Differences in Gender Socialization - Essay Example

Is the online shopping behavior of women different than that of men due to gender socialization (continued) Does gender socialization create or influence shopping behaviors online The reasons why people buy, whether in physical shops or online, are determined by a process called consumer socialization. This process involves acquiring skills that people need to function in the culture and society into which they are born. The vast majority of these skills are used for managing day-to-day life, including shopping and buying both necessities and desired goods. Erling Bjurstrom's study and discussion paper on consumer socialization presented to London's Advertising Education Forum in 2003, reveals that children are not socialized much by gender to be consumers when they are very young. Most of their experience of consumer activity is in the form of receiving gifts. For children, a "gift" is anything they get beyond the basics of food, shelter and tools necessary to perform their studies. They soon recognize specific occasions for receiving gifts, such as their birthday and holidays like Christmas, Easter, and Hanukkah, among others, but continue to seek and receive gifts for other reasons such as good behavior or success in school. Often a gift for good grades is given at the end of the school term. This is all considered "dependent" consumption, as children do not yet have access to their own money to make purchases. Bjurstrom also refers to it as the "gift economy". It is not exclusive to children, of course. Adults use gifts for many reasons, primarily relationship-building and maintenance throughout their lives. (Bjurstrom, 2003.) "Independent" consumption, defined as supporting oneself from one's own income, is a large factor in the transition from childhood to adulthood today. Gender socialization does have an influence on the transition from dependent to independent consumption, while this is diminishing in many countries. Many women, even in developed countries, never fully evolve in their consumer socialization beyond the "gift economy." Their ideal husband is strong and loving, and buys what is needed and wanted without asking questions. The sooner young people of both genders are taught and encouraged to integrate dependent and independent consumption, the more effective consumers they will be. Young people should learn to use money from their allowances, and earnings from household chores, to buy birthday gifts for friends and family members as soon as possible, even if the gifts are small in size and value. This will help them learn to select and purchase, use money wisely, and understand the emotional and relationship impacts of receiving and giving gifts. While the age of young people who are able to practice fully independent consumption is getting later and later in the developed nations, due to the prolonged time they spend in post-secondary education, they are beginning to practice some forms of independent consumption at earlier ages in the 21st century than in the 20th. This is due to factors such as family income, as in many families around the world, both parents now work outside the home and earn income. (Bjurstrom, 2003.) Family income is a critically important factor in a study of consumer socialization in south Asia, based on surveys analyzed by M.F. Sabri, J. Masud, and L. Paim, of the University Putra Malaysia. The survey respondents were college students. The replies were given by 68% female respondents and 32% male. They lived in both rural and urban areas, and came from families with an average of 5 children. Most often they were middle children, rather than the oldest or youngest. This research also demonstrates the consumer socialization influences on these young respondents, aged 17 to 21. These young people were able to be relatively independent consumers due to their family income. Their parents could afford to send them to university and provide them with a generous allowance to use for living expenses. Most of the students lived away from home, in a university residence, and so had to shop themselves for most of their day-to-day needs and wants. Questions were asked about three types of influences on buying: peers, parents and media advertising. For males, it was their peers who exerted the greatest influence, not directly with advice, but through observation of their male friends' shopping and purchases closely to ensure they bought the "right" things. Males generally shopped alone, while females almost always took their shopping trips with friends or parents. For females, their peers and their mothers exerted almost equal influence on their shopping, selection and purchasing. When shopping with their parents, girls always asked permission to buy items, and got permission freely. (Sabri, Masud & Paim, 2005.) In the case of both males and females in this age range, gender socialization from their peers played a major role in their shopping decisions. As well, the students confirmed that information they got from such sources as the world wide web, TV, radio, newspapers and magazines did not directly persuade them to buy items. But a high majority of both male and female students said they gained useful details from ads that helped them decide on a final choice. These students did very little shopping online, compared to their cohorts in Western countries. This is due both to less access to online shopping websites and the lack of availability of the means of online payment - credit cards or online payment tools - to these particular young people. University students in Western