Theories Supporting the Need of Understanding Class When Targeting Consumer Culture - Coursework Example

SOCIAL CLASS AND CONSUMER CULTURE Name Institution Date  Theories supporting the need of understanding class when targeting consumer culture Consumer culture is surrounded by the beliefs, values and opinions that direct consumption patterns and behaviors. It refers to the form of capitalism whereby the emphasis is placed on selling of consumer goods and the use of consumer money. It is very important for marketers to understand the tastes and preference and the social classes of their consumers and consumers if they. There has been much argument as to whether class really influences the consumer cultures and the choices made by consumers in terms of the products they buy. If class really does influence the choices made by consumers, it is then important for marketers to understand the classes of their target consumer. If class does not influence purchase, the understanding class is not necessary. This paper seeks to determine if class influences consumption patterns of different people by analyzing the arguments for the importance of class and the arguments against and then forming an opinion. The commodity fetishism theory put forward by Karl Marx supports the idea that there exists certain class factors that determine the consumption behaviors of people. (Resnick, 1981) The commodity fetishism is the view of the relationships that are involved during production in terms of value of commodities in terms of money and how these commodities are exchanged in the market. It deals with the real value that people believe products hold and the real economic value of these products in the market. Karl Marx asserts that in a society that is capitalist in nature, the value given to a specific commodity is determined by the social relations among the people who are involved in the production. This refers to factors such as who makes the commodity, the people who work for the producer and the time taken to produce a commodity among others. This theory proposes that people assign value to commodities after classifying them in a given category. Commodity fetishism assigns an objective value and to a commodity or thing that does not have intrinsic value. The value associated with the commodity is the value that is given by producers, sellers and buyers of the commodity in the market. This theory shows that it is important for marketers to understand the class of the consumers so as to identify the value assigned to their commodities and therefore predict the consumer’s consumption patterns. (Billig, 1999) According the Thorsten Veblen’s theory of the leisure class the preferences of people are socially determined by the positions held by people in the hierarchy of the societies they live in. Veblen’s theory of conspicuous consumption proposes that people match the patterns of consumption that are followed by people who are located higher within the society hierarchy. People display their vast wealth either by engaging themselves in many prestigious activities or by purchasing many prestigious and expensive goods and services that portray their immerse wealth to other people in the society. Veblen viewed conspicuous consumption as the most crucial factor that determines the consumption behavior of people in all the social classes. These includes the rich and the poor in the society. (Dominici, 2017) The end result of conspicuous behavior is that it sets an ideal scheme of life that is considered decent by all classes and all stratums in the society. Each of these stratum then put all of their energy into living up to the set ideal life scheme. This theory argues the social classes possess the power to influence consumption preferences and consumer culture. Every social class works to adopt the consumption behavior and culture of the social class above it. This behavior makes all people even those that are at the lowest position in the social hierarchy seek to adopt the ideal scheme of spending. Marketers need to be aware that consumers are going to be copying the consumption patterns of the social class above theirs in order to utilize consumer culture. To ignore the effect that social classes have on consumption patterns and consumer culture will lead to wrong marketing strategies. (Askegaard, 2015) Bourdieu classified people in terms of cultural experiences and not in terms of economic well-being. According to Bourdieu, individual form tastes and preferences for goods, services, commodities and products that relate to their class, their culture, their background, the education level attained and other aspects of identity. Tate is an important factor when considering the consumer culture of any individual. He argued that sociology influences taste of consumers. Taste is not just a personal matter as people tend to believe, but a result of social patterns influence. Bourdieu demonstrated that the taste and preferences of individuals are greatly shaped by social patterns around them in terms of class and gender. Taste is further influenced by social divisions such as physical divisions between provinces and cosmopolitans and divisions between people with different levels of education. (Podoshen, 2014)He argued that it is the different tastes of people that produce the social distinction between individuals. Taste flows down from the high classes to the lower classes in society. Although his view of the flow of goods has been criticized when it comes to music like jazz, fashion and graffiti whose tastes flow from low to high, his arguments cannot be ignored. Since taste is determined by class, marketers need to understand the classes and the cultural preferences of their consumers before attempting to target consumer culture. This will help them come up with marketing strategies that will be effective in the market. Taste determines whether consumers take up a commodity introduced in the market or whether they refuse to endorse it. This makes it important for marketers to understand class. (McAlexander, 2014)  The work on spaces of cultural consumption also play an important part in determining the consumption patterns of individuals. The origin of various commodities has an effect on how popular they become among consumers. The theory proposed by Henri Lefebvre that every commodity needs its space is a popular concept today. This concept has attracted a lot of research and study. Lefebvre defined a commodity as a thing that is in space and that occupies a location which implies that commodities are essentially geographical. Commodities are therefore able to occupy, produce and embody space and spatial relationships. Consumption is central to theorizations of place and space. Space and place are not only the stage on which people act out their social lives but are also made and changed via all manner of relationships. Consumption acts are situated and contained both in terms of time and space, these acts always occur in a given place and at given times. (Cunningham, 2016). Places and space where spending and consumption take place are different. Space and geographical location emphasize class since all over the world, regions, places of residence and shopping malls are differentiated according to the financial and social conditions of the people who live in them. People belonging in the high class in the society will tend to despise shopping places that poor people or people below them in the social hierarchy go to. This makes it important for marketers to understand the social classes among their target market both in terms of geography, space and location. Identifying this will help them put into consideration the preference and taste of target consumers in a given place. There is also increased need among people to assign value to commodities depending on the geographical origin of said commodities. Understanding such aspects of different classes in the society helps marketers strategize and operate efficiently. Understanding this influence of space and geographical location on consumer culture for marketers. (Brown, 2014) Arguments against the need to understand class when targeting consumer culture There are also theories and concepts that endeavor to show that social classes are not as important today as they were some years back. There have been changes both in the prestige associated with belonging to one specific social class and the pride that people associate it with. This has led to the emergence of cultural omnivorousness. The concept of cultural omnivorousness was initially introduced with relation to cultural consumption by a man known as Richard Peterson. This concept was introduced in the literature of cultural consumption in 1992. It is used to describe a specific cultural appreciation profile. This appreciation profile arose in the late twentieth century. Omnivorous consumers refer to individuals who have a wide cultural taste and who are willing to leave the hierarchical genre of culture that has been established. (Hazır, 2015) There has been a great increase in the level of people exhibiting omnivorous characteristics. These individuals are more open to consumer behavior patterns that are outside what is culturally acceptable within the social class they belong to. This makes the understanding of social class irrelevant to marketers as such people cannot be defined as belonging to just a specific social class. Their failure to conform and identify with one specific social class means that for them, consumer culture based on social class are non-existent. People with highbrow genes who are omnivorous may exhibit behaviors belong to lowbrow classes. The level of and form of omnivorousness varies between individuals hence there is no way for marketers to understand the consumer culture of all their consumers. (Warde, 2008) Many people today argue that the theories put forward in the early nineteenth century and the early twentieth century have lost their relevance in the world today. Many critics have criticized these theories based on their inapplicability in the modern society. The disqualification of the social class as a means of determining the consumption behavior patterns of individuals, signifies that marketers no longer need to understand the social classes of their consumers. Veblen’s theory of conspicuous consumption suggests that individual’s mirror the consumption patterns of the people who are located higher in the society hierarchy. However, the social customs and practices that govern emulation between classes is subject to change as the economy and the society changes over time. The theory of conspicuous consumption has been subjected to criticism on three levels. One major flaw with the theory is the dependence of the theory on consumption patterns trickling down from the higher classes to the lower classes. (Thompson, 2014) There are instances where the flow of consumption patterns occurs in the reverse direction. Individuals at the bottom of the social hierarchy may also be pacesetters of consumption behavior. This happens mostly when it comes to music, graffiti and fashion when the upper classes emulate the lower classes. Another weakness of the conspicuous consumption theory is that it does not have generality since it is applicable only when dealing with luxury goods and ignores consumption patterns of normal goods. It is also evident that in modern times people do not exhibit their wealth conspicuously and hence status is exhibited in ways that are much more complex. Understanding class therefore ceases to be essential for marketers intending to target consumer culture. In modern times Liberalists and Neo-liberalists have emerged. These liberalist believe that class and social status is not based on a capitalist society like it was in the years ago and that