Self-transformation, American style

Self-transformation, American style

Jackson Lears on late-19th-century visions of rebirth
The con man vs. the self-made man

The con man vs. the self-made man

Jackson Lears on the ambivalence in American culture about chance and gambling
Misguided quests for well-being

Misguided quests for well-being

Jackson Lears on why the culture of the therapeutic triumphed
Cultures of chance, cultures of control

Cultures of chance, cultures of control

Historian Jackson Lears explains how gambling springs from a longing for an experience of “unbidden beneficence,” a repudiation of the idea of control that marks modernity. (49 minutes)
How advertising detaches us from the world

How advertising detaches us from the world

FROM VOL. 13
Historian and cultural critic Jackson Lears discusses the power of advertising to reinforce and shape cultural attitudes about material goods. (9 minutes)
The cultural effects of advertising

The cultural effects of advertising

Ted Prescott, Jackson Lears, Mark Crispin Miller, James Twitchell, and Pamela Walker Laird discuss how advertising affects personal and social life. (53 minutes)