Information Society Consumer Culture Reaganomics The Cold War White Noise and the 1980s Information Society Consumer Culture Reaganomics The Cold War

Information Society Remember deindustrialization lecture Military-industrial complex, corporationland 1955: white-collar workers outnumber blue-collar for the first time. Late 19th C to WWII: middle class (men) primarily owned and operated small businesses After WWII: middle class (men) are managers of larger businesses

“Work” to “knowledge work” From 1960s to 1980s: The average US worker added a month of work per year and lost 40% of leisure time Information technology: 1975: Microsoft forms, Bill Gates and Paul Allen develop the first microprocessor computer 1981: the first personal computer, the IBM PC, released commercially 1984: 35% of the workforce uses PCs for business technology

Applications to White Noise Information and/vs. materiality Gender, class, and embodiment (e.g. Babette and J.A.K./Jack’s bodies) “White noise” 1: the sensory presence of technology in their house “White noise” 2: the dominance of “information” and “noise” (info theory)

Consumer Culture Deindustrialization: other countries producing means US must import its goods Trade deficit: the negative difference between imports and exports in US Trade surplus WWII-1970 1977 $27,246 million deficit 1981 $16,172 million deficit 1988 $114,566 million deficit Effects on culture: massive consumption and its apparatus (advertising). We buy more than we sell.

Applications to White Noise How does consumer culture show up in the novel? Does the novel criticize it? Glorify it? Describe without judgment?

Reaganomics Policy: to reduce government spending (esp. on social services), tax rates (esp. in high income brackets), regulation of economy, and inflation Many factors indicating growth and increased personal wealth, BUT 1981: world’s leading creditor Federal budget deficit $74 billion Total national debt $1 trillion 1991: world’s leading debtor (1988) Federal budget deficit $300 billion Total national debt $4 trillion Where’d all that money go?

The Cold War: Ideology + Economics = ??? Reagan increased defense spending 1982 $185.3 billion 1987 over $330 billion Continued intervention in (potentially) communist countries (Middle East, Central & South America), Iran hostage crisis 1979-81 (444 days), “The Evil Empire” (USSR) Space Race (1957-75) & Nuclear Arms Race (“Star Wars”: Reagan’s Strategic Defense Initiative, 1983)

Applications to White Noise Power, death, & technology tied together in Cold War culture What are some examples of this in the novel? How does the novel treat this three-part phenomemon?

Pastiche and Simulacra: How do these ideas work in the novel? Department of Hitler Studies World’s Most Photographed Barn Airborne Toxic Event Babette on TV What other examples?