Consumption, Markets and Culture

Module description

*Please note this module descriptor is for the 21/22 academic year*

Summary:

This module will equip future marketing practitioners with the skills and knowledge to understand the interactions that occur between the market, consumers and the marketplace. The focus of this module centres on cultural approaches to understanding the relationship between consumers and brands. By focusing on key themes such as trust, choice and sustainability we will explore marketing in its historical and socio-cultural context.

A key part of our approach will be the Book Club. With a choice of popular texts, the Book Club will seek to understand, explore and share our understanding of some of the fundamental themes that impact upon marketing in the 21^st century.  

Sustainability:

A key consideration to consumption practices is the notion of sustainability. In this course we will consider the ethics surrounding consumption practices and its relationship to sustainable environments.

Full module specification

Module aims

This module will equip future marketing practitioners with the skills and knowledge to understand the interactions that occur between the market, consumers and the marketplace. By examining the core themes that underpin modern consumption, students will gain a rich and deep understanding of consumer needs, marketplace practices and future challenges.

ILO: Module-specific skills

• 1. have an understanding of marketing not just as a management practice but also as highly influential and intersecting with political, economic, technological and societal issues;
• 2. devise, sustain and justify arguments relating to broader social issues relevant to marketing practice;
• 3. have a clear grasp of a wide range of literature and debates associated with consumption, markets and culture;
• 4. recognise the significance of particular theoretical and/or practical strands within recent marketing research.

ILO: Discipline-specific skills

• 5. bring original ideas, and make some novel links between academic literature of a wide variety of forms and traditions;
• 6. relate theories to specific case studies, research data, literature bases and also to mainstream political, cultural and popular discourse;
• 7. sketch relatively large academic debates with clarity and coherence.

ILO: Personal and key skills

• 8. have the practical ability to analyse, communicate and present ideas, theories and principles;
• 9. have the initiative and ability to make connections and synthesise ideas and issues from a much larger body of work;
• 10. develop independent/self-directed learning skills, including time management, working to deadlines, and keeping abreast of a wide range of literature.

Learning activities and teaching methods (given in hours of study time)

Details of learning activities and teaching methods

Formative assessment

Summative assessment (% of credit)

Details of summative assessment

Details of re-assessment (where required by referral or deferral)

Syllabus plan

Indicative learning resources - Basic reading

Potential texts include:

Smart, B (2010) Consumer Society: critical Issues and environmental consequences. Sage. London

Sanborn, F.W. and Harris R.J. (2019) A Cognitive Psychology of Mass Communication: Second Edition. Routledge:Abingdon

Example Book Group texts include:

Carr, N G.(2010) The shallows :what the Internet is doing to our brains.  New York : W.W. Norton,

Schwartz, B. (2004) The paradox of choice : why more is less. New York :Ecco.

Botsman, R. (2018) Who can you trust. London: Penguin Books

Cialdini, R. B. (1993). Influence: Science and practice (3rd ed.). New York, NY, US: HarperCollins College Publishers.

Module has an active ELE page?

Yes

Origin date

17/07/2014

Last revision date

25/01/2021