This module provides a contemporary interpretation of the emerging geographies of consumption. It addresses the development of the new practices and spaces of consumption that characterise contemporary societies. It provides an overview of the theories and concepts used to discuss consumer culture by addressing the changes in spaces of consumption and consumption practices in the UK, in the rest of Europe, in other industrialised countries as well as in emerging economies and poorer countries over the last decades. The ways in which we buy and use materials and services are inextricable from the shaping of both our everyday lives and of contemporary societies. From constructions of identity and models of human wellbeing to issues of social equality and environmental sustainability, debates around consumption illuminate critical perspectives on contemporary societies and cultures. This module explores key contemporary geographical perspectives on consumption, linking critical insights and theoretical perspectives to our own practices and experiences.

1. Compare and contrast different ways of theorising consumption
2. Critically assess the techniques through which different actors attempt to shape markets and spaces to encourage consumption
3. Evaluate the impacts of new technologies in shaping consumption patterns
4. Assess some of the causes and environmental impacts of western consumption patterns
5. Ways in which consumption constructs social identities (e.g. woman, children)

The module involves the following methods of learning and teaching:

This module will be based on a combination of lectures, seminars and workshops. Seminars will be organised every week to discuss assigned readings that are relevant to the topic covered in class. There will be local fieldwork excursions to supermarkets and malls and students will be asked to bring in specific objects and key goods (e.g. sample of celebrity culture, adverts, ethically labelled products, junk food, luxury products etc...),  to engage their own personal experiences into the lecture course (workshops).

A blog on Consumer Culture will be established at the beginning of the module and maintained through the lifetime of the module. Students will be invited to contribute to the blog. Essential background reading and other material will be made available via Learning Central

Subject-related skills.

1. Analytically assess different ethical arguments in consumption practices;
2. Use case study materials to develop broader understandings of geographical, socio-economic, and ethical issues in consumption;
3. Develop strategies for understanding and tackling the impact of consumption practices on social and natural global systems;

Transferable skills:

1. Analyse complex arguments;
2. Use case study materials to develop broader arguments;
3. Present complex arguments using case study data in class settings;
4. Presentation skills and qualitative methods of research, namely auto-ethnography, participant observation, food diaries, shopping journeys diaries.
5. Develop  a critical understanding of the many factors affecting consumption issues.

Values and attitudes:

1. Appreciation of the need for a reflective awareness, and a constructively critical attitude to empirical and theoretical claims;
2. Sensibility to the consequences of practices for diverse subjects;
3. Sensibility to gender, age and lifestyle issues;
4. Curiosity for new ways of interrogating dominant trends and practices;
5. Willingness to debate their views in class;

Subject-related skills.

1. Analytically assess different ethical arguments in consumption practices;
2. Use case study materials to develop broader understandings of geographical, socio-economic, and ethical issues in consumption;
3. Develop strategies for understanding and tackling the impact of consumption practices on social and natural global systems;

Transferable skills:

1. Analyse complex arguments;
2. Use case study materials to develop broader arguments;
3. Present complex arguments using case study data in class settings;
4. Presentation skills and qualitative methods of research, namely auto-ethnography, participant observation, food diaries, shopping journeys diaries.
5. Develop  a critical understanding of the many factors affecting consumption issues.

Values and attitudes:

1. Appreciation of the need for a reflective awareness, and a constructively critical attitude to empirical and theoretical claims;
2. Sensibility to the consequences of practices for diverse subjects;
3. Sensibility to gender, age and lifestyle issues;
4. Curiosity for new ways of interrogating dominant trends and practices;
5. Willingness to debate their views in class;

There will be 2 summative assessments supported by a formative assessment (workshop) in week 10: The workshop will be dedicated to the student presentation of environmentally or socially relevant practices of consumption.

Type of assessment

%

Contribution

Title

Duration
(if applicable)

Approx. date of Assessment

Essay (max 2000 words)

50%

The essay will address the role of consumption practices.

End of the semester

Exam

50%

1.5 hours

End of the semester

The potential for reassessment in this module

Students are permitted to be reassessed in a module which they have failed, in line with the course regulations. The reassessment will usually take place during the summer.

1.Introduction to Geography of consumption. The emergence of Consumer Culture.

2.The flow of goods and the new spaces of consumption;

3. Why do we consume and how do we decide what to consume? Consumption as communication;

4. Ordinary and Ethical Consumption, Political consumerism;

5. The materiality of consumption, the materiality of shopping;         

6. Dematerialization of consumption: the case of the music industry;          

7. Making markets: the shaping of product qualities and product life-spans by ‘supply side’ actors;           

8. The changing place of retail space: malls, waterfronts, stores and the home;    

9.  Assessing concepts of waste, disposal and value in food retail and consumer electronics    

10. Workshop with student presentations.

Bell, D. and Valentine, G. (1997) Consuming Geographies, we are where we eat, London: Routledge.

Bourdieu, P. (1984) Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgement of Taste, Cambridge (Massachusettes): Harvard University Press.

Busch, L., (2011) Standards, Recipes for Realities (Infrastructures). The MIT Press, Cambridge, MA.

Callon, M., Méadel, C., Rabeharisoa, V., (2002) The economy of qualities. Economy and Society 31 (2), 194–217.

de Certeau, M., L. Giard and P. Mayol, trans T.J.Tomasik (1988) The Practices of Everyday Life. Volume 2: Living and Cooking, , Minnesota University Press, Minneapolis

Cooper T. (Ed) (2010) Longer lasting products: alternatives to the throwaway society Gower: Farnham, Surrey, pp. 3-38

Domosh, M. (1996) ‘The feminized retail landscape:  gender, ideology, and consumer culture in nineteenth century New York City’, in

Gronow, J. and Warde, A. (2001) (eds). Ordinary consumption. Routledge, London.

McMeekin, A., K. Green., M. Tomlinson., & V. Walsh. (Eds.) (2002) Innovation by Demand: an interdisciplinary approach to the study of

demand and its role in innovation (Manchester University Press: Manchester)

Miller, D. (1998) A Theory of Shopping (Polity Press, Cambridge)

Shield, R. (1992) Lifestyle Shopping: The Subject of Consumption, London: Sage.

Wrigley, N and Lowe, M S (eds) Retailing, Consumption and Capital (London: Addison-Wesley Longman), 257-70.