Reference Group & Social Class

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Topics To Cover

Individual’s social Behavior and social relationships are often motivated by expectations of satisfying specific needs. Why Consumer interact ?

• Breadth and depth of product alternatives. As the number of choices and

decision complexity increase, our ability to efficiently make good decisions is compromised.

• Cost to processing information, and that cost rises as the complexity of the decision increases.

• The additional constraints of time pressure.

Consumer : A member of Society

The word "Dynamics" is derived from a Greek word meaning "force“. Thus, a study of forces which determine consumer reactions or responses to their economic, social and cultural environnent dénotes "Consumer Dynamics". The social process by which people interact face-to-face in small groups is called "group dynamics" and relates to the study of the forces operating within a group.

Group Dynamics

A Reference group may be defined as any person or group that serves as a point of comparison for an individual, for the purpose of forming general or specific values, attitudes or behavior patterns. Reference groups become strong reference points because of their credibility in terms of knowledge and experience, attractiveness and the power they wield.

Reference Groups

Normative - Reference groups influencing broadly defined values or

behavior are called normative reference group.

Comparative – Reference group serving as benchmarks for specific or narrowly defines attitude s or behavior are called comparative reference group

Membership – A group to which a person either belongs or would qualify for membership is called a membership group.

Symbolic group – groups in which an individual is not likely to receive membership, despite acting like a member by adopting the group’s value, attitude and behavior.

Types of Reference Groups

Types of Reference Groups

Husband – Wife Decision Making Role of Children in Family Decision Making Family Life Cycle

Traditional Non Traditional

Family Influence on Decision Making

Dynamics of Husband - Wife Decision Making

Dominating Wife Dominating Husband Syncratic Couple

Role of Children in Family Decision Making

Tactics used by children to influence their parents

Pressure Tactics Upward Appeal Exchange Tactics Coalition Tactics

Ingratiating Tactics Rational Persuasion Inspirational Appeal Consultation Tactics

Family Life Cycle (Traditional)

Bachelorhood

Honeymooners

Parenthood

Dissolution

Post Parenthood

Non Traditional – DSWI Conceptual Model

Husband’s Background Demographics Husband’s Antecedent Motivations

Wife’s Background Demographics Wife’s Antecedent Motivations

Husband’s Current Demographics Husband’s Current Motivations

Wife’s Current Demographics Wife’s Current Motivations

Husband’s Work Involvement Wife’s Work Involvement

Current Household Demographics Current Household Motivations

Husband’s Role Conflict and Overload (Work and Time Pressures)

Wife’s Role Conflict and Overload (Work and Time Pressures)

Current Household Demographics Current Household Motivations

“Social Class is division of members of society into a hierarchy of distinct status class ,so that member of each class have relatively the same status and members of all other classes have either more or less status” “Social classes are very broad groupings of individuals which hold roughly similar status levels in society arranged in a hierarchy from low through middle to upper class divisions.” Characteristic of social class –

1. Exhibits status 2. Social class is hierarchical 3. Social Class is a form of segmentation

Social Class

Subjective measurement In this the classification of social class membership is based on participant’s self perception or self image. They are asked to put themselves in basic five categories which are upper, upper-middle, middle-middle, lower-middle, lower class. Subjective measurement of social class tend to produce an overabundance of people who classify themselves as middle class. Objective measurement Objective measures consist of selected demographic or socioeconomic variables such as occupation, amount of income and education. It fall into two basic categories

1. Single variable indexes 2. Composite variable indexes

Measurement of Social Class

The Upper-Upper Class – Club Establishment The Lower-Upper Class – New Wealth The Upper-Middle Class – Achieving Professionals The Lower-Middle Class – Faithful Follower The Upper-Lower Class – Minded Majority The Lower-Lower Class – Rock Bottom

Life Style Profile of Social Class

Clothing, fashion and shopping Saving spending and credit Social class and communication

Application of Social Class

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