Survey of Interpretations of Consumer Behavior by Social Scientists in the Postwar Period

This survey article attempts to integrate major theoretical and empirical developments in the social science disciplines pertinent to analysis of consumer behavior at both the micro and macro levels. Four themes are identified in such developments in the postwar periods: differentiation among people and products, recognition and analysis of the effects of interpersonal relationships, consideration of the dynamics of behavior of individuals and of large population groups, and appraisal of phases in processes and interrelationships among processes within dimensions of the structure of consumption. A multidisciplinary statement coordinates the various aspects of consumer behavior. The article concludes with a list of the criteria for conceptual frameworks needed for economic analysis of the relationships of behavioral and economic phenomena to the processes and structure of consumption.