chapter no: 05 of mkt 425: consumer behavior chapter name

Leon G. Schiffman & Leslie Lazar Kanuk “Consumer Behavior” 8th edition, Prentice Hall – 2006 01

Chapter No: 05of

MKT 425: Consumer Behavior

Chapter Name: Social Class

Modular:

Mr. Afjal Hossain

Lecturer

Department of Marketing, PSTU

Definition:

Social Class

Social class is a range of social positions on

which each member of the society can beplaced.


Definition:

Social Class

Another words, It is the division of members

of a society into a hierarchy of distinct statusclasses so that members of each class haverelatively the same status and members of allother classes have either more or less status.


Definition:

Social Class

Ex: In terms of Income LevelUpper

Middle

Lower


Definition:

Strata

The individual part of the social class in strata.

That means, when the social class is dividedinto a small number of specific social classesthen in is called strata. In the previousexample upper income level is a strata.


Definition:

Social Class and Social Status

The measurement through which social class

is measured is social status.

Social class is measured through a number offactors i.e. power, income, prestige etc.


Variations of Social Class:

Social class categories are ranked in a

hierarchy, ranging from low to high status.That’swhy it is divided into 3 categories:

1. About the same social class

2. Higher social class

3. Lower social class



1. About the same social class

When others have equal to them

2. Higher social class

when others have superior to them

3. Lower social class

when others have inferior to them



Social class categories can also be ranked from

2 or more than 2 categories:

Two-Category Social Class Schemas:

•Blue Collar White Collar

•Lower Upper


Variations of Social Class:Three-Category Social Class Schemas:

•Blue Collar Grey Collar White Collar

•Lower Middle Upper

Four-Category Social Class Schemas:

•Lower-Lower Lower-upper Upper-lower Upper-upper

Five-Category Social Class Schemas:

•Lower-lower Working class Lower-upper Upper-lower Upper-upper

•Lower Lower-middle Middle Upper-middle Upper


Variations of Social Class:Six-Category Social Class Schemas:

•Lower-lower Lower-upper Middle-lower Middle-upper Upper-lower Upper-upper

Seven-Category Social Class Schemas:

Real lower-lower

A lower group of people but not the lowest

Working class

Middle class

Middle-upper

Upper-lower

Upper-upper

Nine-Category Social Class Schemas:

Lower-lower

Lower-middle

Lower-upper

Middle-lower

Middle-middle

Middle-upper

Upper-lower

Upper-middle

Upper-upper


Measurements of Social Class:

1. Subjective measures

2. Reputational measures

3. Objective measures



1. Subjective measuresIndividuals are asked to estimate their own social-classpositions.

Ex: Which one of the following best describes your bestsocial class?

Lower class

Lower-middle class

Upper-middle class

Upper class

Do not know



2. Reputational measures

For measuring social class, it requires selectedcommunity informants to make initial judgmentsconcerning the social class membership of otherswithin the community. The final task of assigningcommunity members to social-class positions.

Ex: Positions of bankers will dignified by the SVP of abranch.




It requires people to envision their own class standing or

that of other community members. It consists of selecteddemographic or socioeconomic variables concerning theindividual’s under study. Variables are measured throughquestionnaires.

The most favorable variables are: occupation, income,education etc.




This type of measures fall into 2 basic categories:

(a) Single variable indexes

Just one socioeconomic variable is used to evaluate social classmembership.

(b) Composite variable indexes

Combine a number of socioeconomic factors to form one overallmeasure of social class standing. The higher the socioeconomicfactors, the more positive the rating.



3. Objective measures(a) Single variable indexes

Some of the single variables are:

Occupation: People ask others when they meet for the first time.What do you do for living?

Education: The more education the person has, the higher theperson paid.

Income: Use either amount of income or source of income.

Other variables: Neighborhood or value of residence is rarely usedto measure social class. One of the measurement is CHAPIN’s SocialStatus Scale. It focuses the presence of certain items of furniture/accessories denote the higher status. Television in the living roommeans lower class status rather than television in guest room.



3. Objective measures(b) Composite variable indexes

Two most composite indexes are:

Index of status characteristics: Occupation, Source of income (notamount of income), house type and dwelling area.

Socioeconomic Status Scores: Occupation, family income andeducational attainment.


Query?

Thank You

… For staying with me …


chapter no: 05 of mkt 425: consumer behavior chapter name

Documents