Uses of Sociology in Studying

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1 Uses of Sociology in Studying ''Consumption'^ Behavior CHARLES Y. GLOCK and FRANCESCO M. NICOSIA Although there has been a growth in the amount of social science dealing with consumers, for the most part sociologists have not been concerned with the study of the AGGREGATE behavior of consumers. Here is a discussion of some of the ways that sociological theories and methods may contribute toward the prediction and explanation of aggregate consumption behavior. Journal of Marketing, Vol. 28 (July, 1964). pp N STUDYING human behavior social scientists generally have I relied on two basic approaches. On the one hand, they have attempted to understand the behavior of single individuals ^micro behavior; and on the other hand, they have been concerned with the behavior of the mass or aggregate of individuals ^macro behavior. The first of these approaches may be called the study of consumer behavior, and the second one the study of consumption behavior.^ The study of consumer behavior always focuses on the decision processes of the individual consumer or consuming unit, such as the family. It includes all the efforts to describe and explain one or more acts of choice either at a given time or over a period of time. It concerns the consumer's investment of money and personal labor in goods, services, and leisure pursuits; or his decisions with respect to saving and assets; or his "purchase" of ideas. In contrast, the study of consumption behavior is concerned with the description and explanation of the behavior of aggregates of consumers or consuming units, again at a given time or over a period of time. The subject matter of consumption behavior parallels at the aggregate level that of consumer behavior at the individual level. Sociology and Consumption Behavior Although they may contribute to the study of both kinds of behavior, most sociologists have tended to give principal attention to consumer behavior. Accordingly, this article is concerned with some potential contributions of sociology to the study of consumption behavior. There are almost infinite kinds of consumption behavior. One could study, for instance, the sales of a product or brand, the popularity of a particular style of clothes, the ratio of saving to spending, investments in the stock market, the distribution of income, total consumption expenditures, and so on. Although such studies may be carried out statically for example, the ratio of For the uses of sociology in studying "consumer behavior," see Charles Y. Glock and Francesco M. Nicosia, "Sociology and the Study of Consumers," Journal of Advertising Research, Vol. 3 (September, 1963), pp For a general review of the literature on consumer behavior and decision processes, see Francesco M. Nicosia, Consumer Decision Processes (Englewood CliflFs, New Jersey; Prentice-Hall, Inc., forthcoming). Chapters 2, 3, and 4. 51

2 52 Journal of Marketing, July, 1964 spending to saving may be observed at one point in time and some attempt made to explain it for the most part they are done dynamically. That is, the interest centers on a shift in some aggregate behavior over time. Analysis of such macro-phenomena is usually made by economists. By and large, the procedure is as follows. To begin with, data are collected on the aggregate observed over time. The resultant time series is then analyzed statistically to establish the character of its oscillations long-term, cyclical, seasonal, weekly, random, or some combination of these. In such work economists most often draw upon statistical theory and method, rather than on the theory and method of economics. In other words, this initial procedure is essentially atheoretical from the viewpoint of the social sciences.^ There follows, then, a series of operations which either explicitly or implicitly is directed toward explaining the oscillations described in the time series. The essential technique is the comparison of the oscillations with those plotted from time series of other aggregate behaviors. Thus, the car manufacturer may compare time series of his own sales with similar data on the sales of other makes of cars, with sales for the entire automobile industry, with sales of related industries, with total consumer expenditures, with the gross national product, and other measures. Or he may "break down" his own data along with data from other car manufacturers (where available) to compare shifts in sales by different price lines, styles, colors, and other characteristics. The aim is to see how his own is related to other aggregate behaviors. This comparative time series analysis of different aggregate behaviors may or may not be directed by theoretical considerations. It is conceivable that an investigator searching for data that correlate positively may introduce comparative material almost at random. Usually, however, those time series to be compared are chosen on theoretical grounds drawn primarily, if not exclusively, from economic theory. Thus, he may introduce data on income, based on the hypothesis that his own sales are a function of fluctuations in total income. Or he may compare his own investments in advertising with those made by his competitors. Obviously different time series variables will be For an elementary description of a phenomenon over time, and a "statistical interpretation" of the resulting curve followed by a sociological interpretation, see: The Adoption of New Products: Process and Influence (Ann Arbor, Michigan: The Foundation for Research on Human Behavior, 1959), pp. 1-4; and Charles M. Crawford, Sales Forecasting: Methods of Selected Firms (Urbana, Illinois: Bureau of Economic and Business Research, University of Illinois, 1955). pertinent to different problems. For example, the economist who works for a financial institution and is interested in shifts in the ratio of saving to spending will draw upon different variables than the economist working for an automobile manufacturer. Nevertheless, the fundamental procedures in the two cases are essentially the same. At this point the analysis is refined to examine the relationship between variables with time, in effect, controlled. The goal is to discover whether a given relationship is the same or different within different time intervals. Thus, it becomes possible to say that aggregate purchases of a given product within a defined time interval vary in describable ways with level of income, or assets, or whatever other economic factor is introduced. The result of these procedures establishes the degree and character of the association between one or more independent variables and the dependent variable for example, the suggestion that expenditures rise with increasing income but do not decline with falling income.^ Carried to this point, economic analysis provides a basis for predicting aggregate behavior; but at best, it only partially explains it. The interpretations of the relationships among economic variables, if pursued, invariably require the introduction of sociological and psychological considerations. By and large, however, sociologists have not been concerned with the study of consumption behavior. The remainder of the present discussion is or- James Duesenberry, Income, Saving and the Theory of Consumer Behavior (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1949). ABOUT THE AUTHORS. Charles Y. Glock is Professor of Sociology and Director cf the Survey Research Center at the University of California at Berkeley. He was formerly Professor of Sociology and Director of tho Bureau of Applied Social Research at Columbia University. In he was a Fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the B«- havioral Sciences. Dr. Glocic has an M.B.A. from Boston University and a Ph.D. in Sociology from Columbia University. He is the author of many studies on research methods, mass communication, public opinion, and the sociology of religion. Francesco M. Nicosia is Assistant Professor at the School of Business Administration at the University of California at Berkeley, and Director of the Consumer Behavior Program. He received the degree of "Dottore in Economia e Commercio" from the University of Rome where he taught Marketing and Management, and a Ph.D. in Business Administration from the University of California. He has published in the fields of marketing and advertising. The present article is No. AI6 in the publication series of the Survey Research Center, University of California at Berkeley.

