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This module offers you the opportunity to study marketing from a more critical perspective. Topics covered include:
1. the value of critical thinking in marketing education and practice (the importance of asking questions and thinking about new ways of doing things)
2. Why we consume: using theories and ideas from sociology you will learn why consumption is so central to western economies, and how it contributes to the creation of consumers' self-identity
3. What are the links between consumerism, gender and identity? Specifically we will look at the ways the male consumer has changed and developed.
4. Our lecture on postmodernism explores the links between marketing and advertising, and the chaotic, confused, and rapidly changing world characteristic of western economies.
5. Our lecture on gender stereotypes and advertising communications will help you to understand one of the key ways in which patriarchy impacts on our culture and consciousness.
6. Consumer tribes / brand tribe theories are at the heart of new ideas for understanding consumers and consumerism. You'll find out what these are, and how consumers work to actively create their image and self-indentity

LO1: identify and explain what is meant by modern capitalist / consumer society and the role of marketing within that society.
LO2: to reflect critically on the significance and consequences of marketing within modern capitalist / consumer society.
LO3: analyse the ways in which marketing both shapes and responds to the economic, political, social and cultural needs of modern capitalist / consumer societies.
LO4: develop and apply academic reading and writing skills, critical thinking, and qualitative research methods