Social Structure and Consumer Sociology
Code: 103131Credits: 6
| Degree programme | Type | Course |
|---|---|---|
| Advertising and Public Relations | FB | 2 |
Contact lecturer
- Name :
- Lluís Sáez Giol
- Email :
- lluis.saez@uab.cat
Group languages
You can consult this information at the end of the document.
Prerequisites
Introductory subject. There are no prerequisites.
Objectives
Consumption is a fundamental cultural and economic practice. Students cannot confine themselves to understand it as the result of individual needs, desires and decisions, nor as the exclusive consequence of the intervention of powerful offer instances to demand. In this module we propose studying the use of goods in the context of society as a social interaction system and a social structure.
Our goal is to introduce a series of sociological theories and concepts in order to facilitate an approximation to the social dimension of consumption, and to initiate some ways to approach reality of contemporary consumption empirically, in order to see these conceptual apparatuses shown as theories of consumption practices.
Learning outcomes
- CM06 (Correlate the impact of the consumer society on the configuration of social structure and lifestyles.) Correlate the impact of the consumer society on the configuration of social structure and lifestyles.
- KM07 (Identify the sociological theories that explain consumer habits in Western society.) Identify the sociological theories that explain consumer habits in Western society.
- SM07 (To demonstrate from a sociological perspective that consumer needs, habits and desires are socially constructed.) To demonstrate from a sociological perspective that consumer needs, habits and desires are socially constructed.
Contents
1. The place from which we will look at the consumption: the sociological perspective.
2. Social and historical specificity of consumption.
3. Overview of some of the fundamental sociological inputs for the study of consumption.
4. The consumption of merchandises.
5. The consumption of signs and symbols.
6. Consumption and the search for identity.
7. Consumption and social position.
The course content will be sensitive to issues related to gender perspective and the use of inclusive language.
A detailed schedule outlining the content of each session will be presented on the first day of the course and will be available on the course’s Virtual Campus, where students will find the various teaching materials deemed appropriate by the instructors and necessary information for effective course monitoring. Should the teaching modality change for reasons of force majeure according to the competent authorities, the teaching staff will inform students of any modifications to the course schedule and teaching methodologies.
Learning activities and methodology
| Title | Hours | ECTS | Learning outcomes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lessons, seminars, task orientation. | 48 | 1.92 | CM06, KM07, SM07 |
| Reading and study. Small researches. Elaboration of evidences. | 80 | 3.2 | CM06, SM07 |
| Individual meetings or in small groups to resolve doubts and prepare and follow up study, small researches and class exhibitions. | 7.25 | 0.29 | CM06, SM07 |
| Evaluation | 3.5 | 0.14 | CM06, KM07, SM07 |
Methodology
a. Lectures
b. Group work
c. Practical exercises
d. Final exam
Throughout the sessions, an environment will be promoted that prevents sexist, racist, and LGBT-phobic comments or examples.
Assessment
Continuous assessment activities
| Title | Weight | Hours | ECTS | Learning outcomes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Practical Exercises | 10% | 3.75 | 0.15 | CM06, KM07, SM07 |
| Group project | 40% | 3.75 | 0.15 | CM06, KM07, SM07 |
| Final Exam | 50% | 3.75 | 0.15 | CM06, KM07, SM07 |
1.Ordinary (continuous) assessment
The subject will be assessed as follows:
a) Group project (max. 4–5 students)
b) Practical Exercises
c) Final exam
To be weighted with the other grades, both the final exam grade and the group project grade must be at least 4 out of 10.
The instructor will provide guidance on all practicals, assessments, and evidence submissions during the course.
Other considerations
- Recovery: allowed for all the failed evaluative evidences (a, b and c) if 2/3 of assessment has been completed. In the event of passing, the grade for each retaken component will be 5 out of 10.
- In the evaluation record, only those individuals who have not completed the assessment activities corresponding to 50% of the grade will receive a 'not assessable'.
2.Single assessment
The single assessment will take place on a single assessment date. On that date, students who have opted for this mode must take the written exam (50%) and submit the research paper (40%) and the exercises (10%).
Other considerations
- Recovery: allowed for all the failed evaluative evidences. In the event of passing, the grade for each retaken component will be 5 out of 10.
- In the evaluation record, only those individuals who have not completed the assessment activities corresponding to 50% of the grade will receive a 'not assessable'.
