SOCIAL CLASS AND

CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR

Subject : Consumer Behaviour

Submitted By:
Tanmay Joshi (18)
Juhi Sukhwani (19)
What Is Social Class?
• Division of members of a society into a hierarchy of distinct status classes, so
that members of each class have either higher or lower status than members of
other classes.

• “Social Class can be thought of as a continuum which includes a range of

social positions on which each member of society can be placed, divided into
a small number of specific social classes or strata.”
Social Class And Social Status:
• Social Class is measured in terms of Social Status.

• Comparison between the status of the members of one social class to

the members of another social class.

• Status is frequently thought of as the relative rankings of members of

each social class in terms of specific status factors like:
 Wealth (Economic assets)

 Power (Influence over others)

 Prestige (Recognition received from others)

Status Consumption:

• “Status consumption relates to the consumers' behavior of seeking to purchase

goods and services for the status they confer, regardless of that consumer's
objective income or social class.”

• The more possessions or the more expensive one’s possessions are, the more
status one tends to have.

• Example: Comparison of the property between two people.

• Status Consumption is also known as Conspicuous Consumption.

Social Class Is Hierarchical And a
Form Of Segmentation:
• “Social class can be defined as a hierarchy in which the people are divided in
different classes or groups on the basis of social status, esteem and prestige.
This segmentation is done by marketers for targeting them for their product.”

Upper Class

Middle Class

Lower Class

Structure of Social Class

Social Class Lifestyle Orientation Purchasing Tendencies
Upper Class Good Taste Quality merchandise;
Graceful Living Expensive hobby and recreation
Good things in life equipment, art, books, travel
Interest in art and culture

Middle Class Respectability, Conformity, Items in fashion and related to

Propriety, Social Esteem self presentation; good clothing
neighbourhood and house items
for children

Working Class Fun-oriented parochial Newest appliances, sporting

(restricted in scope) events newest and biggest items
Unsophisticated taste.
Focus on possession

Lower Class Close family relationships Status symbol products:

No interest in world affairs enhancing self-esteem; Pseudo
Neighbourhood oriented symbols of prosperity, such as
Want immediate gratification used scooters; readily available
products
Social Class Measurement:
• Systematic approaches for measuring social class fall into the following three
broad categories:

1. Subjective Measures

2. Objective Measures

3. Reputational Measures
1. Subjective Measures:
• Individuals are ask to estimate their own social-class positions.

• Typical of this approach is the following question:

 Which one of the following four categories best describes your social class:

a) Lower Class []

b) Lower-middle Class []

c) Upper-middle Class []

d) Upper Class []

e) Don’t know/refuse to answer []

2. Objective Measures:
• Individuals answer specific socioeconomic questions and then are categorized
according to answers.

• Two basic categories:

i. Single-variable indexes

ii. Composite-variable indexes

 2. Objective Measures:
Single-variable Indexes: Composite-variable Indexes:

• Just one socioeconomic • Systematically combines a

variable to evaluate social- number of socioeconomic
class membership. factors to form one overall
a) Occupation measure of social-class
b) Education standing.
c) Income
Lifestyle Profiles Of The Social
Classes
• Constellation of specific lifestyle factors like attitudes, activities
and behaviours that tends to distinguish the members of each
class from the members of all other class.

• 6 social classes:

Upper-upper Class Lower-middle Class

Lower-upper Class Upper-lower Class

Upper-middle Class Lower-lower Class

Social-Class Profiles:
1. Upper-upper Class – Club Establishment:
• Small number of well-established families

• Belong to best clubs and sponsors charity events

• Accustomed to wealth, so do not spend money conspicuously

2. Lower-Upper Class – Net Wealth:

• Represent “new money”

• Conspicuous users of their new money

• Successful business executives

Social-Class Profiles:
3. Upper-middle Class – Achieving Professionals
• Have neither family status nor unusual wealth

• Career oriented

• Consumption is often conspicuous

4. Lower-middle Class – Faithful Followers:

• Want to achieve respectability

• Primarily white-collar workers and highly paid blue-collar workers

• Constitute a major market for do-it-yourself products

Social-Class Profiles:
5. Upper-lower Class – Security Minded Majority:
• Strive for security

• View work as a mean to ‘buy’ enjoyment

• Interested in items that enhance their leisure time

6. Lower-lower Class – Rock Bottom:

• Poorly educated, unskilled labourers

• Tend to live a day-to-day existence

Selected Consumer Behaviour
Applications of Social Class:
1. Clothing, Fashion and Shopping:
• People tend avoid clothing stores that have the image of appealing different
social class as compared to their own.

• Wrong appeal to different social class may lead to alienate their traditional
customers.

2. Social Class and Communication:

• Knowledge of social class differences based on their media habits and how
they transmits and receive communications is invaluable to marketers to
segment market based on social class.
 3. Saving, Spending And Credit:
Working-class Professional
Disempowerment Empowerment

Class Economic, Status and Power Mix

Situation Disadvantaged Situation Advantaged Situation

Self as Self as
Self- “Powerless Reactor” “Powerful Actor”
Perceptions
And
Expectations Future as Threat Future as Opportunity
“Trap Doors” “Open Doors”

Focus on creation of Focus on Financial

Financial Financial Stability Growth
Focus “Securing the “Expanding the
Perimeters” Boundaries”
3. Saving, Spending And Credit:
• According to the figure, young professionals perceived themselves to be
empowered in the sense that they could achieve whatever they target to and
they are disciplined and result oriented.

• While in contrast, working-class perceived themselves as being average, more

likely to describe a range of personal weakness and unlike the young
professionals, they has a strong uncertainty about their future.
THANK YOU