The Concept of Status Consumption - Coursework Example

Status Consumption Consumer Decision Making and Behaviour Introduction The area of substance customs has developed a comprehensive perceptive of the figurative characteristics that hold fast to the objects of human manufacture. Scholars across the social sciences have sought to demonstrate how individuals and communities use inanimate objects to claim, to legitimate as well as to compete for status meaning. Status has been a kind of fixed idea for certain communities of scholars. Modern consumption is a historical artefact. Its currents characteristics are the result of several centuries of profound economic, social as well as cultural change in many countries. Contemporary class utilization was the source as well as outcome of numerous social alterations that its materialization indicated nothing less than the revolution of the globe. The consumer boom of the eighteenth century was a battle of class struggle in which commodities served principally in status-marking in addition to status-claiming capabilities. The massive social change has driven the possibility of emergence of new habits and new scale of consumption (McCracken 31). The class and status Although class is defined by positions in the organization of production, property and markets, status relates to social esteem or honour that is based on lifestyle, education, occupation or heredity. The main difference between class and status is that class is production based while status is consumption based. According to the theory of conspicuous consumption, social status is derived partly from the type of goods people consume, their leisure activities, the clothes they wear, as well as the kind of food they eat. In addition, the impact of status on cultural consumption operates through the tendency of people of equal status to interact with each other (status homophiles). This produces relatively homogeneous status groups in terms of lifestyles as well as cultural consumption. However, a class-based theory of cultural consumption assumes either a strong class consciousness or a very efficient socialization process. The argument of class-culture homology implies that individuals’ cultural practices reinforce their class commitment (Chan 87). Non-work Activities Status through consumption has most often been studied in terms of the goods and services which are consumed for such an objective. The framing of consumption in non-work activities follows a tradition in which the market goods and services that consumers acquire are used in activities rather than directly consumed. In the case of status objectives, the mere possession of goods can generally be acquired by those who attain a given income level. Rather it is the stylized use of market goods in activities which is status-yielding. Activities can be considered as terms of parameterized input factors as well as the constructs which influence the transformation of these input factors. The exact levels of consumer activities are specified in terms of the stocks of goods that the consumer holds as well as skills which index his or her efficiency in these activities, normative orientations, income, and the relative price of input goods and services (Silver 12). Conspicuous status consumption The study of investment banks helped understand the organizational status as a mechanism of resources partitioning. Research showed that division took place alongside both proportions of position size along with managerial rank or reputation. Managerial rank is a potentially significant device resulting to resource division, with noticeable relevance to various markets for manufactured goods like wines along with automobiles. The organizational status is brought about by different actions of social groups as it is designated by the divergent ordering amongst manufacturers of a specific type. Conspicuous utilization of status commodities by individual clients might be further vital for market division rather than the status ordering of manufacturers in relation to one another. The petition of some manufactured goods may gain more from community exhibitions of utilization by clients as well as the position conferrals of others resulting from these exhibitions and not from the varied actions of manufacturers. Managerial status is communally built straightforwardly by the utilization patterns of customers rather than by manufacturers. Though it may not be the case, the rank conferrals of the community might match up precisely to those of manufacturers amongst themselves. For example, even though in wine there is an irregular connection linking community ordering and industry- manufacturer orderings. In America, wines like Gallo’s Hearty Burgundy are not likely to capitulate an elevated community status conferral and therefore match up to their manufacturing ranking. Additional goods that are soaring in community endorsement regularly are not high on an industry list. In investment banking, generalism is related to elevated status, while it is low in several extra resource-partitioning perspectives, together with beer plus wine. Industries like airline customer service, assessment, stock brokering and banking seem to follow the pattern of investment banking. The direction of co-variation most probably relays on two things: manufacture ambiguity as well as the expenses of a breakdown. Whenever insecurity is lofty and the expenses of breakdown are