3.Second enrollment
From the second enrollment onwards, the assessment for the course may consist of a comprehensive exam designed to evaluate the learning outcomes specified in the course syllabus. In this case, the final course grade will be based on the result of this comprehensive exam. Details regarding the exam will be communicated in due course to students who choose this assessment option.
4.Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) – Restricted Use:
For this course, the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies is permitted exclusively for the development of assignments, and only for support tasks such as bibliographic or information searches, text correction, or translations. The student must clearly identify which parts have been generated using this technology, specify the tools used, and include a critical reflection on how these tools have influenced the process and the final outcome of the activity. Lack oftransparency in the use of AI in this graded activity will be considered a breach of academic integrity and may result in a partial or total penalty on the grade for the activity, or more severe sanctions in serious case.
5.Copying, plagiarism, impersonation and other irregularities:
The performance of any irregularity in an evaluation act (academic fraud, plagiarism or improper use of AI, unless this use is expressly authorized by the teaching guide),
which may lead to a significant variation in the grade, assumes that this act will be graded with a 0. In the event that the teaching guide foresees that in order to pass the
subject it is an essential requirement to have obtained a minimum grade in this evaluation act or that there are several irregularities in the evaluation acts of the same
subject, the final grade of this subject is 0. Apart from this, a disciplinary process may be instructed to the student that incurs any of these irregularities.
6.Action in cases of suspected irregularities
Any student suspected of submitting assignments that have been generated by AI, written by others or copied; include unattributed AI-generated content, or fall outside the permitted scope, may be asked to provide the preliminary work or other materials that can demonstrate it is original work and the result of their own authorship. They may also be asked to separately explain or justify their work. Teachers may also use AI detection systems or carry out any verification tasks they deem appropriate. If, after review, the instructor detects irregularities, the assignment may be graded zero, and the student may be subject to further disciplinary action.
Bibliography
Aldridge, Alan E. (2003). Consumption. Polity Press.
Appadurai, Arjun (1991). La vida social de las cosas. Grijalbo.
Barthes, Roland Gérard (2003). El sistema de la moda y otros escritos. Paidós.
Bataille, Georges Albert Maurice Victor, et al. (2009). La parte maldita. Las Cuarenta.
Baudrillard, Jean (2005). Crítica de la economía política del signo. Siglo XXI.
Baudrillard, Jean (1976). La génesis ideológica de las necesidades. Anagrama.
Baudrillard, Jean (1974). La sociedad de consumo: Sus mitos, sus estructuras. Plaza & Janés.
Baudrillard, Jean (1999). El sistema de los objetos. Siglo XXI.
Baudrillard, Jean (1993). El intercambio simbólico y la muerte. Monte Ávila.
Bauman, Zygmunt (2000). En De la ética del trabajo a la estética del consumo, en Z. Bauman (Ed.), Trabajo, consumismo y nuevos pobres. Gedisa.
Bauman, Zygmunt (2007). Vida de consumo. Fondo de Cultura Económica. https://elibro.net/es/lc/uab/titulos/109484
Bell, Daniel (1982). Las contradicciones culturales del capitalismo. Alianza.
Berger, Peter Ludwig (2016). Invitación a la sociología. Herder.
Blum, Virginia L. (2005). Flesh wounds: The culture of cosmetic surgery. University of California Press.
Blumer, Herbert (1959). Fashion: From class differentiation to collective selection. Sociological Quarterly, 10(3), 275–291.
Bocock, Robert (1995). El consumo. Talasa.
Bourdieu, Pierre (1986). Notas provisionales sobre la percepción social del cuerpo. En Francisco Álvarez Uría & José Varela Ortega (Eds.), Materiales de sociología crítica. La Piqueta.
Bourdieu, Pierre (1998). La distinción: Criterios y bases sociales del gusto. Taurus.
Bourdieu, Pierre (2000). La dominación masculina. Anagrama.
Campbell, Colin (1995). The sociology of consumption. En Daniel Miller (Ed.), Acknowledging consumption. Routledge. https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/UAB/detail.action?docID=3060371
Campbell, Colin (1987). The romantic ethic and the spirit of modern consumerism. Basil Blackwell. https://link-springer-com.are.uab.cat/book/10.1007%2F978-3-319-79066-4
Cardús i Ros, Salvador (Ed.). (2014). La mirada del sociòleg: Què és, què fa, què diu la sociologia?. Editorial UOC. https://elibro.net/es/lc/uab/titulos/114061
Chaney, David (1996). Estilos de vida. Talasa Ediciones.
