CHAPTER — III

FACTORS INFLUENCING LIFESTYLE OF

SALARIED CLASS

The living pattern in a society may be called life style and it is being
influenced by numerous factors taking into consideration predominantly
the availability of finance and size of income. As such, an attempt has been
made in this chapter to examine.

i. Concbpts associated with lifestyle.

Factors influencing life style.
Concept of liberalization and changes in lifestyle.

3.1 CONCEPTS ASSOCIATED WITH LIFESTYLE.

"Life Style develops and emerges from the dynamics of living in a
society" 33 . Merging of the objectivity of the personality inventory (Trait —
factor theory) with the rich consumer-oriented descriptive detail of the
quantitative motivation, research investigation or the psycho analytic
theory.3•2 Liff style is concerned with "those unique ingredients or
qualities, which describe the style of life of some culture or group and
distinguish it from others 3'3. Pattern of living in the world as expressed in
his or her activities, interests and opinion. Life style portrays the "whole
person" in interaction with his or her environment 3'4.

One person tries to become superior through developing the

intellect, while another bends all of his efforts to achieving muscular
perfection. The intellectual has one style of life, the athlete another. The
intellectual reads, studies, themes. He lives a more sedentary and more
solitary life than the active person does. All of a person's behavior springs

45
from his style of life. The person perceives, learns and retains what first
his style of life and ignores everything else 33 as a basic motivator for
many purchase and use activities and secondly as the initiator of new
customer decisions 3'6

Build up the profiles of the consumers in terms of their daily life

patterns, their work habits and leisure activities, their interests and self
perceptions, their aspirations and frustrations, their attitudes towards their
families and others and their beliefs and opinions about the environment
around them. It adds flesh to the bones of the demographic consumer
mobiles and reveals how products are used, what they mean to the
consumers and how they fit into the fabric of day today life. 3'7

It refers to a distinctive mode of living in its aggregate and broadest

sense. It embodies the patterns that develop and emerge from the dynamics
of living in a society. It is concerned with those unique ingredients or
qualities which describe the style of life, some culture or group and
distinguish it from others. 3'8.

The new construct, lifestyle pattern, combines the virtues of

demographics with the richness and dimensionality of psychological
characteristics and depth research. Lifestyle deals with everyday
behaviourally oriented facets of people as well as their feelings, attitudes
and opinions. 3'9 Life style is a personal construction system, in which
elements of the system are inter-related.
"People enter the market to replenish or to extend the assortments
of goods needed to support expected patterns of future behaviour" 312
"From one perspective, the aggregate of consumer purchases and the
manner in which they are consumed, reflect a society's lifestyle". 3'13

46
 "....made up of values and personality as reflected in activities,
interests and attitudes towards leisure time, work and consumption of
person alone and person with others' I"

Lifestyle as made up by values and personality reflected in activity,

interest and attitude toward many facets of the environment of the
individuals. 315

3.1.1 LIFESINLE VS. PSYCHOGRAPHICS

Psychographics came into prominence during the late 1960's. The
limitation of demographics-and economic variables and the disappointment
with the results of social-class and personality variables were responsible
for the development of psychographics. A further facilitating development
was the use of multivariate statistical techniques made possible with the use
of computers.

The lifestyle variables "tend to include behavioral, mode-of-living

variables that are determined by social forces"316. They include activities,
buying styles, eultural values and interests. Psychographics, on the other
hand, generally refer to "those concepts that are mental and individual."
(Hughes, 1978). These concepts include attitudes, beliefs, and opinions,
perceived benefits of product attributes, self-concept and subjective
probabilities3•17. Both lifestyles and psychographics are, however, used for
developing marketing strategies for brands..

Psychographics "seeks to describe the human behavioral

characteristics of consumers that may have a bearing on their response to
products, packaging, advertising and public relation efforts" 318.

47
 The psychographics analysis focuses upon two things, viz.,

(a) Person centered factors by analyzing the role of personality on

use behavior or the consumer traits and role related conduct.

(b) The) role played by the situation in buyer behavior by

emphasizing the importance of lifestyle in a purchase decision.

