TY - JOUR AU - Grauerholz, Liz AU - Bubriski-McKenzie, Anne PY - 2012/10/05 Y2 - 2024/03/28 TI - Teaching About Consumption: The 'Not Buying it' Project JF - TRAILS: Teaching Resources and Innovations Library for Sociology JA - TRAILS VL - IS - SE - DO - UR - https://trails.asanet.org/article/view/teaching-about-consumption-the-not-buying-it SP - AB - overconsumption in the United States and allow them to see how their own consumption which involved refraining from purchasing all but essentials for a set number of daysas part of a broader lesson on consumerism. Qualitative and quantitative data, gathered from students enrolled in three sections of Introductory Sociology, suggest that the exercise was effective in consumption habits are shaped by larger social forces and how they, along with most Americans, tend toward overconsumption. To a more limited extent, it may help enhance cognitive understanding of consumption. Teaching about consumption in general, and the Not Buying It project in particular, offers instructors an excellent pedagogical means by which students can acquire a sociological imagination, reinforces key sociological principles, and links to broader goals within the discipline. ER -