Contreras Hernández, Jesús (1995). Alimentación y cultura. Necesidades, gustos y costumbres. Universitat de Barcelona.
Contreras Hernández, Jesús (1992). Antropología de la alimentación. Ediciones de la Universidad Complutense de Madrid.
Corrigan, Peter (1997). The sociology of consumption: An introduction. Sage Publications.
De Certeau, Michel Jean Emmanuel (1996). La invención de lo cotidiano. Universidad Iberoamericana.
Douglas, Mary (1998). Estilos de pensar. Gedisa.
Douglas, Mary, & Isherwood, Baron (1990). El mundo de los bienes: Hacia una antropología del consumo. Grijalbo.
Dunn, Robert Glenn (2008). Identifying consumption: Subjects and objects in consumer society. Temple University Press. https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/UAB/detail.action?docID=407558
Edwards, Tim (2000). Contradictions of consumption: Concepts, practices and politics in consumer society. Open University Press.
Erner, Gabriel (2010). Sociología de las tendencias. Editorial Gustavo Gili. https://elibro.net/es/ereader/uab/45583?page=1
Entwistle, Joanne (2002). El cuerpo y la moda. Paidós.
Falk, Paul (1994). The consuming body. Sage. https://ebookcentral-proquest-com.are.uab.cat/lib/UAB/detail.action?docID=1024053#
Falk, Paul, & Campbell, Colin (1997). The shopping experience. Sage. https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/UAB/detail.action?docID=1001336
Featherstone, Mike (2000). Cultura de consumo y posmodernismo. Amorrortu.
Foucault, Michel (1978-1987). Historia de la sexualidad. Siglo XXI.
Fraser, Michelle, & Greco, Monica (2004). The body: A reader. Routledge.
Galbraith, John Kenneth (1992). La cultura de la satisfacción. Ariel.
Galbraith, John Kenneth (1969). La sociedad opulenta. Ariel.
Germov, John, & Williams, Lauren (Eds.) (2004). A sociology of food and nutrition: The social appetite. OUP Australia.
Game, Ann, et al. (2015). Sociología apasionada. Universitat Oberta de Catalunya. Digitalia. https://www-digitaliapublishing-com.are.uab.cat/a/37969
Giddens, Anthony (1995). Modernidad e identidad del yo. Península.
Grignon, Claude, & Passeron, Jean-Claude (1992). Lo culto y lo popular: Miserabilismo y populismo en sociología y literatura. La Piqueta.
Harris, Marvin (1998). Bueno para comer. Enigmas de alimentación y cultura. Alianza Editorial.
Hebdige, Dick (2004). Subcultura: El significado del estilo. Paidós Ibérica.
Herpin, Nicolas, & Verger, Dominique (2008). Consommation et modes de vie en France, une approche économique et sociologique sur un demi-siècle. Découverte.
Herpin, Nicolas (2010). Sociologie de la consommation. La Découverte.
Hilton, Matthew (2004). The legacy of luxury. Moralities of consumption since the 18th century. Journal of Consumer Culture, 4(1), 101–123.
Hine, Thomas (2002). ¡Me lo llevo! Una historia del shopping. Lumen.
Hochschild, Arlie Russell (2008). La mercantilización de la vida íntima: Apuntes de la casa y el trabajo. Katz.
Horkheimer, Max, & Adorno, Theodor W. (1994). Dialéctica de la Ilustración. Trotta.
Horne,John (2006). Sport in consumer culture. Palgrave Macmillan.
Instituto Nacional de Consumo (2001). Las tendencias del consumo y del consumidor en el siglo XXI. Ministerio de Sanidad y Consumo/Instituto Nacional de Consumo.
Jameson, Fredric (1998). El posmodernismo y la sociedad de consumo. En El giro cultural. Escritos seleccionados sobre el posmodernismo: 1983-1998. Ediciones Manantial.
Klein, Naomi (2001). NoLogo: El poder de las marcas. Paidós.
Lee, Ming-Jen (2000). The consumer society reader. Blackwell Publishers Inc.
Lipovetsky, Gilles (1994). El crepúsculo del deber. Anagrama.
Lipovetsky, Gilles (1990). El imperio de lo efímero: La moda y su destino en las sociedades modernas. Anagrama.
Lipovetsky, Gilles (1989). La era del vacío: Ensayos sobre el individualismo contemporáneo. Anagrama.
Lury, Celia (2001). Consumer culture. Polity Press.