3 Uses of Sociology in Studying "Consumption" Behavior 53 ganized around three topics: interplay between social and economic theory, sources of data in macroanalysis, and study of the marketing processes. Interplay between Social and Economic Theory There have been some efforts toward a reunification of social and economic theory at the general systems level.* Such efforts toward the general integration of social and economic theory have not been paralleled, however, by attempts on the part of sociologists to apply sociological theory to everyday problems dealt with by economists in the study of consumption behavior. In the face of the apparent indifference of sociologists to this task, economists have tried increasingly to suggest sociological interpretations themselves. For example, in an attempt to reconcile the different statistical associations between consumption expenditures and disposable income, one economist suggested that our society makes it mandatory for consumers to "emulate their neighbors" ("keep up with the Joneses"), thus explaining why expenditures increase with increasing income. This same social pressure also makes consumers reluctant to return to lower standards of living, thereby explaining why expenditures tend to remain stable with declining income.^ Speculative interpretations of social factors underlying relationships among economic variables are obviously only a beginning toward the understanding of consumption behavior. Yet such speculations can provide a core set of hypotheses to be tested through research. Sources of Data in Macro-analysis The problems of consumption behavior cannot be resolved, however, simply by asking sociologists to theorize about the nature of consumption behavior. Theory must necessarily be tested by research. Representatives of government, business, and mass media are busily engaged in compiling data to document shifts in aggregate economic variables. For most economic indexes, data have been collected over many years, providing funds of information which make economic analysis of consumption behavior possible. There is no comparable body of material, though, to document changes in the social fabric of society. * See, for example, Talcott Parsons and Neil J. Smelser. Economy and Society (Glencoe, Illinois: The Free Press, 1956). 5 Duesenberry, same reference as footnote 3. For other examples, see Robert Ferber, "Research on Household Behavior," American Economic Review, Vol. 59 (March, 1962), pp With respect to the general pervasiveness of social-psychological elements in macro-economic theories, see Mirra Komarovsky, editor. Common Frontiers of the Social Sciences (Glencoe, Illinois: The Free Press, 1957). The United States Census, of course, regularly collects basic information on the social composition of the population on sex, age, education, and other variables. However, information is not collected on a regular basis to assess changes in values, norms, habits, and customs. The fundamental data for studying the bearing of social factors on consumption behavior are seldom, if ever, available. Sociologists can probably fill the gap by collecting the data themselves, where the problem being studied is of a short-term character and relatively circumscribed. However, they cannot collect data regularly over extended periods of time. There are a myriad of consumption questions which are closed to sociological analysis because necessary data are not available. What are the major changes occurring in the way populations spend their leisure time? How do these changes affect the consumption of goods and services? What are the social processes that govern the ways in which new products and services are adopted? Are there general patterns of innovation, are they confined to particular types of goods and services, or is there no pattern at all? With popular taste for all sorts of goods and services constantly changing, where are the data to document these changes, much less to explain them? To be sure, current information on such problems is sometimes available. But how much more valuable it would be if such data had been accumulated at regular intervals over the last 50 years or so. It is very easy, of course, to say that it would be useful to have fuller information about changes in the social structure and in a society's values over time. However, it would obviously require considerable thought and experimentation to decide what kinds of social data ought to be collected on a regular basis. Furthermore, their value would have to be amply documented to gain cooperation from appropriate organizations. But despite such obstacles, these are matters which should be the concern of sociologists. As a first step, sociologists could seriously consider the ways in which changes in the social structure and in value systems might affect consumption behavior. A large number of sociological concepts imply that these factors have an impact on consumption behavior. Such concepts as social mobility, cultural lag, social integration, life styles, achievement orientation, are directly relevant. They may well be guides to data collection methods, although these concepts would first have to be translated into more precise propositions as to how they bear on the aggregate behavior of consumers. Once this is done, the indicators on which data might be collected could be specified. To illustrate the possibilities, consider the simple question of how highly our society values work. Clearly, all sorts of implications for the economy

