UNIT 4: Social class and culture (20%)

Meaning of Social Stratification and Social

Class

Meaning of social stratification

• Social stratification refers to a society's categorization of its people into
groups based on socioeconomic factors like wealth, income, race,
education, ethnicity, gender, occupation, social status, or derived power
(social and political). As such, stratification is the relative social position
of persons within a social group, category, geography region, or social
unit.
• In modern Western societies, social stratification is typically defined in
terms of three social classes: the upper class, the middle class, and the
lower class; in turn, each class can be subdivided into the upper-stratum,
the middle-stratum, and the lower stratum. Moreover, a social stratum
can be formed upon the bases of kinship, clan, tribe, or caste, or all four.
Meaning of social class
• A social class is a set of concepts in the social
sciences and political theory centered on models of
social stratification which occur in a class society, in
which people are grouped into a set of hierarchical
social categories, the most common being the upper,
middle and lower classes. Membership in a social
class can for example be dependent on education,
wealth, occupation, income, and belonging to a
particular subculture or social network.
 Nature of Social Class Influences
1. Class is an economic group:
• Although a social class is mostly determined on the basis of the location of
the production and distribution of social wealth, they are not mere
economic groups or divisions. It also includes both the subjective and
objective criteria such as, class consciousness, class solidarity and wealth,
property, income, education and occupation. Marx considered class on the
economic basis.
2. Class is also a status group:
• Class is also related to status dimension. The consideration of the class as a
status group is applied to a society which has many strata. Status groups
are composed of persons having the same life style and receiving about the
same social honour from others. Therefore, the status consciousness
separates the individuals both physically and psychologically.
3. An achieved pattern:
• Status is achieved in a class system and not ascribed. As such,
birth is not the basis of acquisition of one‟s status and one‟s
status is not fixed throughout his life. One may improve his status
if he acquires capability and talent necessary for that. On the
other hand, one may also lose his status, if he fails to maintain his
ability and talent.
4. The class system is ubiquitous:
• As a universal phenomenon class system is prevalent in all the
modern and complex social systems. However, small, simple and
primitive societies are mostly free from such a pattern of
stratification.
5. Feeling of class-consciousness:
• Feeling of class consciousness is experienced among the members of a particular
class at three levels. First, the members feel a sense of equality within their own
class. Secondly, the feeling of inferiority inheres in the minds of those who occupy
the lower status in the socio-economic hierarchy. Thirdly, the members of a class
experience the feeling of superiority in relation to those who are placed in the
lower range in the hierarchy. Such feelings cause class consciousness and finally
result in strengthen the basis of class.
6. Prestige dimension:
• Wealth, income, education and occupation are some of the basic determinants of
class. As it is an open system, anyone who satisfies the basic criteria can become
its member. Therefore persons belonging to a particular class develop status
consciousness and this is reflected through the status symbols of different class
groups. The status symbols of the upper classes are considered prestigious,
whereas the status symbols of the middle classes are considered less prestigious.
7. Relatively stable group:
• A class is characterised by an element of stability, unlike a crowd or mob of course, social
mobility is possible due to the openness of the system, nevertheless it cannot be interpreted
as transitory. Under certain extraordinary situations the class is subject to rapid
transformation. Such circumstances include crises in the social, economic and political
spheres, revolutions, movements, wars etc.
8. Open to social mobility:
• An open system of stratification is characterised by vertical mobility pattern in which upward
and downward movements of individuals in the social hierarchy are possible. This is not to
say that there is no resistance at all, but the resistance is mild and not as severe as found in
the caste system.
9. Varieties of life styles:
• A particular social class is marked off from the other classes by its „life styles‟ which
comprises the mode of living such as, the dress pattern, the type of house and the social
environment, where the members live, the leisure time activities, the mode of consumption,
the pattern of relationship between the spouses and their off-springs, the exposure to media,
the circle of friendship, the mode of conveyance and communication, ways of behaving etc.
All these make differences between different classes and exhibit the class- values and caste
preferences.
Social Influence on consumer Behaviour
 Cultural factors
• Culture = it refers to the people of specific region, caste or
religion and describe what they think, what they believe in,
what are their moral & ethical values, what are their
customs and tradition,etc.
The roots of the consumer behavior lie in the culture in which
he has been brought up.
Fashionable clothes, gifts, food stuffs, routine dresses etc are
bought.
Non veg.= muslim culture
Veg.= hindu culture so, culture depend on b.b. of consumeres.
 Contd.
• Sub culture = each culture consist of different sub
culture like Hindu culture consist of Bhrahmin,
Kahatriya, vaisya, Sudra culture.
Each sub culture has its own beliefs & way of life
• Social class = in Indian culture we find different levels
of classes.
from income point of view society can be divided into
diff. income classes like rich, upper, middle class,
poor class. Life style and standard of living of each
class is different.
 Social factors
• Family = family is the most important external
factor influencing the behaviour of family
members. The personality and values of the
individual are also developed by the family
culture
• Reference group = its includes friends,
colleagues, neighbours, etc.
While purchasing durables like tv, cars, A/c seeks
advice of the reference group
 contd
• Its influence consumer behaviuor in 3 ways:
1. Reference group expose an individual to new
behaviour and life style.
2. They can also influence the person’s attitudes and
self concept.
3. They can create preassures to conform to their
advice or opinion which affect consumer’s choice.
People are also influenced by the group of which
they are not the members.
 Personal factors
• Age & stag in life cycle = people buy different
products and services over their lifetime. They
need baby food during child-hood, variety of
food in mature years, special diet in the old
age.
Consumption also affected by the stages of
family life cycle. Bachelor stage, newly married
couple, couple with children, old retired
couple,etc.
 Contd.
• Occupation = consumption pattern is also influenced
by the occupation of the consumer.
a blue collar worker needs work clothes, wrist watch,
work shoes and lunch box. Senior executive of the
company may need suit, neck tie, club membership,
air travel, costly shoes.
• Economic circumstances = of the consumer are
characterized by his earning, savings, liquid fund,
fixed assets, borrowing power and attitude toward
spending.
 Contd.
• Life style = a person’s lifestyle is reflected in his activities,
interest, hobbies, opinions, and thinking. The requirements
of a man believing in simple living and high thinking will be
simple and limited
But a man believing in luxurious life will purchase expensive
and luxurious products.
• Personality = personality means sum total of appearance,
physique, knowledge, intelligence values and different types
of skills of an individual. Each one has got unique personality.
the man believe in innovation may prefer new product,
innovative product.
 Contd.
• Self concept or self perception = our own
perception of ourself or our belief about self
image in the context of society as known as
self perception.
Self perception includes two things: self image
about the self and the other is his own
perception about what others believe him to
be.
 Psychological factors
• Unsatisfied needs of the consumer = needs means
want of something useful. There are two types of
individual needs.
1. Physiological needs like hunger, thirst, shelter, etc.
2. Psychological needs like self respect, social status,
to be loved by others or to love others, etc.
When a person feels that his certain needs remain
unfulfilled or not satisfied it create a drive in the
mind.
 Motivation and involvement
• Motivation is the inner force or urge which drives an
individual to adopt specific type of behaviour to
satisfied his needs.
• E.g. one person has social needs to increase his social
status so he may joining MBBS course. And another
person may satisfied the same needs by joining Lions
club.
• The differentiation in motivational factors is due to
different levels of involvement of consumer. e.g.
professional musician purchase a music system.
 attitude
• The another personal factor influencing
consumer behaviour is the attitude of the
buyer towards the product or services.
• Attitude means feeling for a person, people,
product, or events. The man develop attitude
from his experience.
• E.g. investment in share mkt.
 Learning and memory
• This is age of information explosion. People
cannot afford to study and memorise each
information. Therefore, they adopt selective
approach of learning and memorising the
information of their liking and interest.
 Information and processing
• Different individuals process and evaluate the
same information in a diff. manner

• PERCEPTION OF THE SITUATION

 Meaning of culture
• Culture is the sum of learned beliefs, values, and
customs that regulate the behaviour of members of
a particular society. Through our culture, we are
taught how to adjust to the environmental,
biological, psychological, and historical parts of our
environment.
• Edward B Tylor: culture as that complex whole which
includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law,
customs, and any other capabilities and habits
acquired by man as a member of society.
 MEANING OF SUB-CULTURE
• While culture is defined as the “personality of a society”, (inclusive of
language, customs and traditions, norms and laws, religion, art and
music, etc), it is not entirely homogenous in nature. Not all people
within a social system share the same language, religion, customs and
traditions.
• For example, while we are all Indians, and our culture is Indian (with
a common national language, Hindi, and common festivals like
Diwali), North Indians are different from South Indians. While North
Indians, celebrate Lohri, as a harvest festival in January, the South
Indians celebrate Pongal as their harvest festival at the same time. In
other words, people within smaller units share the same language,
religion, customs and traditions; and, this would be different in
smaller or larger magnitude to people in other sub-units.
 TYPES OF SUB-CULTURE
• Based on the varying criteria, there can be different
types of sub-cultures. The important subcultural
categories are nationality, geographical location,
religion, race and caste, gender and age. From a
marketing perspective, these could also be discussed
as market segments, which need to be studied and
assessed carefully before deciding on a
product/service offering and formulating a marketing
mix for a particular segment(s).
 Cross Culture Marketing Analysis
• Cross-cultural marketing is the strategic
process of marketing among consumers
whose culture is different from that of the
marketer's own culture. Examples of the
fundamental cultural aspects to be considered
include: social norms, values, language,
education, religion, economic systems,
business etiquette, laws, and style of living.
Area of Research for Cross Cultural Analysis
• In cross cultural analysis, the firm has to do research in the
following areas:
• 1. Language;
• 2. Differences in market segmentation;
• 3. Differences in criteria for evaluating products and services;
• 4. Differences in consumption pattern of consumers and
perceived benefits of products and services.
• 5. Differences in economic and cultural, social condition and
family structure.