IDS310 Global Climate Change
Homework #1 (15 points)
The Rise of the Consumer Economy
Instructions: Watch the four-part series or full documentary film The Century of the Self (2002) by filmmaker Adam Curtis available on YouTube and answer the following questions. Write in complete sentences. Answer each question with short paragraph. Upload to Blackboard.
1) What main question did the documentary focus around?
2) What are “happiness machines”? Why were they important for the economy?
3) How was consumerism used as a mechanism of social control?
4) How did Edward Bernays reverse the taboo against women smoking in public?
5) What major impact did Bernays have on the marketing of commodities? How were
commodities marketed prior to Bernays’ work?
6) How did Edward Bernays transform America from a culture of thrift and frugality, to a
culture of consumerism?
7) What are some environmental consequences of a culture of consumerism?
8) What was Roosevelt’s concept of democracy? What actions did it lead him to pursue?
What are the implications of his concept for the distribution of wealth and power?
9) What was Bernays’ concept of democracy? How did it inform his actions? What are
the implications of his concept for the distribution of wealth and power?
10) What is meant by “the engineering of consent” and how does it play a role in consumerism?
11) How do the ideas of consumerism expressed here directly relate to environmental pollution and global climate change?
12) How does the widening gap between rich and poor contribute to extreme consumerism and environmental degradation?
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