Lifestyle, on the other hand, is a pattern of living which is expressed

by interactions with one's environment or situation, and psychographics is a
portrait of consumer as a human being including the dimensions of
personality, attitudes and lifestyles.

Psychographics generally means the psychological profiles of different

consumers developed from quantitative research, by asking the consumers to
agree or disagree with A10 statements. Consumers lifestyles, on the other hand,
are regarded as a composite of their individual psychological makeup, their
needs, motives, perceptions and attitudes and also other influences, like,
reference groups, culture, social class and family members.

Lifestyle research results in psychographic consumer profiles that

show the overall manner, in which people live and spend time and money.
Psychographic studies place a heavy emphasis on personality traits. They
focus on the concept of 'self Lifestyle studies, on the other hand, focus on
broad cultural trends or on the needs and values thought to be closely
associated withIcrinsurner behavior, measuring activities, interests, opinions and
attitudes 3.19.

48
3.1.2 RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN LIFESTYLES AND THE
CONSUMER DECISION PROCESS •
The lifestyles are closely related to the consumer decision process.
Marketers have developed several models of the consumer buying process.
Kotler32° uses a five-stage model of the buying process, which consists of
problem recognition, information search, evaluation of alternatives, purchase
decision and post-purchase behaviour.

Hawkins, Best and Coney321 have also defined the consumer decision
process as consisting of five interrelated decision process stages, viz.,
"problem recognition, information search, evaluation and selection, outlet
selection and decision implementation and post-purchase processes." They
emphasize that these phases are affected by "internalized
environmental influences, generalized motivating influences, products
or brand evaluations and information processing."

3.1.3 HOW LIFESTYLE ARE DERIVED?

The marketers generally use three types of inputs to derive lifestyle
roles. Firstly, observing the thought and action patterns of the target market
that he would like to approach. Secondly, gathering information through
market research on their demographic characteristics and psychographics
expressions. Lastly, using their own creativity in classifying and naming the
various lifestyle roles identified by them (Hanan, 1978).

Two of the most popular lifestyle classifications which are based on

psychographic measurements are: (a) the MO Framework, and (b) the VALS
2 Framework.

49
 FIGURE 3.1
CIRCULAR RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN LIFESTYLE AND
CONSUMER DECISION PROCESS

Need's Aetiludes
influencing Consumer
Decisions

C Consunter Purchase
Decisions
Demographics
SOCi31
Culture Class Situations
Rektene
Group Problem Recognition 4.-1
Individual 1 i
Chatacteristics amity . Information -- -- --I
Search 4- - --)
Individual
Development I
tir l
Evaluntion —1
and Selection
.I.
Outlet Selection
and Decision 4
implementation

I
Post Purchase
liehaviourend Process
Experience that
Erdtanceor Maintain
Lifestyle Situations

Source: Del. I. Hawkins, Roger J. Best, and Kenneth A. Coney (1986),

Consumer Behaviour: Implications and Marketing Strategy (Texas. Business
Publications) p. 25.
3.1.4 AIO FRAMEWORK:

Respondents are presented with long questionnaires designed to

measure their activities, interests, and opinions. Information is also collected
1
on the demographics of the population under study. The major dimensions
for each aspect are 322.
Activities Interests Opinions Demographics
Work Family Themselves Age
Hobbies Home Social Issues Education
Social Events Job Politics Income
Vacation Community Business Occupation
Entertainment Recreation Economics Family Size
Clubs Fashion Education Dwelling
Community 1 Food Products Geography
Shopping Media Future City Size
Sports Achievements Culture Stage in life
Cycle

Usually Likert's scales are used to gather data, and the respondents
are asked to show whether they agree or disagree with a particular statement
related to the activities, interests, and opinions. A study by AT&T phone
services used the following psychographic statements to identify the telephone
behavior of its consumers. 323
• I am the kind of person who carefully plans whatever I do.
•:* I try to set a limit in dollars for my monthly long distance calling.
• I will probably move within the next three years.
•:* I would like to use a home computer to send and receive messages and
information over the telephone.
• Before trying a new product or service, I seldom seek the advice of others.

