Class as a Tool to Target Consumer Cultures - Essay Example

Class as a Tool to Target Consumer Cultures Name Department Lecturer Date INTRODUCTION Business organizations that comparatively perform better compared to their competitors must learn and understand the factors that affect their businesses. Among the factors is the social class that plays a crucial role in the business operations. If understood and put into perspective then the business is bound to thrive. In this paper, there is an evaluation of the significance of social classes to the marketers to enable them target the consumer cultures (Firth, 2008). People within the community are often grouped according to their level of education, income, wealth, or occupations. The dynamism created by this varied nature of the market should be understood by the marker to bear in mind that each of the classes has a unique way of purchase and preferences. The classes have a great impact on the consumers’ behavior (Stanford, 2004). The classes that do normally exist are the poor; the middle class and the rich. The rich tend to purchase good of high quality in large quantities. The rich always tend to purchase goods such as fine jewelry from the highly expensive stores while the poor gives more focus on the basic commodities. The middle class are a trait of customers that aim at making their lives better; they are future oriented and highly ambitious (Stanford, 2004). The goods and the services traded in by the marketers must then be suited to meet the target population. It is important to evaluate the behaviors and the classes of the consumers to make the right choices about the market. CLASS LADDER The proclivity by the consumers to shift in classes occurs within the society (Mitchel, 2015). The shift can be upwards to a higher class or towards a lower class depending on the factors that are under consideration. The upward mobility would occur in cases of a change in profession, a promotion within for a consumer that would be reflected by the increment in salaries (United States, 2014). The upward mobility can also occur with incidences of migration and settlement towards different places with enormous lucrative opportunities. The change can also be downwards in the hierarchy of classes. Immigration into new places such as work would mark a clear elevation of their social classes if the new places are favorable (Stanford, 2004). Learning the classes would also allow the marketer understand the role of growth and changes that occur within individuals. For instance, children of peasants would be a class or two higher than their parents due to the advancing education and opportunities they are offered by their parents. Religion plays an important role in class mobility. It together with cultural changes is crucial in determining the individual’s tastes and purchasing capabilities. Another aspect that illustrates upward mobility is the rediscovery of an individual’s ethnic origin. The individual is likely to be identified with his new origin with the same criteria that the individual’s origin had been classified thus the services rendered to the new member of the ethnic origin might not be as his or her earlier class of existence. BOURDIEU’S CONCEPT Bourdieu’s concept of class groupings and genesis highlights there major points that are the starting point for creating classes. These causes of classes are classified as habits, the field and as capital. This enables Bourdieu to outline his theory to show the disinterestedness of the societal classes. To commence with, family experiences over series of generations determines how one perceives the world and evaluate the occurrences. For instance, gradual predictable changes in the aristocracy or trajectory in the family are important to be understood for the market to establish a sales culture. The same applies for a decline in the aristocracy in which the class would drop. Capital as a factor is categorized as Economic, symbolic, social and cultural. Economic capital determines ones strength in development that would allow him accrues increased capital thus more purchase of high quality good. Symbolic capital refers to the society recognition and honor conferred ion an individual. Social capital refers to an individual’s worth as pertaining to the value of resources that can be used to associate a family, as well as the group. Cultural capital includes investment in education, intensive labor, material objects, and monuments, quantity of books and jewelry on owns. Field as a factor determining the classes is based on interactions with the people in terms of conflicts, arbitrations, and mutual agreements. Social fields including the network of positions one has, and the power as well as influence on commands from a society would definitely groups them in to classes. VEBLEN’S CONCEPT According to Veblen’s concept, conspicuous consumption occurs with the people at the lower classes trying to emulate the class preferences of the individuals higher in the class hierarchy. The marketer should therefore understand that the people at the low class also have the propensity to change to consumption patterns of the individuals at the higher hierarchy. Individuals at the higher hierarchy have a tendency to display their wealth value by expensive wears including golden chains and rings, there are more likely to drive expensive cars and shop at expensive shopping malls (Stanford, 2004). The low ranking class would also tend to copy the same from these conspicuous individuals. The trend to buy expensive good and receive expensive services is an element used by members of the society to display wealth thus making them tend to buy such commodities to position themselves in the society. It is important for the marketer to identify such