Answer all the questions: I will attach each chapter summary you can find the answers in them
Chapter 9
What are the categories of consumer decision making?
What are the types of B2B decision making? What is the level of risk associated with each?
How does B2B decision making compare to consumer decision making?
What internal and external factors affect organizational buyers?
Describe the types of information search consumers can conduct?
Describe the phenomenon of purchase momentum.
What is the sunk-cost fallacy?
What are the factors that determine how much family decision conflict there will be?
What are factors that determine the degree to which one or the other spouse of both jointly will decide what to buy?
What are the factors that determine how couples spend their time and money?
What is an intelligent agent?
Describe the concept of inertia.
Describe the concept of framing.
What are the two basic types of decisions families make?
Chapter 10
What is a consumption situation? What elements make up the purchase environment?
What are the issues related to purchase and post purchase activities? What are some components of each? What are the factors at the time of purchase that influence the consumer’s decision making process?
What is time poverty?
What are the types of retail theming that innovative merchants use?
What are three contributing factors to in-store decision making that are discussed in the textbook?
What is store image? Atmospherics? What is the effect of these on consumer purchasing?
What are the motivations for shopping? What is an example of each?
Impulse vs. unplanned buying
What are the ways that consumers can dispose of products?
Chapter 11 &12
What is social power? What are the types of social power described in the text?
What is a reference group? What are the two types of reference groups? What are three ways that reference groups influence us?
What are the roles group members can play in collective decision making?
What is conformity? What are the reasons people conform?
What is an opinion leader? What are the types of opinion leaders?
Define discretionary income.
Describe atephobia. What is it?
What are the factors that contribute to the improvement in American’s standard of living? Describe the concept of consumer confidence. What factors determine how much a person will save?
What is the concept of social stratification? Pecking order?
What is the difference between achieved and ascribed status?
Define conspicuous consumption.
How does one define lifestyle?
What are status symbols and what are their purpose?
What is the concept used to describe the movement from one social class to another? In what ways does this happen?
How is social class and income used to predict purchases?
Describe the concept of homogamy?
Who are the nouveau riche?
Describe to concept of status crystallization.
Chapter 12:
Income and Social Class
Chapter OBJECTIVES
When students finish this chapter they should understand why:
1. Our confidence in our future, as well as in the overall economy, determines how freely we spend and the types of products we buy.
2. We group consumers into social classes that say a lot about where they stand in society.
3. Individuals’ desires to make a statement about their social class, or the class to which they hope to belong, influence the products they like and dislike.
Chapter SUMMARY
Our confidence in our future, as well as in the overall economy, determines how freely we spend and the types of products we buy.</title>
<para>The field of behavioral economics studies how consumers decide what to do with their money. Consumer confidence—the state of mind consumers have about their own personal situation, as well as their feelings about their overall economic prospects—helps to determine whether they will purchase goods and services, take on debt, or save their money.
</para></division>
<inst><division id=”ch12div1sec02″ label=”2″><title id=”ch12div1sec02.title”><inst></inst>We group consumers into social classes that say a lot about where they stand in society.</title>
<para>A consumer’s social class refers to his or her standing in society. Factors including education, occupation, and income determine the class to which we belong.
</para><para>Virtually all groups make distinctions among members in terms of relative superiority, power, and access to valued resources. This social stratification creates a status hierarchy where consumers prefer some goods to others. Income is an important consideration of social class but it is not a perfect predictor.
</para><para>Factors such as place of residence, cultural interests, and worldview also determine social class. As income distributions change around the world, it is getting more difficult to distinguish among members of social classes—many products succeed because they appeal to a newly emerging group marketers call the mass class (people with incomes high enough to purchase luxury items, at least on a small scale).
</para></division>
<inst><division id=”ch12div1sec03″ label=”3″><title id=”ch12div1sec03.title”><inst></inst>IndivInIndividuals’ desires to make a statement about their social class, or the class to which they hope to belong, influence the products they like and dislike.
<para>Conspicuous consumption, where a person flaunts his status by deliberately using up valuable resources, is one way to “buy up” to a higher social class. <emphasis>Nouveau riches,</emphasis> whose relatively recent acquisition of income rather than ancestry or breeding accounts for their enhanced social mobility, are the most likely to do this. We use status symbols to communicate our standing to others. Parody display occurs when we seek display by deliberately avoiding fashionable products.