towering (as seen in the airline customer service or investment banking), the generalists obtain position endorsement. On the other hand, whenever insecurity is little and the expenses of a breakdown are low (as it is in beer), the professionals obtain status endorsement (Staw and Kramer 26). Dimensionality and structure Class and status are the main dimensions of social stratification. Material goods have a value above and beyond their intrinsic use, and take on symbolic power in social contexts because they signal status. For instance, in conspicuous consumption, people signify status by virtue of forgone income through the ultimately excessive use of material goods in social interaction. Factors determine cultural consumption, and the purpose of cultural practices is to demonstrate and display material status. In the material primacy model, individuals’ consumption is not driven by their tastes and preferences, but their material well-being: material status determines cultural practices. The cultural dimension of stratification is manifest in status groups, which have distinct consumption patterns and distinguish themselves through mundane interactional styles revealed in manners, correct ways of conducting oneself, patterns of social interaction, and tastes in clothing, food and entertainment. Economic and non-economic factors play a great role in consumption stratification. There are three classes of consumption that distinguishes the consumption patterns. It is rational for every individual household to tend toward a large-scale consumption pattern, but not all will achieve it, and the obstacle is mainly not income. Status groups’ use of distinctive cultural practices to differentiate themselves from other groups and reinforce identity constitutes part of a social closure strategy. Members of various stands limit the access of others to the resources of which they avail themselves, and contrasts usurpationary attempts with exclusionary closure. This is the effort by a single cluster to shelter for itself a restricted location at the disbursement of various supplementary groups by practicing subordination. High-culture signals are conducive to exclusionary closure of status groups since the exclusively high cost to outsiders of acquiring the signal system effectively prevents usurpation. In context involving access to scarce resources like education, members of status groups can use their distinctive styles of life as signals of social location in an attempt to exclude outsiders and maintain a monopoly (Crook 31). Market value A good or service may have universal market value or personal market value or both. The values that fulfil the requirements of consumers are termed as universal. They are relevant to the fundamental reason of purchasing manufactured goods or services, and they are wanted in same manner by clients in many states along with cultures. These are the fundamental standards that a seller ought to present. Individual values on the other hand gratify the needs of the client. They relate to something further than the essential or general motive for purchasing manufactured goods or services or for carrying out trade with a company. A number of individual standards, which may be group specific, are preferred by in addition to being presented in a similar way to a section or a set of clients. Additional individual standards are personal and hence related to one’s personal enjoyment or comfort. There are various values that are sought by customers: a) Universal value: Performance: this is the feature of substantial result of making use of the manufactured goods or services. It relates to how fine manufactured goods or services serve their primary purpose over and over again. This quality is inherent in and originates from the substantial composition of the manufactured goods or else from the design of service. Consequently, it relays on design qualities as well as manufacturing value. For instance, when a customer buys a detergent, he or she seeks such performance standards as dirt as well as mark elimination from clothes in addition to protection in opposition to colour vanishing. As a result, sellers or organizations can present better performance value by assuming attractive measures on presentation such as value improvement techniques, product innovations, mass customization as well as warranties and guarantees. b) Personal values: social and emotional values. a. Social values: clients motivated by social significance prefer goods that put across an illustration matching with the customs of their acquaintances as well as friends or individuals that express the social figure they desire to venture. Social standards subsist once products appear to be linked with optimistically apparent social groups. A product associated with a negatively perceived social group has negative social value. In India, for instance, one owns an automobile that reflect his or her social status. b. Emotional value: This is the pleasure along with the emotional contentment that goods as well as services provide to those who use them. Numerous actions and goods offer preferred emotions. The largest part of investigational expenditure provides emotional significance. The aspect of using a product or a service so as to provide value is known as experimental consumption. The contentment as well as pleasure builds up in consumer involvement as the utilization process discloses, for instance, watching a