consumerism

Topic description and stories

Death inventory for Michael Planckh of Wildberg, 30 Oct. 1676, Credit: Original and Reproduction: Hauptstaatsarchiv Stuttgart. HStAS A573 Bü. 4923

How 9,000 lists written over 300 years are helping to test theories of economic growth

03 Jul 2018

̽��ֱ��handwritten inventories had lain largely untouched for centuries. Sand used to dry the ink still lay between the pages. Written neatly inside...

Living in a material world: why 'things' matter

18 Oct 2017

Things structure our lives. They enrich us, embellish us and express our hopes and fears. Here, to introduce a month-long focus on research on...

Are we being sold online?

27 Oct 2012

A panel discussion for the Festival of Ideas examines whether social media giants are profiting from our willingness to share the most intimate...

Men of wonder: gender and American superhero comics

01 Nov 2011

Boys and action comics go together like Batman and Robin – but how are girls represented in comics? Sociologist, Casey Brienza, investigates the male...

Death by monoculture

02 Sep 2011

Having just returned from a year spent documenting the language and culture of the remote Inughuit community of north-western Greenland, Dr Stephen...