Undergraduate Module Descriptor

SOC2110: Consumption and Society

This module descriptor refers to the 2023/4 academic year.

Module Aims

This module will provide you with an understanding of a distinctive characteristic of developed capitalist societies, namely the central role that consumption plays in the reproduction of social class and the construction of individual identities. The module will enable you to analyse and interpret the ways that consumption itself and the discourse of consumerism pervade all aspects of contemporary social life.

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

This module's assessment will evaluate your achievement of the ILOs listed here – you will see reference to these ILO numbers in the details of the assessment for this module.
On successfully completing the programme you will be able to:
Module-Specific Skills1. Demonstrate competence in working with diverse theoretical and empirical approaches to consumerism;
2. Demonstrate knowledge of some of the recent developments in the world consumption from a sociological and/or social anthropological perspective;
3. Demonstrate a foundational understanding of how subjectivities are constructed through and performed in consumption;
Discipline-Specific Skills4. Demonstrate an analytical understanding of Sociology and/or Anthropology, taking into account different sociological and anthropological perspectives, some modes of social analysis and some of their concomitant theoretical and conceptual frameworks;
5. Demonstrate a foundational ability to conceptualise social, cultural, psychological and personal issues in a specifically sociological and/or anthropological manner;
Personal and Key Skills6. Develop and deploy argument, grounded in theoretical frameworks and empirical evidence;
7. Identify problems of reliability and bias in empirical evidence;
8. Demonstrate a capacity to focus on and comprehend complex texts, and identify problems of reliability in empirical evidence
9. Participate in oral discussions with growing confidence and competence;
10. Undertake independent research and capacity to work to deadlines;