SOCY1714 · Complex Problems and Enduring Questions
Morrissey College of Arts & Sciences
This is a Complex Problem course and is open to FRESHMEN only. You must take both SOCY1714 and HIST1717. Although we are increasingly aware that our habits of consumption affect the environment, it is hard to imagine that consuming patterns can be changed. In this course, students will learn that practices of consumption are both socially and historically constructed, that they change dramatically over time, and that there are (and always have been) urgent moral issues connected to these ways of life. We will explore the global, social, and environmental dimensions of consumption, studying things like the 1897 Sears catalog, 1950s television shows, Canada Goose jackets, DIY manuals and makerspaces, and hippy cookbooks of the 1960s.
Course experience
Averages use the original five-point historical evaluation scale.
Organization
4.6 / 5
How well the course was organized
Challenge
4.4 / 5
How intellectually challenging students found it
Attendance
4.4 / 5
How necessary attendance was
Assignments
4.5 / 5
How helpful assignments were
Weekly effort
~3
hours per week
Estimated from the original workload response buckets. Individual sections may differ.
Instructor options
Ratings below reflect only recovered evaluations connected to this course.
Across time
Section-level results available in the recovered archive.
Spring 2025
4 sections