I'm A Latch Key Kid!

Up until recently the family that I live in may have been chastised for being a "broken home", but that is not how it is being seen now that it has become

 more of a norm than an anomaly. Now I'm just a "latch key kid" in a "nuclear family". It is obvious that the stage of life a family is in will affect the products that family buys, and who participates in the decision and to what extent. This is based, loosely on the Family Life Cycle. This is quite a basic model, and things are getting increasing complicated. No longer are the majority following the traditional family life cycle, as shown below:

But there are many differences between the family life of 20, 30, 40 years ago and the families of today. As with every generation parents are trying to raise thier children in the way that they wanted to be raised. One of these differences is what some people are calling "helicopter parents". Essentially these parents are babyboomers trying to do the best for their kids in a way that some experts feel is detrimental to the child. They want to wrap them up in cotton wool and sweep all of the obtacles out of the way for their child. Some people feel that the mobile phone is to blame, calling it "the worlds longest umbilical cord".

Here are some demographic statistics given by my lecturer, Ruth:

◊ Average household size is 2.4 people in 2001

◊ Dramatic increase in one person households 12% in 1961, 26% in 1990, 6.8 million in 2001 – 28%

◊ More than 50% of women over the age of 65 years live on their own

◊ Life expectancy for women is 78.8 years for men is 73.2 years

◊ Divorces have increased to 1 in 3

◊ 7% of households in 2001 – single parents

All these shifts in the way families are constructed and perceived are having a massive impact on the way inwhich families make decisions. One of the biggest changes in the way inwhich familes now make decisions and how they used to make decisions is the involvement of children. And one of the most common forms of this involvement has coined the phrase "pester power". It is hardly possible to walk down a high street or shop in a supermarket without hearing the voice of an angry parent being nagged by their child. According to Dave Lawrence, in an article for Marketing Weekly, states that "parents want their children to be a part of everyday decision-making, for instance, choosing holiday destinations based on their children's wishes". 

This may be a because the parents wanted to be part of such decision is thier childhood, but were not allowed, and now that they have thier own family, probably with a higher income from having both parents at work, are able to give more to their children. Another factor that affects higher involvement of children is that, in many cases relating to technology, the children know more about the product being bought than the parents. And the phenomenon of High School Musical, seemingly aimed at 14-16, being a huge hit with the under 10s audience has created quite a stir. My 7 year old cousin has a High School Musical sleeping bag, karoeke machine, bed spread, posters, pencils, backback and I'm sure the list extends to many more products which she didn't have time to show me. My 5 year old step sister has the High School Musical game on her Nintendo DS.

This diagram, by Taylor, Nelson, Sofres, shows the % of the decision made by various members of the family.

But this information is a few years old now. This is a fast growing trend, especially among the tweens. The diagram below is from a 2003 survey of 8-12 year olds and how much influence they feel they have in family decision making. 

In the 1950s video at the top of the page the little boy has no say in whether he gets to watch the movie, nor does he argue the right to watch the movie. In Charlie in the Chocolate Factory Veruca Salt was made to be quite the except, as rich and spoilt, but it seems that children much younger are doing the same "I Want It Now" routine, and getting it Now.

What Does YOUR Car Say About You?

I have started off with this video as I feel that it provides a good, basic explanation of why people conform to group opinion, they do not want to "rock the boat", or they simply feel that if everyone else is says something then it must be true. The need to "belong" is half way up Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, under social needs. After a person's basic physiological and safety needs, such as water, food and shelter, have been satisfied psychological needs are to be fulfilled; emotional needs such as warming loving relationships and a supportive communicative community. Maslow explains that humans need to feel acceptance from the "group" which is often found in family, a tight social group, sports teams and other groups, but can lead to the formation of gangs.

Most people belong to many different groups consciously, sub-consciously and sometimes unintentionally. Below is a diagram of some of the different groups I belong to and how they affect me.

All theses different groups pose various amounts of influence on different parts of my life. For example my reference group affects the products that I buy. Now that I am at university I have to do my own grocery shopping, and when buying habitual products, such as bread, milk, sugar I have found myself just picking up whatever brand I'm used to having at home, that my Mum would have bought. My peers often affect both the products and brands I buy. Teenage needing to belong is summed up well by bloggist Black Champagne

teenagers are very insecure in their own look and status and they need to latch onto trends to give themselves security and an identity.

It's a way of using others as a benchmark to your own behaviour and purchases. Festinger (1954) came up with the Social Comparison Theory which states

individuals want an accurate assessment of their opinions and performance, and that in the absence of objective standards, they look to others (preferably those who are similar in a relevant dimension) for information about their relative standing.

Gauging one's own behaviour by that of those around you is something that everybody does. Buying outward status symbols such as the most fashionable brands and the latest car are easy, obvious ways of portraying social standing as class. And can easily be bought. They are also a barrier that people, at first, don't need to get through. You are being constantly assessed by those around you. So is it that fashion is an outward depiction of your personality and creativity, or do you create a persona through how you outwardly depict yourself?

Festinger, L., A Theory of Social Comparison Processes. Human Relations, 1954

His first hypothesis is that in humans there exists a drive to evaluate his opinions and abilities by comparison with the opinions and abilities of others. Both opinions and abilities have a strong impact on his behavior. People want to know how their abilities stack up against others. Some abilities have clear criteria (e.g., running times), others are actually an opinion themselves (when there are non-social means of comparison available). People also don't tend to evaluate themselves against others that are too different than themselves. In fact, given a range of people they will choose people most like themselves for comparison. Also, a discrepancy in a group with respect to opinions or abilities will lead to action by members to reduce that discrepancy.

One website, Social Conformity and Violence, states that "Conformity can be defined as a change in a person's behavior or opinions as a result of real or imagined pressure form a person or a group of people". It goes on to say that a key part of group conformity is compliance, the "behaviour of a person motivated by desire to gain reward or avoid punishment".

A private necessity might be a washing machine, and a public luxury could be a luxury car. The most common type of public luxury is the car. It has been stereotyped and personalities have been judged on them for years. An article in the Telegraph says "sociological research has revealed that the population at large does draw conclusions about the personality of car owners from their vehicles. The longer the bonnet of a car, the more arrogant and macho the driver is judged to be. The larger the boot, the less youthful the owner". And the car industry feeds off this seemingly innate judgement. One of the most common theories for this phenomena is that it is an easy way of comparing your success against those around you. If you park your car in the company car park you can immediately gauge your car against that of almost everyone else in that company. If you park your car on your street you can see straight away how it sizes up to your neighbours. But if you really want to know what your car says about you, read Forbes' analysis.