individuals for their consumption is different. In this type of society, each member tends to be as the class higher than his class (Kotler et al. 2015). This is disadvantageous as the supply in terms of the income might fail to suffice the consumer demands. For a marketer, the pretense by the consumers as by the stretch in their resources to prove their worth is not put into account though for analysts it’s the major contributor to economic waste in the society. The marketer however should learn the changes in the classes to enable them met the demands of the consumers. MARXIST THEORY Marxism theory or predetermined classes reveals that the society is at a point that it depends on the earlier predetermined classes. As such, the nature follows the category and the precedence set. People find themselves in an already defined society thus tend to behave in that particular manner as the older members had behaved. Their purchasing trends follow that of their predecessor classes and as such are not bound to change. An example to such visible trend that occurred was the progressive fall of the capitalistic theory (Guarin & Knorringa, 2014). Individuals bred and raised of parents in the high class would be more likely to get and proceed with this kind of life that their parents had lived. According to Marx, such predetermination automatically classifies an individual into that class. Children of the low class members without education are more likely to remain in the conditions they were raised by their parents and as such their consumption is already predetermined. According to Marx, realization of the revolutionary trends in the classes would be important to the marketers to identify the market trends and be able to make adjustments when necessary. The decline in the capitalism is an indication of a conception of a progressive nature that determines individual’s preferences. The fall of capitalistic ideas can be used to prove the progressive changes that occur in individual. The generational taste is bound to change but the paths that would be taken by such changes are predictable by the use of the past trends. DAILY NECESSITIES There are other factors that contribute to the shortcomings of understanding the classes as a factor to be used in determining the cultural trends of the customers. Among the factor are consideration of the daily necessities such as the toilet paper and the basic commodities such as bread and water. Another factor is the existence of classless societies for individuals and the consumer sovereignty as well as the Bourdieu’s work that is based on a capitalist society that does not apply to counter the cultures existence (Bianchi & Andrews, 2015). To start with, the, the marketer does not have any need and requirement to understand the existence of daily necessities is common to all individuals within the society regardless of the classes into which one belongs (Grenfen, 2014). The quality of commodities such as water and bread is set at a fair play for all consumers. As relates to this the marketer does not have to understand different classes that exist but rather supply his commodities to all customers equally. The variation that exists ion the commodities depends on the quality and the quality of the commodities. It does not however depend on the taste and preferences as it is common to all. All individuals are therefore destined to purchase similar types of commodities regardless of their political influence, your capital resources and your education levels. As such, all the members of the society are assumed as equal in their demands and their tastes and marketing done on such basis (Mitchel, 2015). EXISTENCE OF A CLASSLESS SOCIETY Contrary to Bourdieu and Marx’s theory of existence of classes, there as some set ups that do are neither grouped nor belong to a particular class within the society (Southerton, 2011). As such, the marketer does not have a need to suit his commodities to meet the needs of an individual member of a particular class. In consideration of this fact, members of the society at times neither tend to purchase goods and services with an evident inclination to neither a particular class nor based on a predetermined by the existence of a class. In such societies, the members are not judged by the marketers as rich nor poor but as uniform and equal (De Mooij, 2013). They are assumed to be of the same level in consumption and need, and as such would not purchase a different set of goods from what is marketed. The market variations in terms of varied qualities and quantities of good for all individuals would be determined by other factors but not by the existence of a society (Son et al, 2013). A clear example of that market is a community that agrees with the concept of socialism and communism in which all individuals are presumably equal. The marketer therefore needs to make a generalized marketing observation from the trends and the patterns the market has survived on. Specific decisions would not be a subject of consideration thus the needs of the consumers can be determined without the use of specific analysis. CONSUMER SOVEREIGNITY In this principle, the consumers are perceived to have the final say on the type of goods and services being sold to them. The consumers have a way of showing satisfaction and discontent with the marketers by either choosing to buy commodities or use to an alternative. In this regard, it is the consumers who decides what the marketers offer to them. The variation in goods supplied to consumers depend on the customers’ demands rather that the existence of the market. An individual consumer is the determinant of the commodities he or she wants to purchase and not the classes of belonging (Firth, 2008). The marketer should therefore consider