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WHEN DO SOCIAL NORMS REPLACE STATUS‐SEEKING CONSUMPTION? AN APPLICATION TO THE CONSUMPTION OF CLEANLINESS
Author(s) -
Woersdorfer Julia Sophie
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
metroeconomica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.256
H-Index - 29
eISSN - 1467-999X
pISSN - 0026-1386
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-999x.2009.04065.x
Subject(s) - consumption (sociology) , interdependence , norm (philosophy) , compliance (psychology) , economics , consumer behaviour , business , microeconomics , marketing , social psychology , sociology , psychology , political science , social science , law
Interdependencies in consumer behavior stem from either status‐seeking consumption or compliance with social norms. This paper analyzes how a consumption act changes from a means to signal the consumer's status to a means of norm compliance. It is shown that such a transformation can only be understood when consumer motivations other than social recognition are taken into account. We depict norm emergence as a learning process based on changing associations between a specific consumption act and widely shared, non‐subjectivist consumer needs. Our conjectures are illustrated by means of a case study: the emergence of the cleanliness norm in the 19th century.