Social Science Research Council

"Consumer Culture and Its Discontents"
April 9-11, 2003, Arden Homestead, Harriman, New York

AGENDA

Wednesday, April 9

6:30-7:30 p.m. Cocktail Reception

7:30 p.m. Dinner

Thursday, April 10

9:15-9:45 a.m.
Welcoming Remarks, Workshop Objectives, Frank Baldwin, SSRC

9:45-10:15 a.m.
Discussion of Common Themes, Sheldon Garon and Patricia Maclachlan

10:30-11:20 p.m.
Synapses of Consumer Politics: Notes Towards a Historical Framework for Comparative Analysis, Frank Trentmann
Discussant: Andrew Gordon

11:20-12:10 p.m.
Women, Children and the Perils of Consumption: Shaping and Critiquing South Korean Consumer Nationalism, Laura C. Nelson
Discussant: Jordan Sand

1:40-2:30 p.m.
The American Model of “The Consumers’ Republic in the Post-WWII World,” Lizabeth Cohen
Discussant: Patricia Maclachlan

2:45-3:35 p.m.
Are the Japanese Unique? An Analysis of Consumption and Saving Behavior in Japan, Charles Yuji Horioka
Discussant: Sven Steinmo

3:35-4:25 p.m.
The Transnational Promotion of Saving in Asia: ‘Asian Values’ or the ‘Japanese Model’? Sheldon Garon
Discussant: Lizabeth Cohen

Friday, April 11

SESSION II

9:15-10:00 a.m.
Global Trends vs. Local Traditions: Genetically-Modified Foods and Contemporary Consumerism in Japan and the West, Patricia Maclachlan
Discussant: Laura C. Nelson

10:15-11:00 a.m.
Consumption and Re-privatizing Urban Housing in China, Deborah Davis
Discussant: Charles Yuji Horioka

11:15-12:00 p.m.
The Global Expansion of Consumer Credit and Debt: The Political Economy of Credit Card World, Robert D. Manning
Discussant: Sheldon Garon

1:30-2:15 p.m.
Toward a History of Consumer Credit in Modern Japan: Sewing Machines and Ticket Companies, Andrew Gordon
Discussant: Robert D. Manning

2:15-3:00 p.m.
Taxing Consumption, Sven Steinmo
Discussant: Frank Trentmann

3:15-4:00 p.m.
The Ambivalence of the New Breed: Nostalgic Consumerism in the 1980’s and 1990’s, Jordan Sand
Discussant: Deborah Davis

4:15-5:30 p.m.
Wrap-up Discussion and Closing Remarks, Sheldon Garon and Patricia Maclachlan