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for a past academic year. Please see the current academic year for up to date information.
| Unit name |
Consumption, Consumer Culture and Sustainability |
| Unit code |
SOCI30103 |
| Credit points |
20 |
| Level of study |
H/6
|
| Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 1 (weeks 1 - 12)
|
| Unit director |
Dr. Jessica Paddock |
| Open unit status |
Not open |
| Pre-requisites |
None
|
| Co-requisites |
None
|
| School/department |
School of Sociology, Politics and International Studies |
| Faculty |
Faculty of Social Sciences and Law |
Description including Unit Aims
The impact that growing levels of consumption in the Global North has upon the environment has sparked much scholarly debate, policy initiatives, and civil society action. This unit explores and unpacks a variety of perspectives that theorise consumption, consumer culture and their environmental consequences. Beginning with Critical and Green Marxist scholarship, Post-Colonial Social Theory, Material Culture, and Theories of Practice, the unit equips the student to critically reflect upon the ‘problem’ of consumption. The unit reflects upon the potential to realise societal transition towards more sustainable ways of living in the future, paying attention to empirical areas of ‘ordinary’ consumption; energy, transport, food, and clothing.
Aims:
- Introduce students to theoretical frameworks utilised in social scientific thinking about the relationship between consumption, consumer culture and the environment.
- Develop students’ understanding of relationship between the practice of everyday life, consumer culture, and environmental sustainability.
- Encourage students to think critically about the potential to realise more sustainable ways of living through consumer practice, as currently framed by market, policy and civil society discourses of ‘behaviour change’.
Intended Learning Outcomes
On successful completion of the unit, students will be able to:
- Demonstrate familiarity with a range of conceptual frameworks that underpin social scientific thinking around the relationship between humans and nature.
- Utilise different theoretical frameworks to explore the relationship between consumption, and its social and environmental consequences.
- Critically consider the potential for societal transition towards more sustainable ways of living.
Teaching Information
1 hour lecture and 2 hour seminar per week
Assessment Information
Summative (25%): 1,500-word essay
Summative (75%): 3,000-word essay
Both assessments test all learning outcomes as listed above
Reading and References
- Harrison, R. Newholm, T. and Shaw, D. (2005) The Ethical Consumer. London: SAGE.
- Jackson, T. (2006) The Earthscan Reader in Sustainable Consumption. London: Earthscan.
- Lyon, S. and Moberg, M. (2010) Fair trade and social justice: global ethnographies. New York: New York University Press.
- Micheletti, M., Follesdal, A. and Stolle, D. (2007) Politics, Products and Markets: Exploring Political Consumerism Past and Present. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers.
- Miller, D. (2012) Consumption and its Consequences. Cambridge: Polity.
- Paddock, J. (2016) ‘Positioning Food Cultures: Alternative Food as Distinctive Consumer Practice’, Sociology. 50 (6) pp.1039-1055.
- Sassatelli, R. (2007) Consumer Culture: History, Theory, Politics. Cambridge: Polity.
- Warde, A. (2017) Consumption. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
