Consumption, Culture and Marketing MA

Royal Holloway, University of London

The course

The MA in Consumption, Culture & Marketing is an interdisciplinary masters programme that draws together content and teaching from both marketing and sociology. It is aimed at individuals who want to think intellectually about the world, enjoy being challenged and are curious about business practice. The knowledge and skills gained could help develop a range of professions including policy development, publishing, academia and, of course, marketing and commercial management.

This course looks in-depth at our consumer culture and seeks to understand it and will engage in a number of theoretical areas: branding, marketing, bio-power and neoliberalism. You will explore claims that our contemporary world can be best understood as a consumer society and a brand culture, as well as how marketing and consumerism increasingly define our experiences, social relationships and civic infrastructure. As such we seek to analyse marketing behaviour and consumption practices with a view to better understand how marketing connects with society and culture.

You will join an intellectually stimulating, friendly and supportive research environment and work closely with our expert and experienced academic staff.

• Distinctive from other marketing programmes in that it combines teaching and research from marketing and sociology.
• Innovative programme inviting students to critically explore their lived experiences within the consumer society.
• Flexibility to tailor your studies to suit your specific areas of interest, such as; consumption, markets and culture, marketing communications children and consumption, crime and consumerism, social identities, consumption and difference.

Teaching & assessment

Assessment is carried out by a variety of methods including essays, group projects and a dissertation.

Your future career

Graduates will have considered a wide range of theoretical issues relating to contemporary lives that form the basis of marketing practice. This knowledge may be useful to pursue a research career, or to augment and progress current careers in fields such as marketing, education, journalism, development, social policy and politics. This course equips postgraduate students with the subject knowledge and expertise required to pursue a successful career, or provides a solid foundation for continued PhD studies.

• Graduates in recent years have entered different areas including Senior Associate at Bank of China International, Reporter at Xinhua News Agency, Senior Associate at PricewaterhouseCoopers, Finance Officer at Ealing Borough Council and Relationship Manager (Investments) at Barclays Bank.