This episode we talk with Bryant Simon, author of the Summer 2010 Contexts culture review, Depression Chic — Shopping Our Way To Recovery. Topics include “inconspicuous conspicuous consumption”, the politics of depression in the 1930s and today, Simon’s book Everything but the Coffee: Learning about America from Starbucks, and what historians and sociologists can learn from one another.

Also, Sarah awards The Society Page of the Week to A Public Display of Emotion from Citings & Sightings.

Download Office Hours #5!