Principles of Sociology and Rural Development

PRINCIPLES OF SOCIOLOGY and Rural Development By Prof. Mohamed Nabil Gamie Department of Rural Development, College of Agriculture, Alexandria University, Al-Shatby, Alexandria 2012 TABLE OF CONTENTS SUBJUCT PAGE Benefits of Sociology and Social Science Knowledge 1 The social Sciences 3 The Distinction Between Factual and Policy Questions 4 Measurement and the Nature of Social Phenomena 5 Levels of Measurement and Social Science Data 7 Benefits of Social Science Knowledge 9 Micro-Sociology: Testing Interaction Theories 22 The Rational Choice Proposition 24 Interaction Theories 26 Theory Testing: Measurement and Research 33 The Experiment: Studying group solidarity 36 Randomization 38 Significance 39 Field Research: Studying Recruitment 39 Social Processes 49 Primary Processes of Interaction 49 Secondary Processes of Interaction 50 Groups, Organizations and Culture 52 Membership of Small Social Groups 52 Social Organizations 54 Culture, Ethnicity and Social Class 58 Values and Norms 64 Geographic Culture 68 What Determines Social Class? 75 Social Class Dynamics 78 Marriage and the Family 81 Some Definitions 81 Functions 82 Mate Selection: Who is Out of Bounds? 83 Mate Selection: Who Should You Marry 86 Number of Spouses 90 Economic Considerations of Marriage 94 Residence Patterns: Where Do Wives and Husbands Live 98 SUBJUCT PAGE Family Structure 98 Changing Roles of Women 110 Demography and Methods of Demographic Analysis 116 Collectivities 118 Social and Cultural Change of Institutions 126 Changing Family Influences 126 Changing Religious Influences 127 Changing Educational Institutions 128 The Influence of Age-Related Micro-cultures on Values 128 National Cultures 129 Social Change: Development and Global Inequality 132 Internal sources of Social change 134 Change and Cultural Lag 137 External Sources of Change 138 The Rise of the West 142 Marx on Capitalism 143 The Protestant ethics 145 The State Theory of Modernization 146 Dependence and World System Theory 148 Dimensions of Global Inequality 153 Globalization 155 The social Basis of Sustainable Underdevelopment in the Arab World 159 Introduction 159 Development in a Sustainable Perspective 161 Stagnant Socio-Economic Conditions in the Arab World 162 Consumerism in the Arab World 164 Stifling Dependency of the Arab World 167 Dominance of Traditional Values of Governance 169 The Way Out 171 References. 178 BENEFITS OF SOCIOLOGY AND SOCIAL SCIENCE KNOWLEDGE Why do we study sociology? "If we cannot identify the benefits of sociology and articulate its future, then it may be time to 'turn out the lights, fold our tent, and go home. …. The usefulness of the social sciences, in general, is being questioned and sometimes attacked. Our challenge is clear. We must continue to work toward a better understanding of the social forces that shape behavior and social structure at all levels of society, and we must work toward gaining the recognition that is due our accomplishments." These were introductory statements mentioned by Lyson (editor of Rural Sociology journal) and Tickamyer Tickamyer, Ann R. 1996. "Sex, Lies, and Statistics: Can Rural Sociology Survive Restructuring? (or) What Is Right with Rural Sociology and How Can We Fix It." Rural Sociology 61 (1):5-24. introducing the spring 1996 special issue of Rural Sociology in which they wanted to 'publish a set of essays that reflect on where sociology has been and what it can offer in the future,' .. and to 'counter the tone of gloom and doom that pervades so many recent appraisals with articles that showcase our strengths, while simultaneously offering a critical appraisal of sociology and its future.' The same feelings were held by other social scientists (Gove Gove, Walter R. 1995. "Is Sociology the Integrative Discipline in the Study of Human Behavior?" Social Forces 74:1197-1206.; Huber Huber, Joan. 1995. "Institutional Perspectives on Sociology." American Journal of Sociology 101:194-216.; Horowitz Horowitz, Irving Louis. 1993. The Decomposition of Sociology. New York: Oxford University Press.; Lemert Lemert, Charles. 1995. Sociology After the Crisis. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.) expressing a real concern about the benefits of social science and the future of its impact upon policy formulation. The feelings may be strong but, yet, achievements to remedy this situation are not as strongly felt. This is due, among other factors, to separatism and lack of integration between the efforts of variant social scientists. Unfortunately, and especially in developing countries, we find so many social scientists not properly aware of the meaning, contents, mission, and borderlines of their disciplines. The distinction between "social sciences," "behavioral sciences," and "humanities" is very fuzzy even among social science professionals. I have even been told by an eminent American social scientist who was recently visiting our university "we in America have two kinds of economists one is social scientist, the other is econometrician." Isn't the econometrician a social scientist? Even some professionals limit the behavioral sciences to sociology, psychology and anthropology as if political science, economics and history deal with anything else but the behavior of people. Reading newspapers, listening to radio, watching