From Consumer Socialization to Status Consumption: A Cross Cultures Study among High School Students

Abstract

Consumer socialization (Ward 1974) or consumer development (McNeal 2007) is the area of marketing concerning “consumer orientation” of the individual, i.e., their growth in the areas of material and symbolic consumption, as opposed to physical and cognitive development in other areas. In fact, “functioning” in the “marketplace” is a sign of growth and maturity (Scott 1974 p.2). Any parental book, such as The Wonder Years (Altmann 2006), can give evidence on how children grow up through various areas of consumptions (diapers, toys, apparels, foods, etc.). For example, at one month of age, babies learn to look at themselves in mirrors on their car seats or in their cribs. Inevitably, when they grow older they start learning the symbolic meaning behind those products, such as parents’ love, which is accompanied by brands and price tags.