50
 + I would be willing to pay a monthly fee for a plan that would save me
money on each of my long distance calls.
+ When it comes to enjoying myself, I prefer going out rather than
slaying at home.
+ I would use any long-distance company that would save me a couple of
dollars.
+ My work keeps me away from home too much.
+ It's important to keep in touch with close relatives by long-distance
+ I think *le cost of a long-distance call is a good value for the money.
+ When I am feeling low, a long-distance call to the right person can pick
me up.
+ When I call someone long-distance, it suggests that I care more than if
I sent a letter.
+ Many of my long distance calls are to get specific answers to specific
questions.
+ I would really like to give some of my relatives a special card that would
allow them to call only me, and I would be billed for the call

A recent study conducted to describe the Internet shopper, for

example, used the following statements to measure the various dimensions
that distinguished the Internet shoppers from the Internet non-shoppers
(Donthu and Garcia, 1999)324.
Brand Consciousness
I usually purchase brand name products.
All brands are about the same.
Store brands are of poor quality.
Price Consciousness
I usually purchase the cheapest item.

51
 I usually purchase items on sale only.
I often find myself checking prices.
A person can save a lot by shopping for bargains.
IMPORTANCE OF CONVENIENCE
I HATE TO SPEND TIME GATHERING INFORMATION ON
PRODUCTS.
I do not like complicated things.
It is convenient to shop from home.
Variety-seeking Propensity
I like to try different things.
I like a great deal of variety.
I like new and different styles.
Impulsiveness
I often make unplanned purchases.
h ike to purchase things on a whim.
I think twice before committing myself.
Attitude toward advertising
Advertisements provide useful information.
I think that advertisements are often deceptive.
I usually do not pay any attention to advertisements.
Attitude toward shopping
Shopping is fun.
I get a real high from shopping.
Buying things makes me happy.
Attitude toward direct marketing
Phone solicitations are an invasion of my privacy.
I often use catalogues to shop for products.
I enjoy receiving junk mail.

52
Risk aversion
I would rather be safe than sorry.
I want to be sure before I purchase anything
I avoid risky things.
Innovaliveness
I like to take chances.
I like to experiment with new ways of doing things.
New products are usually gimmicks.

Chicago-based advertising agency of Needham, Harper and Steers

used this approach to identify lifestyles. They identified several major
lifestyle groups of men and women. Five male lifestyle groups identified
by them are the self made businessman, the successful professional, the
devoted family man, the frustrated factory worker, and the retiring persons.
A detailed description of the lifestyle profiles constructed by a few
prominent studies is provided in the next chapter on the concept of lifestyle
in marketingliterature.

3.1.5 VALS —; FRAME WORK

One of the most widely known Psychographic tools are called
VALS (Values and Lifestyle Survey), which was created by Arnold
Mitchell of SRI, International. The original VALS study surveyed a broad
section of the U.S. consumers of the 1970's on several demographic,
value, attitude, and lifestyle variables. .Although a number of businesses
used VALS to identify potential target markets and to gain a better
understanding of how they should communicate with the consumers,
researchers in the late 1980's began criticising VALS because it had
become outdated and did not predict behaviour well. Changes due to the ageing
of baby boom generation, the greater diversity of ethnic groups, greater media

53
choices (especially T.V. and interactive media), and changes in values and
lifestyles made VALS an invalid tool for describing consumers in the 1990's.

In response to these criticisms, SRI developed VALS 2. The newer

survey includes only items that relate to consumer behaviour. It is,
therefore, much more closely, related to consumption than VALS. The
survey consists of four demographic and 42 attitudinal items. Examples of the
latter include, "my idea of fun at a national park would be to stay at an
expensive lodge and dress-up for dinner", "it is the luxuries in the life which
make life worth living, and I often crave excitement".325

VALS 2 identifies segments of U.S consumers based on their

consumption of 170 product categories. The segments are based on two factors:
(1) Consumer's resources, including income, education, self-confidence,
health, eagerness to buy, intelligence, and energy level, and (2) their Self
orientations or what motivates them, including their activities and values,
Three self-orientations are identified. The Principle-oriented consumers are
guided by intellectual aspects rather than feelings or other people's opinions.
The Status-oriented individuals are those whose views are based on the
actions sand opinions of others and who strive to win the approval of others.
The Action-oriented consumers desire social or physical action, variety,
activity, and risk.

At the bottom end of the resource hierarchy are stnigglers

(16 percent of the U.S. population), who have the lowest income of any of
the VALS2 segments. Because their focus is on surviving, they are not
described by any self-orientation. Believers (17 percent) are principle-
oriented consumers with somewhat modest resources. They represent the largest
of the VALS2 segments. Believers are poorly educated and have deeply held

54
beliefs about moral codes of conduct and ethics. More than one third of the
consumers in this group are retired. The other principle-oriented group is the
Fulfilleds (12 percent), who are mature, well educated, well informed, and
older (more than half over 50). They are also happy with their families, have
high incomes, and are value-oriented in their consumption practices.

Status-oriented segments include Strivers (14 percent), who have blue-

collar backgrounds and strive to emulate people they find more successful
than themselves. Achievers (10 percent) have higher resources, are focused on
their work and families, and tend to be successful at their jobs. They are
politically conservative, respect authority, and are not change oriented.

The action-oriented group of Makers (12 percent) is relatively young

and it values self-sufficiency. They are not interested in material possessions or
world events; instead, they are focused on family, work and physical
recreation. Experiences (11 percent) are a young energetic group who spend a
great deal of time on physical exercise and social activities . They spend
avidly on the clothing, fast food, and music categories. Fewer than 20 percent
have completed college, but many are working toward college degree. They
love new products and are more risk-oriented than consumers in their segments.

Finally, Actualizers (8 percent) represent the segment with the greatest

resource base. They have a great deal of self confidence, high incomes, and
high level of education and can therefore, indulge themselves in any or all
of the self-orientation. They use possessions to indicate their own personal
styles, taste, and character, and they have a wide range of interests.

Although the VALS and VALS2 profiles were originally

developed to describe U.S. consumers, profiles of European consumers are

55
currently in the works. The technique has also been applied in Japan,
but with some modification. For example, instead of two orientations, the
Japanese VALS has three: self-expressions, achievements and tradition.
These orientations then serve as the basis for identifying ten VALS
segments326. It has also been argued that other techniques such as the List of
Values (LOV) may describe consumer segments more adequately.
However, this issue is apparently still unresolved. One study found that the
LOV was a better predictor of consumer behaviour than VALS327, and
another did not 318.

3.1.6 THREE PRINCIPAL MISSIONS OF LIFESTYLE

MARKETING
The marketers may employ lifestyle marketing to
accomplish thrre main purposes. These are listed below:
1. To bail out an existing product which is selling below its forecast
potential or whose life cycle is on the down side with sales steadily on
decline. This results in extending the life cycle of such products.
2. To bring in new profits requiring the developer to create a range of
related new product opportunities for sale in an existing or similar
market. This results in vertical and horizontal line extensions.
3. To generate new product opportunities in vaguely defined areas of
general interest with many apparent possibilities,

3.1.7 LIFE STYLE PROFILES OF THE SOCIAL CLASSES

Consumer research has found evidence that within each of the social
classes, there is a constellation of specific lifestyle factors (shared beliefs,
attitudes, activities and behaviors) that tend to distinguish the members of
each class from the members of all other social classes. To capture the
lifestyle composition of the various social-class groupings, ie..

56
1. The upper-upper class - country club Establishment
.•4,
•• Small number of well-established families.
40.1.
• Belong to best country clubs and sponsor major charity
events.
•• Serve as trustees for local colleges and hospitals.
•• Prominent physicians and lawyers
•.11. May be heads of major financial institutions, owners of major
long- established firms.
4customed to wealth, so do not spend money
conspicuously.
2.The lower-upper class - Net wealth
Not quite accepted by the upper crust of society
• Represent 'new money'
•.• Successful business executives
•.
•11 Conspicuous uses of their new wealth.
3.The upper-middle class- Achieving Professionals
•• Have neither family status nor unusual wealth.
• Carrier-oriented
•• Thing successful professionals, corporate managers and
business owners.
•••• Most are college graduates, many with advanced degrees.
• Active in Professional, community and social activities.
• Have a keen interest in obtaining the better things in life
• Their homes serve as symbols of their achievements.
4. The lower-middle class- Faithful Followers
+ Primarily non-managerial white - collar workers and highly
paid blue - collar workers.
•• Want to achieve 'respectability' and be accepted as good
citizens.