<para><emphasis></emphasis>
</para></division>
<inst><division id=”ch06div1sec04″ label=”1″><title id=”ch06div1sec04.title”><inst></inst></title><para><emphasis></emphasis><emphasis></emphasis><emphasis></emphasis>
Chapter Outline
A. Income and Consumer Identity
Income patterns are being shaped by a shift in women’s roles toward higher paying occupations and increases in educational attainment.
To Spend or Not to Spend, That Is the Question
1. Consumer demand for goods and services depends on ability to buy and willingness to buy.
2. Discretionary income is the money available to a household over and above that required for a comfortable standard of living.
3. The most noticeable change in the way the population spends its money when ages and income levels rise is that a much larger share of the budget is spent on shelter and transportation and less on food and apparel.
B. Individual Attitudes toward Money
1. People have different attitudes toward money. These might range from tightwads who hate to part with money to spendthrifts who enjoy spending and buying.
2. Money has complex psychological meaning; we equate it with success or failure, social acceptability, security, love, freedom, and yes even sex appeal. There are therapists who specialize in treating money-related disorders, and they report that some people even feel guilty about their success and deliberately make bad investments to reduce this feeling! Some other clinical conditions include atephobia (fear of being ruined), harapaxophobia (fear of becoming a victim of robbers), peniaphobia (fear of poverty), and aurophobia (fear of gold).
Discussion Opportunity—Ask: How do you feel about money? What does it represent to you? Would you classify yourself as a saver or a spender? Do you think other people would agree with this? On a scale of one to ten, where does money fall on your personal scale of priorities?
Discussion Opportunity—Ask: What are your greatest fears with respect to money? Explain. What do you expect of a spouse with respect to money? Are you stingy or sharing with respect to money? Where do you think this feeling comes from?
C. Consumer Confidence
1. A consumer’s beliefs about what the future holds is an indicator of consumer confidence, which reflects the extent to which people are optimistic or pessimistic about the future health of the economy and how they will fare down the road.
2. The Survey Research Center at the University of Michigan has developed the following questions to survey consumer confidence:
a. Would you say that you and your family are better off or worse off financially than a year ago?
b. Will you be better off or worse off a year from now?
c. Is now a good time or a bad time for people to buy major household items such as furniture or a refrigerator?
d. Do you plan to buy a car in the next year?
3. The overall savings rate is influenced by the individual consumer’s pessimism or optimism about his or her personal circumstances, world events, and cultural differences in attitudes toward saving.
Discussion Opportunity—Ask: Do you think these four questions are good for measuring consumer confidence? Do you think people would truthfully answer all these questions? Would you? What other questions might be added to the list? Why?
D. Income Inequality and Social Mobility
1. Income inequality if the extent to which resources are distributed unevenly with a population. This has created the new label “one percenter” where the most affluent one percent of people worldwide control more than half the globe’s total wealth.
2. Plutonomy describes an economy that is driven by a small number of wealthy people.
3. Social mobility refers to how individuals move from one social class to another.
a. Horizontal mobility occurs when a person moves from one position to another that is roughly equivalent in terms of social status.
b. Downward mobility refers to movement to a lower economic status.
c. Upward mobility is the movement to a economic status that is wealthier than your current status.
E. The Great Recession and Materialism
1. Frugalistas refuse to sacrifice style but they achieve it on a budget.
2. Plutonomy is an economy that is driven by a small number of rich people.
3. In spite of less demand for luxury goods in the U.S. and greater demand for goods and services that are part of the Poor Getting Poorer Index, there is a growing emphasis on corporate social responsibility.
4. Many consumers have reconsidered the value of possessions due to economic troubles. But bad economic conditions also seem to be related to happiness. Research shows that people are happier when they spend money on experiences rather than on material objects.
5. People also tend to get more joy from buying many smaller things rather than fewer big purchases. This is called hedonic adaptation.
F. Income-Based Marketing
1. The female-to-male earnings ration is 0.78.
2. The college wage premium describes the pay gap between what a worker with a college degree earns compared to those without one. This gap has grown to about 80 percent or more.