the supply made to the market based on the consumers’ preferences. This explains that amidst existence of classes, the individual consumers have the sovereign power to determine what goods and services they consume. As such, an individual of a higher class would purchase the same commodity as the commodity purchased by a consumer of the lower class because the duo meet in demands at the market but not as dictated by the class either belongs. The sellers target individuals and not the classes of one’s existence. Once the demands of the consumers are determined, the seller proceeds to supply the commodity without relating it to the quality of the class and the ethnic group one belongs to. Classes are therefore less important in determining the taste of individuals and as such the marketer cannot make assumption of the class one belong to supply the commodities. BOURDIEU’S THEORIES Another shortcoming to the debate is the shortcomings of the Bourdieu’s theories. Variations exist in this theory such that different individuals could possess a single or two of the three parameters but their shopping patterns cannot be associated with the members of the higher hierarchy. The existence of classes as determined by Bourdieu in his concept is capital, field and habitus (Southerton, 2011). The above applies as explained above; however, the role habitus and the capital as well as the field of play are all set up in the capitalist environment in determining the classes. A society that is defined by one’s capitalistic prowess, education levels and the field of work and the networks of positions one possess are used as the key measures of the existence of a society. According to him, a society can only be defined based on an individual’s wealth and poverty that would then trickle down in determining an individual’s class of existence. An individual could be rich and lack the education or have limited networks of positions. Such a variation limits the creation and existence of classes in the society. A more defined society could bring in more factors into consideration in setting up the classes. The existence of these classes is not a direct indicator that an individual’s purchasing pattern would definitely define their shopping characters (Son et al, 2013). Therefore, an individual would purchase goods and services based the type of commodity on sold not according to his her possessions. CONCLUSION From the points above, the determination of market classes by the marketer is important in meeting the specific targets of the members of the society. A marketer who can master the concepts of the variations in the market is better placed to make more profits because of their ability to suit their products to suit the varied demands. This would improve on the sellers and allow the sellers determine the market culture of the consumers. Marxist theory, Veblen’s concept as well as Class Ladder and Bourdieu’s concepts all set the society into classes and therefore require the marketer to understand the classes to know the consumer culture (Son et al, 2013). The proposals that support this motion argue that all societies are determined and such the writer should make decisions based on the classes. It has also been proven that markets could do better in areas without specific class alignments. Weaknesses with the Bourdieu’s capitalistic approach to existence of classes, daily necessities, consumer sovereignty and the existence of a classless society prove otherwise. In such instances, the marketer needs to learn the possible changes in the market trends and provide general commodities to the consumers. In consideration of the two sides of the debate, I concur and support the motion and support that learning classes in the society would enable the marketer understand the consumer culture and thus would be in positions to expand on their sales given that they can meet the specific demands of the individuals. References Bianchi, C., & Andrews, L. (2015). Investigating marketing managers' perspectives on social media in Chile. Journal of Business Research, 68(12), 2552-2559. De Mooij, M. (2013). Global marketing and advertising: Understanding cultural paradoxes. Sage Publications. Firth, L. (2008). A classless society? Cambridge: Independence. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall. Grenfell, M. J. (2014). Pierre Bourdieu: Key Concepts. London: Taylor and Francis. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall. Guarin, A., & Knorringa, P. (2014). New middle-class consumers in rising powers: Responsible consumption and private standards. Oxford development studies, 42(2), 151-171. Kotler, P., Keller, K. L., Manceau, D., & Hémonnet-Goujot, A. (2015). Marketing management (Vol. 14). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall. Michel, J. (2015). Ricoeur and the post-structuralists: Bourdieu, Derrida, Deleuze, Foucault, Castoriadis. Son, J., & NC Digital Online Collection of Knowledge and Scholarship (NCDOCKS). (2013). Do lower prices always increase willingness to purchase?: A comprehensive understanding toward the role of perceived price. Greensboro, N.C.: University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Southerton, D. (2011). Encyclopedia of consumer culture. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Reference. Stanford, F. S. (2004). Escaping the frozen lake: Individual and social idealism manifest as forms of religion and religiosity. College Station, Tex.: Texas A & M University. United States. (2014). Building the ladder of opportunity: What's working to make the American Dream a reality for middle-class families : hearing of the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, United States Senate, One Hundred Twelfth Congress, first session ... July 26, 2011. Read More