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Social class: a multivariate analysis of its effect on expenditures for household services
Author(s) -
WAGNER JANET,
LUCEROCAMPINS LAURA
Publication year - 1988
Publication title -
journal of consumer studies and home economics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.775
H-Index - 71
eISSN - 1470-6431
pISSN - 0309-3891
DOI - 10.1111/j.1470-6431.1988.tb00492.x
Subject(s) - wife , proxy (statistics) , ordinary least squares , consumption (sociology) , multivariate statistics , consumer expenditure survey , social class , variables , multivariate analysis , economics , demographic economics , class (philosophy) , regression analysis , variable (mathematics) , logistic regression , econometrics , statistics , public economics , sociology , mathematics , social science , aggregate expenditure , market economy , mathematical analysis , artificial intelligence , political science , computer science , law
Multivariate statistical techniques were used to explore two major conceptual issues in consumer behaviour research involving social class: (1) the importance of income, as compared to social class, in determining household behaviour, and (2) the effect of the status of wives on the behaviour of their households. A subsample of expenditure data, collected from 5,994 husband‐wife families, as part of the 1973 Consumer Expenditure Survey, was used in the analysis. The dependent variable was expenditures for household services. The independent variables included total consumption expenditures (a proxy for income), the status of the wife, the status of the husband, family type, location, and characteristics of the dwelling. The results of an Ordinary Least Squares regression procedure demonstrated that total consumption expenditures were the most important variable in determining expenditures for household services. The size of the effect of the status of the wife was comparable to that of the status of the husband. In both cases, the effect was significant but small.