Review Studies: Lifestyle and Social Class in Consumer Behavior for Services Industries

I Gusti Bagus Rai Utama

Hospoyality Management of Dhyana Pura University, Bali, Indonesia

1. INTRODUCTION

Description of Lifestyle Concept

In every aspect of human life, lifestyle has a great effect on the impact of values in social interaction, economic condition, and environmental factors. The activities, hobbies, and opinions reflected the pattern or style of a person living. Lifestyle is playing an increasingly important part in consumer behaviors (Crompton, 2004). Lifestyle is a pattern live expressed by someone through activity, interest, and opinion. How the people do self-actualize, fulfilled, experiences, believers, and strugglers?  Also, lifestyle can determine how people buy products that have a brand or no brand (Kotler, 2000).

Lifestyle Concept from Weberian

According to Weber (Veal, 2001) that divisions in society arise not only from class, which is based on economic relationships; but also from status, which is based on honor. A status group is distinguished by the honor accorded to it by the rest of society, but also by its particular style of life.  

The style of life adopted by a status group serves to mark the boundaries of the group and to reinforce the honor system which underpins the group’s status.   

*Corresponding Author: I Gusti Bagus Rai Utama

*Cite this Article: I Gusti Bagus Rai Utama (2021). Review Studies: Lifestyle and Social Class in Consumer Behavior for Services Industries. International Journal of Social Science and Education Research Studies, 1(1), 19-24

For example, lifestyle is based on membership of religion, moral values, style of dress, sexual behavior, and the drinking or non-drinking of alcohol. Weberian defined lifestyle is the way people live their life, usually based upon membership of a status group.

Lifestyle Concept from sub-cultural studies

According to Veal (2001), that lifestyle base on sub-cultural is contrasted with most lifestyle studies which tend to be concerned with variations in the way of life of majority groups. These are concentrated on marginal, exceptional, disadvantaged, or deviant groups in society. For example, surfers, particular youth groups, ethnic minorities, a   group within a society, especially one seen as an underclass, whose members share the same, often unconventional, beliefs, lifestyle, tastes, activities, etc.

Lifestyle Concept from Psychological studies

According to Adler, the lifestyle of an individual can be based on their past experiences,

He argued that each individual develops a view of the world in the first four or five years of life. His argued most popular with particularly in the context of coherence. Also, it is popular with lifestyle is based on cognitive and behavioral.  Business relates, for example; Counsellors services, Mental therapy services.

Lifestyle Concept from Psychographics/market research

Lifestyle based on segment people of the basis of values, either instead of or in accumulation to socioeconomic and demographic variables.  They were grouped based on their responses, using such statistical procedures as factor analysis.  The groups were examined in terms of their characteristic behavior patterns, particularly consumption behavior. Many marketers have come to rely heavily on lifestyle information as an important component to predicting and building brand loyalty.

Spatial/geodemographic

Lifestyle base on where people live; that sub-urban or rural, these tend to reflect the housing, socio-economic and demographic that it is also believed that residents of the various area types will have characteristic leisure and consumption patterns.

Leisure styles

Leisure styles are based on the idea that Individuals are developed by broader systems of leisure behavior consisting of several interdependent elements (Roberts, 1978). Leisure lifestyle started from element-time efficiency in a society of developed countries, conditions improved and working hours were reduced, so that more flexibility. The leisure time used to relax and became leisure behavior.

From some of the definitions above and use induction method can be made a synthesis base on some empirical or minor premises become into the major premise.   The conclusion is lifestyle is the pattern of individual and social behavior characteristic of an individual can be grouped into a way of a living group of people based on how the people do activities, how their attitudes to get values (psychographics), how they become as unique individual and as a group, how their reflect their experiences (psychological), how they interact in their group, where they are living (spatial), how they used their freedom to choice of a way of living (leisure concept).

The implication of lifestyle in goods and services industries can be described as that lifestyle has correlations with consumer behavior. Lifestyle relates to their customer’s needs, so goods and services industries can make product innovation, positioning, segmentation, differentiation base on their consumer behavior. Behavior including activities implicated in relationships with partners, family, relatives, friends, neighbors, and colleagues, consumption behavior, leisure, work, and civic and religious activity.

Figure 1. Consumer behavior and lifestyle

Examples:

Vegetarian lifestyle relates with consumer behavior to consume vegetarian foods.

People from vegetarianism believe if they do not eat meat, they trust without eating flesh they will live healthily. They have consequences, they are running a lifestyle vegetarian, and so they will bring the behavior of consumer not to eat flesh.

Moslems lifestyle relates with consumer behavior to consume “Halal” foods.