3. Consumers can be divided into three groups based on their attitudes towards luxury.
a. Luxury is function, and purchases should last and item an enduring value.
b. Luxury is a reward and luxury goods should be used to show success.
c. Luxury is an indulgence and should express individuality and make others take notice. Luxury tends to be more emotional for this group.
4. Marketers also need to provide for the bottom of the pyramid, those who have less to spend than the rich, but who have the same basic needs as everyone else.
5. Old money families live primarily on inherited funds and tend to be discreet about exhibiting wealth.
6. Social prominence in old money circles comes with money, a family history of public service and philanthropy, and tangible markers of these contributions that enable donors to achieve immortality (e.g. Carnegie Hall).
7. Old money consumers distinguish among themselves in terms of ancestry and lineage rather than wealth and are secure in their status.
8. The working wealthy or nouveau riche recently achieved wealth and do not know how to spend it. Many suffer status anxiety so they monitor the cultural environment to make sure they are consuming the right goods and services. Their flamboyant consumption is an example of symbolic self-completion because they display class symbols to make up for lack of assurance about correct behaviors.
9. A worldview is one way to differentiate among social classes. Working class people have different behavioral patterns than do the wealthy. Affluenza is a condition which describes wealthy people who are unhappy despite their wealth. Cosmopolitanism is an aspect of worldview that considers a person’s openness to the world and their desire for diverse experiences.
Discussion Opportunity—Ask students to evaluate how each of the following groups feels about savings and the general state of our economy (and their position in it): (a) a teenager, (b) a senior in college, (c) your parents, and (d) your grandparents (or other people in this age range).
G. Social Class and Consumer Identity
1. Pick a Pecking Order
a. In most animal species the most assertive or aggressive animals exert control over the others and have their first pick of food, living space, and even mating partners. People are not so different in that we too have a hierarchy of social class. In a dominance-submission hierarchy , each individual is submissive to individuals above him/her and dominates those below ( pecking order ). People develop a pecking order that ranks resources like education, housing and consumer goods.
b. A consumer’s standing in society, or social class, is determined by a complex set of variables, including income, family background, and occupation. The place one occupies in the social structure is an important determinant not only of how much money is spent, but it also influences how it is spent.
Discussion Opportunity—Ask: What other variables can you think of that might have a strong association (determinant of) with social class?
2. According to Karl Marx, the “haves” control the resources and the means of production and the “have-nots” provide the labor.
3. According to Max Weber, multidimensional people are ranked by social honor ( status groups ), power ( party ), wealth, and property ( class ).
4. We use the term social class to describe generally the overall rank of people in a society. People who belong to the same social class have approximately equal social standing in the community.
5. The tendency to marry within one’s own social class is known as homogamy.
Discussion Opportunity—Have your students comment on the phrase “Social class is as much a state of being as it is of having.” How important is social class to you? Explain.
Discussion Opportunity—Ask students to think of examples of achieved status and examples of ascribed status. Have them use real people for their example illustrations.
H. Social Class in the United States
1. One of the most famous social class scales is the one developed by Lloyd Warner in 1941. Warner’s six divisions are:
a. Upper Upper (old rich)
b. Lower Upper (new rich)
c. Upper Middle (professionals and owners)
d. Lower Middle (lower-paid, white-collar workers and high-paid, blue-collar workers)
e. Upper Lower (blue-collar workers)
f. Lower Lower (underemployed and unemployed)
*****Use Figure 11.2 Here; Use Consumer Behavior Challenge #30 Here *****
Discussion Opportunity—Ask: Which of Warner’s social class divisions most accurately describe where you are with respect to social class? To which class do you aspire? How will you achieve this change?
Discussion Opportunity—Ask students to give one example of dramatic social class change wherein a person moved dramatically up or down the social class scale. Explain your example. What changes did this movement cause?
