Culture, Materialism and Design
Department of Design and Management, Parsons School of Design
Fall 2003: PUDM 2433; PLSS 2573
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Instructor: Jessie Labov |
Office hours by appointment |
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Tuesdays: 9:00-11:40 AM, Room N-822 |
Email: LABOVJ@newschool.edu |
This course provides a rigorous introduction to theories of cultural materialism and how they could be employed in the everyday management of design. Students will gain a strong background in forms of cultural analysis that have become increasingly important in design and gain access to tools necessary to evaluate the strengths and weakness of materialist approaches to culture. We will begin by reading Marx together with some philosophers of the “Frankfurt School,” and then compare these theorists with French cultural analysts such as Foucault and Barthes. Next, we will trace the influence of cultural materialism on anthropology in the late 1960s and the development of English, Australian and American cultural studies from the late 1950s through the present. Throughout, students will apply what they are learning to everyday issues in design and design management.
? Two major activities are required for this course: 1) thoughtful reading of the assigned texts; 2) considering how these ideas pertain to the design process. You are expected to come to class prepared with NOTES about the reading, and as the course progresses, about possible applications to design as well.
? There are four 2-page response papers assigned which correspond to the four sections of the course. You may turn in a response paper about any given reading on the day that we are discussing this text in class. By the end of each section, you should have turned in one response paper. By the end of the course, you should have turned in four response papers. Late, incomplete, or carelessly written papers will be marked down.
? The two case study assignments are primarily intended to be oral presentations, although you will be required to submit some written material with each case study. You are responsible for obtaining the case studies on your own from sources discussed below.
? Certain assignments will be explained in more detail over the class portal; additionally, you will be asked to post links and other relevant information about both of your case studies on the portal. These posts will be included in the evaluation of your case studies.
? Given that the written assignments are relatively light, you are expected to contribute to the course through active class participation on a weekly basis. Note that in order to participate, you also must be present in class: please let me know in advance of any reason why you might not be in class, and please be aware that more than three absences will automatically result in a failing grade for the course.
*Roland Barthes, Camera Lucida: Reflections on Photography
*Dick Hebdige, Subculture: the Meaning of Style
2. Course Packet:
The course packet may be purchased at East Side Copy, 15 E. 13th St. It should be packet #38. Texts found in the packet are indicated with an asterisk* in the schedule of classes below.
3. Case Studies:
Throughout the semester you will be required to seek and find at least two (2) case studies concerning the design process. The recommended place to start would be one of the following websites:
Design Management Institute (www.dmi.org)
British Design Council (www.design-council.org.uk)
Corporate Design Foundation (www.cdf.org/frameset.html)
Industrial Designers Society of America (www.idsa.org)
Design for the World (www.designfortheworld.org)
Center for Sustainable Design (www.csdf.org)
Midterm case study 15%
Final case study 30%
Plagiarism and cheating of any kind in the course of academic work will not be tolerated. As the Parsons School of Design Student Handbook describes, academic honesty includes accurate use of quotations, as well as appropriate and explicit citation of sources in instances of paraphrasing and describing ideas, or reporting on research findings or any aspect of the work of others (including that of instructors and other students). These standards of academic honesty and citation of sources apply to all forms of academic work (examinations, essays, theses, computer work, art and design work, oral presentations, and other projects).
It is the responsibility of all students to learn the procedure for correctly and appropriately differentiating their own work from that of others. Compromising one’s academic integrity may lead to serious consequences, including (but not limited to) one or more of the following: failure of the assignment, failure of the course, academic warning, disciplinary probation, suspension from the university, or dismissal from the university. Every student signs an Academic Integrity Statement as a part of the registration process. Thus, students are held responsible for being familiar with, understanding, adhering to and upholding the spirit and standards of academic integrity as set forth by the Parsons School of Design Student Handbook.
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Sep 9 Marx, Gramsci, selections (handout)
Sep 16 Adorno & Horkheimer, “The Culture Industry”*
Sep 23 Benjamin, “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction”*
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Sep 30 Foucault, “Space, Power, and Knowledge”*
de Certeau, “Walking in the City”*
Oct 7 Barthes, Camera Lucida
Oct 14 Barthes, Camera Lucida, cont.
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Oct 28 Harris, “Theoretical Principles of Cultural Materialism”*
Nov 4 Malefyt and Moeran, Introduction to Advertising Cultures*
Nov 11 Miller, Clarke, “The Birth of Value” from Commercial Cultures*
“The challenge to hegemony which subcultures
represent is not issued directly by them. Rather, it is expressed
obliquely, through style.” —Dick
Hebdige, Subculture
Nov 18 Hebdige, Subculture:
the Meaning of Style
Nov 25 Hall, “Cultural Studies and its Theoretical Legacies”*
Dec 2 Giroux, “Benetton’s ‘World Without Borders’”*
Dec 9 Second Case Study In-class presentations discussion
Dec 16 In-class presentations and discussion; Conclusions
* Indicates texts which can be found in the Course Packet.
Contents of Course Packet
I. Required texts:
Theodor Adorno & Max Horkheimer, "The Culture Industry: Enlightenment as Mass Deception," The Cultural Studies Reader, ed. Simon During (London, NY: Routledge, 1993), 29-43.
Walter Benjamin, “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction,” Illuminations, trans. Harry Zohn (NY: Schocken Books, 1968), 217-251.
Michel Foucault, “Space, Power, Knowledge,” in During, 161-169.
Michel de Certeau, “Walking in the City,” in During, 151-160.
Marvin Harris, “Theoretical Principles of Cultural Materialism,” Cultural Materialism: the Struggle for a Science of Culture (NY: Altamira Press, 2001), 46-76.
Timothy Malefyt and Brian Moeran, “Introduction,” Advertising Cultures, ed. Malefyt and Moeran (Oxford, NY: Berg, 2003), 1-33.
Daniel Miller, “Introduction,” and Alison Clarke, “‘Mother Swapping’: The Trafficking of Nearly New Children’s Wear,” Commercial Cultures, ed. Peter Jackson, Michelle Lowe, Daniel Miller and Frank Mort (Oxford, NY: Berg, 2000), 77-100.
Stuart Hall, “Cultural Studies and its Theoretical Legacies,” Cultural Studies, ed. Lawrence Grossberg, Cary Nelson, Paula A. Treichler (New York, London: Routledge, 1992), 277-294.
Henry Giroux, “Benetton’s ‘World Without Borders’: Buying Social Change,” The Subversive Imagination, ed. Carol Becker (New York, London: Routledge, 1994), 187-207.
II. Supplemental Texts:
William Pietz, “Fetishism and Materialism: The Limits of Theory in Marx,” Fetishism as Cultural Discourse, ed. Emily Apter and William Pietz (Ithaca, London: Cornell UP, 1993), 119-151.
Elizabeth Edwards, “Photographs as Objects of Memory,” Material Memories, ed. Marius Kwint, Christopher Breward and Jeremy Aynsley (Oxford, NY: Berg, 1999), 221-236.
James Clifford, “On Ethnographic Surrealism,” The Predicament of Culture (Cambridge, MA: Harvard UP, 1993), 117-152.
Toby Miller, “Making Citizens and Consumers,” The Well-Tempered Self: Citizenship, Culture, and the Postmodern Subject (Baltimore, London: Johns Hopkins UP, 1993), 129-172.