Chapter 4 Flashcards
What is Culture (Definition)
Culture is an external group factor that influences consumer and buyer behaviour when making decisions related to products and services that will fulfil their needs and wants.
Culture is everything a person learns and shares with members of a society, including ideas, norms, morals, values, knowledge, skills, technology, material objects and behaviour.
Culture represents a society’s personality and collective mental coaching. It is part of our conditioning that we share with other members of our nation, region, or group, but not necessarily with members of other nations, regions or groups.
From a consumer behaviour perspective, culture can be defined as t_he sum total of learnt beliefs, values and customs that direct the consumer behaviour of members of a particular society or nation._
It is a system of interdependent components that include the activities that characterise the behaviour of particular communities of people, such as the way they eat, how they talk, their appearance and their general behavioural patterns, but it also extends beyond these activities.
We are now going to look at the different aspects of culture.
- • Language, symbols and rituals
- • customs, beliefs and values
- • Needs and culture
- • Learning and culture
• Language, symbols and rituals
Language forms part of culture in that it contributes to a society by providing a communication tool that is common and shared by people.
- For example, the use of language, such as English, Zulu or Tswana, enables the marketer to distinguish between the different cultures of the people who speak and understand these languages.
A symbol is anything that represents something in a specific culture
- a cross, for example, symbolises Christianity.
The use of rituals in defining a specific culture helps marketers to design marketing promotions and products that avoid conflict between the marketer and the people practising the ritual.
• customs, beliefs and values
Customs are overt modes of behaviour that constitute culturally approved or accepted ways of behaving. Customs consist of daily or routine behaviour, which are usual and acceptable.
- For example, in South Africa it is customary not to swear and fight in public, because this kind of behaviour is unacceptable.
Beliefsconsist of alarge number of thought processesor expressed statements that reflect a person’s particularknowledge and assessment of something.
Values encompass widely held beliefs that affirm what is desirable in a society.
• Needs and culture
The existence of culture helps members of society to satisfy their needs, because it gives direction and guidance in the different phases of human problem solving.
Culture provides tried-and-trusted methods to satisfy physiological, personal and social needs.
- For example, according to the Tswana culture a man needs to wear a jacket, as a sign of respect, when going to a funeral. This meets the social needs of the community and is the “right” thing to do.
• Learning and culture
For a society to embrace culture, the members of a particular society have to be familiar with its culture, which usually happens as a result of learning that begins at an early stage of their lives.
We acquire learning of culture from our social environment that involves a set of beliefs, values and customs that are practised among a society.
Learning occurs in three distinct forms namely, formal, informal and technical learning.
- An example of formal learning is when parents and adults teach a young boy how to conduct himself around people. Informal learning happens when a child imitates the behaviour of his school mates, whereas technical learning is a result of students having been instructed by lecturers on, for instance, how to conduct themselves during interviews when seeking employment.
Factors marketers need to consider with regard to the changing nature of culture, enculturation and acculturation.
Culture gain permanance as parents pass them on to children.
Culture is dynamic when certain values change over time.
Factors such as new technology, changing values adn changing customs coontribute to changes in a specific society.
Enculturation: Is the learning of your own culture.
Acculturation: Learning of a new or foreign culture.
Definition of subculture.
A subculture is a distinct cultural group that exists as an identifiable segment within a larger, more complex society.
- Examples of subcultures are different nationalities (South African, European), religions (Christians, Muslims), language groups, racial groups and geographical regions (Western Cape, Gauteng)
Different perspectives on the diversity of South African culture.
For example, the rainbow nation metaphor usually suggests strength and richness in the diversity of race groups, nationalities and many other attributes that contribute in unifying a nation.
• Subculture categorised on the basis of demographics.
For example South Africa has a relatively young population and age is viewed as an important subculture. Marketers are naturally interested in knowing what products will sell well in the youth market and how the youth spends its income.
• Subculture on the basis of geographic region.
For example, people living in Cape Town are characteristically fond of deep-sea diving, surfing, seafood and wine, whereas people in the Eastern Cape will spend their income on basic food and improving subsistence farming in their province.
In the next section you have to focus on the following important elements of cultural values and society:
- Distinction between individualism and collectivism
- Social values
- personal values
- Value concept in marketing
• Distinction between individualism and collectivism
This dimension of culture has an influence on the way societies behave and what they buy.
In individualistic societies, advertising, for example, usually emphasises individualism, while in collectivist societies, the group factor is more important in the advertisement.
• Social values
Social values are deep-seated motivations instilled by culture.
People in a society are more inclined to stick to their values rather than follow other’s opinions, which can easily be influenced by current debates.
The marketing implications of social values can, for example, be a consumer who purchases a pair of expensive Nike sneakers to express his outgoing personality or social status in society.
• personal values
You need to note that personal values are the underlying determinant of consumer attitudes and consumer behaviour.
- For example, if the consumer’s personal values revolve around being a free spirit and having an outgoing personality, the type of products and services he or she purchases will reflect this.