2. Class Structure Around the World
a. Every society has some type of hierarchical class structure that determines people’s access to products and services.
b. In China, a middle class is rapidly developing. This has made a market for all kinds of goods and services.
c. Japan is a very brand-conscious society where upscale, designer labels are quite popular. This is especially true with the large working female demographic.
d. In the Middle East, shopping is a major leisure activity for women with money, most of who do not work outside the home.
e. The United Kingdom is very class-conscious, with class structure being traditionally preordained. The Great British Class Survey found that the distinct classes in the U.K. has grown from three to seven, ranging from the elite, to the precariat.
f. Thanks to a booming economy, Indian consumers are embracing the high-end brands and consumerism of the West and using credit cards to spend their way into luxury.
3. How Do We Measure Social Class?
a. Social scientists disagree on the best way to measure social class.
b. Figure 11.3 shows an example of a computerized status index.
c. One problem in assigning people to a social class is that many people are not equal in standing on all relevant dimensions. Social scientists use the concept of status crystallization to assess the impact of social class inconsistency.
d. Some people make less money than their class expects, which means they are underprivileged, while others may make more than their class expects, which means they are overprivileged.
e. We still tend to assume that husbands define a family’s social class and that wives achieve their class through their husbands. Attractive women are likely to be able to “marry up” which is called hierogamy.
I. Status Symbols and Social Capital
1. Social Capital
a. In addition to economic capital, French theorist Bourdieu noted that people compete for social capital too.
b. Cultural capital is the set of distinctive and socially rare tastes and practices like knowledge of “refined” behavior.
c. This is true of the online world as well such that Twitter members with the most followers have more social capital than those with fewer followers.
d. Mass marketers have found ways to serve a class called the mass class with everyday products that suggest luxury.
2. What Do You Use That Fork For? Taste Cultures, Codes, and Cultural Capital
a. A taste culture describes consumers in terms of their aesthetic and intellectual preferences.
b. Figure 11.4 shows the clusters of furnishings and decorative items found based on social class.
c. Another approach to social class focuses on the codes, the ways consumers express and interpret meanings, people within different social strata use.
d. There are two ways to communicate product benefits that incorporate different types of codes. Restricted codes focus on the content of objects, not on relationships among objects. Elaborated codes are more complex and depend on a more sophisticated worldview. Table 11.1 explains some differences between the two types of codes.
3. Status Symbols
a. A major motivation to buy is to let others know that we can afford them. The products serve as status symbols.
*****Use Consumer Behavior Challenge #25 Here *****
b. Imitations of status symbols prompted three coping strategies from luxury fashion brand consumers in India and Thailand:
c. Flights – stop using the brand to avoid association with lesser-status person who buys fake brands.
d. Reclamation – emphasize long relationship with the brand and express concern for the brand’s image.
e. Abranding – they disguise their luxury items in the belief that high-status people do not need to display expensive logos, so those who do betray lower status.
4. Thorstein Veblen felt products were used to inspire envy in others through a display of wealth or power.
a. Veblen coined the phrase conspicuous consumption to refer to people’s desire to provide prominent visible evidence of their ability to afford luxury goods.
b. The phenomenon of conspicuous consumption was most evident among the leisure class, for whom productive work is taboo ( idle rich ).
c. Cougars are women who date younger men, presumably to use the men as arm candy.
*****Use Consumer Behavior Challenge #24 Here *****
5. Consumers engage in conspicuous consumption as a way to display status markers, yet the prominence of these markers varies from products with large recognizable emblems to those with no logos at all. Those with highly visible signals are called loud signals while those with more subtle signals are said to have quiet signals. The differences in the level of visibility of a product as a status symbol is called brand prominence. When people choose a brand based on brand prominence, they are said to be status signaling. Figure 11.5 provides a typology of status signaling.
Discussion Opportunity—Have the class create a list of ten status symbols that are important to them. Then have them share their lists with the class. How are these symbols linked to success? If a marketer knew your list, how would it affect their strategy for marketing to you?
Discussion Opportunity—Ask: What brands have the greatest brand prominence for you?
*****Use Figure 11.5 Here *****
J. Lifestyles
1. Lifestyle: Who We Are, What We Do
a. Lifestyle refers to a pattern of consumption reflecting a person’s choices of how he or she spends time and money. It is (in an economic sense) how one elects to allocate income.
b. A lifestyle marketing perspective recognizes that people sort themselves into groups on the basis of the things they like to do, how they like to spend their leisure time, and how they choose to spend their disposable income.
c. Other terms used to describe lifestyle are taste public, consumer group, symbolic community, and status culture.
