island.

Spending My Free Time Researching Free Time

One academic tells the story behind his new book -- and his next one.

by Gary Cross via HNN on February 27, 2024

Richard Nixon on a television screen.

The Problem With Fox News Goes Way, Way Back

Richard Nixon decided a powerful new medium should appeal to the marketplace, not to citizens.

by Kathryn Cramer Brownell via The Atlantic on August 13, 2023

Just Beans

What was ethical consumption under capitalism?

by Malcolm Harris via The Drift on October 20, 2022

Baby in an old wicker stroller.

The Imperative to Buy the Best Stroller

The baby stroller is only the most visible symbol of the ethos of consumer capitalism that saturates American pregnancy and parenthood.

by Amanda Parrish Morgan, Samuel J. Sewell, Janelle S. Taylor via JSTOR Daily on October 17, 2022

A collection of flags, games, and printed matter from the Civil War

Patriotism and Consumerism in the Civil War

For a burgeoning consumer society, store-bought flags and bonnets offered proof that commercialism could go hand in hand with heartfelt emotion.

by Livia Gershon, Joanna Cohen via JSTOR Daily on July 3, 2022

Black and white photo of Elvis Presley in a recording studio.

Was There Anything Real About Elvis Presley?

Presley never wrote a memoir. Nor did he keep a diary. His music could have been a window into his inner life, but he didn’t even write his songs.

by Michael T. Bertrand via The Conversation on June 22, 2022

Shoppers and security guards in a mall.

The Retail Theft ‘Crisis’ Isn’t What You Think It Is

The recent panic over retail theft reveals tensions at the heart of American consumerism.

by Sean H. Vannatta via Made By History on December 15, 2021

Her Sentimental Properties

White women have trafficked in Black women’s milk.

by Sarah Mesle via Los Angeles Review of Books on December 22, 2020

Abandoned church in Coaldale, Pennsylvania, with an American flag hanging upside down over its door.

The Decline and Fall of Christianity in America

If we imagine religion as a technology, argues Notre Dame sociologist Christian Smith, we can better see the cause of its decline: obsolescence.

by Daniel N. Gullotta via The Bulwark on July 1, 2025

A mouse hovers over a screen filled with buttons for purchase choices that all look the same.

Americans Are Tired of Choice

How did freedom become synonymous with having lots of options?

by Gal Beckerman via The Atlantic on June 23, 2025

My Freedom, My Choice

A new book illuminates how freedom became associated with choice and questions whether that has been a good thing—for women in particular.

by David A. Bell via New York Review of Books on June 5, 2025

John Cassidy

John Cassidy on Capitalism and Its Critics

The author on capitalism’s critics, why everyone is so unhappy with the system, and what may come next.

by John Cassidy, James Surowiecki via The Yale Review on May 27, 2025

A drawing of human eyes behind a variety of consumer goods, including milk, shoes, and toothpaste.

The Surprising History of the Ideology of Choice

How endless options became our only option.

by Andrew Lanham via The New Republic on April 11, 2025

A woman at a toy counter.

“The End Is Coming! The End Is Coming!”

In the 1990s, an entire industry was born of trying to convince Americans that Beanie Babies were a great investment opportunity.

by Ross Benes via HNN on April 1, 2025

The title card of George A. Romero's Night of the Living Dead.

George Romero’s Pittsburgh

City of the living dead.

by Victoria Timpanaro via The Metropole on February 20, 2025

Kendrick Lamar in the spotlight performing a concert.

Bad Beef

Rap beef is form of capitalist accumulation that enriches artists—and, most of all, the corporate suits that run their record labels.

by Austin McCoy via Public Books on January 9, 2025

A painting of a large camera on a film set, surrounded by green screens.

Casual Viewing

Why Netflix looks like that.

by Will Tavlin via n+1 on December 16, 2024

Factory cloth samples.

Chinese Production, American Consumption

The convergence of economy and politics in the Sino-US relationship via Jonathan Chatwin’s “The Southern Tour” and Elizabeth O’Brien Ingleson’s “Made in China.”

by Kate Merkel-Hess via Los Angeles Review of Books on July 28, 2024

A Walmart building.

War in the Aisles

Monopolies across the grocery supply chain squeeze consumers and small-business owners alike. Big Data will only entrench those dynamics further.

by Jarod Facundo via The American Prospect on June 12, 2024

Sinclair Lewis.

How to Study the “Village Virus”

Sinclair Lewis and the small-town science of yearning.

by Vincent L. Femia via The Metropole on April 3, 2024

A photograph of an AR-15 rifle, a pistol, and a knife in camoflage print, as well as bullets and a pair of gloves.

Give Your Mom a Gun

America’s favorite gun.

by Geoff Mann via London Review of Books on March 1, 2024

Niels Vodder display with furniture designed by Finn Juhl, Cabinetmakers Guild Exhibition, 1949.

Freedom Furniture

How did Americans come to love “mid-century modern”?

by Marianela D’Aprile via The Nation on January 23, 2024

A nearly gutted department store escalator in Owings Mills Mall in Owings Mills, Maryland.

The Life and Death of the American Mall

The indoor suburban shopping center is a special kind of abandoned place.

by Matthew Christopher via Atlas Obscura on January 10, 2024

Why Generational Thinking Isn't Bull

Reflections on Pavement, Nirvana, the very meaning of history, and the end of neoliberalism.

by Charles Petersen via Making History on October 8, 2023

A drawing of a woman looking inside the door of a church where children are playing.

The Quiet Revolution of the Sabbath

Requiring rest, rather than work, is still a radical idea.

by Casey N. Cep via The New Yorker on September 30, 2023

2024 Republican presidential debate on Fox News.

How Cable News Upended American Politics

Cable TV's backers sold the technology as a boon to democracy, but embraced a business model that chased niche audiences.

by Kathryn Cramer Brownell via Made By History on September 27, 2023

Empty, dimly lit interior of shopping mall.

Nostalgia's Empire

We should interrogate nostalgia’s primacy without advocating for its eradication.

by Grafton Tanner, Johny Pitts via Public Books on June 8, 2023

They Did It for the Clicks

How digital media pursued viral traffic at all costs and unleashed chaos.

by Aaron Timms via The New Republic on April 18, 2023

Illustration by Cristina Spano, picturing rulers and colorful shapes and designs coming out of the neck of a collared shirt

The Origins of Creativity

The concept was devised in postwar America, in response to the cultural and commercial demands of the era. Now we’re stuck with it.

by Louis Menand via The New Yorker on April 17, 2023

Helen Hall (R, front), chair of the Consumers’ National Federation, with a committee at the White House making demands for a "new deal" for consumers, 1938.

“Ethical Consumption” Used to Mean Something More Than Feeling Smug About Your Purchases

A century ago, it was once motivated by the goal of economic reorganization.

by Nick French via Jacobin on January 31, 2023

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