Communication and discourse-centred traditions

About

Course Overview

In critical marketing and consumer research, discourse-centered tradition has a long history starting from the pioneering works of Eric Arnould, Russel Belk, Eileen Fischer, Elizabeth Hirschman, Morris Holbrook, Douglas Holt, Sidney Levy, John Sherry, Barbara Stern and Craig Thompson. Treated as a crossbreed between methodological and theoretical approaches, analysis of discourse has been productively used in explaining a variety of marketing and consumer culture phenomena from branding, market inclusions and exclusions to consumer subjectivity formation.

The course introduces participants to communication- and critical discourse-centered theoretical traditions in marketing and consumer research, explores different approaches and examines their fields of application.

This course specifically focuses on the foundational work of Mary Douglas, Jean Baudrillard, Michel Foucault, Mikhail Bakhtin, Roland Barthes, Niklas Luhmann, Reinhart Koselleck, and Terry Eagleton, among others, and tracks how they have been translated into the marketing and consumer research arenas.

Beyond the focus on theoretical foundations, participants will be encouraged to develop their academic skills by exploring how to apply discourse-centered theories into their own ongoing doctoral projects.

Teaching Approach and Evaluation

The teaching format will be blended, incorporating both in-person and online modules. Modules will consist of a mix of lectures, seminars, discussions of the assigned readings and/or discussion questions. Special slots will be dedicated to discussions of participants’ research projects.

Class participation (20% of final evaluation).

For each session, participants are expected to read the assigned readings and actively participate in class discussions.

In addition, students will be required to prepare one 10-minutes presentation that explains how the literature covered in a specific session could be used for their own doctoral research.

Final essay (80% of final evaluation).

Participants will be required to write a final individual paper (5000 words max. plus references; AI tools not permitted in write-up). The paper should focus on presenting their PhD project or one of the papers from a cumulative dissertation and explicitly connect to the theoretical approach covered in the course and incorporate specific references to one or more texts from the course literature

Course leader

Prof. Søren Askegaard (Danish Institute for Advanced Study, Southern Denmark University, DK); Prof. Luca M. Visconti (Institue of Marketing and Communication, Università della Svizzera italiana, CH); Dr. Ksenia Silchenko (Institue of Marketing and Communication, Università della Svizzera italiana, CH); Dr. Thomas Robinson (Bayes Business School, City St George's University of London, UK)

Target group

Participants are primarily PhD students and junior researchers from Switzerland and other countries working within the wider management discipline, including those focused on consumer culture, marketing, and organisation studies.

Course aim

1) to gain an understanding of key theoretical approaches to language and discourse in social sciences and how they are translated into marketing and consumer research arenas

2) to reflect on the differences between the different theories and their traditions

3) to develop critical and analytical skills

4) to enhance academic skills in applying the relevant theories to own research projects

Fee info