1. Overview of social strata
1) The meaning of social class
Social stratum is a relatively persistent group composed of social members with the same or similar social status. Everyone will occupy a certain position in society, some people occupy a very prominent position, and some people occupy a general or lower position. This difference in social status divides social members into high and low orderly levels or strata. Social stratum is a universal social phenomenon. Developed and developing countries, socialist countries and capitalist countries all have different social classes. The most direct cause of social stratum is the difference of individual's ability and opportunity to obtain social resources. The so-called social resources refer to the economic benefits, political power, professional prestige, quality of life, knowledge and skills that people can have, as well as various opportunities and possibilities to develop their abilities, that is, various social conditions that can help people meet social needs and obtain social benefits. The root cause of social stratum is social division of labor and personal property ownership. Social division of labor has formed different industries and occupations, and the same industry and occupation has formed complex relationships such as leadership and being led, management and being managed. When this relationship is linked with personal income, prestige and power, it will form vertical differentiation on the basis of social horizontal differentiation, thus causing social stratification.
Social stratification shows that people's social status is different. Social status refers to people's position in social relations and the relationship of rights and obligations formed around this position. Social members occupy different social positions through birth, inheritance, socialization, employment and creative activities. In slave society and feudal society, social status is mainly determined by heredity, inheritance and hierarchical arrangement. In modern society, individual's social status depends more on socialization, occupation and individual's contribution to society, but family and social system factors still have an important influence on individual's social status.
On the one hand, discussing social strata in consumption behavior is to understand the uniqueness of consumers of different strata in terms of purchase, consumption, communication and personal preferences, on the other hand, it is to understand which behaviors are basically excluded from the behavior field of specific strata and which behaviors are common to all members of social strata.
2) the characteristics of social class
(1) Social stratum shows a certain social status.
As mentioned above, a person's social class is related to his specific social status. People with higher social classes are bound to have more social resources and higher social status in social life. They usually show differences from other members of society in various ways. The conspicuous consumption explained by sociologist Van Buren actually reflects people's needs and motives to show their higher social status.
Because many factors that determine social status, such as income and wealth, are not necessarily visible, people need to make these invisible components tangible through certain symbols. Van Buren believes that every social class will have some people who try to tell others who they are and what social level they are in through conspicuous consumption. It is found that even today, the sense of status contained and transmitted by material products is still very common in many cultures.
Traditionally, people show their wealth and status by buying luxury goods such as jewelry, brand-name clothing and high-end electrical appliances or engaging in activities such as golf and skiing. Today, this means or symbol of showing status is still used by many people. However, it should be noted that with the changes of society and mainstream values, their expressions and functions are also changing. For example, with the improvement of income level, many products and services that only the upper class can afford in the past have entered or are beginning to enter the field of mass consumption, and the foundation of these products as "status symbols" has begun to shake. On the other hand, more and more upper-class consumers are tired of showing their wealth and status through consumption. A study found that although marketers of luxury goods try to create the impression that only millionaires will buy these products, it is often those "fake millionaires", that is, families with annual income between 40 thousand and 80 thousand dollars. Real rich people have the consumption habits of "ordinary people", and they regard most luxury goods as toys specially developed for those who are not particularly successful economically.
(2) the multidimensional nature of social strata
Social stratum is not determined by a single variable such as income or occupation, but by many factors including these variables. As will be seen later, the factors determining social class are not only economic factors, but also political and social factors. Among many decisive factors, some factors play a greater role than others. Income is usually regarded as an important variable to determine which social class a person is in, but in many cases, it may be misleading. For example, at the present stage in China, the income of taxi drivers and suburban vegetable farmers is higher than that of ordinary university teachers and engineers, but from the social status and social level, the latter is obviously higher than the former. In addition to income, occupation and place of residence are also important variables that determine social class. Some people even think that occupation is the most important indicator of a person's social class, because people who engage in certain occupations are more respected by society.
(3) the hierarchy of social classes
From the lowest position to the highest position, society forms a status continuum. Whether you like it or not, every member of society is actually somewhere in this continuum. People with higher status are classified into higher grades, on the contrary, they are classified into lower grades, thus forming an orderly social grade. This hierarchy of social classes is more obvious in a closed society.
The hierarchical system enables consumers to regard others as people at the same level or one level higher or lower than themselves in social communication. This is very important for marketers. If a consumer thinks that a product is mainly consumed by people at the same level or higher, his possibility of buying the product will increase. On the contrary, if a consumer thinks that the product is mainly consumed by people at a lower level, his possibility of choosing the product will be reduced.
(4) Social class's restrictions on behavior
Most people will feel comfortable when interacting with people with similar levels and levels, but they will feel stiff or even uneasy when interacting with people with different levels. In this way, social interaction occurs more within the same social class than between different classes. More interaction between members of the same class will strengthen some norms and values, thus enhancing the mutual influence among members of the class. On the other hand, the decrease of interaction between different classes will limit the flow of products, advertisements and other marketing information between people of different classes, making their behaviors more different.
(5) Homogeneity of social classes
Homogeneity of social classes means that members of the same class have * * * similarity and similarity in values and behavior patterns. This homogeneity is largely determined by their social and economic status, and also related to their more frequent interaction. For marketers, homogeneity means that consumers of the same social class will subscribe to the same or similar newspapers, watch similar TV programs, buy similar products and shop in similar stores, which provides the basis and foundation for enterprises to segment the market according to social class.
(6) the dynamics of social strata
The dynamic nature of social stratum means that the social stratum of the same person will change with the passage of time. This change can be carried out in two directions: from the original class to a higher class, or from the original class to a lower class. The more open the society is, the more obvious the dynamic performance of social strata is; The more closed the society is, the less opportunities there are for social members to enter from one class to another. The mobility of social members between different classes is mainly facilitated by two aspects. One is personal reasons, for example, individuals gain social recognition and respect through diligent study and hard work, thus gaining more social resources and achieving progress from a lower social stratum to a higher social stratum. The second is the change of social conditions. For example, during the Cultural Revolution in China, intellectuals were dismissed as "smelly Laojiu" and their social status was very low. However, since the reform and opening up, with the society's emphasis on knowledge, their status has been continuously improved. As a group, they have jumped from a lower social class to a higher social class.
3) Determinants of social class
Jilbert and Kahl divide the factors that determine social class into three categories: economic variables, social interaction variables and political variables. Economic variables include occupation, income and wealth; Social interaction variables include personal prestige, social connection and socialization; Political variables include power, class consciousness and mobility. The following mainly introduces several factors that are particularly related to consumer behavior research.
(1) occupation
In most consumer studies, occupation is considered to be the most important single indicator of a person's social class. When we meet a person for the first time, most of us will ask him where he works and what he does. A person's work will greatly affect his lifestyle and give him corresponding prestige and honor, so occupation provides many clues to his social class. The consumption of different occupations varies greatly. For example, blue-collar workers spend a large part of their income on food, while managers, doctors, lawyers and other professionals spend a large part of their income on eating out, buying clothes and receiving various services. In most countries, doctors, entrepreneurs, bankers and scientists are highly respected professions. In recent years, with the rapid development of information industry, computer engineers, computer programmers, logistics management managers and other occupations related to information technology are increasingly favored by society.
(2) Personal performance
A person's social status is closely related to his personal achievements. As a university professor, if you do better than others, you will get more honor and respect. At ordinary times, we say that "Professor XXX is doing a very important research" and "XXX is the best neurologist in this hospital", which are all evaluations of personal performance. Although income is not a good indicator of social class, it is very useful in measuring personal performance. Generally speaking, in the same occupation, the top 25% of the income may be the most respected and capable people in this field.
Personal performance or performance also involves non-work activities. Perhaps a person's professional status is not high, but he or his family can still win the respect of society by being enthusiastic about community affairs, caring for others, and being honest and kind, thus gaining a higher social status.
(3) Social interaction
As pointed out earlier, most people are used to interacting with people with similar values and behaviors. In sociology, analytical thinking that emphasizes social interaction is called "who invites who to eat" school. Scholars of this school believe that group qualification and the interaction of group members are the basic forces that determine a person's social class.
Social interaction variables include prestige, communication and socialization. Prestige indicates whether other members of the group respect someone and to what extent. Contact includes the daily communication between an individual and other members, who he is with and who he gets along well with. Socialization is a process in which individuals acquire skills, attitudes and habits. Family, school and friends have a decisive influence on the socialization of individuals. By adolescence, a person's values and behaviors related to social class are clearly visible. Although social interaction is a very effective variable to determine a person's social class, it is rarely used in consumer research because it is difficult and expensive to measure this variable.
(4) Property owned
Property is a social symbol, which conveys information about the social class of its owner. The amount and nature of property also reflect a person's social status. Property should be understood in a broad sense, which not only refers to the property we usually understand, such as cars, land, stocks, bank deposits, but also includes what kind of education, where to receive education, where to live and other "soft" property. Famous university diplomas, famous cars, luxury houses and fashionable clothes are undoubtedly symbols of identity and status. However, as pointed out earlier, people who are particularly interested in them are those who lack these attributes or know little about them. Business students or other people who want to be "management experts", rather than those who have already succeeded, are potential buyers of books such as The Secret of Success and What Harvard can't learn.
(5) Value orientation
An individual's values or beliefs about how to treat others are another important indicator of which social class he belongs to. As members of the same class communicate more frequently, they will form similar and * * * the same values. Once these * * * same or class values are formed, they will in turn become the standard to measure whether an individual belongs to this class. People of different social classes have different views on art, different understandings of abstract things, and different views on money and life, which actually reflects the differences in value orientation.
(6) Class consciousness
Class consciousness refers to the degree to which people in a certain social class realize that they belong to a unique group and have the same political and economic interests. The more class or group consciousness people have, the more likely they are to organize political groups and trade unions to promote and safeguard their interests. In a sense, a person's social class is determined by the degree to which he thinks he belongs to this class.
Generally speaking, individuals in the lower classes are aware of the reality of social classes, but they are not very sensitive to specific class differences. For example, a low-income tourist may realize that a star-rated hotel is a place where members of the upper class go in and out, but if he or she unexpectedly stays in such a hotel because of a 50% discount, he or she may not pay special attention to the differences in dress and behavior between the people who go in and out. In their eyes, star-rated hotels are just "hotels" with better facilities and services and higher fees, and the connection between status and class is fragile, if any. On the contrary, tourists who frequent high-end hotels may have a lot of complaints about the "all-comers" policy of star-rated hotels because of their strong identity and class consciousness.
2. Behavioral differences of consumers in different social classes.
Differences in expenditure patterns
Consumers of different social classes choose and use different products. Some products, such as stocks and holidays abroad, are more bought by upper-class consumers, while others, such as cheap clothes and wine, are more bought by lower-class consumers. Coleman found that the particularly wealthy American middle class spent most of their expenses on motorboats, camping equipment, high-powered lawn mowers, sledges, backyard swimming pools, lakeside cabins, luxury cars or sports cars; American upper class with similar income levels spend more time and money on private clubs, children's unique education, antiques, calligraphy and painting, and various cultural events and activities.
When buying products that can show status and identity, such as housing, clothing and furniture, there are obvious differences among consumers of different classes. For example, in the United States, the residential areas of upper-class consumers have elegant environment and luxurious interior decoration, and the furniture and clothing they buy are of high grade and taste. Middle-level consumers generally have a lot of deposits, and their houses are quite good, but a large part of them are not particularly particular about interior decoration, and there are many clothes and furniture, but not many high-end ones. The surrounding environment of the lower-class consumers' houses is poor, and they spend less on clothes and furniture. Contrary to people's expectations, some of the lower-class consumers are still quite attractive to enterprises that produce food, daily necessities and some durable goods. It is found that many families in this class are buyers of large-screen color TVs, new cars and high-end cookers. Although the income of this class is about one-third lower than that of the middle and lower classes (working class), the value of their cars, color TVs and basic household appliances is 20% higher than the latter on average. The expenditure behavior of lower-class consumers has the nature of "compensation" in a sense. On the one hand, due to lack of self-confidence and optimism about the future, they attach great importance to immediate consumption; On the other hand, their low education level makes them easy to buy on impulse.
2) Differences in leisure activities
Social stratum influences individual leisure activities in many ways. A person's favorite leisure activities are usually those of other individuals in the same class or adjacent class, and his adoption of new leisure activities is often influenced by members of the same class or higher class. Although the proportion of leisure expenditure to total household expenditure is almost the same in different classes, the types of leisure activities are quite different. Polo, squash and opera appreciation are activities of the upper class; Bridge, tennis and badminton are quite popular among members of the upper middle class; Playing slot machines, boxing and professional wrestling are activities of the lower class.
Generally speaking, members of the upper class seldom engage in physical activities in their occupations. As compensation, they often engage in sports that require quick hand and foot movements, such as jogging, swimming and playing tennis. At the same time, this kind of activity takes less time than those enjoyed by members of the lower class, such as fishing, hunting and boating, so it is welcomed by the upper class. Members of the lower class tend to engage in group or team sports activities, while members of the upper class prefer individual or bisexual activities. Middle-level consumers are the main users of public swimming pools, parks, museums and other commercial leisure and public facilities, because upper-level consumers generally own such facilities themselves, while lower-level consumers have no interest or economic ability to engage in such consumption.
3) Differences in information receiving and processing
The type and quantity of information collection also vary with different social classes. Consumers at the bottom usually have limited information sources and lack the ability to distinguish misleading and deceptive information. For the purpose of compensation, they may rely more on the information provided by relatives and friends in the purchase decision-making process. Middle-level consumers get more information from the media, and they will actively collect external information. With the rise of social class, consumers will have more and more channels to obtain information. Moreover, the attraction and influence of specific media and information on different classes of consumers are also very different. For example, higher-level consumers spend less time watching TV, so the influence of TV media on them is relatively small. On the contrary, high-level consumers subscribe to more newspapers and magazines than low-level consumers, so print media information can reach high-level consumers more easily.
The language used by consumers of different social classes also has its own characteristics. Ellis's series of experiments show that people can actually judge a person's social class according to his language to a great extent. Generally speaking, the more upper-class consumers, the more abstract the language used; The lower the consumption, the more specific the language used, and more accompanied by slang and street language. Many high-end car advertisements in the west are mainly oriented to the upper class, so the sentences used are slightly longer, the language is more abstract, and the pictures or materials are full of imagination. On the contrary, those car advertisements for the middle and lower classes are more about promoting their functional attributes, emphasizing the use of pictures rather than words, and the language is more popular and popular.
4) Differences in shopping patterns
People's shopping behavior will vary according to social class. Generally speaking, people will form the view that which stores are suitable for which classes of consumers, and tend to shop in stores that are in line with their social status. Research shows that the farther a consumer's social class is from his imagined social class of a typical customer in a store, the less likely he is to patronize the store. At the same time, higher-class consumers patronize fewer shops mainly patronized by lower-class consumers, while relatively speaking, lower-class consumers patronize more shops mainly patronized by higher-class consumers. Another study found that the "objective" cognition of "social class" can also lead to the difference of shop patronage. Consumers who objectively belong to the middle class and think they are upper class go shopping in specialty stores and department stores more than consumers who actually belong to the upper class but think they are middle class. Compared with consumers who have always been working-class, consumers who have fallen from a higher level to working-class will go shopping in department stores more. At the same time, middle-class consumers go to discount stores more frequently than upper-class consumers.
Upper-class consumers are more confident when shopping and like to shop alone. Although they have high requirements for service, they feel uncomfortable with the enthusiastic explanation and introduction of the sales staff. Usually, they especially like those shops with elegant shopping environment and excellent quality and service, and are willing to accept new shopping methods. Middle-level consumers are more cautious and have higher requirements for the shopping environment, but they often shop in discount stores. For many consumers in this class, shopping itself is a pastime. Because of limited resources, lower-class consumers are particularly sensitive to prices, mostly shopping in middle and low-end stores, and like to shop in groups.
3. Social stratum and marketing strategy
For some products, social class provides a suitable subdivision basis or basis. According to the specific steps of making marketing strategy of social stratum, the first step is to decide in what way the product and its consumption process of an enterprise are influenced by social status, and then to link the related status variables with product consumption. Therefore, in addition to using related variables to stratify society, it is also necessary to collect consumer data on product use, purchase motivation, social significance of products and so on. The second step is to determine which social classes of consumers should be the target market. This should not only consider the attractiveness of different social classes as markets, but also consider the advantages and characteristics of enterprises themselves. The third step is to position the product according to the needs and characteristics of the target consumers. Finally, make the marketing mix strategy to achieve the positioning goal.
Consumers of different social classes have obvious differences in occupation, income and education level, so even if they buy the same product, their tastes, preferences and motives will be different. Just like buying jeans, working-class consumers may pay more attention to its durability and economy, while upper-class consumers may pay more attention to its timeliness and self-expression. Therefore, it is well-founded and very useful to subdivide the market according to the social stratum and position the products on this basis. In fact, consumers will consciously or unconsciously classify the existing products and brands in the market as suitable or not suitable for people of any class. For example, in the American beer market, consumers think that Heineken and Michelob are more suitable for the upper class, while the old brands are more suitable for the middle and lower classes.
It should be emphasized that consumers of a certain social class will try to imitate or pursue a higher-level lifestyle. Therefore, it may be more appropriate to locate the brand of middle-class consumers according to the lifestyle of the upper-middle class. Anheuser-Busch Beer Company of the United States has launched three brands of beer according to social class, and each brand has adopted different positioning and marketing combination strategies for specific consumer classes. As a result, the products covered 80% of the American market and achieved great success.