social classes are no longer exist in the modern world. They believe that classifying class the same way it was classified in the past is erroneous. Class is determined in terms of the position held by individuals, the heritage of these individuals in terms of whether they come from families with old money or new money. Class is also influenced by the amount of wealth both in terms current and non-current assets. Today class is also determined by the popularity of individuals. (Morris, 2015) A good example is that of celebrities who may not be necessarily rich to be assigned the high positions they hold. In modern societies it has also become hard to determine the social class of people due to the thin lines that exist between social classes. In most societies today, people who are in the middle and lower classes tend to see themselves as belonging to the upper classes. This makes the emulation between classes quite hard. In a metropolitan society, it is hard for marketer to identify people who belong in the upper classes or the lower classes just by looking at them as was the case in the past decades. Marketers in this case do not need to understand the social classes that their prospective consumers. Determining social class may take time and resources and still end up not helping the marketers understand consumer culture. (Husson, 2013) The neo-classical theories of consumption today identify the factors that influence the consumption patterns of individuals. Neoclassical economics relate the demand of goods to the rationality of individual consumers and their ability to maximize their utility. Utility refers to the level of satisfaction that individuals acquire from consuming a particular commodity. The consumption of consumers depend on the prices of commodities, the expectations of change in the demand and supply of products, expectations of change in income, income level and the prices of substitutes to the particular commodity. (Carpo, 2015) These neoclassical views do not put much emphasize on the impact that social class has on the consumption patterns and consumer cultures of individuals. Although consumer spending can be influenced by the consumption patterns of others in their social group and class, that is not the primary determinant of consumption patterns. With the many changes in economic conditions, economic environment and inflation in the world today, people are relaying more and more on rationality to make consumption decisions rather than on their social class. Consumers may observe trends but many will only buy commodities when the think that is the rational thing to do. This makes understanding class irrelevant for marketers aiming to target consumer culture. (Denegri-Knott, 2006) Personal Judgement I believe that social classes are still relevant in determining the consumer patterns of individuals therefore it is crucial for marketers to understand social class and social stratification in the societies they deal with and among the consumers of their commodities. Social stratification has been in existence throughout the history of human beings. In the society today social stratification continues to exist even if it may not be as apparent as it was in the past. It is common for individuals who are more educated and who have prestigious positions and occupations to be valued more highly than those individuals who hold lower positions such as farm hands and truck drivers. In the society today, people are categorized according to the products and commodities they possesses. Social class is also determined by other factors such as cultural interests, residence and world-view held. Consumption decisions and consumer culture is at times influenced by consumers’ desire to be identified as belonging to a certain social class. People normally confer status to commodities and their desire to purchase these commodities is controlled by the status that has been assigned to those commodities by the society and the individuals. It is also a common practice by people to avoid certain products in order to seek status and recognition in a society. The criteria and number of stratums used to classify people varies from society to society. (Solomon, 2014) Many societies have three major classes which classify people either as upper, lower or middle class. In an open society, movement across the classes can occur either willingly or unwillingly. The change in classes influences the consumption patterns of individuals. It is common for marketer to focus on the affluent consumers but there has been a shift to the middle and lower classes in the recent times. Marketers need to understand social classes of the target consumers as class influences not only the commodities that consumers consume but also the places and locations they buy commodities from. The shopping behavior exhibited by consumers is different for each social class. It is erroneous for marketers to assume that all consumers want to shop in glamorous well know stores with high-status. People tend to match their value with the status that a store holds. Such people will avoid shopping in stores where there is possibility of feeling out of place. Every consumer ranks stores and will avoid going to a store where they do not fit in. This way of thinking ensures that people stay within the boundaries of their social class. Members of the same social groups will at most times hold the same beliefs, values and consumption behavior. By understanding social class members, their spending habits and their consumption behavior, marketers will be able to adopt marketing strategies that are appealing to the prospective consumers. (Shavitt, 2016) They will also be able to adopt tactics that have been known to work for the different social classes in societies. Members of different classes react in different ways to different marketing ways. 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