Salman Rushdie's At the Auction of the Ruby Slippers - Book Report/Review Example

Salman Rushdie's "At the Auction of the Ruby Slippers" In the human setting, regardless of regional and cultural difference, there are many uncontrolled factors that influence the way a consumer thinks, why she or she chooses a given path, as well as the reasons behind the application of a given strategy to achieve certain goals. These elements in the human life are applied in various sectors and segments of the human being depending on the development they are experiencing. In Salman Rushdie's "At the Auction of the Ruby Slippers”, the author materializes the society and associates fashion, luxury, and consumer behaviour with a specific goal. In the book, the aim of the author is getting his cousin back through providing her with ruby slippers. It is imperative to note that these encompass fashion and luxury to which consumer behaviour, according to the buyer, have been viewed as acceptable. In the field of fashion management, the application of acquired, natural, and learnt knowledge is a common incidence. In this case, the fashion industry has shown a number of theories that support its existence and the development it has experienced through the years. The Shantingtung culture approach is the most common theory. It implies that the fashion and luxury sense is derived from history with some of the elements in the designs being spotted over 18000 years ago in history (Hofstede 87). The developments in the chosen fashion industry had influences from different people and cultures that they interact. It is quite possible that the current status of the industry comes as a result of the Chinese people leaning to a given strong point in the industry. However, in this analysis of the sector, it is paramount that the scope and context in which the subject is covered is defined. The case should answer questions such as what is fashion, what is regarded as consumer behaviour, and what impact does either have on the other. Fashion, in the clothing set, can then be traced back to the early man who wore skins and hides from different animals and of different qualities, size, as well as parts in order to create a hierarchy in the social setting. Fashion has been used as a means by which roles are subdivided and as a measure of progression, depending on the social setting it was used. In the modern setting, however, fashion is used as a measure of aesthetic properties and as a measure of wealth, which is a concept that is introduced by reality of certain elements in fashion. Although fashion is an element that is essential to the community, especially in the business sector, it is a non-essential contribution. Clothing is a need to the human being, but how the clothing looks and feels are completely different combinations to the product. Fashion can be easily viewed as a marketing factor in the market. It is a factor which allows a certain player a competitive advantage over others, but it plays a huge role in the development of skills, culture, as well as trends in the society. Luxury Luxury can be taken to mean great comfort, but in the case of fashion, it refers to a good. Luxury goods in an economic sense are goods that are provided in the market for a specific group of people, who have established to live well above the economic hardships. The definition of the goods refers to a cluster of goods, whose consumption increases with a corresponding increase in the income of a given individual (Hofstede 101). The goods are not a necessity to the living of a human being. However, they are there to facilitate the living of the being in question by providing them with a certain degree of comfort coming from the product or association with the product. In fashion, the luxurious lifestyle can be taken to be the acquisition of fashion-associated products. These products are chosen to establish a social convention, such a creation of a class, which are not essential to the buyer or of any basic value. The community may be referred to as a wholesome community, but in essence, it comprises different people who have different values and challenges in life. The elements of life that are involved in each scenario impact on the cessions made with regard to what the society considers as a challenge. With regard to luxury, the variety and variations that the social setting brings forth determine what is to be considered as luxury. With variations in the community, the term luxury can be hard to define in generalization since it has a different meaning to every individual who comprises the community. The first scenario is composed of the low class earners. The low class earners are usually regarded as the poor in the community. In the scenario, therefore, luxury might be improving their life to the middle class status and heaven might be becoming a high-class earner. Based on this definition, luxury to the low-income earner could be the possessions of the middle class earner. So applies in the case of the middle class earners against the high-income earner. To the high-income earners, luxury becomes a status. Luxury to the high-income earners is not regarded as an issue of what that they cannot afford, but rather a case of what others cannot afford, which makes them luxurious. By the different perceptions of what luxury is in the group setting, then it is hard to establish the correct definition of luxury in an overall, or generalized approach as it seems to differ with every individual. Luxury is, thus, a relative comparison of wealth, property, as well as a status that an individual can attain or attains that separates that particular achiever from others of his kind. It can be a notion of the mind to a single individual or to a whole community by which it is instilled by a given structure of the method. The market is a setting where trade is facilitated, in studying the market. The suppliers, as well as consumers, are obligated by economics to study the trends of the market, which are usually controlled by the market forces. Although the forces of supply and demand are usually associated to a free market, other elements in the setting that the producer is concerned with, when assessing the consumer. Consumer behaviour is usually defined as the course of action that a consumer may take, given that their capabilities are enabled to facilitate their opted choice. Consumer behaviour in the market can, thus, be simply equated to the consumer desires (Hofstede 202). Consumer behaviour is usually categorized into three branches: loyalty, sociology, and psychology. These three broad categories of consumer behaviour explain the consult of consumers under given circumstances. They seek to explain the reasons behind why consumers act the way they do when placed in a given setting, where the choices made are free. Consumer behaviour is a study on the trends of a target market. Hence, a consumer may take the given conditions of the market at any one given time. Under the loyalty bracket, the consumer usually makes choices based, not on pretences, but from recorded positivism associated with a given choice. Loyalty in the market sense is the tendency of consumers to follow a given choice in a product and stick to it over a certain period. Loyalty is a predisposition and favour towards a given product and/or service which could be based on a number of factors such as quality, price, company, social preferences and availability among others. Of the three branches of consumer behaviour, loyalty is one which is mostly associated with personal preferences and prejudices. Decisions involving loyalty are usually made on a personal level where there is no need for any consultations with other individuals of the society. The other category of human behaviour falls under sociology. In this category, the human being is recognized as a social being and some of the choices that he or she makes are based on what the society in general thinks and prefers in a given situation. The sociology branch of consumer behaviour is involved in studying the trends of the market, on a societal standpoint. It is from this standpoint that decisions and choices made by an individual consumer are made with assistance from the society; directly or indirectly. Under this bracket, the consumer is viewed as a single entity to the market; one whose preference is a group decision based on various variables provided in the market. This is an act of amalgamating the market into a single force of buyers. The third aspect in consumer behaviour lies in the psychological point of decision-making. The decision making process, by any consumer, usually involves the whats and whys a given choice I made. The psychology behaviour of the consumer is usually one that is affected by other influences such as advertising and perceptions from other areas of the market such as the popularity of a product (Hofstede 75). However, the final decision is made by the individual consumer. The essence of this form of consumer interaction is the appeal to the mental faculties of the consumer via which they make decisions based on the choices best fitted for a given purpose. In fashion, decision on what is best for any one given time may be affected by any of the three modes of consumer behaviour. The definition of fashion introduces the element of the communal viewpoint on a given trend. However, it maintains the personality conflict that is exhibited in the following of the trends. Fashion under the consumer behaviour aspects can either be personalized or communalised. In either case, the personal input to the choices is an important element in the fashion sector. The fashion industry is an industry that focuses on the personal tastes of the community units, and ultimately the combined community by amassing the needs of the individuals making up the society. Works Cited Hofstede, Geert. Culture’s Consequences: Comparing Values, Behaviors, Institutions and Organizations Across Nations. 2nd ed. New York: Sage Publications, 2003. Print. Read More