television, observing and interacting with people all present to our minds seemingly unconnected, contradictory, chaotic, threatening, exciting, interesting, and mundane happenings. But the fact remains that in all these episodes there are patterns and regularities that intrinsically sustain the continuity of such streams of actions. It is the task of social scientists to find them and make use of them, just as it is the task of physicists and chemists to find patterns and regularities in the behavior of matter and energy. How do social scientists go about this task? Through a conventional science perspective, they do. Starting with the following statement, "a science in the particular sense is a body of organized knowledge, including a set of logically connected propositions concerning the behavior of certain phenomena as they repeatedly occur under certain given conditions," Biesanz and Biesanz Biesanz, John and Mavis Biesanz. 1964. Modern Society: An Introduction to Social Science. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, Inc. p. 4. start defining science, but in the immediately following statement they say : "In the general sense, science is method rather than content, an approach or attitude of mind that leads to systematic knowledge about how things work." In his book "The Scientific Approach" Lastrucci Lastrucci, Carlo L. 1963. The Scientific Approach: Basic Principles of the Scientific Method. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Schenkman Publishing Company, Inc. p. 6. states that science may be defined quite accurately and functionally as : "an objective, logical, and systematic method of analysis of phenomena, devised to permit the accumulation of reliable knowledge." In this regard, consensus among social scientists is basically pertained to the notion that science is a method rather than content. However, the present author accepts the use of the word "science" in a doubly context, generically to denote science as a method, and functionally to denote science as a discipline. Thus, the 'science of sociology could mean the scientific discipline of sociology and/or the scientific method of sociology, i,e., the scientific method in general, but as applied in sociology. However, for all the good scientific and technological knowledge has done it has led during the postmodern era to nuclear proliferation, environmental decline, increased inequality, wrenching transformations in the character of work and everyday life, and a lost sense of security in the workings of the social and natural worlds (Erikson Erikson, Kai T. 1994. A New Species of Trouble: The Human Experience of Modern Disasters. New York: Norton.; Sachs Sachs, Wolfgang (ed.) 1992. The Development Dictionary: A Guide to Knowledge as Power. London: Zed Books.; Schumacher ‭ ‬Schumacher,‭ ‬E.‭ ‬F.‭ ‬1989.‭ ‬Small is Beautiful:‭ ‬Economics as if People Mattered.‭ ‬New York:‭ ‬Harper‭ & ‬Row,‭ ‬Inc.). Even technology, created by man, is not fully controlled by him (Heibroner Heibroner, Robert L. 1994. "So machines make history?" Pp. 53-65 in M. Smith and L. Marx (eds.) [1967] Does Technology Drive History? The Dilemma of Technological Determinism. Cambridge: M.I.T. Press.; Westrum Westrum, Ron. 1991. Technologies and Society: The Shaping of People and Things. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth. ). Consequently, positivism, the traditional science perspective, began to loose appeal to social scientists during the last quarter of this century. Traditional science has not developed good ways of dealing with ethics, morality and values. A "technological science perspective" was proposed by Warner and England Warner, Keith W. and J. Lynn England. 1995. "A Technological Science Perspective for Sociology," Rural Sociology 60(4):607-22. claiming that it "must include ethical rules and strategies telling 'how to.' To enact this technological science perspective, consider the social technology of rural schools, farmer cooperatives, or a rural development program. A specific design of any of these,.....,should be reproduced over time and space." This mental transformation on the part of social scientists is a response to the concept of utility of science and a concern for assessing the benefits of social science knowledge and research. THE SOCIAL SCIENCES There are several social sciences that emphasize different aspects of human behavior. They use somewhat different concepts, and deal with somewhat different kinds of data. The boundary lines between the disciplines are fuzzy, however, and many problems are approached with the tools and methods of several social sciences at the same time. This is attributed to the fact that they all share the study of one general category of phenomena, i.e., social phenomena. In approaching most of these phenomena, social scientists might use the concepts of two or more social science disciplines. Social phenomena, themselves, are organized, functionally-oriented structures of symbolic human behavior. Thus, symbols, ideas, thoughts, attitudes, feelings and sensations, norms, values, organization, planning, behavior, and use of scientific and indigenous knowledge are all integral components of social phenomena. Just for specifying the scope of social sciences, I would like to apologize for referring to our undergraduate material and mention the definition of