movie or playing sport. Marketers offer social and emotional values through prestige pricing, limited availability, social-image-based marketing communications that focus on association with desired persons or objects or symbols, and new exclusive offerings. Emotional value is also deliverable through emotional advertising (Saxena 164). The means-end chain model Marketers can use means-end chain analysis to identify product attributes that will be consistent with certain values. In the recent past, customers generally considered sports cars to be expensive and uncomfortable, and ownership of them took on an aspect of arrogance and irresponsibility. Consequently, manufacturers begun offering comfortable cars positioned for people who have friends in order to be more in line with current values. The means-end chain model is also useful for developing advertising strategy. By knowing which attributes consumers find important and which values they associate with those attributes, advertisers can design ads that appeal to these values and emphasize related attributes. Marketers can also use the means-end chain to segment global markets and appeal to consumers on the basis of specific benefits and related values. For instance, when marketing yoghurt, a firm can identify one segment that values health and reach this segment by focusing on product attributes such as low fat and could identify a second segment that values enjoyment and reach this segment through attributes such as fruit ingredients (Hoyer and Macinnis 370). Household structures Common household structures and roles help explain how families change over time. Marketers can use them to identify core target markets and use that data to modify their marketing message. These influences are great predictors of family and household spending. When marketer understands the common household structures a family can have, he can better understand the products that consumers use as the structure changes. Doing so helps the marketer create a marketing message that is appealing to them. Marketers can also use the household variables to monitor, measure, as well as predicting alterations in demand for specific product categories. House structures offers significant differences in consumer spending habits like consumption patterns, the amount of money spent, the product purchased as well as the products that are of interest to the consumer. When a marketer understands the structure and lifestyle of the household he advertise in, he can cater his message to meet its needs (Lake 153). Conclusion Lifestyle generational marketing is a relatively new marketing strategy that targets a market of each generation based upon the times in which it grows – the movies, music, wars as well as other events of that period. Lifestyle generational marketing targets various experiences in which that market shares during its formative years. The current development in living values has extended admittance to artistic utilization that was traditionally held in reserve to minute elite. References Chan Tak Wing. Social Status and Cultural Consumption. USA. Cambridge University Press, 2010. Accessed June 14, 2010. http://books.google.com/books?id=GZPY2A9X9jMC&pg=PA85&dq=the+concept+of+status+consumption&as_brr=3&client=firefox-a&cd=2#v=onepage&q&f=false Crook Christopher J. Cultural practices and socioeconomic attainment: the Australian experience Westport. Greenwood Publishing Group, 1997. Accessed June 14, 2010. http://books.google.com/books?id=uyw2CiZHHtcC&pg=PA32&dq=concept+of+status+consumption&as_brr=3&client=firefox-a&cd=10#v=onepage&q=concept%20of%20status%20consumption&f=false Hoyer Wayne D. and Macinnis Deborah J. Consumer Behavior. London. Cengage Learning, 2008. Accessed June 14, 2010. http://books.google.com/books?id=fk1rTxRYtY0C&pg=PA367&dq=how+a+marketer+can+utilise+status+consumption+to+market+a+specific+product&lr=&as_brr=3&client=firefox-a&cd=6#v=onepage&q&f=false Lake Laura. Consumer Behavior for Dummies. Indiana. For Dummies, 2009. Accessed June 14, 2010. http://books.google.com/books?id=V6s9_v_Rdx4C&pg=PA153&dq=how+a+marketer+can+utilise+status+consumption+to+market+a+specific+product&lr=&as_brr=3&client=firefox-a&cd=9#v=onepage&q&f=false McCracken Grant David. Culture and consumption: new approaches to the symbolic character of consumer goods and activities. USA. University Press, 1990. Accessed June 14, 2010. http://books.google.com/books?id=szALv30Usi0C&pg=PA31&dq=the+concept+of+status+consumption&as_brr=3&client=firefox-a&cd=1#v=onepage&q=the%20concept%20of%20status%20consumption&f=false Saxena Rajan. Marketing Management. New Delhi. Tata McGraw-Hill, 2005. Accessed June 14, 2010. http://books.google.com/books?id=c9869T3ZxDsC&pg=PA164&dq=how+a+marketer+can+utilise+status+consumption+to+market+a+specific+product&lr=&as_brr=3&client=firefox-a&cd=1#v=onepage&q&f=false Silver Steven D. `Status through consumption: dynamics of consuming in structured environment’. USA. Springer, 2002. Accessed June 14, 2010. http://books.google.com/books?id=IRZw68blkQ8C&printsec=frontcover&dq=concept+of+status+consumption&as_brr=3&client=firefox-a&cd=6#v=onepage&q=concept%20of%20status%20consumption&f=false Staw Barry M. and Kramer Roderick M. Research in Organizational Behaviour. UK. Elsevier, 2002. Accessed June 14, 2010. http://books.google.com/books?id=1z0ug93gPsIC&pg=PA25&dq=concept+of+status+consumption&as_brr=3&client=firefox-a&cd=8#v=onepage&q&f=false Read More