The course was organized in March – June 2022 on Zoom by Stockholm Business School.
Course description:
The aim of course is to introduce early-stage doctoral students in marketing and business studies to the field of Consumer Culture Theory (CCT). Over the last couple of decades, CCT has established itself as one of the core areas within Consumer Research and Marketing. It is not limited to this area, however, as CCT scholars are not only publishing within marketing but also within organization studies, critical management studies, sociology, and political philosophy.
CCT is a heterogeneous research domain including alternative approaches, theories and methods in order to understand marketing and consumption phenomena, as well as the creation and emergence of markets. Furthermore, CCT gives fresh, theoretical perspectives on many of the large challenges societies are struggling with in the world––climate change, immigration, political polarization and global pandemics––challenges that future business leaders must understand. CCT is inspired by theoretical perspectives from the social sciences and humanities more broadly, such as anthropology, sociology and cultural studies. Within CCT, these perspectives are applied to critically assess issues such as the creation of businesses and markets, marketing communication, trend research and consumer-driven innovation, but also to gain mature reflections upon the role of businesses in the world and consumer society. Having completed the course students will have gotten an overview of the key theoretical inspirations drawn upon in CCT research, as well as the methodological approaches that tend to dominate CCT research.
The course presents different facets of CCT by offering an intellectually challenging journey through the modern history of consumption and production, into the present, and further on into possible futures.