social sciences. Starting with economics, it seems that one of the most preferable definitions is cited by Samuelson Samuelson, Paul A. 1967. Economics: An Introductory Analysis. New York: McGraw Hill. P. 5. as follows: Economics is the study of how men and society choose, with or without the use of money, to employ scarce, productive resources, which could have alternative uses, to produce various commodities over time and distribute them for consumption, now and in the future, among various people and groups in society. What we need to emphasize here, as already emphasized by Samuelson in his definition, is choose. Thus, economics is a science of choice, that is, a process of mental practice. Consumer and producer behavior itself is a practice of economics. The economist tells them the most rational alternatives of choice. We also need to emphasize "with or without the use of money," a point which will be discussed later. The second of the social sciences is sociology. It is the systematic study of the relationships of men in groups and of groups in society, of how these relationships are patterned and how they change. It could also be defined as the controlled observation and interpretation of differing patterns of human relationships, their sources and consequences. The third is anthropology, or particularly cultural anthropology. It has historically concentrated on the ways of life of small preliterate societies, but its perspectives are increasingly being applied to urban literate societies as well. The concept of culture is its most invaluable contribution to human knowledge. It has disproved the old cliché ,"you can't change human nature," by demonstrating the great variety of definitions of human nature around the world. At the same time it has demonstrated that human beings everywhere have much in common. The fourth social science is psychology. Psychology also deals with the behavior of people, but it emphasized the individual person, his roles, attitudes, perceptions, and motivations as they are shaped by hereditary and acquired reactions to environmental stimuli. Conspicuous among the contributions of psychology is the concept of personality. Political science , the fifth of the social sciences, deals with the governing of man, both as formal organization and as political behavior shaped by that organization and by beliefs and philosophies of government. History is the last of the social sciences. It has lately approached the study of human behavior systematically and objectively. However, there is no consensual agreement among social scientists as to history being classed as a social science. It is as much an art as it is a science, for the historian must select and arrange the available data according to his perceptions of their relationships and significance; and while ideally he takes all relevant data into account, he is dealing by definition with past behavior and unique events, and cannot, therefore, use many of the techniques of the other social sciences. THE DISTINCTION BETWEEN FACTUAL AND POLICY QUESTIONS It is important to distinguish between questions of fact and questions of preference. For example, saying that "that music is awful" is not as accurate as to say "I detest that kind of music." All of us are in the habit of saying things in the form of factual statements which are actually expressions of our likes and dislikes. However, the more important the question, the more important it is to try to maintain the distinction. It is important that the social scientist make it clear both to himself and to the other people when he is engaged in detached, impersonal, scientific analysis, and when he is engaged in policy formulation or activation. There is nothing in scientific procedure that can tell us what must be done with verified knowledge. The failure to note a separation of roles can undermine the very utility of the scientific procedure. (Lundberg and Others Lundberg, George A. et. al. 1968. Sociology. New York: Harper and Row. P. 18.). Thus, such questions as "What is the best economic system? The best sex mores? The best government? The best philosophy? The best art? and so on can be approached scientifically only after the criterion of goodness has been specified. A scientist can then determine which of several proposed alternatives most nearly meets the specifications. But note that the specifications are not scientific conclusions, nor are they formulated by scientific methods. Here we early introduce the question of values and their pertinence to policy formulation. While the discovery of something is a question of fact, its use is a question of policy. The discovery of Nobel's dynamite is a fact question, while its use in killing people, moving mountains, or offering peace prizes is a policy question. Basic social science research is oriented more to the discovery of basic knowledge (facts), while applied social science research is oriented more to answering policy questions and making use of such basic knowledge. In the natural sciences, it was not until chemists and biologists had made considerable headway in developing basic knowledge in their realms that pharmacists and physicians produced and applied the wonders of synthetic chemistry, the vaccines, vitamins, and antibiotics to control disease and promote health. Similarly, the organic bond between