Discussion Opportunity—Ask: What are some different lifestyles that people about your age (those attending and not attending college) tend to follow? What are the differences between your lifestyle and someone who is a returning student (or a normal undergraduate if you are a returning student)? A graduate student?
2. Product Complementarity and Co-Branding Strategies
a. People, products, and settings combine to express a consumption style . The adoption of a lifestyle-marketing perspective implies that we must look at patterns of behavior to understand consumers.
*****Use Figure 11.6 Here; Use Consumer Behavior Challenge #31 Here *****
b. Co-branding strategies are used by marketers to combine products that appeal to similar patterns of behavior.
c. Product complementarity occurs when the symbolic meanings of different products are related to each other. These products, termed consumption constellations, are used by consumers to define, communicate, and perform social roles.
*****Use Consumer Behavior Challenge #32 Here *****
K. Psychographics
1. Psychographics involves the use of psychological, sociological, and anthropological factors to determine how the market is segmented by the propensity of groups within the market and their reasons to make a particular decision about a product, person, ideology, or otherwise hold an attitude or use a medium.
2. How do perform a psychographic analysis?
Psychographic studies take several forms including lifestyle profiles, product-specific profiles, general lifestyle segmentation, and product-specific segmentation studies.
3. AIOs
a. Most contemporary psychographic research attempts to group consumers according to some combination of three categories of variables: activities, interests, and opinions.
b. Table 11.2 lists lifestyle dimensions which can be used in psychographic profiling.
c. Marketers use the results of psychographic studies to do things such as:
· Define the target market
· Position the product
· Better communicate product attributes
· Develop product strategy
· Market social and political issues
d. The best known lifestyle segmentation system is the Values and Lifestyles System (VALS2). Figure 11.8 illustrates VALS2. VALS segments are grouped according to resources and self-orientation. Self-orientation is either based on ideals, achievement, and self-expression. The results include the following types:
· Innovators
· Thinkers
· Achievers
· Experiencers
· Believers
· Strivers
· Makers
· Strugglers
*****Use Figure 11.8 Here *****
End-of-Chapter Support Material
SUMMARY OF SPECIAL FEATURE BOXES
1. Marketing Pitfall
A person’s credit score based on outstanding debt has become a symbol of a person’s worth. Credit scores are considered in hiring decisions, dating, and loans.
2. Marketing Opportunity
The appeal of living in urban environments continues to grow, causing housing prices in many cities to skyrocket. Micro-loft are economical and ecofriendly alternatives to more costly housing.
3. The Tangled Web
The digital dived between the rich and poor is still a reality. People who don’t have access to the internet can be at a real disadvantage.
4. CB As I See It: Paul Henry, University of Sydney Australia
We tend to associated with and work with people who share our values and priorities, as well as our cultural and social preferences. Class is related to income and wealth, but it also distinguished how people plan finances and manage money, as well as financial goal setting.
5. Marketing Pitfall
In China, the quality of life has improved dramatically for many. In the past, people were fairly equal, and the ratio of males to females was about even. Today, incomes are higher, and more women are postponing marriage to pursue careers. The one child policy has resulted in as many as 24 million unmarried men.
6. Marketing Pitfall
The term “chav” refers to young, lower-class men and women who mix flashy brands with track suits. They spend a lot of disposable income on fashion, food, and gadgets.
7. Marketing Pitfall
Research shows that people who identify with a relatively low-status category desire objectives they associate with high status to enhance social standing. However, this policy works against them in the long run.
8. CB As I See It: Benjamin G. Voyer, ESCP Europe Business School & London School of Economics, United Kingdom
Luxury goods constitute a unique product and service category in marketing. Luxury consumption has been linked to wealth, social class, and economic power. Luxury goods have also been associated with unsustainability or unhealthiness.
9. Marketing Pitfall
Luxury goods serve as status symbols, but counterfeit products threaten to diminish their value.
REVIEW QUESTIONS
12-1. How have women contributed to the overall rise in income in our society?
