Module Code - Title:
MK6131
-
Consumption and Consumer Culture
Year Last Offered:
2025/6
Hours Per Week:
Grading Type:
N
Prerequisite Modules:
Rationale and Purpose of the Module:
The term æconsumer cultureÆ emphasises that the world of goods is central to the understanding of contemporary society. Therefore, this module explores the nature and dynamics of consumer culture and casts a critical eye over the business of consumption.
Syllabus:
Topics to be covered will include: the history of consumption; the emergence of contemporary consumption; consumption & production; the limits of consumption; high and low culture; affluence & disorder; the self in consumer culture; the consumer as chooser; the consumer as identity seeker; the consumer as hedonist; the consumer as victim; the consumer as rebel; the consumer as citizen.
Learning Outcomes:
Cognitive (Knowledge, Understanding, Application, Analysis, Evaluation, Synthesis)
Delineate the domain of consumer behaviour, including areas of interest to consumer behaviour researchers, policymakers, and marketers.
Illustrate and interpret their own and othersÆ consumption activities based on an integrated knowledge of consumer culture.
Investigate the connections between the self, significant others and material objects in a consumer society.
Challenge the accepted wisdom that the purchase process represents the core focus of consumer behaviour and acknowledge the critical importance of acquisition, consumption and disposition processes.
Affective (Attitudes and Values)
Differentiate between approaches to the study of consumption based on information processing, behavioural, and experiential accounts.
Psychomotor (Physical Skills)
Demonstrate how alternative meanings might come to be associated with consumption objects.
How the Module will be Taught and what will be the Learning Experiences of the Students:
Students will be taught using a combination of interactive lecture sessions and private study. The student learning experience will be structured using a combination of individual and group based assignments, and interactive discussions.
Research Findings Incorporated in to the Syllabus (If Relevant):
Prime Texts:
Arnould, E., L. Price and G. Zinkhan (2003)
Consumers
, McGraw Hill
Other Relevant Texts:
Gabriel, Y. and T. Lang. (1995)
The Unmanageable Consumer
, Sage
Slater, D. (1997)
Consumer Culture and Modernity
, Polity
Brown, S. and D. Turley (1997)
Consumer Research: Postcards from the Edge
, Routledge
Fuat Firat, A. and N. Dholakia (1998)
Consuming People
, Routledge
Programme(s) in which this Module is Offered:
Semester(s) Module is Offered:
Module Leader:
maurice.patterson@ul.ie