The majority of the population in Indonesia has an Islam Religion, all of the goods and services that they consume do no relate to the pig. They trust it, if goods were labeled by “brand of Halal”, surely to they consume. This is their lifestyle at the same time also effects on their consumption behavior, all no pig or halal.

Western lifestyle relates with consumer behavior to do leisure activities.

Information and technology have affected working hours more efficiency but the prosperity of life more than people’s working in developing countries.  Leisure lifestyle which characteristic do activity of leisure, like having recreation, adventure, cruises, etc. in this case, their lifestyle influenced their consumer behavior.

2. DESCRIPTION OF SOCIAL CLASS

The most basic class distinction between the two groups is between the powerful and the powerless. Social classes with more power usually subordinate classes with less power, while attempting to cement their power positions in society. In the simplest societies, power is closely linked to the ability to assert one’s status through physical strength, thus age, gender, and physical health are often common delineators of class in rudimentary tribes.  Also, because different livelihoods are so closely intertwined in simple societies, morality often ensures that the old, the young, the weak, and the sick maintain a good standard of living despite low-class status. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_class).

According to Webber social stratification is based on economic relationship to the market (life chances), which status should be a noneconomic quality (such as education, honor, and prestige), and the party would respond with a political domain. He identified the social class as followed: 1) the working class as a whole, 2) The petty bourgeoisie, 3) Technicians, Specialists and lower-level management, and 4) the classes privileged through property and education (Crompton, 2004).

Formerly (before the Dutch colonial era) in Bali, culture has affected social stratification. The culture means the caste system in Hindu Bali shows a clear stratification in Hindu Balinese social class. The stratification is Brahmana, Kshatriya, Wesya, and Sudra. Where, Brahmana has a responsibility as a chief priest in Hindu Ceremonial, placed in the highest class of social stratification, they are Hindu Pastors. Katrina has a responsibility to protect their country, they are working for soldiers.   West, they are working in the economic sector.    And the last one is Sudra as the lowest class has a responsibility to work in the agricultural sector.

This case still exists (until now), in daily life each caste did their responsibility. To communicate with each other in different caste, they are using a special language that is very polite to honor the higher caste. In the temples, when the religious ceremony was conducted, each caste has their place, to characteristic each other. A person can move to another caste, which is very difficult and rare. When a woman from lower caste gets married to a man in a higher caste, she need to follow many procession ceremonies to bring the woman on her new caste, with a new stage of life. This process would be much easier rather than a woman from the high class gets married to a man in the lower class.

Also still exist, to know the people whose from Brahmana, Kshatriya, Wesya, and Sudra can be seen from their name. For examples:

• Ida Bagus (man), and Ida Ayu (women). They are from Brahmana Caste
• Cokorde (man) and Cok Istri (women), and I Gusti (man) and I Gusti Ayu (women).

They are from Ksatrya Caste. And others class usually their name is like Wayan and Putu (first children), Made and Kadek (second children), Nyoman and Komang (third children), and Ketut (fourth Children)

Now, as societies expand and become more complex, economic power will often replace physical power as the defender of the class status quo, so that the following will establish one’s class much more so than physical power: occupation, education, and qualifications, income, wealth or net worth, ownership of land, property, means of production, slaves were dominantly in the context of social class studies (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_class).

Bourdieu (1986) defined a social class concerning four factors, economic, cultural, social, and symbolic. As a consequence of these factors, people in the same class develop similar habits.   The social class earns indication of work variables, earnings, education, and value orientation. Someone owning high earnings will push its behavior to be more chosen supermarket than the traditional market which usually adjudged as a place go shopping them of the circle of earning low. Though in this case there is a social class which evaluated from earnings pertained to lower, they also will be more like to chosen supermarket, this is a matter more because of that this is a group more influenced by motivation of self-actualize psychological factor to choosing a product (Kotler, 2000). William Llyod Warner divided Americans into six social classes based on more attitudes than on actual money received by a person. He divided the social class as follows: (1) Upper – upper class; “Old money”, people who have been born into and raised with wealth. (2) Lower – upper class; “New money”, individuals who have become rich within their lifetime. (3) Upper – middle class; High salaried professional (i. e. doctor, lawyer, corporate executives). (4) Lower–middle class; Lower paid professional, but not manual laborers (Police officers, non – management office workers, small business owners). (5) Upper – lower class; “working class”, blue collars and manual laborers. (6) Lower – lower class; “working poor”, the homeless and permanently unemployed (http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_class).

3. REVIEW STUDIES

From some of the definitions above and use deduction method can be made a synthesis base on major premise become into minor premises.   The conclusion is Social classes are the concept of people’s power in their society. Power base on occupation, education, and qualifications, income, wealth or net worth, ownership of land, property, means of production, etc. including economic, political, cultural perspectives.