57
 Want their children to be well behaved
Tend to be churchgoers and are often involved in church -
sponsored activities
•:* Prefer a neat and clean appearance and tend to avoid faddish
or highly- styled clothing.
•.• Constitute a major market for do - it yourself products.
5. The upper - lower class - security minded majority
• The longest social -class segment
•• Solidly blue collar
• Strive for security
•.4. View work as a means to by enjoyment
+ Want children to behave properly
•• High wage earners in this group may spend impulsively
+ Interested in times that enhance their leisure time.
••• Husbands typically have a strong "macho" self-image.
&•Malaszre-sparts-fans, heavy smokers, be drinkers.
6.The lower -lower class-Rock Bottom
+.
11 Poorly educated, unskilled laborers
•.• Often out of work
• Children are poorly treated
• Tend to live a day-to-day existence.

58
 The above six social classes present a consolidated portrait, pieced
together from numerous sources, of the members. Each of these profiles is
only a generalized picture of the class. People in any class may possess
values, attitudes and behavioral patterns that are selected lifestyle items
that were found to better explain social class than income

Lifestyle items that are positively Lifestyle items that are negatively
associated with social class associated with social class
I enjoy to concerts Somebody should stop all the
protests that are going on.
I attend a bridge club regularly Long hair on boys should be banned
I enjoy going through an art gallery I am homebody.
I am usually an active member of If it was good enough for my
more than one service organization mother it is good enough for me.
I like ballet Any housewife who doesn't have a
springhouse cleaning is slovenly.
I tnink, f am a pretty nice looking When I must choose between the two,
person. I usually dress for comfort, not for
fashion.

While a debate about the relative merits of composite social class

measures or income as a predictor of consumer behavior may seem to be
academic, it has served to provoke a careful evaluation of the
relationship between consumer behavior and social class.

3.1.8 SRI VALS: Consumer Segmentation Research

Taking its roots from maslow's hierarchy and the concept of social
character, researchers, at SRI in the late 1970s developed a generalized
segmentation cheme of the American population known as the VALS

59
(Values and Lifestyles) typology. In recent years, selected marketers
have reported that they have successfully used the VALS typology to
segment markets for their products and services and to target their
promotional efforts.
3.1.9 The VALS Lifestyles
The VALS typology classifies the American population into four
general consumer groups and then subdivides these categories into a
total of nine distinctive subgroups or segments. The four major
groupings are.
1. Need -driven : The poor and uneducated about 11 percent of the
population.
2. Outer-directed : Middle and upper middle class consumers whose
lifestyle are directed by external criteria about 67 percent of the
population.
3. Inner -directed : People who often are more motivated by personal
neecff than by-trie expectations of others about 20 percent of the
population.
4. Integrated : 2 percent of the population represents individuals who
have been able to combine the best of both outer -directed and inter-
directed values.
The VALS groupings are divided into four specific VALS Segments.

1.NEED DRIVEN:
Need driven is one of the groups of VALS . Its includes.
a. survivors
b. Sustainers

60
a. Surrivors
They are the most impoverished consumer segment and represents
about 4 percent of the adult American population. Most are poorly
educated and elderly, and tend to be depressed, withdrawn, insecure and
mistrustful. Their desire for a comfortable old age has not been realized.
Much of their time is spent at home - their refugee against what is
perceived to be a generally hostile world.

b. Sustainers 1
They are a group that has not yet given up hope, and only 7 percent
of the population. They are angry people, trying to climb out of poverty
and join the middle class. Income of this group are slightly higher than for
survivors and their median age is half that of survivors. About half this
group consists of particularly downscale "baby - boomers", who believe
the system is currently working against them. Sustainers include the largest
percentage of nonwhites.

