ESC – Ethics and Consumer Society
Critical studies about consumption, advertising and marketing
ESC – Ethics and Consumer Society (Ética na Sociedade de Consumo): critical studies about consumption, advertising and marketing, conducts various research projects aimed at studying media production and reception in a consumer society from an ethics perspective. The group has three main strands of research: advertising and marketing with a focus on social ethics; critical studies of mass communication and cultural industries; and critical studies of consumption behaviors. The first strand intends to study languages and other promotional techniques used in a consumer society, in light of a critical ethical and social perspective. The aim is to understand how mediations might stimulate consumption practices potentially related to some kind of malaise for the subject and the collectivity. The second strand attempts to study mass communication products and the cultural industry, whether these stem from journalism, fiction, or digital culture, amongst many others areas. The idea is to understand in what ways they might present elements which are part of the consumer society’s logic and what are the social and ethical implications of this? The third strand of research seeks to understand the motivations for consumption as they represent propellers for a consumer society, focusing on critical social, ethical, and psychological issues, which allow us to understand how such practices might result in subjective and collective gains and losses for the actors involved in them. ESC’s research team is comprised of faculty members, as well as Master’s, Ph.D. and undergraduate students.
- Leader: Ana Paula Bragaglia
Research Strands:
- Critical studies of consumer behavior
- Advertising and marketing with an ethical and social focus
Access:
