VII Consumer Behavior

Unit VII: Social Class and Lifestyles

Course Learning Objectives for Unit VII

2. Relate consumer behavior to public policy issues. 2.1 Explain state and federal government policy changes resulting from an event.

4. Examine how consumers are influenced by values as members of a particular culture.

4.1 Explain how consumers were affected by a company’s reaction to a catastrophic event.

8. Analyze how consumers evaluate product selections. 8.1 Summarize how a negative event influenced consumer buying.

Income and Consumer Identity • Lifestyle: A broad pattern of how we

choose to allocate our time and money

• Discretionary income: The money available to a household above what it requires to have a comfortable standard of living

• Consumer confidence: Consumers’ beliefs about what the future holds

• Tightwads: Hate parting with their money

• Spendthrifts: Enjoy spending and buying

Money (PublicDomainPictures, 2013)

Social Class • Hedonic adaptation: In order to maintain

happiness, you tend to become used to changes.

• Social class: This is the overall rank of people in a society.

• Homogamy: This is when one tends to marry people in a social class similar to his or her own.

• Social stratification: This is the creation of artificial divisions.

• Ascribed status: This is when one is born into wealth.

Social Class (cont.) • Achieved status: This is when hard work

translates to wealth. • Social mobility: This is the passage from one

social class to another. • Components of social class include occupational

prestige, income (uneven distribution of wealth), and high-income consumers (great place to target). – Luxury is functional. – Luxury is reward. – Luxury is indulgence.

Social Class (cont.)

• Low-income consumers: This represents the bottom of the pyramid, which is 14% of Americans below the poverty line.

• Worldview: The working class is more intimate and constricted.

• Affluenza: This is when wealthy consumers are stressed or unhappy due to their wealth.

• Cosmopolitanism: This applies to one who tries to be open to the world and strives for diverse experiences.

Social Class in the United States

• Upper-upper

• Lower-upper

• Upper-middle

• Lower-middle

• Upper-lower

• Lower-lower

• Social class is extremely different in other countries.

Shed shack (RonPorter, 2008)

McFadden-Ward house (Tpsdave, 2016)

Status Symbols

• Hierogamy: Attractive women tend to marry up in social class.

• Emerging markets: This includes BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa).

• Taste cultures: These are esthetic and intellectual preferences.

• Codes: These are ways in which consumers express and interpret meanings. – Restricted: Content of objects – Elaborated: Sophisticated worldview

Status Symbols (cont.)

• A product is considered a status symbol when it is bought solely to let others know that the buyer can afford it.

• Invidious distinction: This is when products are used to inspire envy.

• A rise of the mass-class market means that luxury products have gone down in the market.

Rolex watch (Ahm1988, 2017)

Social Capital

• Cultural capital: A set of distinctive and socially rare tastes and practices

• Online gated communities: Selectively allow access to some people who have a high degree of social capital Networking(3rdman_eu, 2013)

Social capital accounts for organizational affiliations and networks.

Product Complementarity

• Co-branding: Teaming up with other companies to promote two or more items

• Product complementarity: When the symbolic meanings of different products relate to one another

• Psychographics: Determining how the market is segmented by the propensity of groups within the market (e.g., AIOs [activities, interests, and opinions] vs VALS [values and lifestyles system])

References

Ahm1988. (2017). Rolex watch [Photograph]. Retrieved from https://pixabay.com/en/rolex-watch-time- luxury-swiss-2171960/

PublicDomainPictures. (2013). Money [Photograph]. Retrieved from https://pixabay.com/en/packs-pile- money-finance-currency-163497/

RonPorter. (2008). Shed shack [Photograph]. Retrieved from https://pixabay.com/en/shed-shack-hut- rustic-building-402608/

3rdman_eu. (2013). Network society [Image]. Retrieved from https://pixabay.com/en/network-society- social-community-1020332/

Tpsdave. (2016). McFadden-Ward house [Photograph]. Retrieved from https://pixabay.com/en/mcfadden-ward-house-beaumont-texas-1584097/

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