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Subcultures. Social Class. What is a social class?. The division of members of a society into a hierarchy of distinct status classes so that members of each class have relatively the same status and members of all other classes have either more or less status. A demographic variable.
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Subcultures Social Class
What is a social class? • The division of members of a society into a hierarchy of distinct status classes so that members of each class have relatively the same status and members of all other classes have either more or less status. • A demographic variable.
Consumers use social class as a frame of reference (reference group) to compare their values, attitudes, and beliefs to. • Marketers use social class to predict consumption behavior and as a segmentation base. • Income • Occupation • Education
Patterns of Social Stratification Egalitarian class system Class levels 100%
Privilege class system Class levels
U.S. class system Class levels
How many social classes are there in the U.S.? • Can be broken down into several different categories, but always some variation of lower, middle, and upper classes • Social class mobility
Measuring Social Class • Subjective measure • Consumer’s self-perception • Tends to underestimate lower and higher classes • Reputational measure • Informed community members • Objective measures • Selected demographic and socioeconomic variables
Objective Measures • Single-variable indexes • Occupation • Widely accepted • Education • Associated with both occupation and income • Income • Amount of income, source of income • Possessions • Sociologists
Objective measures, continued • Composite-variable indexes • Combine variables to determine an overall socioeconomic score • Better indicators of social class than a single variable
Using Social Class • Ultimately, marketers use social class to understand lifestyle and consumption patterns • Profiles of social class
Geodemographic Clustering • PRIZM • 40 clusters of zipcodes • Socioeconomic and demographic variables combined with survey and panel data on actual consumer behavior • Locates clusters of similar consumers
Targeting Social Classes • What social class should be targeted? • Size of segment • Disposable income • Specialized products • Unmet needs • Lower classes • Affluent consumers