One reason for this increase in income is that there also have been a larger proportion of people of working age participating in the labor force. Mothers with preschool children are the fastest-growing segment of working people. Furthermore, many of these jobs are in high-paying occupations such as medicine and architecture that used to be dominated by men. Although women are still a minority in most professional occupations, their ranks continue to swell. The steady increase in the numbers of working women is a primary cause of the rapid growth of middle- and upper-income families. There are now more than 18 million married couples making over $50,000 a year. However, in almost two-thirds of these families, the wife’s paycheck is propelling the couple up the income ladder.
(5 minutes, Chapter Objective 1, AACSB: Reflective Thinking)
12-2. Define discretionary income.
Discretionary income is the money available to a household over and above that required for a comfortable standard of living.
(5 minutes, Chapter Objective 1, AACSB: Application of Knowledge)
12-3. How does consumer confidence influence consumer behavior?
Consumers’ beliefs about what the future holds are an indicator of consumer confidence that reflects the extent to which people are optimistic or pessimistic about the future health of the economy and how they will fare down the road. These beliefs influence how much money they will pump into the economy when making discretionary purchases.
(5 minutes, Chapter Objective 1, AACSB: Application of Knowledge)
12-4. What is a pecking order?
In many animal species, a social organization develops whereby the most assertive or aggressive animals exert control over the others and have the first pick of food, living space, and even mating partners. Chickens, for example, develop a clearly defined dominance–submission hierarchy. Within this hierarchy, each hen has a position in which she is submissive to all of the hens above her and dominates all of the ones below her (hence, the origin of the term pecking order). People are not much different. They also develop a pecking order that ranks them in terms of their relative standing in society. This standing determines their access to such resources as education, housing, and consumer goods. People try to improve their ranking by moving up in the social order whenever possible. This desire to improve one’s lot in life, and often to let others know that one has done so, is at the core of many marketing strategies.
(10 minutes, Chapter Objective 2, AACSB: Application of Knowledge)
12-5. What is social class? Is it different from income and if so how?
We use the term social class more generally to describe the overall rank of people in a society. People who are grouped within the same social class are approximately equal in terms of their social standing in the community. They work in roughly similar occupations, and they tend to have similar lifestyles by virtue of their income levels and common tastes. These people tend to socialize with one another and share many ideas and values regarding the way life should be lived. Indeed, “birds of a feather do flock together.”
(10 minutes, Chapter Objective 2, AACSB: Application of Knowledge)
12-6. Define social mobility and describe the different forms it takes.
In some societies, such as India, one’s social class is very difficult to change, but America is reputed to be a country in which “any man (or woman?) can grow up to be president.” Social mobility refers to the “passage of individuals from one social class to another.” Social mobility can be upward or downward.
(10 minutes, Chapter Objective 2, AACSB: Application of Knowledge)
12-7. What one variable is the best indicator of social class? What are some other important indicators?
When we think about a person’s social class, there are a number of pieces of information we may consider. Two major ones are occupation and income. A third important factor is educational attainment that is strongly related to income and occupation.
(5 minutes, Chapter Objective 3, AACSB: Reflective Thinking)
12-8. What is income inequality, and why is it a problem?
Today one of the biggest issues we hear about is income inequality, that is, the extent to which resources are distributed unevenly within a population. One consequence of rising inequality is that more consumers worry about “falling behind” if a breadwinner loses his or her job or if the family can no longer afford the cost of housing, transportation, and other necessities. For example, a researcher who conducted an in-depth study of residents of a rural trailer park identified one segment of consumers she called the Reluctant Emigrants. These people once lived in fixed-site homes but various economic problems forced them to move to the more affordable trailer park. Because their lives are on a downward trajectory, their primary concerns focus on security and protection
(5 minutes, Chapter Objective 1, AACSB: Reflective Thinking)
12-9. Why might a person’s social class not change when he or she earns more money?
One problem is that even if a family increases household income by adding wage earners, each additional job is likely to be of lower status. A homemaker who gets a part-time job is not as likely to get one that is of equal or greater status than the primary wage earner’s full-time job. In addition, the extra money earned is often not pooled toward the common good of the family. Instead, the individual uses it for his own personal spending. More money does not then result in increased status or changes in consumption patterns because it tends to be devoted to buying more of the usual rather than upgrading to higher-status products.
