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2021/2022

Socio-Political Marketing

Code: 42228 ECTS Credits: 10
Degree Type Year Semester
4313148 Marketing OT 0 2
4313335 Political Science OT 0 2
4317157 Advanced Research in Political Science OT 1 2
The proposed teaching and assessment methodology that appear in the guide may be subject to changes as a result of the restrictions to face-to-face class attendance imposed by the health authorities.

Contact

Name:
Agustí Bosch Gardella
Email:
Agusti.Bosch@uab.cat

Use of Languages

Principal working language:
english (eng)

Teachers

Gabriel Colomé García
Berta Barbet Porta
Noemi Morell Alsina
Guillem Rico Camps
Oriol Bartomeus Bayes

Prerequisites

Students enrolled in this course are expected to have a bachelor’s degree level in political science or in any other social science discipline. Students are encouraged to gain familiarity with the following books, particularly if they have degrees from other disciplines:

-        Dalton, R.J. (2013) Citizen Politics: Public Opinion and Political Parties in Advanced Industrial Democracies. CQ Press

-        Negrine, R. and Stanyer J. (eds) (2007) The Political Communication Reader. Routledge.

Objectives and Contextualisation

The first aim of this module is to understand the scientific bases of electoral behaviour. Thus, we will study what the causes of the vote are and will analyse the models that try to predict it. The second aim of the module deals with the communicative bases of politics. Thus, we will analyse how political actors, the media, and the people at large interact with political communication. The final aim of the module is to familiarize the student with the current debates on public opinion and electoral issues.

Competences

    Marketing
  • Address business situations and/or problems that imply an ethical dilemma on the basis of critical reflection.
  • Design and carry out market research.
  • Develop communicative skills in oral presentations before critical audiences.
  • Draft clear, precise reports on commercial problems.
  • Transfer planning and strategy design in marketing to the socio-political sphere.
  • Work in interdisciplinary teams.
  • Work with the data sources, methodologies and techniques of scientific research, and the IT tools of marketing.
    Political Science
  • Analyse the behaviour and political attitudes of the public and the political communication processes in which they are immersed.
  • Apply the qualitative and quantitative techniques necessary for the systematic and rigorous analysis of specific aspects of politics today.
  • Design a research project that satisfies the criteria of rigour and academic excellence.
  • Design and write projects and technical and academic reports autonomously using the appropriate terminology, arguments and analytical tools in each case.
  • Work in international and interdisciplinary teams whose members have different origins and backgrounds.
    Advanced Research in Political Science
  • Analyse the behaviour and political attitudes of citizens and the political communication processes in which they are immersed.
  • Apply advanced qualitative and quantitative techniques for the systematic and rigorous analysis of specific aspects of political situations.
  • Communicate and justify conclusions clearly and unambiguously to both specialist and non-specialist audiences.
  • Design and carry out a research project which satisfies the criteria for academic rigour and excellence.
  • Design and write projects and technical and academic reports autonomously using the appropriate terminology, arguments and analytical tools in each case.
  • Integrate knowledge and use it to make judgements in complex situations, with incomplete information, while keeping in mind social and ethical responsibilities.
  • Use acquired knowledge as a basis for originality in the application of ideas, often in a research context.
  • Work in international and inter-disciplinary teams.

