Competencies and objectives

 

Course context for academic year 2022-23

There is no doubt that in today's advanced societies consumption is much more than a social activity like any other. Actually, it represents the most transversal phenomenon in these societies. And not only that. It constitutes the essence of them. It is not by chance, therefore, that these societies are named. They are thus constituted as consumer societies. But today with the term consumption we should not refer only to products and material objects. First of all, nowadays, ideas and meanings infinitely created by advertising are consumed. In this way, consumption and advertising are today the same thing. We therefore speak of the consumption-advertising system. This system thus constitutes the authentic sustaining axis of the compulsory subject entitled Sociology of Consumption of the third year of the Marketing Degree of the UA.

For all that has been said, the current consumer society, perhaps the most complex of all, apart from its material and productive dimension, has, like current capitalism, a fundamentally semantic nature. Hence, its enormous capacity to continually redefine itself based on the different socio-historical contexts of the contemporary age. With the sole condition of maintaining the principle of extracting value, collectively generated, in the form of surplus value in favor of a minority, capitalism and the consumer society adapt, within an order, to any spatio-temporal circumstance.

As a consequence, concepts such as social classes, politics, groups or social organizations, so useful in sociology's understanding of industrial society, must be integrated with the sociological analysis of the consumption-advertising system, which is much more explanatory. of today's postmodern society. The sociology of the object and the satisfaction of needs, typical of industrial societies, evolves towards a sociology of the symbolic and the semantic in today's consumer society. The object converted into a sign endorses the transition from a society, such as the industrial one, based on merchandise and the satisfaction of needs, to one based on significance, such as that of consumption. The object converted into a sign has raised the latter from the real to the mythological. The consumer society itself is a myth. Everything is possible just by defining it. Happiness, defined by advertising, is the backbone of this society. The mere idea of consumption, constituted in foundational myth, configures the very social essence. It is not real enjoyment, but the anticipation of future pleasure and happiness that generates the social integration of individuals. It is not necessary to generate a social change in reality, it is enough to define it in advertising. If the consumption of objects, mass-produced from industrial society, is necessary for the satisfaction of material needs in any society, what defines the consumer society is the idea of consumption.

Therefore, the sociological analysis of the consumption-advertising system, apart from the development of a more accessible, immediate and economical perspective in terms of effort and time in order to understand the consumer society, constitutes a perfect means of social contextualization for the Marketing Degree. Yes, because as a tool for promoting product sales framed in marketing, advertising, a co-substantial element of consumption, has not only been emancipated from marketing, but has become the communicative essence of our societies.

 

 

Course content (verified by ANECA in official undergraduate and Master’s degrees) for academic year 2022-23

Transversal Competences

  • CT1 : Llegir i comunicar-se en l'àmbit professional en un idioma estranger, especialment en anglés.
  • CT2 : Usar habitualment les eines informàtiques i les tecnologies de la informació i les comunicacions en tot l'exercici professional.
  • CT3 : Capacitat de comunicació oral i escrita.

 

Specific Competences

  • CE11 : Comprendre el procés de direcció estratègica de l'empresa.
  • CE25 : Conèixer les teories sociològiques sobre el consum i entendre les motivacions de consum en la societat i la influència de l'entorn en el consumidor.
  • CE6 : Entendre les institucions econòmiques com el resultat i l'aplicació de representacions teòriques o formals sobre el funcionament de l'economia.

 

Competencias Básicas y Generales:>>Generales

  • CG1 : Adquirir capacitat per a la cercar i analitzar informació rellevant que permeta interpretar l'evolució dels mercats de béns i serveis i formular una estratègia de màrqueting.
  • CG2 : Ser capaç de treballar en equip, liderar-lo i motivar-lo, durant el treball professional, en la direcció de màrqueting.
  • CG3 : Ser capaç d'aprendre per a emprendre estudis posteriors de màrqueting i recerca de mercats, amb un alt grau d'autonomia.
  • CG5 : Ser capaç de prendre decisions empresarials i en la direcció de màrqueting, aplicant els coneixements a la pràctica des d'una perspectiva interdisciplinària i integradora de coneixements.
  • CG6 : Ser capaç de derivar informació rellevant, impossible de reconèixer per no professionals, a partir de dades socioeconòmiques.
  • CG7 : Comprometre's amb l'ètica i la responsabilitat social en el treball, respectant el medi ambient, coneixent i comprenent la importància del respecte als drets fonamentals, la igualtat d'oportunitats entre homes i dones, l'accessibilitat universal per a les persones amb discapacitat i el respecte als valors propis d'una cultura de pau i valors democràtics.
  • CG8 : Analitzar els problemes, en l'àmbit dels mercats i el màrqueting estratègic, amb raonament crític, sense prejudicis, amb precisió i rigor.
  • CG9 : Mostrar capacitat de síntesi en l'anàlisi dels entorns econòmics i empresarials i a l'hora d'emetre judicis basats en les dades obtingudes.

 

 

 

Learning outcomes (Training objectives)

No data

 

 

Specific objectives stated by the academic staff for academic year 2022-23

The basic objective of any subject is the development of a series of skills by the student. In this subject of Sociology of Consumption, the aim is to develop the following skills:

SUBJECT COMPETENCIES
This subject develops two types of competences, and, within each of them, the following:
Among the transversal or general competences -those that transcend between the different subjects, subjects or degrees- the Sociology of Consumption develops the following:

- Oral and written communication (CT1)
- Capacity for organization and planning (CT2)
- Capacity for analysis and synthesis (CT3)
- Development of critical and self-critical thinking (CT6)
- Ability to work in a team (CT7).

Among the specific competences -those involved in the development of the object of study of the subject- there are different kinds of competence. In the first place, the specific competences of disciplinary training (knowledge) can be considered. These competences are those that are presented in the last epigraph of this field as objectives of the subject. The second type is the specific skills of vocational training (know how). They are those that, based on cooperative learning, the teaching methodology used in the subject, develop professional or instrumental skills. Basically the following work:
- Mastery of social research methods and techniques.
- Ability to apply fundamental qualitative and quantitative methods and techniques of social research.
- Management of a correct vocabulary from a sociological point of view.

Finally, the specific competences of personal training (knowing how to be) -those resulting from learning experiences- practically converge with the transversal competences, already mentioned. They are, therefore, the least specific within this second type. Perhaps the most notable is the development of Information Management Capacity.

SUBJECT OBJECTIVES
- Know the fundamentals of Sociology.
- Know the fundamental sociological concepts.
- Know the basic characteristics that define sociology as a scientific discipline and its object of study.
- Interpret social reality from a sociological perspective.
- Know how to contextualize and explain social phenomena.
- Know the main sociological sociological perspectives on consumption and advertising.
- Develop a critical spirit towards consumption and what it means in today's societies.
- Know the evolution of the different sociological theories on consumption, both critical and legitimizing.
- Learn to produce and analyze relevant data to improve consumer knowledge.

 

 

General

Code: 21524
Lecturer responsible:
JAREÑO RUIZ, DIANA
Credits ECTS: 6,00
Theoretical credits: 1,20
Practical credits: 1,20
Distance-base hours: 3,60

Departments involved

  • Dept: SOCIOLOGY II
    Area: SOCIOLOGY
    Theoretical credits: 0,6
    Practical credits: 0,6
  • Dept: SOCIOLOGIA I
    Area: SOCIOLOGY
    Theoretical credits: 0,6
    Practical credits: 0,6
    This Dept. is responsible for the course.
    This Dept. is responsible for the final mark record.

Study programmes where this course is taught