Social Class

Definition of social class in my words:

Social class is the way in which groups are divided within a society. The different groups have common features with one another including economic background, and characteristics. An individual’s level in social class is mainly reflected on by their income, wealth, rank of education, power and status.

Definition from other resources:

“All societies can be roughly divided into the haves and the have-nots. A consumers standing in society is determined by a complex set of variables, including income, family background and occupation.” (Solomon et al, pg 460 Consumer behaviour)

The class system within Great Britain:

Class 1. Higher managerial and professional occupations.

1.1 Large employers and high managerial occupations

1.2 Higher professional occupations

Class 2. Lower managerial and professional occupations.

Class 3. Intermediate occupations.

Class 4. Small employers and own account workers.

Class 5. Lower supervisory and technical occupations.

Class 6. Semi-routine occupations.

Class 7. Routine occupations.

Class 8. Never worked and long term unemployed.

http://www.ucel.ac.uk/shield/docs/notes_class.pdf  (Accessed:  4/4/2011)

Different societies:

Depending on where we live in the world, social class can be looked at in different ways. Within Iran there is the Qajar class system. Iranians have a very strict cast system and believe their society is split into different tiers. Religion also plays a key part in their social class, this is one key factor which is different to western societies.

The different levels of class in Iran are:

1. the permanent hereditary class of Qajar princes
2. an upper class of "nobles and notables"
3. religious leaders and students of theology
4. merchants (note the difference from east Asian models)
5. agricultural landowners
6. master artisans and shopkeepers

http://countrystudies.us/iran/46.htm (Accessed: 11/04/2011)

Income and social class have a great affect on consumer behaviour. Depending on peoples social class people use different status symbols in order to position themselves within society. Most people within the UK are employed and therefore this is a key factor in measuring a persons social class by basing it on the occupation.

Within the car industry there has been a decline in the amount of people who buy a car, this is due to the rising costs of running and maintaining a car. This means those people who are higher up in social class are those who are most commonly purchasing cars now.

http://academic.mintel.com/sinatra/oxygen_academic/search_results/show&/display/id=480759/display/id=520506#hit1 (Accessed: 11/04/2011)

When it comes to marketing and advertising some companies tend to target their products/services to particular social groups.

Our society

Within the UK we live in a very class orientated society. We very much rely on our social class to determine our lifestyle.  This is anything from our occupation, the area in which we live and also where we study. The society is very materialistic and depending on what possessions we have, this is how we tend to categorise people within the social class system.

In a marketing perspective business must be very careful in the ways it advertises itself to different social classes. If they aim a product or service at the wrong audience it can change the way it is portrayed in the class system and alter the amount people would be willing to spend on it.

Reference:

1. http://www.ucel.ac.uk/shield/docs/notes_class.pdf   ( Accesses: 4/4/2011)
2. http://countrystudies.us/iran/46.htm  (Accessed: 11/04/2011)
3. http://academic.mintel.com/sinatra/oxygen_academic/search_results/show&/display/id=480759/display/id=520506#hit1 (Accessed: 11/04/2011)
4. Consumer behaviour: A European perspective: Fourth Edition:2010                        Michael R.Solomon, Gary Bamossy, Soren askegaard, Margaret K. Hogg