Learning Outcomes

  1. Address business situations and/or problems that imply an ethical dilemma on the basis of critical reflection.
  2. Analyse survey data using the appropriate statistical software.
  3. Analyzing survey data using appropriate statistical software.
  4. Communicate and justify conclusions clearly and unambiguously to both specialist and non-specialist audiences.
  5. Describe the different theories on the consequences of political communication and gauge their real impact in particular contexts.
  6. Describe the different theories on the effects and consequences of political communication and be able to estimate their real impact in specific contexts.
  7. Describe the various theories about the effects and consequences of political communication and being able to appreciate its real impact in specific contexts.
  8. Design and carry out a survey-based study, taking all aspects into account: (questionnaire, sampling and delivery method).
  9. Design and carry out an analysis through surveys knowing its various aspects (questionnaire, sampling, method of administration).
  10. Design and carry out an analysis using surveys and understand their different aspects (questionnaire, sampling, method of administration).
  11. Design and write projects and technical and academic reports autonomously using the appropriate terminology, arguments and analytical tools in each case.
  12. Develop communicative skills in oral presentations before critical audiences.
  13. Distinguish between data sources for the study of socio-political problems.
  14. Distinguish data sources for the study of socio-political problems.
  15. Distinguish the data sources for the study of socio-political problems.
  16. Draft clear, precise reports on commercial problems.
  17. Identify key actors in the political system: their repertoires of action, interests and resources.
  18. Identify the different variables involved in a socio-political research problem and how they interrelate.
  19. Identify the different variables involved in a socio-political research questions and how they interrelate.
  20. Identify the different variables involved in an issue of socio-political research and how they relate to each other.
  21. Identify the key actors in the political system: their fields of action, interests and resources.
  22. Identify the key actors in the political system: their repertoires of action, interests and resources.
  23. Integrate knowledge and use it to make judgements in complex situations, with incomplete information, while keeping in mind social and ethical responsibilities.
  24. Internalise the functions, timing, axes of competition and indicators of elections.
  25. Internalize functions, time axes competition and indicators of elections.
  26. Learn the functions, timings, lines of competition and indicators of elections.
  27. Make socio-political phenomena observable and quantifiable.
  28. Propose a broad range of different research designs to respond to different research questions of a socio-political nature and know which is the best to use in each case.
  29. Propose a wide range of different research designs to meet different research questions socio-political and know what's right every time.
  30. Propose a wide range of different research designs to respond to socio-political research questions and know which is the most appropriate for each occasion.
  31. Recognise the way in which the main political institutions function and how they can affect public behaviour.
  32. Recognise the workings of the main political institutions and how these can influence citizens' behaviour.
  33. Recognize the operation of the main political institutions and how they influence the behavior of citizens.
  34. Use acquired knowledge as a basis for originality in the application of ideas, often in a research context.
  35. Use resources for the attractive and summarised presentation of data and results of socio-political analysis.
  36. Use resources to present summaries of data and results attractively in the case of socio-political analysis.
  37. Use resources to the attractive and summary presentation of data and results on socio-political analysis.
  38. Use the most frequent visual and verbal language in electoral and institutional campaigns.
  39. Use the visual and verbal language most commonly found in electoral and institutional campaigns.
  40. Using the most frequent visual and verbal language in electoral and institutional campaigns.
  41. Work in interdisciplinary teams.
  42. Work in international and inter-disciplinary teams.
  43. Work in international and interdisciplinary teams whose members have different origins and backgrounds.

Content

PART 1. ELECTORAL BEHAVIOUR

1.1.        Vote anchors: the effect of social position, party id and values

1.2.        Intervening factors: leaders and issues

1.3.        Spatial models of party competition: proximity and directionality

1.4.        Economic voting: the importance of the economic situation

1.5.        Strategic voting: the importance of the electoral system

1.6.        Event voting: how events shape election outcomes

1.7.        Multilevel polities and second-order elections

 

PART 2. PUBLIC OPINION

2.1.        Basic concepts of public opinion

2.2.        The basis of Opinions

2.3.        Information exposure

2.4.        Information processing (i): the two routes of reasoning

2.5.        Information processing (ii): the use of heuristics

2.6.        Information processing (iii): Framing

2.7.        Information processing (iv): Priming and Agenda setting

2.8.        Mobilisation effects

2.9.        Political campaigns

2.10.      The role of identities

 

PART 3. POLITICAL COMMUNICATION IN THE NEW ERA

3.1.        From television to internet: from mainstream to individualisation

3.2.        Political consequences of internet: bubble society and echo chambers

3.3.        Sharp power –the invisible war

 

PART 4. CURRENT ISSUES IN PUBLIC OPINION AND ELECTIONS

4.1.        Populism (i): Conceptualization and Measurement

4.2.        Populism (ii): Causes and Consequences

4.3.        Emotions in Politics

4.4.        Motivated Reasoning

 

PART 5. ELECTORAL INTEGRITY AND ELECTION OBSERVATION

5.1.        Electoral integrity and election observation

 

Methodology

A typical session will include a lecture (during the first hour) plus a common discussion of the compulsory readings (after the break). Here, a student will present a paper and the rest of the class will discuss the conclusions. All students are expected to read the compulsory readings for the seminar and to prepare their interventions.