(10 minutes, Chapter Objective 3, AACSB: Reflective Thinking)
12-10. What are some of the problems we encounter when we try to measure social class?
One reason is that most measures of social class were designed to accommodate the traditional nuclear family, with a male wage earner in the middle of his career and a female full-time homemaker. Such measures have trouble accounting for two-income families, young singles living alone, or households headed by women, who are so prevalent in today’s society. Another problem with measuring social class is the increasing anonymity of our society. Earlier studies relied on the reputational method, in which extensive interviewing was done within a community to determine the reputations and backgrounds of individuals. This information, coupled with the tracing of interaction patterns among people, provided a very comprehensive view of social standing within a community. However, this approach is virtually impossible to implement in most communities today. One compromise is to interview individuals to obtain demographic data and to combine these data with the subjective impressions of the interviewer regarding the person’s possessions and standard of living.
(15 minutes, Chapter Objective 3, AACSB: Reflective Thinking)
12-11. How does the worldview of blue-collar and white-collar consumers tend to differ?
Although they would like to have more in the way of material goods, working-class people do not necessarily envy those who rank above them in social standing. They may not view the maintenance of a high-status lifestyle as worth the effort. As one blue-collar consumer commented, “Life is very hectic for those people. There are more breakdowns and alcoholism. It must be very hard to sustain the status, the clothes, and the parties that are expected. I don’t think I’d want to take their place.”
(10 minutes, Chapter Objective 3, AACSB: Reflective Thinking)
12-12. What is a taste culture?
A taste culture differentiates people in terms of their aesthetic and intellectual preferences. This concept helps to illuminate the important yet sometimes subtle distinctions in consumption choices among the social classes.
(5 minutes, Chapter Objective 3, AACSB: Application of Knowledge)
12-13. Describe the difference between a restricted and an elaborated code. Give an example of each.
Restricted codes are dominant among the working class, whereas the middle and upper classes tend to use elaborated codes. Restricted codes focus on the content of objects, not on relationships among objects. Elaborated codes, in contrast, are more complex and depend on a more sophisticated worldview. These code differences extend to the way consumers approach basic concepts such as time, social relationships, and objects.
(10 minutes, Chapter Objective 3, AACSB: Reflective Thinking)
12-14. What is cultural capital, and why is enrolling in an etiquette class a way to accumulate it?
This refers to a set of distinctive and socially rare tastes and practices—knowledge of “refined” behavior that admits a person into the realm of the upper class. The elite in a society collect a set of skills that enable them to hold positions of power and authority, and they pass these on to their children (such as etiquette lessons and debutante balls). These resources gain in value because access to them is restricted. That is part of the reason why people compete so fiercely for admission to elite colleges. Much as we hate to admit it, the rich are different.
(10 minutes, Chapter Objective 3, AACSB: Application of Knowledge)
12-15. How do you differentiate between “old money” versus “nouveau riche” consumers?
We call consumers who have achieved extreme wealth and have relatively recently become members of upper social classes the nouveau riches, a term that many people use in a derogatory manner to describe newcomers to the world of wealth.
(5 minutes, Chapter Objective 3, AACSB: Reflective Thinking)
12-16. What roles do status symbols play in purchase decisions?
We tend to evaluate ourselves, our professional accomplishments, our appearance, and
our material well-being relative to others. Often it’s not enough just to have wealth or fame; what matters is that you have more of it than others. A major motivation to buy is not to enjoy these items but rather to let others know that we can afford them. These products are status symbols. The popular bumper-sticker slogan, “He who dies with the most toys, wins,” summarizes the desire to accumulate these badges of achievement. Status-seeking is a significant source of motivation to procure appropriate products and services that we hope will let others know we’ve “made it.” A study demonstrated how people turn to status symbols to prop up their self-concepts, especially when they feel badly or uncertain about other aspects of their lives. Rising incomes in man economically developing countries, such as South Korea and China, coupled with decreasing prices for quality consumer goods and services, create explosive demand for luxury products or at least “affordable” versions of these goods. This change fuels demand for mass-consumed products that still offer some degree of panache. Companies such as H&M, Zara, EasyJet, and L’Oréal provide creature comforts to a consumer segment that analysts label mass class. This term describes the hundreds of millions of global consumers who now enjoy a level of purchasing power that’s sufficient to let them afford high-quality products—except for big-ticket items such as college educations, housing, or luxury cars.