4 54 Journal of Marketing, July, 1964 follow from man's achievement orientations.* Many observers have sensed subtle changes in such orientations, most notably a shift in values from extending oneself in labor to doing as little as is necessary to "get by." Although sociological data are not available to do more than crudely sense these changes, such data would allow greater control of the economy and so seem well worth the price of collection. The prospects for implementing, these ideas in the near future may be slim; and once adopted, considerable time will have to be spent in accumulating data before they can become analytically useful. However, if sociologists are to make meaningful contributions to the study of consumption behavior and mass behavior in general, this is the basic path which must be followed. Study of the Marketing Processes It has been implied above that aggregate behavior of consumers can be understood solely as the result of economic and social psychological forces. But this aggregate behavior is only a part of a larger process of interaction among consumers and manufacturers, middlemen, retailers, advertising agencies, mass media, and other institutions which are all functionally related to each other. Eesearch on consumption behavior is incomplete without some effort to understand the nature of these functional relationships. No adequate discussion is found in marketing literature of the nature of these relationships.'^ However, some attention has been given to specifying the processes of interactions by case studies of particular consumption behaviors. One study was concerned with understanding the process as it operated in the development of the "rhythm and blues" fad in popular music.s The fad is pictured as resulting from the interactions among the Negro market, the concomitant development of independent record companies, the disc jockey, the major record companies, and the white radio audience. The essential point made is that each of these "aggregates" was functioning both as an originator and as a recipient of stimuli out of which the fad emerged. 6 David C. McClelland, Achieving Society (Princeton, New Jersey: D. Van Nostrand Company, Inc., 1961). f For a brief review and evaluation, see Francesco M. Nicosia, "Marketing and Alderson's Functionalism," The Journal of Business, Vol. 45 (October, 1962), pp Bureau of Applied Social Research, The "Rhythm and Blues" Fad (New York: Columbia University, 1955). Paralleling such empirical studies, there has been an attempt on theoretical levels to explain the religious revival in the United States of the last decade, also as the result of the functional interaction between different aggregates.^ Here the process seems to begin with the publication by the National Council of Churches of statistics showing a slight increase in church membership. This statistical evidence is then picked up by various mass media and interpreted as a religious revival. This, in turn, generates a commercial interest in producing and promoting religious books and literature, songs and plays with a religious motif, and commodities having a religious connotation. Mass media are thus encouraged to give further coverage to religious events. All of these activities tend to accelerate interest in religion on the part of the general public, which is then manifested in increased church attendance, increased concentration on religious material by various media, and the purchase of religious books and commodities. This "feeds back" to the churches, the mass media, and to producers of religious items who are thus encouraged to further activity. Neither of the two examples given indicates how the interaction process comes to a close, but they do document the need to consider the process in consumption behavior research. These examples share a concern with those short-term changes in consumption behavior called fads and stylas.i" Conclusion In conclusion, sociologists have tended to relinquish their "stake" in the study of consumption behavior to economists, and economists have used sociological theory wherever germane to their problems. Lack of interest among sociologists in consumption behavior is in part a consequence of the relative absence of an accumulated body of sociological data on such behavior. But it also is a result of the seeming ambivalence or even hostility of most sociologists toward the business community and its problems. Whatever the explanation, it is unfortunate indeed that sociologists have tended to overlook aspects of human behavior so central to understanding the structure and functioning of societies. 9 Charles Y. Glock, "The Religious Revival in America?" in Religion and the Face of America, Jane C. Zahn, editor (Berkeley, California: University Extension, University of California, 1958), pp Also see William N. McPhee, Formal Theories of Mass Behavior (New York: The Free Press of Glencoe, 1963).

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