SOC255 Consumption and urban development

Faculty of Social Studies
Autumn 2010
Extent and Intensity
1/1/0. 6 credit(s). Type of Completion: zk (examination).
Teacher(s)
doc. Mgr. Slavomíra Ferenčuhová, Ph.D. (lecturer)
Guaranteed by
doc. PhDr. Ing. Radim Marada, Ph.D.
Division of Sociology – Department of Sociology – Faculty of Social Studies
Contact Person: Ing. Soňa Enenkelová
Timetable
Wed 14:00–15:40 U34
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is only offered to the students of the study fields the course is directly associated with.

The capacity limit for the course is 40 student(s).
Current registration and enrolment status: enrolled: 0/40, only registered: 0/40
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
there are 11 fields of study the course is directly associated with, display
Course objectives
The course is focused on studies of consumption in the cities and on the “consumption of cities” (Jayne 2006). The practices of consumption are introduced in connection with the growth of modern and postmodern cities. At the same time, we attempt at discussing the ways in which the cities - their representations and materialities - become both places and objects of consumption. Besides proposing an overview of academic production theorizing cities and consumption in (predominantly) anglo-american context, the students will get familiar also with the texts that focus on cities in the Central and Eastern Europe.
The aim of the course is to teach the students about the core works on consumption and consumer society in their interconnection with urban life in the 20th and 21st centuries. It also aims at training the students in understanding the texts and proposing reasoned critiques of the readings.
The practical seminars and homework require independent search for information in order to develop cogent arguments.
Syllabus
  • Bloc 1: Introducing the concepts: city, consumption, (post)modernity
  • Bloc 2: Cities, consumption, identity and everyday life
  • Bloc 3: Consumption of the urban: consumption and urban regeneration
  • Bloc 4: Inequality, discipline, alternative consumption, and protest
Literature
    required literature
  • JAYNE, Mark. Cities and consumption. Abingdon: Routledge, 2006, xii, 244. ISBN 0415327342. info
  • MILES, Steven. Consumerism : a way of life. 1st pub. London: SAGE Publications, 1998, 174 s. ISBN 0761952152. info
    not specified
  • SLATER, Don. Consumer culture and modernity. 1st pub. Cambridge: Polity Press, 1997, 230 s. ISBN 0-7456-0304-1. info
Teaching methods
lectures, class discussion, homework, readings, interpretative excercise
Assessment methods
2 short essays during semester
final essay
Language of instruction
Czech
Further Comments
The course is taught annually.
The course is also listed under the following terms Autumn 2011.
  • Enrolment Statistics (Autumn 2010, recent)
  • Permalink: https://is.muni.cz/course/fss/autumn2010/SOC255