APPENDIX: SOME POSSIBLE FINAL PAPER PROJECTS:

Note: This list is not intended to be exhaustive, but only to suggest some topics that might make good final paper projects. There are many, many other possibilities. Feel free to borrow from, adapt, expand, or modify the suggestions made on this list or to ignore them altogether.

 The Voluntary Simplicity Movement
Compare and Contrast Several Classic Accounts of Simple Living (e.g. Walden, Simple Living, Living the Good Life, and others)
The History of Ideas about Simplicity
History, Implications, and/or Critiques of One of the Following Institutions/Practices Associated with the Consumer Culture

History/Analysis/Critique of Consumer-Oriented Holidays (e.g., Christmas, Halloween, etc.)
The Debate over Channel One and/or Other Forms of Advertising Aimed at Children
Can We Switch to a No-Growth Economy?
Are American CEOs Paid Too Much?
Does Advertising Influence the Media Too Much?
Socially Aware Investing: Good Thing or Bad?
The Pros and Cons of Recycling
What Can We Learn from Alternative Groups That Have Opted Out of the Consumer Society (e.g., the Amish, Mennonites, etc.)?
The Mall of America
What Psychological Needs Does Shopping Serve?
Critiques of the Consumer Society Adbusters
The Politics of Housework
Home Shopping Network/QVC
Non-Traditional Indicators of Progress: Are There Important Values not Captured by Standard Measures Like the GDP?
Does Advertising Make Us Consume More?
What Makes Americans Happy?: An Analysis of Opinion Polls on This Issue
The Effects of Strip Malls and Malls on America's Downtowns
Sweatshops
Impulse Buying
What Values Does Advertising Promote?
How Much Does the Average American Household Consume in a Year?
The Debate Over the American Work Week
Infomercials: Blurring the Boundaries between Advertising and Entertainment