Lury, Celia (2004). Brands: The logos of the global economy. Taylor & Francis Group. https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/UAB/detail.action?docID=182219
McCracken, Grant David (1990). Culture and consumption: New approaches to the symbolic character of consumer goods and activities. Indiana University Press.
Maffesoli, Michel (1990). El tiempo de las tribus. ICARIA.
Marcuse, Herbert (1972). L'home unidimensional. Edicions 62.
Marx, Karl (1991). Manuscrits econòmico-filosòfics. Edicions 62.
Mauss, Marcel (1991). Ensayo sobre los dones. Motivo y forma del cambio en las sociedades primitivas. En Sociología y Antropología. Tecnos.
Miguélez, Francesc, et al. (1997). Desigualtat i canvi: L'estructura social contemporània. Proa-UAB.
Miller, Daniel (Ed.) (1995). Acknowledging consumption. Routledge. https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/UAB/detail.action?docID=3060371
Miller, Daniel (1999). Ir de compras. Siglo XXI.
Pinçon, M., & Pinçon-Charlot, Monique. (1989). Dans les beaux quartiers. Paris: Seuil.
Polanyi, Karl. (1997). La gran transformación. Madrid: Ediciones la Piqueta.
Poulain, Jean-Pierre. (2019). Sociologías de la alimentación: los comensales y el espacio social alimentario. Editorial UOC. https://elibro.net/es/lc/uab/titulos/106129
Riesman, David, Glazer, Nathan, & Denney, Reuel. (1981). La muchedumbre solitaria. Barcelona: Paidós.
Ritzer, George. (2000). El encanto de un mundo desencantado. Revolución en los medios de consumo. Barcelona: Ariel.
Ritzer, George. (1999). La McDonalización de la sociedad: Un análisis de la racionalización en la vida cotidiana. Barcelona: Ariel.
Ritzer, George. (2001). Explorations in the sociology of consumption: Fast food, credit cards and casinos. London; Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE. https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/UAB/detail.action?docID=254783
Sassatelli, Roberta. (2012). Consumo, cultura y sociedad. Buenos Aires: Amorrortu Editores.
Sassatelli, Roberta. (2019). Italians and Food. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan. https://link-springer-com.are.uab.cat/book/10.1007/978-3-030-15681-7#about
Schor, Juliet, Holt, Douglas, & Douglas, Barrie (Eds.). (2000). The consumer society. New York: The New Press.
Simmel, Georg. (1986). Las grandes urbes y la vida del espíritu. En El individuo y la libertad. Ensayos de crítica de la cultura (pp. xx-xx). Barcelona: Península.
Simmel, Georg. (1977). Filosofía del dinero. Madrid: Instituto de Estudios Políticos.
Simmel, Georg. (1989). La moda. En Sobre la aventura. Ensayos filosóficos (pp. xx-xx). Barcelona: Península.
Slater, Don. (1997). Consumer culture and modernity. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Stillerman, Jonathan. (2015). The sociology of consumption: A global approach. Malden, MA: Polity Press.
Thompson, E. P. (Eric John). (1995). Costumbres en común. Barcelona: Crítica.
Turner, Bryan S. (1989). El cuerpo y la sociedad. Exploraciones en teoría social. México: Fondo de Cultura Económica.
Warde, Alan. (2017). Consumption: A sociological analysis. London: Palgrave Macmillan. https://link-springer-com.are.uab.cat/book/10.1057/978-1-137-55682-0#toc
Veblen, Thorstein. (1974). Teoría de la clase ociosa. México: Fondo de Cultura Económica. https://elibro.net/es/lc/uab/titulos/72032
Weber, Max. (1984). L'Ètica protestant i l'esperit del capitalisme. Barcelona: Edicions 62.
Wilson, Tony M. (2005). Drinking cultures, alcohol and identity. Berg.
Zelizer, Viviana. (1994). Pricing the priceless child: The changing social value of children. Princeton University Press.
Software
No specific software is required.
Course groups and languages
The information provided is provisional until November 30. After this date, you will be able to consult the language of each group through this link. To access the information, you will need to enter the course CODE
| Type of teaching | Group | Language | Semester | Shift |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| (TE) Theory | 5 | Catalan | first semester | afternoon |
| (SEM) Seminars | 51 | Catalan | first semester | afternoon |
| (SEM) Seminars | 52 | Catalan | first semester | afternoon |
| (SEM) Seminars | 53 | Catalan | first semester | afternoon |