2. Outer-Directed
Outer directed is second type of group in VALS. It includes,
a. Belongers
b. Emulators
c. Achievers

a. Belongers
Belongers constitute the largest VALS segment ie 35 percent of the
populations. Above all else, the members of this group want to 'fit in'. They
make up what is commonly regarded as upper -lower and lower middle -
class America, and tend to be traditional, conservative, family - oriented
and moral. Mot members are high school graduates, hold blue collar, craft

61
or service jobs and have modest income levels. Although they may be
characterized as 'old fashioned', they are basically satisfied with their
lifestyle.

b. Emulators
They hold 10 percent of the population and tend to be ambitious,
competitive, hard working, fairly successful, and demand a great deal of
themselves as they try to climb the social class ladder. Members of this
group tend to be young and to live in urban environment. More than 20
percent are non-white. Generally, they are not especially happy, as they
have yet to reach the goals they have set for themselves. Emulators try
to like Achievers and often spend beyond their means. They constitute a
middle ground between the lifestyle of the belongers and the lifestyle of
the Achievers.

c. Achievers
They are educated and affluent - they have achieved success in
their lives and have realized the American dream. Members of this
segment (22 percent of the population) are hard -working and happy.
They have a great deal of self - confidence and view life as a challenge
they can master.

3. Inner - Directed
Inner - directed is third group of VALS and it includes.
a. I-Am-me
b. Experiential
c. Societally conscious consumers.

62
a. LAM-Me"s
I-AM-me's is the youngest of the VALS groups and represents
only 5 percent of the population. Members of this segment are in a
transition stage, undergoing a transformation from the outer-directed
way of life in which they were raised to the inner - directed life they
seek. This is relatively short-lived and turbulent life phase, with
members simultaneously being conformers and innovators.
b. Experiential
They are older than I-AM-me's and often Join this category as
they mature and marry out of the I-AM-me lifestyle. It represents
percent of the population. They are interested in directly acquiring life
experiences and are generally happy with their lives. They obtain most
of their gratification from network activities. Although they are un
ambitious when compared to achievers, they consider themselves to be
liberated, impulsive and willing to try almost anything once.

c. Societally conscious consumers:

They re?resent 8 percent of the population and are a mature group
concerned with societal issues. They are influential and successful and
represent the inner-directed equivalent of Achievers. This group has the
highest education level, higher percentage of professional occupation
and the most liberal point of view of all the VALS segments. They
consider the nonmaterial aspects of life to be more important than the
material ones, and may members of this group live in less densely
populated areas.
4. Integrated
This final VALS category segment is the smallest of all the groups
and consists of individuals who have successfully put together the

63
strengths of both the inner-directed and outer-directed lifestyles.
Members of this group tend to be open, self-assured and self-expressive.
Because of this group's particularly small size, the segment is not as
critical to most marketers as the other VALS segments.

3.2 FACTORS INFLUENCING LIFESTYLE

The factors influencing lifestyle canbe grouped in to 'external factors'
and 'internal factors'. The external factors influencing consumer lifestyles are
culture, demographics, social class, reference groups and family." The internal
factors "consist of individual development and individual characteristics".
Individual development includes learning, and childhood socialization and
individual characteristics include motivation and personality features.

External Factors
Culture is "that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief,
art, law, morals, customs and any other capabilities and habits acquired by
man as a member of society."3•29. It provides information regarding "how
things are", what are the basic values and, thus, what is right and wrong, or
good or bad in any given situation. It, therefore, provides boundaries within
which most individuals think and act. Violation of cultural norms results in
sanctions or penalties ranging from mild social disapproval to punishment.
Culture is acquired and is not static. It changes with the changes in the larger
environment.

Demographics are used to describe a population in terms of its size,

structure and distribution. It consists of relatively apparent and descriptive
characteristics of a group of persons like age, income, education and
occupation. The distribution of the population is related to the geographic
region describing it as rural or urban.

64
 Reference group is a group that an individual uses as a guide for
behaviour in a specific situation. The presumed values of the group are
the basis of the current behaviour of an individual. While a person may
belong to many groups simultaneously, he uses only one group as a point of
reference in any given situation. The reference group can exercise three
types of influences, viz., informational, normative and identification
influences.