Annotation: Within the schedule set by the centre or degree programme, 15 minutes of one class will be reserved for students to evaluate their lecturers and their courses or modules through questionnaires.

Activities

Title Hours ECTS Learning Outcomes
Type: Directed      
Lectures 40 1.6 7, 6, 27, 21, 17, 20, 25, 26, 23, 33, 31, 34, 38, 40
Seminars 22.5 0.9 15, 20, 23, 4, 36, 35
Type: Supervised      
Essay writing 21.5 0.86 16, 11, 27, 19, 43, 42
Reading 50 2 5, 14, 13, 19, 24

Assessment

The evaluation will take into account four items: three written assignments and the marks for the weekly discussion of the compulsory readings.

  • A written assignment for part 1 of the module will explore some specific aspect of the electoral behaviour in the student’s home country (or any other country/ies of interest). The student will be able to choose what specific aspect of electoral behaviour s/he wants to explore.
  • In the written assignment for part 2 of the module, the student will discuss (using the learned theories on public opinion and media, and using the literature on the same topics) one statement proposed by the lecturer (for instance: ‘public opinion should be the driver of policies in democratic systems’).
  • The written assignment for part 3 of the module will deal with some basic topic about Political Communication in the New Era.
  • The discussion of the compulsory readings will proceed as follows. A student will present a paper and the rest of the class will discuss the conclusions. All students are expected to read the compulsory readings for the week and to prepare their interventions, but presenters are in charge of proposing two or three questions about the compulsory readings of the session they present to be discussed in class.

The assignments may be written in English, Spanish or Catalan.

Students of the Master’s Programme in Marketing may replace writing the three essays with drafting (or co-drafting) a Marketing plan for a political or institutional product. Students of the two-year Advanced Research Master’s Programme in Political Science may replace writing the three essays with writing (or co-writing) a single research paper that could lead to a publishable article. In both cases, ask permission to the module’s coordinator before doing so.

The lecturers will provide further details and information about the evaluation process during the presentation of themodule. 

Assessment Activities

Title Weighting Hours ECTS Learning Outcomes
Discussion of compulsory readings 50 58 2.32 1, 2, 3, 16, 7, 5, 6, 12, 9, 10, 8, 14, 15, 13, 11, 27, 21, 17, 22, 20, 18, 19, 25, 24, 26, 30, 29, 28, 23, 4, 33, 32, 31, 34, 41, 43, 42, 38, 40, 39, 37, 36, 35
Essay for part 1 25 29 1.16 34
Essay for part 2 25 29 1.16 34

Bibliography

The syllabus contains detailed bibliography for each lecture.

Basic readings for part 1:
Arzheimer, K.; Evans, G. and Lewis-Beck, M. (2017) The Sage Handbook of Electoral Behaviour. London: Sage.
Evans, J. (2004) Voters and Voting: An Introduction. London: Sage.
Fisher, J.; Fieldhouse, E.; Franklin, M.N.; Gibson, R.; Cantijoch, M. and Wlezien, C. (eds) (2017) The Routledge Handbook of Elections, Voting Behavior and Public Opinion. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge.
Bartels, L. M. (2008) "The Study of Electoral Behavior" (available online) Extended version of a chapter in Jan E. Leighley, ed., The Oxford Handbook of American Elections and Political Behavior.
Van der Eijk, C. & Franklin, M. (2009) Elections and Voters. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
Denver, D., Carman, C. & Johns, R. (2012) Elections and Voters in Britain. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

Basic readings for part 2:
Donsbach, Wolfgang and Michael W Traugott (2007), "The SAGE Handbook of Public Opinion Research", SAGE Publications Ltd
C. Glynn, S. Herbst, G. O'Keefe, R. Shapiro (1999), "Public Opinion" Westview Press.
J. Zaller (1992), "The Nature and Origins of Mass Opinion" Cambridge University Press.

Basic readings for part 5:

Bjornlund, E. C. (2004), Beyond Free and fair. Monitoring Elections and Building Democracy. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press.

Norris, P., Frank, R.W., Martínez I Coma, F. (2013). “Assessing the Quality of Elections”. The Journal of Democracy 24 (4): 124-135.

Elklit, J., Reynolds, A. (2005). “A Framework for the Systematic Study of Election Quality”. Democratization 12 (2): 147-162.

Software

Not applicable