TÜKETİCİ DAVRANIŞLARI

Social class consists of a group of individuals who occupy a similar position in the economic system of production. The occupation within the system is very important as it offers financial incentives and benefits.

Social class is continuous rather than concrete, with individuals able to move into a higher social class or drop into a lower class. People can move to an upper class by a higher-level of education or move to a lower social class as result of a job loss.

According to Veblen, conspicuous consumption covers socioeconomic behaviours of high-income people who spend their money on luxury goods and services to display their social power and prestige. Conspicuous consumption refers to people’s desire to show visible evidence of their ability to afford luxury goods.

Social group memberships are not permanent and social groups are dynamic in nature which can change form and expand activities in time. Since groups provide opportunities to individuals to learn and socialise, people typically belong to many different social groups for many different reasons. For example, one could be a member of a sports team, camping group, college class, workplace, and more.

Being a part of a group (or groups) is important to people’s identities as it helps them define who they are as well as boosting their self-esteem and general well-being as mentioned above. According to the Social Identity Theory, an individual’s self-concept is defined by belonging to certain social groups (Tajfel & Turner, 1979). Social identity is described as a part of the individual’s self-concept which derives from their knowledge of their membership of a social group or groups together with the value and emotional significance of that membership.

In any social group, various types of power to influence each other can be exerted by team members. Moreover, these different types of power are not mutually exclusive, and they are often used collectively.

Social power is the potential to change the attitudes, beliefs, and behaviours of others in groups. Besides the social power of group members, the social group also has collective power. Social power is investigated by French and Raven (1959), and later Raven (1974) and categorized in five different types. In any social group, various types of power to influence each other can be exerted by team members. Moreover, these different types of power are not mutually exclusive, and they are often used collectively.

Legitimate Power is based on the recognition and acceptance of another person’s authority. Authority is often identified with uniform wearers, soldiers, police officers, doctors. For many years, toothpaste companies showed dentists’ wearing white coats, to utilize the legitimate power of dentists for influencing consumer purchase decisions.

Reference groups and their influences change for different consumption activities and product categories. For low involvement products or for products that are consumed privately, the influence of reference groups is less than it is for high involvement or specialty products. There are several categorizations for reference groups

social group

We-feeling

expert power

aspirational groups

The social class system is changing globally.

working class

coercive power

1. larger, 2. impersonal 3. less frequently

between 9-15 people

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