The inf6rmational influence occurs when an individual uses the

behaviour and opinions of reference group members as a potentially useful
piece of information, as, for example, in the case of use of a particular brand.

The normative influence occurs when an individual fulfils group

expectations to gain a direct reward or to avoid a penalty or sanction. This
takes place when a person purchases a particular brand to win the approval
of his group.

The identification influence occurs when the individual uses the

perceived group norms and values as a guide for his own values and attitudes.

The degree of reference group influence is, however, determined by the

visibility of the usage situation, individual's commitment to the group,
importance of the activity or the product to the group and the individual's
confidence in the purchase situation.

Social class system is a hierarchical division of a society into

relatively distinct and homogeneous groups with respect to attitudes, values and
lifestyles. In practice, however, pure social classes do not exist. What exists is
a series of status continuum reflecting various dimensions, which the overall
society values. Yhese dimensions can be classified into two.

65
 (a) Achievement-oriented, including education, occupation,
income, and type and place of residence.
(b) Ascribed, including race, age, sex and status of a person's parents.

There is a partially causal relationship between the above two

dimensions as a result of which they set limits on one's lifestyles. Social
class exercises a considerable influence on media usage, information
search, store choice and product consumption.
Family is defined as a group of two or more persons related by blood,
marriage or adoption who reside together. It is a basic consumption unit for
consumer goods and the consumption pattern of an individual member is
dependent on that of the other family members. The family may be either a
nuclear family or an extended family.

A nuclear family is the immediate group of father, mother, child or

children. It also includes a single parent family. A person generally functions
in two distinct nuclear families during his lifetime, viz., family of orientation
and family of procreation.

The extended family includes the nuclear family as well as the

additional members or relations, staying together. A household is an individual
or a group of people who share a common dwelling. Most households pass
through an orderly progression of stages, each with its own characteristics,
financial situations and purchase patterns which is known as a family life
cycle.

Each stage in the family life cycle poses a series of problems, which
must be resolved. The solution of these problems is intimately bound to the
selection and maintenance of a lifestyle and in turn to the consumption of
certain products.

66
 In many family purchase decisions, the primary consumers are
neither the decision-makers nor the purchasers. A family member can
play various roles in a purchase decision. These roles are initiator,
influencer, decider, buyer and user3.30. How the family members interact in a
purchase decision is largely dependent upon two things: the role specialisation
of different family members and the degree of involvement of each member
in the product area of concern.

Internal Factdrs
The internal influences are unique to the individual consumer. The
activity that links the various external influences and marketing practices to the
consumers decision process is called information processing. It is the means
by which information from group influences, the situational context and
marketing efforts is incorporated into the lifestyles and purchase decisions.
Individual development and individual characteristics are partly determined
by the information received and processed from the culture, social class,
reference groups and family.

Individual development takes place through learning and childhood

socialisation.

Learning is defined as those changes in responses and response

tendencies that result from the effects of experience. In terms of lifestyle and
purchase decisions, we learn about needs, tastes and preferences and price
quality relationships. With an increase in the purchase experience, we learn
about the most effective sources of information, the best place to shop, the
brands to avoid and the brands on which we can rely. The marketer must,
therefore, understand how people learn and how learning could be influenced.

67
 Childhood socialisation refers to a person acquiring the skills of
becoming a consumer gradually over time. This process begins at quite an
early stage in life. The actual process of purchase and consumption
influences significantly one's level of living as well as that of members of one's
family. The marketer must try to understand how children learn to become
consumers and must also study the impact of advertising on children.

Individual characteristics are those that energise, direct and shape a

particular pattern of purchase and consumption behaviour. They include
motives, personality, self-concept and attitudes.

Motives are the forces that initiate and direct consumer behaviour.
Motives may be either physiological or psychological.

Personality is a consistent pattern of responses to environmental

stimuli, which permits categorisation of people in a number of ways. A
consumer's reaction to a need, a routine situation or new stimulus is
determined by his normal mode of coping with the environment. Personality
has been found to act with other variables as a moderator to determine
behaviour. It is a meaningful intervening variable accounting for individual
differences.