countries are avidly prospected for credit cards by major banks from the time they begin their post-secondary studies. The banks pay no attention to the gender of the applicants. Their main concern is the disposable income available to these potential credit card-holders. By the time they graduate from university, many university students in North America have at least one major credit card in their own names, which they use for both online transactions and real-world shopping. Most people think that Internet sites are mainly visited by both men and women aged thirty or younger. This perception is erroneous, for many good reasons. People aged in their fifties and sixties in the 21st century are very different from people at age 55-65 even two decades ago. The immense Baby Boom generation born in Canada and the United States after World War II, and their counterparts born in Europe and around the world from 1946 to 1966, are among the healthiest and best-educated people the planet has ever seen. They have had the benefits of good nutrition, long-term education and for the most part, basic health care, including that tremendous lifesaver, immunization, since they were babies. An entire commercial and social structure developed around the globe to meet their needs. They have had opportunities to learn new skills that did not even exist when their parents were children or teenagers. They have had exposure to media like television, that opened their minds to new ideas from childhood onward. They don't feel or even look "old" because generally, they are not old. The average 55-year-old in Britain, much of Europe, Canada, the United States, Japan and Australia has the physical health and mental acuity of a 35-40 year old. With all these factors in their favor, they also have tremendous discretionary income. It is estimated that by 2015, the 55+ age demographic will contribute 117 billion pounds sterling to the U.K. economy, about 31% of the gross domestic product. ((Myers and Lumbers, 2007.) People aged 55 and older helped create the information technology revolution, and are very comfortable using personal computers and their applications. They have had no trouble keeping abreast of technological changes. They are greater users of the Internet to buy for others than any other age group. Many are grandparents, whose grandchildren live, not down the street or in the next town, but across the country or across the ocean. The Internet helps them ensure they never miss a birthday, graduation or other gift-giving opportunity. They also use the Internet to research investing for their retirement, and to plan travel to the places they have read about. Retailers who ignore the customer over age 55 do so at their peril. (Myers and Lumbers, 2007.) Compared to younger people, this age group has done much of their essential infrastructure buying. They have furnished their homes, they have bought their cars, they have paid off a good amount of their mortgages. Shopping to buy things is not their primary focus any more. What they spend money on now are "experiences," such as travel, music concerts, art museums, and hobbies like photography, scrapbooking, and collecting and restoring old things, be it furniture, cars or houses. Their focus is the quality of what they buy, not the quantity. They are not big savers, like their parents' generation were, but still know the meaning of good value. They want to get the most out of every dollar, pound, euro or other currency they spend. When they are not on the Internet, doing research for a purchase, they stroll down to the coffee or tea shop, meet friends, have a snack, and then wander through the arcade, mall, or shopping center, just looking, chatting and being sociable. Shopping for them is becoming more and more a relaxing pastime, with little or no money actually spent. Retail areas that make it easy for those 55 and older to spend their time this way will gain new customers from their generation and the next. Men and women in this age group differ in their shopping habits, however, with women being greater "leisure shoppers" than men. Women aged 55 and over tend to get together in the morning and early afternoon for recreational shopping activities. The women spend their money mainly on refreshment, like tea, coffee and snacks, but may also buy some small necessity for the home or an impulse purchase for themselves while they are socializing. These leisure shopping activities actually indicate a new acceptance of socializing outside the home for women. In earlier years, women who wanted to socialize together would gather at the home of one woman, who would be their "hostess". This often involved considerable time and effort for the "hostess" in preparing refreshment for her friends each time, and cleaning up the house afterward. With the advent of recreational shopping, these women can be sociable with minimal effort, at a low cost per person -- and no clean-up required. On the other hand, when men want to spend leisure time with other men, they go to a local sports-focused bar, restaurant, or sidewalk cafe and have a drink, which can be tea or coffee, but is more often beer or other alcohol. They tend to do these social recreational activities more in the afternoon and evening than in the morning, maintaining a pattern established during their years of paid employment. More importantly, these activities are purely social, with the only purchases being for refreshment. These activities are far less a reflection of gender socialization from early life than a response to the realities of life as older adults. Most older women tend to be