Retail Therapy: A journey through the cultural history of shopping

Learning Outcomes

Cognitive Skills

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

• analyse and critically evaluate a variety of textual, visual and material culture sources
• actively engage with the secondary literature on the history of shopping, contributing to the debates relating to mass consumption and the origins and development of the consumer society
• participate fully and constructively in group discussion, arguing your case by drawing on your reading, knowledge and understanding
• contextualise a range of primary source material
• structure your ideas and research findings into well-ordered presentations and essays

Transferable and Generic Skills

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

• develop your time-management skills
• research historical questions and communicate your findings convincingly and concisely in written reports
• participate effectively in group discussion
• develop your presentation skills
• locate and use effective textual, visual and material culture sources in the library and on-line

Knowledge and Understanding

Having successfully completed this module, you will be able to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of:

• how shopping is connected with wider social, economic, political and cultural debates;
• the origins and development of the consumer society;
• key primary sources illustrating aspects of working in shops and the wider shopping experience including the promotion of stores and their wares
• key secondary sources exploring the history of shopping and the birth of the consumer society;
• the roles played by those who have influenced the way in which we shop;

This module takes a chronological approach, considering how our shopping habits and practices have changed and developed over a period of three centuries. Each week we will focus on a particular case study, giving you the opportunity to consider in depth the impact of certain individuals, types of shops and modes of selling on the broader history of shopping. As shopping is intrinsically linked with wider societal change, you will become familiar with key shifts taking place within each period - from technological advances, such as new manufacturing techniques, to shifts in economic growth, such as the rise of a new middle class and creation of a mass market; from improvements in trade routes, enabling goods to travel across the globe more quickly and more cheaply, to an increased understanding of the psychology of spending, including linked purchasing, subliminal advertising, brand recognition and the lure of the new. You will critically engage with a variety of primary source material on shops and shopping, including advertisements, newspaper and magazine articles, photographs, films and shop floor plans. You will interrogate secondary source material including documentaries and televised histories, ‘biographies’ of shops and chain stores, and theories of consumerism and the evolution of the consumer society, further developing your understanding of the act of shopping at different points within Britain’s history.

Topics to be covered typically include:

 Exotic imports: new goods and desirability in eighteenth century London

 The birth of advertising: Josiah Wedgewood and the Portland Vase

 Specialist sellers: the evolution of the High Street

 Buy 'em low, sell 'em high: warehouse shopping in the nineteenth century

 A different world: Charles Digby Harrod and the creation of the Department Store

 Mass manufacture: Henry and his Model T-Ford

 Chain Stores and the middle classes: Marks & Spencer, Debenhams and John Lewis

 Out of town: moving to shopping centres and malls

 Markedly different: Liberty, Habitat and brand creation

 ‘I bought it on eBay’: the internet shopping revolution

Teaching methods include:

 weekly one-hour lecture and one-hour seminar

 detailed examination, analysis and discussion of sources

 short presentations by students

 group discussions including feedback from the tutor

Lectures will provide you with a general overview and understanding of chronology, sources and key concepts. This will be consolidated through readings and seminar discussions of primary and secondary source material. Presentations and subsequent group discussion in seminars will help you to develop your own ideas about topics, to analyse a range of source material and to articulate a critical argument.

Learning activities include:

 preparatory reading, individual research and study prior to each class

 preparing and delivering short presentations relating to specific aspects of the module

 studying primary sources, including textual, visual and material evidence

 participation in group and class discussion

In this module, learning and teaching activities focus on helping you to explore and investigate the ideas and themes outlined above. Throughout the module you will also engage in directed and self-directed study, for example through pre-seminar reading and through library research. The presentations (by you and your fellow students) and your reading will provide you with a broad overview of the secondary literature, using the bibliography provided at the start of the module. The discussion generated by these presentations will provide you with the opportunity to explore the relevant major historical debates on a weekly basis. In addition, you will study in depth a range of primary written and visual sources, as well as surviving material culture. These sessions will allow you to prepare for the assessment exercises. Feedback on your progress and development will be given via seminars and group discussions. Responses from tutor and your fellow students to your presentation will also give you formative feedback.

Summative

This is how we’ll formally assess what you have learned in this module.

Referral

This is how we’ll assess you if you don’t meet the criteria to pass this module.