12-1 copyright © 2011 pearson education, inc. publishing as prentice hall chapter 12 income and...
TRANSCRIPT
12-1 Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall
Chapter 12
Income and Social Class
CONSUMER BEHAVIOR, 9eMichael R. Solomon
12-2 Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall
Chapter Objectives
When you finish this chapter, you should understand why:
• Both personal and social conditions influence how we spend our money.
• We group consumers into social classes that say a lot about where they stand in society.
• A person’s desire to make a statement about his social class, or the class to which he hopes to belong, influences the products he likes and dislikes.
12-3 Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall
Consumer Spending and Economic Behavior
• General economic conditions affect the way we allocate our money
• A person’s social class impacts what he/she does with money and how consumption choices reflect one’s place in society
• Products can be status symbols
12-4 Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall
Discretionary Income
• The money available to a household over and above what it requires to have a comfortable standard of living
• How we spend varies based in part on our attitudes toward money
• Tightwads
• Spendthrifts
12-5 Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall
Wal-Mart Study onAttitudes Toward Money
Brand aspirationals
Price-sensitive affluents
Value-priced shoppers
12-6 Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall
Consumer Confidence
• Behavioral economics
• Consumer confidence
• Factors affecting the overall savings rate:
• Pessimism/optimism about personal circumstances
• World events
• Cultural differences in attitudes toward savings
12-7 Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall
Social Class Structure
• “Haves” versus “have-nots”
• Social class is determined by income, family background, and occupation
• Universal pecking order: relative standing in society
• Social class affects access to resources
12-8 Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall
Discussion
• 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?
12-9 Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall
Picking a Pecking Order
• Social stratification
• Artificial divisions in a society
• Scarce/valuable resources are distributed unequally to status positions
• Achieved versus ascribed status
• Status hierarchy
12-10 Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall
Social Mobility
Horizontal Mobility
Upward Mobility
Downward Mobility
12-11 Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall
Figure 12.1 American Class Structure
12-12 Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall
Components of Social Class
• Occupational prestige
• Is stable over time and similar across cultures
• Single best indicator of social class
• Income
• Wealth not distributed evenly across classes (top fifth controls 75% of all assets)
• How money is spent is more influential on class than income
12-13 Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall
Predicting Consumer Behavior
• Whether social class or income is a better predictor of a consumer’s behavior depends on the type of product:
• Social class is better predictor of lower to moderately priced symbolic purchases
• Income is better predictor of major nonstatus/nonsymbolic expenditures
• Need both social class and income to predict expensive, symbolic products
12-14 Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall
Consumer View of Luxury Goods
• Luxury is functional
• Luxury is a reward
• Luxury is indulgence
12-15 Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall
Taste Cultures
• Taste culture: differentiates people in terms of their aesthetic and intellectual preferences
• Upper- and upper-middle-class: more likely to visit museums and attend live theater
• Middle-class: more likely to go camping and fishing
12-16 Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall
Figure 12.2 Living Room Clusters and Social Class
12-17 Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall
Taste Cultures
• Codes: the way consumers express and interpret meanings
• Allows marketers to communicate to markets using concepts and terms consumers are most likely to understand and appreciate
• Restricted codes: focus on the content of objects, not on relationships among objects
• Elaborated codes: depend on a more sophisticated worldview
12-18 Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall
Status Symbols
• What matters is having more wealth/fame than others
• Status-seeking: motivation to obtain products that will let others know that you have “made it”
12-19 Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall
Parody Display
• Parody display: deliberately avoiding status symbols
• Examples:
• Ripped jeans
• Sports utility vehicles
• Red Wing boots
12-20 Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall
Problems with Social Class Segmentation
• Ignores status inconsistencies
• Ignores intergenerational mobility
• Ignores subjective social class
• Ignores consumers’ aspirations to change class standing
• Ignores the social status of working wives
12-21 Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall
Chapter Summary
• Both personal and social conditions influence how we spend our money.
• We group consumers into social classes that say a lot about where they stand in society.
• A person’s desire to make a statement about social class influences the products he likes and dislikes.