social class

Question 1

Social class and behaviour

Answer 1

Karamoutsou 2024:

• The same social class individuals have similar behaviours, including the preferences for clothing, housing, furniture, leisure services, mass media etc.
• Depending on the social class to which they belong, people lower or higher positions in society.
• A social class that a person belongs is determined by several variables (such as occupation, income, wealth, education)

Question 2

Difference between income and social when purchasing

Answer 2

Karamoutsou 2024
* Income predicts purchase of expensive products without status (i.e. major appliances).

• Social class can predict the purchase of low to moderate priced symbolic products (i.e. cosmetics).
• Both social class and income are needed to predict purchases of expensive, symbolic products (i.e. cars, homes).

Question 3

Social class impact on consumption

Answer 3

• Purchasing expensive goods and services to signal wealth/status
• Conspicuous Consumption: Acquisition and display of goods to show off one’s status “Keeping up with the Joneses” – the phrase was coined in early 1900s, not long after Veblen’s critique
• Conspicuous Waste: Visibly buying products that one never uses
• Compensatory Consumption: Buying products to offset frustrations or difficulties in life, a means to regulate self discrepancies, to escape

Question 4

Luxury products

Answer 4

Karamoutsou 2024:
* Luxury brands thrive on prestige, exclusivity, and status

• Advertisers need to exercise caution when using marketing digital strategies in luxury products – the human factor is important
• Examples: Hermès and Prada provide tablets to their sales staff which helps quickly identify and locate products that consumers desire, pesonalise the experience & collect customer data