ICS 392- Consumer Culture Assignment 2- Minimalism- DePaul University
This is an assignment about minimalism and its recent rise in cultural prominence. Minimalism connects with a lot of different things we've covered this quarter, starting with content from week #1 and running through week #9. There are a lot of different opinions about minimalism: what it means, how it works, what it can do and for whom it can do it. As a result, there are a lot of different directions you could take your argument in this essay.
The important thing is that you actually have to spend some time and methodically think about minimalism in light of course content. The bad news: you won't be able to crank this out in one sitting. The good news: if you've been paying attention at all and have done at least half of the reading, you're going to have a surplus of ideas while you read and ponder the following readings. The subsequent lists contains readings on minimalism, both pro and con/skeptical, as well as some readings for context.
Here is a list of articles on minimalism in consumption.
Pro minimalism:
1) "Living With Less. A Lot Less," by Graham Hill, New York Times, March 9, 2013:
2) and Hill's blog:
3) "How I Became a Minimalist(Why I Choose to Live with Less)," by Jennifer, Simply Fierece.com, September 5, 2015:
4)"'The Joy of Less' is the best minimalism book I've read," Katherine Martinko, Treehugger.com, April 27, 2017:
5) "I Tried Minimalism for a Week," BuzzFeed videos, July 1, 2017:
6) "Top 8 Benefits of Living a Minimalist Lifestyle," by Tina Williamson, Lifehack.com, August 31, 2018:
7) Becoming Minimalist, a blog by Joshua Becker:
Con/skeptical of minimalism:
1) "Marie Kondo and the Privilege of Clutter," by Arielle Bernstein, the Atlantic, March 25, 2016:
2) "The Oppressive Gospel of ‘Minimalism,'" by Kyle Chayka, New York Times, July 26, 2016:
3)"Minimalism: another boring product wealthy people can buy," by Chelsea Fagan, The Guardian, March 4, 2017:
4) "Minimalism is Overrated: How I Learned to Love a Little Clutter," By Michelle Slatalla, The Wall Street Journal, May 1, 2018:
For context:
You might consider some of the readings from our first class:
1) "Today's families are prisoners of their own clutter," by Beth Teitell, The Boston Globe, July 9, 2012.
2) "Material Saturation: Mountains of Possessions," by Jeanne E. Arnold, Anthony P. Graesch, Enzo Ragazzini and Elinor Ochs, from Life at Home in the Twenty-First Century, 2012.
3) Csikszentmihalyi, Mihaly (1993), "Why We Need Things," in History of Things, Essays on Material Culture, Steve Lubar and W. David Kingery, ed., Washington D.C., 20-29.
As you might recall, the first two of these readings dealt with middle class families being overwhelmed by mountains of possessions. The third dealt with the positive power of meaning from things. These three readings can be found in the course reserves in ARES. The next one was on our week #1 D2L discussion forum:
4) "Meet The People With Almost Nothing in Their Closets," by Alina Dizik, BBC, July 26, 2016:
Here is another on mountains of stuff, with a slightly different spin:
5) "The Pack Rat Indicator: Why Hoarding Is a Good Sign," by Patricia Clark, Bloomberg, December 13, 2016:
In addition to writings on minimalism, there are some adjacent/related/analogous concepts that are culturally significant. These include things like tiny houses, downshifting and voluntary simplicity.
Your assignment: Read some (or preferably all) of the above. In sixteen-hundred words, try to discern what is going on with this movement and make connections to course content. Make sense of minimalism using what you have learned in this course. Is minimalism the answer? What exactly is the problem? Is minimalism just another problem? Are the proponents of minimalism right? Are the critics of minimalism right? Are they both right and both wrong? Will this movement catch on? Do you plan to use it? Why or why not?
There are lots of connections to make to lots of different ideas, concepts and frameworks from this class. Stuff. Mountains of things. Over-stuffed closets. Taste. Status (all forms and its evolution). Clothing and fashion. Brands. Identity.How we buy. Donations.
Much that we have covered is germane to this exercise and there is no one right answer. This is where you can tell me what you think about consumer culture and why. Has this class changed the way you consume?
You can work on this project alone or in groups of up to three people. That is entirely your choice. Naturally, I will be expecting a ~little~ more from groups than solo work. Last Fall, the work on this particular assignment ranged from good togreat to the truly astounding. Students got into it. Allow yourself to have a little fun with this.
At the bottom of the paper, list the number of words in the document. The word count does not include references, or any other appendices you might want (but don't have) to include.
Format your assignment according to the following formatting requirements:
1. The answer should be typed, double spaced, using Times New Roman font (size 12), with one-inch margins on all sides.
2. The response also includes a cover page containing the title of the assignment, the student's name, the course title, and the date. The cover page is not included in the required page length.
3. Also include a reference page. The Citations and references should follow APA format. The reference page is not included in the required page length.
Attachment:- The-Pack-Rat-Indicator.rar