Course Resources Archive

Recent scientific evidence on the impact of consumption on climate change and depleting resources has caused commentators to argue that the desires and consumption levels of individuals in the west has resulted in mankind ‘living in the shadow of its own annihilation’. We will explore why consumers do and do not choose to consume to preserve our planet and to improve the life chances of human beings. Should consumers have a responsibility to reduce their consumption impacts? Or is this the responsibility of governments and industry? In so doing we will also explore to what extent marketing is culpable for this problem and can it be part of the ‘solution’? There are no absolute right answers to any of these questions. Hence we will spend our time exploring and discussing consumption within a broad context including consumer sovereignty, equality, aspirations, environmental responsibility, ethics, materialism and corporate responsibility.

Scoping the ‘Consumption Problem’:

• The impact of human behaviour on the climate and resources of our planet.
• Overconsumption and consumer accountability.
• Critiquing economic growth as a doctrine for human progress.
• Corporate and marketing responsibility and ethics.

Exploring Greener and Non-Green Consumers:

• Exploring personal values, morality and ethics as foundations of environmentally responsible consumption.
• Unpacking the consumption needs, wants and desires of consumerism.
• Navigating personality, identity and the ‘meaning’ of possessions.
• Examining the relationships between attitudes and behaviour in explaining greener and non-green consumption.
• Evaluating the connections between consumers’ environmental knowledge, understanding and their cognitive deliberation, and the consequences for their consumption choices.

The Challenge of Behaviour Change:

• Confronting the Problem. Why do consumers behave in the way they do? What are the barriers preventing behaviour change?
• Towards a Paradigm Shift. Exploring potential ‘solutions’ to begin to overcome these barriers.  This will include an appraisal of the responsibilities of individual consumers themselves, marketers and business leaders and policy-makers.

This curriculum will be illustrated throughout with examples from marketing, including product innovation, strategy, communications and branding.

1.  Engage with the current debates surrounding consumerism and marketing and environmental and societal responsibility.
2. Identify and evaluate the core evidence explaining why consumers do and do not consume in an environmentally responsible and societal way.
3. Identify and assess the barriers – both individual and organisational - that obstruct the adoption of more environmentally-responsible and societal consumption.
4. Appraise potential solutions that could facilitate the adoption of more responsible consumption in the future.
5. Analyse and problem-solve through critique of evidence and arguments using a variety of sources including case studies, journal articles and media, e.g documentaries.
6. Critically assemble and present evidence-based arguments from their independent, active learning to both their tutors and their peer group.

The Library Catalogue contains full details of the current reading list for this module. Further details may also be found in the Module Guide.