91222 - MEDIA E CONSUMI NELLA STORIA DEL NOVECENTO

Learning outcomes

The course aims to offer the tools to understand the transformation process of modern societies in relation to the development of material and cultural consumption and mass media.

Course contents

The course aims to offer the tools to understand and decode the transformation process of modern societies with a particular attention on the construction of the second post-war consumer society, in relation to the development of material and cultural consumption and mass media. The course focuses on the following thematic areas: changes in lifestyles and social profiles introduced by the post-war economic boom; the relationship between mass media, consumerism, mass culture and political communication; the categories of gender and generation in the light of the transformations introduced by the new forms of consumption; digital media and consumer models developed over the last twenty years.

Readings/Bibliography

PART 1: INSTITUTIONAL PART OF THE SYLLABUS

All students have to prepare one of the following books:

- Gorman L., McLean D., Media and Society into the 21st Century: A Historical Introduction, Oxford, Blackwell, 2009

- Scarpellini E., L’Italia dei consumi. Dalla Belle Époque al nuovo millennio, Roma-Bari, Laterza, 2008

PART 2: MONOGRAPHIC PART OF THE SYLLABUS

Attending students have to study a book chosen from the list below; non attending students have to study two books chosen from the list below.

- Asquer E., Bernardi E., Fumian C. (ed.), L' Italia contemporanea dagli anni Ottanta a oggi, Vol. 2: Il mutamento sociale, Roma, Carocci, 2014

- Briggs A., Burke P., Storia sociale dei media. Da Gutenberg a Internet, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2010.

- Brizzi R., L'uomo dello schermo. De Gaulle e i media, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2010

- Capuzzo P. (ed.), Genere, generazione e consumi. L’Italia degli anni Sessanta, Roma, Carocci, 2003 + Castronovo V., L' Italia del miracolo economico, Roma-Bari, Laterza, 2010: the two books must be studied together

- Cardini A. (ed.), Il miracolo economico italiano (1958-1963), Bologna, Il Mulino, 2006.

- Castronovo V., L' Italia del miracolo economico, Roma-Bari, Laterza, 2010 + Cavazza S. (ed.), Consumi e politica nell’Italia repubblicana, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2013: the two books must be studied together

- Cavazza S., Scarpellini E. (eds.), Storia d’Italia. Annali 27: I consumi, Torino, Einaudi, 2018, limited to the parts 2 “Forme del consumare” and 5 “Consumi culturali e digitali”

- Crainz G., Storia del miracolo italiano. Culture, identità, trasformazioni fra anni Cinquanta e Sessanta, Roma, Donzelli, 2005

- De Grazia V., L’impero irresistibile. La società dei consumi americana alla conquista del mondo, Torino, Einaudi, 2006

- Fasce F., Le anime del commercio. Pubblicità e consumi nel secolo americano, Roma, Carocci, 2012 + Fasce F., Bini E., Gaudenzi B., Comprare per credere: la pubblicità in Italia dalla Belle Époque a oggi, Roma, Carocci, 2016: the two books must be studied together

- Forgacs D., Gundle S., Cultura di massa e società italiana. 1936-1954, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2007.

- Gozzini G., La mutazione individualista. Gli italiani e la televisione 1954-2011, Roma-Bari, Laterza, 2011

- Guazzaloca G., Una e divisibile. la RAI, la televisione e i partiti negli anni del monopolio pubblico (1954-1975), Milano, Mondadori-Le Monnier, 2011.

- Novelli E., Le campagne elettorali in Italia. Protagonisti, strumenti, teorie, Roma-Bari, Laterza, 2018

- Ortoleva P., Il secolo dei media. Riti, abitudini, mitologie, Milano, Il Saggiatore, 2009.

- Ritzer G., La religione dei consumi: cattedrali, pellegrinaggi e riti dell'iperconsumismo, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2012

Teaching methods

The course is organized in lectures and seminars.

Lectures (16 hours in classroom) aim to introduce students to the core tenets of the discipline.

Seminars (12 hours in classroom) aim to provide occasions for in-depth discussions of class materials and exercises. For the seminar section of the course, students will be divided in two groups each of which will hold the seminar once a week. Students are required to carefully read the assigned material before the session and active participation will also be expected.

Assessment methods

All students are requested to pass an oral exam based on the books chosen in the lists of Bibliography.

Students attending the class will take a written exam at the end of the course on the topics covered in class.

Teaching tools

Pc, slides

Office hours

See the website of Giulia Guazzaloca

See the website of