Figure 2. Consumer behavior and social classes

Examples:

• Social Class based on income with consumer behavior. People have high income; they have the power to buy high-quality goods or services so that they usually have the behavior to consume goods or services at high quality and high prices.

• Social Class based on work variables, and value orientation with consumer behavior. They have behavior to be more chose supermarket than a traditional market that they assume that supermarket provides more goods quality because they have the power to do that.

• Social Class base on gender; the woman usually has the behavior to consume beauty products regularly. They have the power of value to buy and consume beauty products.

The Relationship between Social Class and Lifestyle

When people want to become a high-class community, they must use branded name products and goes to an expensive club to do interaction or relationships with people in the same class. Besides that, the people around them will put morally respect because of their behavior. This reflected that lifestyle and social class cannot be separate, because people, whenever and wherever they are consistent, have a lifestyle in correlation with the social class.

Figure 3. Social classes and lifestyle relations

Relations between Lifestyle and Social class: Lifestyle is the pattern of individual and social behavior characteristic of an individual as a way of living, they’re a way of living can be powered by occupation, education, and qualifications, income, wealth or net worth, ownership of land, property, means of production, etc including economical, politic, cultural perspective. These powers become social classes. Consumer behavior comes from their power as a group of social class; they do according to their lifestyle.

The Impact of Lifestyle and Social Class in Consumer Behavior

The study of consumer behavior is seen as one of the most important areas because the understanding of the psychological and sociological aspects of consumers’ search and choice processes is vital to an in-depth appreciation to do promotion management, marketing research, strategic marketing, and others (http://www.usq.edu.au).  Definition of consumer behavior is “The study of individuals, groups, or organizations and the processes they use to select, secure, use, and dispose of products, services, experiences, or ideas to satisfy needs and the impacts that these processes have on the consumer and society. The behavior occurs either for the individual or in the context of a group; e.g. friends influence what kinds of clothes a person wears or an organization (people on the job make decisions as to which products the firm should use).  Consumer behavior involves the use and disposal of products as well as the study of how they are purchased. Product use is often of great interest to the marketer, because this may influence how a product is best positioned or how we can encourage increased consumption. Since many environmental problems result from product disposal (e.g., motor oil being sent into sewage systems to save the recycling fee, or garbage piling up at landfills) this is also an area of interest. Consumer behavior involves services and ideas as well as tangible products.  The impact of consumer behavior on society is also of relevance. For example, aggressive marketing of high-fat foods, or aggressive marketing of easy credit, may have serious repercussions for the national health and economy (http://www.consumerpsychologist.com/)

The behavior of a person that is known as lifestyle reflected the social class they were or they want to be. Some factors included in lifestyle are consumption, entertainment, social relation, and clothes. The theory about consumption as a prestige; pioneered by Thorsten in Veblen (1857-1929).  The theory proposed that honor is acquired through material accumulation and consumption is the source of much of our present-day understanding of prestige behavior (Rossides, 1997).  Veblen (Rossides, 1997), focused on the behavior of people that accumulated properties more than they can use, thus gave them prestige and morally admirable than their neighbor.  According to Kotler (2000), three special components can be influenced consumer behavior; the stimulation component, buyer component, and component decision of the buyer.  In the buyer component, there are buyer characteristics that can influence the behavior of the buyer in deciding on purchasing. Cultural factors, social, personal, and psychology will claim someone to identify the problem, searching information, evaluating some alternative to make decision purchasing among various product alternative which on the market.

4. CONCLUSION

Lifestyle studies share all about how the people do activities, how their attitudes to get values, how they become as a unique individual and as a group, how they reflect experiences, how they interact in their group, where they are living, how they used their freedom to choose. These characteristics can influence consumer behavior.

The power of consumer behavior can be explained by social class studies, these powers can become from occupation, education and qualifications, income, wealth or net worth, ownership of land, property, and means of production, economical factor, political factor, and cultural factor.

The conclusion is a lifestyle and social class can influence consumer behavior. It is an important case for marketers because they can begin a marketing plan, who as a consumer, where they are when they need the product.  Market segmentation can be played by characteristics of consumers’ behavior base on lifestyle and social class.

REFERENCE

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Biographical note: Dr. I Gusti Bagus Rai Utama is Assistant Professor in Tourism at Dhyana Pura University, Bali, Indonesia. He completed his Doctorate Degree in Tourism Studies and Master’s degree of Agribusiness (M.MA) from Udayana University, and Master of Arts in Leisure and Tourism Studies (M.A) from CHN Professional University, Leeuwarden, Netherlands (now NHL Stenden). His research focuses on Economic Tourism, Agritourism, Destination Management, and Senior Tourism.