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MODULE DESCRIPTOR
Module Title
Postmodern Culture
Reference	CB4160	Version	2
Created	February 2024	SCQF Level	SCQF 10
Approved	June 2018	SCQF Points	15
Amended	April 2024	ECTS Points	7.5

Aims of Module
To provide students with an understanding of the nature of postmodern media culture and how it is defined by the principal theorists in the field, and to enable them to apply this understanding to a range of topics in the field of contemporary media and advertising.

Learning Outcomes for Module
On completion of this module, students are expected to be able to:
1	Discuss the main theoretical currents concerning the definition and characterisation of postmodernism.
2	Analyse contemporary cultural phenomena and contemporary media, advertising, and consumer culture in terms of postmodern theory.
3	Critically assess questions of cultural value and participate in debates surrounding the nature and consequences of postmodern culture.

Indicative Module Content
This module examines critically various aspects of cultural output and production in advanced economies. It offers definitions of modernity and postmodernity and explores the postmodern condition under late capitalism. Topics covered include signs and signification in postmodern consumer culture, advertising and fashion; aestheticization and commodity fetishism; spectacle, simulacrum and hyperreality; theming and Disneyization of society; nostalgia and the heritage industry; cynicism, irony, and the carnivalesque. Students discuss fully and critically the writing of key theorists and apply their understanding of this theory to contemporary examples. The module engages students with UNESCO's Education for Sustainable Development in regard to the following competencies: Critical Thinking and Collaboration and Self-awareness. Through discussion-based tutorials, students develop the ability to question norms, practices and opinions, to reflect on their own values, perceptions and actions; and to take a position on the sustainability discourse. Further, students are enabled to recognise and understand relationships between disciplines, to learn from others and understand the needs, perspectives and actions of others, to reflect on values and motivations, and to develop the ability to reflect on their own role in the local community and global society.

Indicative Module Content

This module examines critically various aspects of cultural output and production in advanced economies. It offers definitions of modernity and postmodernity and explores the postmodern condition under late capitalism. Topics covered include signs and signification in postmodern consumer culture, advertising and fashion; aestheticization and commodity fetishism; spectacle, simulacrum and hyperreality; theming and Disneyization of society; nostalgia and the heritage industry; cynicism, irony, and the carnivalesque. Students discuss fully and critically the writing of key theorists and apply their understanding of this theory to contemporary examples. The module engages students with UNESCO's Education for Sustainable Development in regard to the following competencies: Critical Thinking and Collaboration and Self-awareness. Through discussion-based tutorials, students develop the ability to question norms, practices and opinions, to reflect on their own values, perceptions and actions; and to take a position on the sustainability discourse. Further, students are enabled to recognise and understand relationships between disciplines, to learn from others and understand the needs, perspectives and actions of others, to reflect on values and motivations, and to develop the ability to reflect on their own role in the local community and global society.

Module Delivery
This is a lecture-based module supplemented by tutorial discussion.

Indicative Student Workload	Full Time	Part Time
Contact Hours	36	N/A
Non-Contact Hours	114	N/A
Placement/Work-Based Learning Experience [Notional] Hours	N/A	N/A
TOTAL	150	N/A
Actual Placement hours for professional, statutory or regulatory body

ASSESSMENT PLAN
If a major/minor model is used and box is ticked, % weightings below are indicative only.
Component 1
Type:	Coursework	Weighting:	100%	Outcomes Assessed:	1, 2, 3
Description:	Individual Written Assessment

MODULE PERFORMANCE DESCRIPTOR
Explanatory Text
The calculation of the overall grade for this module is based on 100% weighting of C1. An overall minimum grade D is required to pass the module.
Module Grade	Minimum Requirements to achieve Module Grade:
A	The student needs to achieve an A in C1.
B	The student needs to achieve a B in C1.
C	The student needs to achieve a C in C1.
D	The student needs to achieve a D in C1.
E	The student needs to achieve an E in C1.
F	The student needs to achieve an F in C1.
NS	Non-submission of work by published deadline or non-attendance for examination

Module Requirements
Prerequisites for Module	None.
Corequisites for module	None.
Precluded Modules	None.

INDICATIVE BIBLIOGRAPHY
1	BAUDRILLARD, J., 2001. Selected writings. 2nd ed. Oxford : Polity.
2	BAUMAN, Z., 2013. Moral blindness: the loss of sensitivity in liquid modernity. Oxford: Polity Press.
3	BRYMAN, A., 2004. The Disneyization of society. London: Sage. ebook
4	JAMESON, F., 1992. Postmodernism: Or, the cultural logic of late capitalism. London: Verso.
5	KELLNER, D., 2012. Media spectacle and insurrection, 2011: from the Arab uprisings to Occupy Everywhere. Bloomsbury Academic.
6	RITZER, G., 2010. Enchanting a disenchanted world: continuity and change in the cathedrals of consumption 3rd ed. London: Sage.
7	SASSATELLI, R., 2007. Consumer culture: history, theory and politics. London: Sage.
8	STOREY, J., 2018. Cultural theory and popular culture: an introduction. 8th ed. London: Routledge.

Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen

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