SOCIAL CLASS AND CONSUMER BEHAVIOR

SOCIAL CLASS AND CONSUMER BEHAVIOR : 

SOCIAL CLASS AND CONSUMER BEHAVIOR

Social class : 

Social class – “the division of members of a society into a hierarchy of distinct status classes, so that members of each class have relatively the same status and members of all other classes have either more or less status”. Social class

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Individuals are classifieds in terms of wealth, power and prestige. Members of the same class tend to share common values, belief and behavior. Social class categories are in a hierarchy ranking from low to high status.

THE MEASUREMENT OF SOCIAL CLASS : 

THE MEASUREMENT OF SOCIAL CLASS SUBJECTIVE MEASURES : individuals are asked to estimate their own social-class positions REPUTATIONAL MEASURES : informants make judgments concerning the social-class membership of others within the community OBJECTIVE MEASURES : individuals answer specific socioeconomic questions and then are categorized according to answers

Objective Measures : 

Objective Measures Single variable indexes: uses just one socioeconomic variable to evaluate social class membership. Occupation Education Income Composite-variable indexes :uses a combination of socioeconomic factors to measure the social class membership. Index of Status Characteristics Socioeconomic Status Score

Social class profiles : 

The upper -upper class The lower upper class The upper middle class The lower middle class The upper lower class The lower –lower class Social class profiles

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The upper –upper class small number of well established families. owners of major long established firms. Sponsors of major charity events

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The lower –upper class – new wealth represent “new money”. Not quite accepted by the upper crust of society. Successful business executives.

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The upper-middle class – achieving professionals have neither family status nor unusual wealth. Carrier oriented. Young successful professionals, corporate managers. Have a keen interest in obtaining the “better things in life”.

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The lower middle class primarily nonmanaged white collar workers and highly paid blue collar workers. Want their children to be well-behaved. prefer a neat and clean appearance and tend to avoid highly styled clothing.

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The upper-lower class – security-minded majority solidly blue collar. view work as a mean to buy enjoyment. Males are sports fans, heavy smokers, beer drinkers. The largest social class segment.

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The lower-lower class poorly educated unskilled laborers. often out of work. Children are often poorly treated. Tend to live a day to day existence.

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Social – class mobility Individuals can move either up or down in social-class standing from the class position held by their parents. There are two types of mobility. Upward mobility: generations tend to “do better” than the last generation. Downward mobility; generations find it difficult to “do better" than the last generation.