Consumption takes place in settings or environments which have both direct and indirect effects on its dynamic path. Direct effects of environments on activities in consuming can occur through constraints that environments impose. Environment can also have indirect effects on consumption through enduring modification of internalized constructs which enter heuristics for decisions on activities. The importance of environments to consumption is increased by the definitional dependence of status on the judgements of others. This study examines microprocessing in consumer activities for status as it interacts with structure in the environments of these activities. The importance of environments in status activities provides the basis for a seperate, but related inquiry into observed differences in the form they take across societies. Conjecture on the consequences of differences in the structure of environments for consumption that typify a society is studied in the narrative statements by members of comparison societies and in the content of print advertising in these societies. Evolutionary processes which could establish observed differences in structure across societies are also considered in both their systematic and random components. I review models of random drift and stochastic resonance as candidate forms for generating observed structure in environments. Directions for the subsequent study of status through consumption are discussed.P Introduction: Status Through Consumption; Knowledge Use in Nonwork Activities for Status; Interactions of Consumer Microprocessing and Structured Environments: Activity Feedback and the Stability of Structure; Awards and Honors Systems in Structured Environments: Cross Societal Comparisons of Narrative Statements on Consuming for Status; Comparative Analyses of Consumption Appeals in the Print Advertising of the USA and France, 1955-1991 Random Process in the Generation of Structured Environments; Overview and directions for Study of Status Through Consumption.

Master's Thesis from the year 2011 in the subject Business economics - Offline Marketing and Online Marketing, grade: 1,0, ESCP Europe Business School - Campus London (Institut für Marketing), course: Konsumentenverhalten, language: English, abstract: PURPOSE: The various efforts of individuals to raise their status as recognised by others have previously been understood as measures independent from one another. This thesis critically questions this rigid perspective and points out reasons that would lead one to conclude interdependencies between the individual measures. The thesis points out that individuals use the interdependent measures in a strategic way depending on their economic (e.g. income, property) and social (e.g. education, upbringing) circumstances and combine them with one another according to certain criteria in order to raise their relative status advantage vis-à-vis others. FINDINGS: The results of the study show that individuals use various combinations of strategies to raise their status depending on their economic and social circumstances. The results were applied to the model of Pierre Bourdieu (1984) with a differentiation between economic and cultural capital. The differentiation between directly existing and externally signalled economic and cultural capital at times showed significant differences. The individuals, depending on the reference group, their existing status norms as well as their demographic circumstances, signalise the strategy used to a varying degree. The predominant norms in the various reference groups prompt individuals to signalise strategies to promote their status externally to a varying degree. Since status is a relative construct, individuals can only raise their status through strategies that they also signalise externally. Based on these findings, various clusters were defined that individuals, depending on their directly existing capital in the sense of Bourdieu, allocate to the specific situation. With the inte

These two volumes, bound together, represent the papers, comments, and rejoinders presented at the Conference on Consumption and Saving held 30-31 March 1959 at the Wharton School of Finance and Commerce at the University of Pennsylvania. The first volume is devoted to an analysis of consumption behavior with a primary focus of attention on the determinants of the major categories of consumption. The second volume is devoted to an analysis of saving behavior.

"A critical introduction to the field that manages to be both considered and argumentative, and stands out distinctly from the more 'culturalist' alternatives available . . . it should provide a strong text for undergraduate courses." Don Slater, Goldsmiths College, University of London * How has consumer society developed? * What are the social divisions, politics and policies associated with consumption? * How do consumer practices have social significance? This lively and accessible text shows how consumption is increasingly important in dominating our individual lives and indeed the entire development and direction of contemporary society, nationally and internationally. Consumption is inherently contradictory in its nature and meaning. The most rapturous form of shopping, for example clothes purchasing on unlimited plastic in a shopping mall, may turn into the most tortuous as the shopper tires, the clothes don't fit, and the car park is cramped. Tim Edwards argues that the practice of consumption itself and consumer society more widely is often socially divisive and iniquitous, and examines the extent to which consumer power is real or illusory. He provides a thorough analysis and critique of the theories, practices and politics of consumer society. In particular, this book addresses the social divisions of consumption through topics such as fashion, advertising and marketing, as well as more classical and contemporary theories of consumer society. It will appeal to a wide range of students in sociology, cultural studies, social policy and the politics of identity.