Module SOC3110 for 2021/2
- Overview
- Aims and Learning Outcomes
- Module Content
- Indicative Reading List
- Assessment
Undergraduate Module Descriptor
SOC3110: Consumption and Society
This module descriptor refers to the 2021/2 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.
On successfully completing the programme you will be able to: | |
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Module-Specific Skills | 1. 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 detailed understanding of how subjectivities are constructed through and performed in consumption; |
Discipline-Specific Skills | 4. Demonstrate an analytical understanding of Sociology, taking into account different sociological perspectives, modes of social analysis and their concomitant theoretical and conceptual frameworks. 5. Conceptualise social, psychological and personal issues in a specifically sociological manner. |
Personal and Key Skills | 6. Competently develop and deploy argument, grounded in theoretical frameworks and empirical evidence; 7. Demonstrate a capacity to focus on and comprehend complex texts, and identify problems of reliability in empirical evidence 8. Digest, select and organise material for written work and oral presentations, and write to set word length; 9. Participate confidently and competently in oral discussions; 10. Undertake independent research and capacity to work to deadlines; |
Module Content
Syllabus Plan
Whilst the module’s precise content may vary from year to year, it is envisaged that the syllabus will cover some or all of the following topics:
- The rise of consumer culture
- Consumption as distinction
- Consumption and the self
- Sites of consumption
- Advertising
- Consumption and the environment
- Anti-consumerism/alternative consumption
Learning and Teaching
This table provides an overview of how your hours of study for this module are allocated:
Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activities | Guided independent study | Placement / study abroad |
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24 | 126 | 0 |
...and this table provides a more detailed breakdown of the hours allocated to various study activities:
Category | Hours of study time | Description |
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Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activities | 22 | 11 x 2 hour lecture/seminars will consist of a lecture element introducing key theories and issues and a seminar element |
Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activities | 2 | Examination revision session |
Guided Independent Study | 36 | Readings for seminars |
Guided independent study | 10 | Preparation for seminar presentation |
Guided independent study | 40 | Researching and writing the essay |
Guided independent study | 40 | Readings and revisions for examinations |
Online Resources
This module has online resources available via ELE (the Exeter Learning Environment).