Logo UAB
2023/2024

Socio-Political Marketing

Code: 42228 ECTS Credits: 10
Degree Type Year Semester
4313148 Marketing OT 0 2
4313335 Political Science OT 0 2

Contact

Name:
Marta Gallina
Email:
marta.gallina@uab.cat

Teaching groups languages

You can check it through this link. To consult the language you will need to enter the CODE of the subject. Please note that this information is provisional until 30 November 2023.

Teachers

Guillermo Rico Camps

External teachers

Marta Gallina
Paula Zuluaga

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.

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. Describe the different theories on the consequences of political communication and gauge their real impact in particular contexts.
  5. Describe the various theories about the effects and consequences of political communication and being able to appreciate its real impact in specific contexts.
  6. Design and carry out a survey-based study, taking all aspects into account: (questionnaire, sampling and delivery method).
  7. Design and carry out an analysis through surveys knowing its various aspects (questionnaire, sampling, method of administration).
  8. Design and write projects and technical and academic reports autonomously using the appropriate terminology, arguments and analytical tools in each case.
  9. Develop communicative skills in oral presentations before critical audiences.
  10. Distinguish data sources for the study of socio-political problems.
  11. Distinguish the data sources for the study of socio-political problems.
  12. Draft clear, precise reports on commercial problems.
  13. Identify key actors in the political system: their repertoires of action, interests and resources.
  14. Identify the different variables involved in a socio-political research problem and how they interrelate.
  15. Identify the different variables involved in an issue of socio-political research and how they relate to each other.
  16. Identify the key actors in the political system: their repertoires of action, interests and resources.
  17. Internalise the functions, timing, axes of competition and indicators of elections.
  18. Internalize functions, time axes competition and indicators of elections.
  19. Make socio-political phenomena observable and quantifiable.
  20. Propose a wide range of different research designs to meet different research questions socio-political and know what's right every time.
  21. 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.
  22. Recognise the workings of the main political institutions and how these can influence citizens' behaviour.
  23. Recognize the operation of the main political institutions and how they influence the behavior of citizens.
  24. Use resources to present summaries of data and results attractively in the case of socio-political analysis.
  25. Use resources to the attractive and summary presentation of data and results on socio-political analysis.
  26. Use the visual and verbal language most commonly found in electoral and institutional campaigns.
  27. Using the most frequent visual and verbal language in electoral and institutional campaigns.
  28. Work in interdisciplinary teams.
  29. Work in international and interdisciplinary teams whose members have different origins and backgrounds.

Content

Part 1. Electoral Behaviour

1.1.        The social-position bases of the vote: cleavages and alignments

1.2.        The value bases of the vote: party identification, ideology and policy moods

1.3.        The personal bases of the vote: the importance of the leaders

1.4.        Issue voting and niche party support

1.5.        The spatial models of party competition: proximity and directionality

1.6.        Economic voting: the importance of the economic situation

1.7.        Strategic voting: the importance of the electoral system

1.8.        Event voting: how events shape election outcomes

1.9.        Multilevel polities and second-order elections

1.10.      Non-voting: causes and antecedents

1.11.      The political consequences of non-voting

 

Part 2. Political Communication

2.1.        Campaign effects: are they minimal? 

2.2.        Political persuasion and resistance to persuasion

2.3.        The role of predispositions: the partisan selective exposure

2.4.        The knowledge gap hypothesis

2.5.        Negative campaigning

2.6.        Populism as communication style

2.7.        Re-politicization of ‘gender’: political parties and social media communication 

2.8.        Gender differences in politicians’ communication: speeches, advertising, and self-representation in traditional and digital forms of communication

2.9.        Gender differences in political media coverage

2.10.      Women politicians and online political violence

2.11.      Gender gaps in political engagement: exposure to news, online participation, and political voice

2.12.      Gender and political communication: AI, digital political communication, and others

 

Part 3. Public Opinion

3.1.        Public Opinion and its measurement: an introduction

3.2.        Public Opinion Formation: a review of theories;

3.3.        Public Opinion and policy responsiveness: the problem of mass-elite congruence;

3.4.        Challenges in Public Opinion Research: the 'social desirability' issue and the quality of public opinion polls

3.5.        Populism (i): Conceptualization and Measurement

3.6.        Populism (ii): Causes and Consequences

3.7.        Emotions in Politics

3.8.        Motivated Reasoning


Methodology

A typical session will include a lecture plus a common discussion of the compulsory readings. 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 5, 19, 13, 15, 18, 23, 27
Seminars 24.5 0.98 11, 15, 24
Type: Supervised      
Essay writing 50 2 3, 12, 6, 8, 21, 29
Reading 50 2 1, 4, 10, 17
Type: Autonomous      
Individual study 80 3.2 5, 4, 13, 16, 18, 17, 23

Assessment

The evaluation is divided into the following elements:

  1. Presentation of the compulsory readings and participation in the discussion (25%). Each week one student will be in charge of presenting the compulsory reading. Each presentation will have the purpose to present the reading in all its parts clearly and exhaustively, including at the end of the presentation three questions in order to fuel the discussion/debate in class. Students in charge of the presentation must prepare slides and submit the slides to the professor delivering the class. Their presentation skills, capacity of engaging with the article and its literature, their understanding of the results/findings presented in the reading, the quality of their oral and visual presentation and the relevance of their three questions will be evaluated. Students not showing up at their scheduled presentation will receive a 5-point penalty on their grade for this part. Presentations should be about 15-minute long. Shorter (less than 12 minutes) or longer (longer than 16 minutes) presentations will be penalized. All students must read the compulsory readings and engage with in-class discussion. The participation to the in-class debate will also be part of the evaluation. Students who deliver a good presentation of the reading but do not actively engage in discussion during the other sessions will therefore be penalized on their grade for this part.  
  2. Written essay (25%). Students will prepare a written essay choosing from a list of possible titles/topics that will be made available to them at the beginning of the course. The essay will follow the classic structure of a scientific article, including abstract, introduction, literature, methods, results, discussion, list of references (at least three references must be included). Students will have to present a clear and well-defined research question and try to respond to the research question on the basis of previous literature/findings oron theirown elaboration of data/resources. Essays must have a minimum of 3000 words and a maximum of 4000 words, excluding references. Essays must be written in English and submitted to the professor in charge of the selected topic by the indicated deadline. Essays submitted after the deadline will receive a 2-point penalty per each day of delay. Plagiarism and the use of artificial intelligence will not be tolerated under any circumstances. It is NOT possible to submit essays that have been prepared for other courses or for the thesis.
  3. Final exam (50%). At the end of the classes, students will have to take a final test. The test will include 20 multiple-choice questions about the topics presented in class during the course. 

In case of exam retakes, the same evaluation method described above will apply. 

Students will be graded with a numeric grade ranging from 0 to 10, being 10 the best grade. 

Students are required to attend at least at 80% of the sessions in order to pass this module.

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

In case of the single assessment (avaluació única), students will have to:

- Submit written comments (max 3000 words) concerning a reading they can choose among those selected by the professors (25%)

- Submit a written essay choosing from a list of possible titles/topics (in terms of word count, essay structure, etc. same rules as above apply) (25%)

- Take a final exam (20 multiple-choice questions) about a selection of readings that will be made available to students by each professor (50%)

 In case of exam retakes, the same evaluation method described above for the single assessment will apply. 

 

On carrying out eachevaluation activity, professors will inform students (on Moodle) of the procedures to be followed for reviewing all grades awarded, and the date on which such a review will take place.

Students will obtain a Not assessed/Not submitted course grade unless they have submitted more than 1/3 of the assessment items.

In the event of a student committing any irregularity that may lead to a significant variation in the grade awarded to an assessment activity, the student will be given a zero for this activity, regardless of any disciplinary process that may take place. In the event of several irregularities in assessment activities of the same subject, the student will be given a zero as the final grade for this subject.

Exams where there have been irregularities (e.g. plagiarism, unauthorized use of AI, etc.) cannot be retaken.


Assessment Activities

Title Weighting Hours ECTS Learning Outcomes
Final test 50 1 0.04 5, 4, 10, 11, 19, 13, 16, 14, 18, 17, 21, 23, 22, 27, 26
Presentation and partecipation in class 25 2.5 0.1 1, 12, 5, 4, 9, 10, 11, 8, 19, 13, 16, 15, 14, 18, 17, 21, 23, 22, 28, 29, 27, 26, 25
Written essay 25 2 0.08 2, 3, 12, 5, 4, 7, 6, 10, 11, 19, 13, 16, 15, 14, 18, 17, 21, 20, 23, 22, 27, 25, 24

Bibliography

The core readings are:

Bartels, Larry M. 2008. "The Study of Electoral Behavior." Extended version of a chapter in Jan E. Leighley, ed., The Oxford Handbook of American Elections and Castells, M (2009). Communication Power. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Eijk, Cees van der, and Mark Franklin. 2009. Elections and Voters. London: Palgrave Macmillan.

Evans, Jocelyn A.J. 2004. Voters and Voting: An Introduction. London: Sage.

Iyengar, S., McGrady, Jennifer A. (2007). Media Politics: A Citizen’s Guide. New York: W.W. Norton & Company.

Lowery, S.A., De Fleur, M.L. (1994). Milestones in Mass Communication Research: Media Effects. New York: Pearson.

McNair, Brian (2003). An Introduction to Political Communication. London: Routledge.

Perloff, Richard M. (2014). The Dynamics of Political Communication. Media and Politics in a Digital Age. New York: Routledge.

Soroka, Stuart N., Wlezien, Christopher (2010). Degrees of Democracy: Politics, Public Opinion and Policy. New York: Cambridge University Press

The syllabus contains a detailed bibliography for each lecture.


Software

Not applicable