Social Class and

Consumer Behavior

Social class It can be best described

divisions within society composed of
individuals sharing similar values, interest and
behaviors.

Consumer behavior
Influenced by environment in which one
lives.
Consumer buying behavior presents a picture
of complexity.
Social class can have a profound effect on
consumer spending habits.

What do you think?

? Whatisthesocialclassoftheperson
sittingnexttoyou?
? Doesaprofessionalathletemaking$20
millionbelonginthesamesocialclass
withaphysicianmaking$150,000

Class Difference in Worldview

Taste culture
Differentiates people in terms of their aesthetic and
intellectual preferences.
Groupings based on shared tastes in literature, art,
music, leisure and home decoration.
lower-status home more likely to go camping,
fishing
higher-status homevisit museums, live theatre etc

Codes
The way consumers express and interpret the
meaning.
Restricted codes
Focus on the content of objects, not on the
relationships among objects; implicit meaning.
Elaborated codes
More complex and analyze the relationships between
objects; depend on sophisticated world views; explicit
meaning.

Cultural capital
Set of distinctive and socially rare tastes and
practices.
Knowledge of "refined" behavior that admits a
person into the realm of the upper class.
Examples can include education, intellect, style of
speech, dress, or physical appearance

Status Symbols
Products whose primary function is to communicate
one's social standing to others.
Status symbols tend to be impractical or superfluous
items, often bought for the sole purpose of belonging,
or at least feeling a sense of belonging, to a higher
social stratum.

Measuring Social Class

The Subjective Method
The one in which people are asked to define their
own social class.
The Reputational Method
This asks individuals to classify others in social
classes based on the reputation of these individuals.
The Objective Method
This requires the researcher to rank individuals
according to objective criteria such as income,
occupation and prestige.

Problems with Social Class Measures

Most measures of social class in the past had trouble
accounting for two-income families, young singles
living alone, or households headed by women.
Increasing anonymity of our society
Reputational method is virtually Impossible to
implement today (can use demographic data and
subjective impressions.

 Status crystallization
Impact of inconsistency on the self and social
behavior.
Over privileged vs. underprivileged conditions of
social class.
Problems associated with lottery winners.
Traditional issues of hierogram
Women tend to marry up more than men do.