more active and sociable in the mornings, while many older men are more energetic and sociable in the evenings. In the near future, it is unlikely that online shopping will replace these social aspects of shopping and socializing for men and women, as shown in a landmark study done on the exponential increase in recreational and leisure shopping around the world. Their surveys show that about seventy-five percent of the world's shoppers "shop for fun". (Euromonitor International, 2008.) However, Internet retailers who wish to capitalize on the leisure shopping trend should consider formatting their sites to include such social networking tools as Facebook and Twitter, among many others. Shoppers will then be able to form "social cafes" at these retail sites and talk about their experiences with this retailer and in their own day-to-day lives. Online retailers could gain immensely valuable insights into the shopping habits and preferences of their customers by listening in on the discussions and paying attention to the comments exchanged. The greatest gender gap in online shopping has appeared in the area of impulsive or compulsive shopping. Many women surveyed in psychological studies have said they shop according to their mood, especially when they are sad, anxious or depressed. They have also identified a tendency to buy beyond their means, using up available credit card balances or lines of credit, which can cause financial hardship and destroy family relationships. The Internet has become a major enabler of this consumer behavior, with its nearly infinite supply and diversity of goods for sale at a wide range of prices, paid quickly and easily via a credit card or other online payment system, and delivered directly to the home or office. Some men have also fallen victim to compulsive online shopping, adding different kinds of sporting goods, do-it-yourself tools and rare collectibles to an already overflowing supply, but their numbers are small compared to women who have been identified as compulsive shoppers. While credit counselors and financial analysts have defined the problem of compulsive shopping as the inevitable result of a fast-paced lifestyle, easy access to goods via the Internet, and even easier access to credit, some psychiatrists are now beginning to label this behavior as a mental illness. Jennifer Hemler of Rutgers University, in her study of these types of disorders, linked to mood and emotion, has found that, due to gender socialization, women are pegged as the key victims. Medical treatments for compulsive shopping, often called "compulsive buying" by these specialists, are being proposed. These medications may or may not address the underlying causes of compulsive shopping and buying, which could possibly in the future become an independently defined disorder in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Psychological Disorders. (Hemler, 2006.) From the analysis of the primary and secondary sources that have been studied for this essay, gender socialization does not appear to play a large role in clarifying the online shopping behaviors of men and women. This is most likely due to the economic liberation of women in the 1970s and 1980s which preceded the birth of the Internet. Now that more and more women have obtained reliable sources of independent discretionary income, they have become equally as rational online shoppers as men, with only a very small minority of their gender slipping into compulsive shopping behaviors. Both men and women of all ages enjoy the convenience aspects of online shopping provided by electronic payment and direct delivery. Women shop online to gain information and find the best price in similar ways to men, but then, armed with that information, will use all their senses in physical stores to interact with goods, their shopping companions, and sales personnel, to acquire more detailed information prior to buying. Females and males, from their teens to their senior years, are becoming recreational shoppers, using the mall as meeting place instead of just being consumers. This trend, predicted to continue well into the future, may cause online shopping to plateau or evolve in new directions from those in which it is currently going. Resources: Primary Source Study: Men vs. Women Shoppers. Dec 20, 2007. ScienCentral Archive. http://www.sciencentral.com/articles/view.php3type=article&article_id=218393039 Recommended Secondary Sources: Bjurstrom, Erling, "Consumer Socialization: how do children become consumers" Discussion paper for the Advertising Education Forum (AEF) Academic Advisory Board, London, UK,13 June 2002. Euromonitor International, Shopping for Pleasure: The Development of Shopping as a Leisure Pursuit, May 2008. Hemler, Jennifer, The Medicalization of Compulsive Shopping: A Sociological Analysis of a Disorder-in-the-Making. Department of Sociology, Rutgers University, Piscataway, NJ, USA, 2006 Myers, Hayley, and Lumbers, Margaret. "Silver Consumers Find Leisure and Socialization in Shopping: Insights from a U.K. Survey." Research Review, Vol. 14, No. 3, London, UK, 2007. Sabri, Mohamed Fazli, Masud, Jariah and Paim, Laily, University Patra Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur. "Consumer Socialization among College Students in Malaysia." Consumer Interests Annual, Volume 51, 2005. Published Proceeds of the Annual Conference of the American Council on Consumer Interests, Milwaukee, WI, USA. Sax, Leonard, Ph.D., Why Gender Matters. Broadway Books, New York, NY, USA, 2005. Underhill, Paco. Why We Buy: The Science of Shopping, Simon & Schuster, New York, NY, USA 2000. Read More