(5 minutes, Chapter Objective 3, AACSB: Reflective Thinking)
12-17. What is conspicuous consumption? Give a current example.
Conspicuous consumption refers to people’s desire to provide prominent visible evidence of their ability to afford luxury goods.
(5 minutes, Chapter Objective 3, AACSB: Application of Knowledge)
12-18. What is a current example of parody display?
As the competition to accumulate status symbols escalates, sometimes the best tactic is to switch gears and go in reverse. One way to do this is to deliberately avoid status symbols—that is, to seek status by mocking it. Social scientists call this sophisticated form of conspicuous consumption parody display. Hence, the popularity of old, ripped blue jeans, and “utility” vehicles such as Jeeps among the upper classes.
(5 minutes, Chapter Objective 3, AACSB: Reflective Thinking)
12-19. Describe what we men by the term mass class and summarize what causes this phenomenon.
Mass class describes the hundreds of millions of global consumers who now enjoy a level of purchasing power that’s sufficient to let them afford high-quality products—except for big-ticket items such as college educations, housing, or luxury cars. A lot of “affordable luxuries” now are within reach of many consumers who could not have acquired them in the past. Rising incomes in many economically developing countries, such as South Korea and China, coupled with decreasing prices for quality consumer goods and services, create explosive demand for luxury products or at least “affordable” versions of these goods.
(5 minutes, Chapter Objective 3, AACSB: Reflective Thinking)
CONSUMER BEHAVIOR CHALLENGE
DISCUSS
12-20. Sears, JC Penney, and Walmart tried hard in recent years to upgrade their images and appeal to higherclass consumers. How successful have these efforts been? Do you believe this strategy is wise?
JC Penney has not been very successful in changing its image. Because consumers have always thought of stores like J. Penney, Sears, and Walmart as discount or low-price stores, it is likely that these stores will have difficulty changing their images among the public. Attempting to change a store’s image when consumers have a strong perception of the store’s image—and one that is largely inconsistent with the proposed image—can be a very risky strategy. As in the case of JC Penney, retailers run the risk of alienating a significant group of loyal consumers with these attempts.
(15 minutes, Chapter Objective 3, AACSB: Analytic Skills)
12-21. What are some of the obstacles to measuring social class in today’s society? Discuss some ways to get around these obstacles.
Some of the obstacles in measuring social class in today’s society are changes in family structure, anonymity, and status inconsistency. One way to get around obstacles is to obtain demographic data and combine the data with the interviewer’s subjective impressions of the individual’s standard of living and possessions. Interviewers should be adequately trained. Researchers should attempt to cross-validate data with multiple judges.
(15 minutes, Chapter Objective 3, AACSB: Reflective Thinking
12-22. What consumption differences might you expect to observe between families characterized as underprivileged versus those whose income is average for its social class?
An example of the consumption differences one might expect to observe between a family characterized as underprivileged versus one whose income is average for its social class include the brands of clothing worn, the types of cars driven, types of vacations (flying versus driving, hotels versus camping), and vacation destinations (local state park versus Hawaii). Students likely will identify a number of factors in their own lives that distinguish them as members of the “middle” class. Underprivileged people tend to spend more to look like they belong in a social class. Ask students if they have a tendency to overestimate the class they are in. Why would they do this?
(15 minutes, Chapter Objective 3, AACSB: Reflective Thinking)
12-23. How do you assign people to social classes, or do you at all? What consumption cues do you use (e.g., clothing, speech, cars, etc.) to determine social standing?
As discussed in the text, people are assigned to social classes by virtue of their social standing in the community. People are grouped according to their occupation, lifestyle, ideas and values, and income. Consumption cues that may be used to determine people’s social standing include their cars, homes, clothing, speech, and types of people with whom they socialize.
"Looking for a Similar Assignment? Get Expert Help at an Amazing Discount!"