Lifestyles are the patterns, in which, people live and spend money
and time. The Ilifestyles are learned by individuals and are the derivatives
of social values and personality. Similarly, values are generalised beliefs
and expectations about behaviour. They are important determinants of
lifestyles. The changing values provide the basis for differences amongst
lifestyle segments.

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 Self-concept is the way an individual perceives himself. It has
five components3.31 : an organised set of motivations; a series of social
roles to which the person is committed along with a knowledge of how to
play them; a more general set of commitments to social norms and their
underlying values; a set of cognitive abilities including the ability to create
and understand symbols, and a set of ideas about one's qualities,
capabilities, commitments, and motives a self-image that is developed by the
individual in the course of his socialisation.

Lifestyle is thus, an outward manifestation of the self-concept. The

symbols people use to form and express their self-concept include the
goods and services they buy and the way they use them.

Attitudes represent the basic orientation for or against some object

such as a product. They are formed out of the interrelationships between
personal experience and lifestyles and other factors. The attitudes are
composed of cognitive (beliefs), affective (feelings), and behavioural
(response tendencies) components which tend to be consistent with each
other.

Thus, each of these factors influence lifestyles and are also

influenced by them resulting in situations where lifestyles are changing
or responding to changes in the environment, sometimes gradually and at
other times speedily- This calls for a continuous appraisal of markets by the
marketers and an adaptation of marketing strategies to suit these variations.

3.3 Concept of liberalization and changes in lifestyle.

By way of accepting Dunkel proposal of GATT Agreement, India

introduced a economic policy in 1991-92 by name liberalization,
privatization and globalization. After the new economic policy, only three

69
industries are exclusively reserved for the government, only eight require
an industrial license from the government for starting industries and the
remaining industries are left to private participation. Besides foreign trade
is also liberalized. India agreed to accept foreign direct investment in
various industries at various rates of equity participation. The liberalization
of private participation in starting industries, privatization of existing
public sector under takings and globalization of industry and trade resulted
in a bigger market for goods and services and easy availability of wide
ranging consumption goods, consumer goods, consumer-durable goods and
many services including higher education in abroad. Ever changing
Technologies, innovations and product discrimination resulted in new kind
of goods & services which are behind the recharge salaried class with the
available current salary income. When the salaried class are given loans
and advances in anticipation of future income they could buy more goods
& services.

Under these circumstances, the reforms in the banking sector in the

name of liberalized lending, decontrol on interest rates, Universal Banking,
maximum possible bank borrowings., purposive banking rather than
collateral loan etc., enabled the individual borrowers to borrow from the
banks, and enjoying with wide variety of goods and services such as house
construction, renovation of existing house, furnishing the house, buying
two wheelers, four wheelers, electrical and electronic items, going abroad
for higher education, having professional educational course in self-
financing colleges and so on and so forth. As such the liberalization of
industry and trade coupled with liberalized lending may probably enable
the individual borrowers to enjoy with wider variety goods and services
which in turn may influence a change in the life style of salaried class in
particular.

70
3.4 CONCLUSION

Lifestyle, the living pattern in a society, is influenced by numerous

factors, Lifestyle is concerned with unique qualities or ingredients which
describe the style of life of some culture or group and distinguish it from
others. It is made up values and personality reflected in activity, interest
and attitude towards many factors of the environment of the individuals.
Psychographics seeks to describe the human behavioral characteristics of
consumers. It shows the overall manner in which people live and spend
time and money. But lifestyle studies focus on the broad cultural trends or
on the needs and values thought to be closely associated with consumer
behaviour, measuring activities, attitudes, interests and opinions. There are
three major types of inputs to derive lifestyle roles viz., observation,
gathering information and using one's • own creativity. The AIO frame
work and the VALS-2 framework are the most popular lifestyle
classifications based on psychographic measurements. Among the factors
which influence the lifestyle ability to pay for purchase either from own
income or from borrowed income influences the style. The reforms in the
banking sector of India in recent years are dealt at length in the subsequent
chapter.

71
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