Topic outline

  • General

    • Announcements Forum
    • Detailed Syllabus Folder
    • Readings Folder
    • Session 1: Introduction Folder

      In this session I will introduce the module, provide a general overview and explain the assessment. Then we will address the Domain of Consumption and have some discussion around whether consumption is a force for good or evil.

    • Session 2: The Nature of Culture Folder

      In this session we will begin to appreciate culture as comprised of blueprints for action and for understanding that shape the activities of members. We will also look at what it means to suggest that there is a Consumer Culture.

    • Session 3 Folder

      In this session we will address the four key research streams within Consumer Culture Theory

    • Session 4: Three Metaphors of the Consumer Folder

      In this session we will address the consumer from the perspective of three different metaphors. Each metaphor sheds light on some characteristic of the consumer while hiding others.

    • Session 5: Cultural Meaning & Meaning Transfer Folder

      In this session we look at how meaning is transferred to products, services, ideas and experiences

    • Assignment 1: Significant Object Essay
    • Session 6: Researching Consumer Culture Folder

      In this session we will address the role of ethnographic approaches in researching culture. We begin to understand culture by observing and participating in it.

    • Assignment 3 Groups File PDF
    • The Consumer As Identity Seeker Folder

      In this session we will explore the issue of identity, understanding it in three ways: ascribed identity, achieved identity, and the identity project.

    • Session 8: The Consumer As Culture Producer Folder

      In this session we will look at how consumers go about forming their own communities in society using consumption as a fulcrum for their interaction.

    • Session 9: The Consumer As Enactor of Social Roles Folder

      In this session we will dress how consumption is used to express and remake sociological categories like class, gender, ethnicity and so on.

    • Assignment 2: Experiential Essay
    • Session 10: Consumers As Interpretive Agents Folder

      In this session we will look at questions of ideology in marketing and consumer research.

    • Session 11 Folder

      In this session we continue our discussion around how we might research culture and also how we might begin to engage in a multisensory way.

    • Session 12: The Embodied Consumer Folder

      In this session we will look at notions of the body as natural, socially constructed, and lived.

    • Readings For Assignment 3 Folder
    • Session 13: Cultural ~Strategy Folder
    • Assignment 3: Consumption in the Movies

      Working in groups (4 members per group) you are required to choose a movie with significant coverage of, or commentary on, Consumer Culture. In class, groups will ‘perform’ an excerpt from the movie (3-5 minutes) and delver a 10-minute presentation (with a printout of all slides) offering a critical analysis of the movie with respect to consumption issues. This presentation should be accompanied by a 6-page critical paper (plus references).