STATUS CONSUMPTION

Status Consumption



Status Consumption

Introduction

Because status consumption is hypothesised to be positively influenced by tendency to conform, it might be assumed that it would be natural to expect a negative correlation with consumer need for uniqueness. However, this is not necessarily the case. At a very basic level, need for uniqueness is a product of an unsatisfactory self-evaluation (Trentmann, 2007, 37). Fundamentally, an individual sees him or herself as too similar to other members of a reference group and is dissatisfied with this position on the continuum from dissimilarity and similarity (Greener, 2007, 69). Indeed, conformity is often rewarded with social approval and group acceptance; nevertheless, there can be a negative stigma associated with “following the crowd” (Gabriel, 2008, 18). Therefore, consumers with a high need for uniqueness want to distinguish themselves from other group members. In a similar way, status consumers desire to be elevated to a unique position vis-à-vis the group.

Discussion

The market influence factors of opinion leadership and opinion seeking exhibited great explanatory power with consumer values for brand and position, respectively. Status consumption was found to have a positive, direct influence on opinion leadership for fashion, supporting the hypothesis of status consumption (Dunleavy, 2008, 85). This finding supports the contention that the high visibility of prestige products often signals expertise (along with status, of course) of the status consumer, leading to their being seen as a source for information by their peers. Hypothesis 6b was also supported, as role-relaxed consumption was found to have a negative effect on opinion leadership for fashion. Because they do not concern themselves with group norms when choosing products to purchase, role-relaxed consumers are likely to deviate from the norm in many of their product choices. These deviations will likely inhibit others from seeking out the opinions of the role-relaxed consumer (Clarke, 2006, 30).

In this market-mediated form, consumption has been the object of various forms of governance. Minimally, it is thought to require the legal apparatus of private property so that things and money can be freely exchanged and to prevent theft and deception. More elaborately, such consumption may require forms of regulation by government or its agents: weights and measures standards, safety standards, forms of licensing of providers and venues, and varieties of taxation (Trentmann, 2007, 38). These regulatory processes reflect the problems of market failure and the accommodation of popular protest, as well as providing a funding stream for the development of modern forms of state. In matters of quality, reliability, and safety, market dynamics have proved less-than-satisfactory means of guaranteeing the consumer's needs. Adulterated foods, variable measures, and unsafe products (ranging from toys to financial advice) have created substantial demands for public intervention to regulate the free market. Advocates of the free market have, in turn, called for deregulation and the liberation of entrepreneurial dynamism from the shackles of state regulation (Greener, 2007, 70).

Group membership is both necessary and psychologically satisfying to human beings (Gabriel, 2008, 19). Group members seek similarity with other group members to be accepted in the ...