basic and applied social science cannot, by any means, be undermined. Consequently, if we are to search for the benefits of policy oriented social science research, those benefits contributed by basic social science research will not be alien to our quest. Charles Sanders Peirce, convincingly illustrating the utility of basic sciences, states: ....The old-fashioned political economist adored, as alone capable of redeeming the human race, the glorious principle of individual greed,....But it is easy to see that the only kind of science this principle would favor would be such as is immediately remunerative with a great preference for such as can be kept secret, like the modern sciences of dyeing and perfumery. Kepler's discovery rendered Newton possible, and Newton rendered modern physics possible, with the steam engine, electricity, and all the other sources of the stupendous fortunes of our age. But Kepler's discovery would not have been possible without the doctrine of conics. Now contemporaries of Kepler -such penetrating minds as Descartes and Pascal- were abandoning the study of geometry....... because they said it was so UTTERLY USELESS. ............True science is distinctively the study of useless things, for the useful things will get studied without the aid of scientific men. To employ these rare minds on such work is like running a steam engine by burning diamonds. (Kronovet and Shirk ‭ ‬Kronovet,‭ ‬Esther and Evelyn Shirk.‭ ‬1967.‭ ‬In Pursuit of Awareness.‭ ‬New York:‭ ‬Appleton-Century.‭ ‬P.‭ ‬415.). MEASUREMENT AND THE NATURE OF SOCIAL PHENOMENA It is sometimes contended that social phenomena are not susceptible to the application of some canons of the rigorous scientific approach. Measurement, in particular, is claimed to be hindered by the following three characteristics of social phenomena: (a) inherent subjectivity rather than objectivity, (b) too complex for analysis and (c) human behavior is unpredictable due to the operation of a 'free will.' Regarding the first characteristic, subjectivity, human behavior is, agreeably, a consequence of mental or subjective stimuli, i.e., ideas; but the behavior itself may be quite objective. Egoism, for example, may be considered a very subjective attitude; but the expression or the consequences of that attitude might quite agreeably be defined operationally by such objective manifestations as various acts of conspicuous consumption, verbal expressions of grandeur and various acts of disregard for the needs of others. The cause of human behavior may remain subjective, but the resultant human behavior could be objectified and measured. The contention that social phenomena can hardly be measured because of its complexity, all depends upon the meaning of complexity. It has not been demonstrated that human behavior is inherently either more or less complex than is the behavior of an airplane in flight, of a plague of smallpox or of the management of a factory. Many problems can be solved once we break them down into manageable components. Failure to solve them can take place only if we fail to achieve the answers to most of their separate components. Complexity is, after all, not an inherent quality of all social phenomena. To the foreigner, a language may be a dreadful learning situation, but to the native, that same language is so simple as to defy explanation. Social science research , in the areas of criminology, sociology, psychology, and other fields, has terminated the once so complex perception of crime after it has been only recently understood that the causes of crime do not lie simply in constitutional factors (either genetic or developmental ), nor in climatic or geographic factors, nor in intellectual factors (at least as measured by I.Q. scores), nor in racial or nationality factors, etc. Furthermore, crime was until relatively recent times viewed as one large general problem. But modern data clearly indicate that crime is a multi-faceted problem composed of many interrelated parts (e.g., physical factors, environment, educational level, type and degree of law enforcement, social status, family stability, minority status, types of definition of the concept 'crime' itself, etc.) Furthermore, it seems highly probable today that crime may not even be a general problem , just as "colds" may not be. This is all attributed to spelling out the general problem of crime into its components and handling each according to scientific canons, thus, dealing scientifically, and successfully, with a once complex social phenomenon. Thirdly, contending that measurement of social phenomena is impossible to achieve because of the operation of free will rests upon the specious theological notion that man behaves as a so-called free agent. In fact, man is not truly 'free' to do as he pleases because he cannot exercise control over many physical and biological factors that both limit and influence his behavior. Nonhuman phenomena are also often unpredictable either when they are studied individually rather than as whole classes, or when the various influences operating upon them are unknown or not measurably ascertained. Which leaves, for example, will fall from which trees in the orchard, at what times, and in what directions is at present unpredictable, but no one imputes a force of "free will" to such events. Man and his behavior is also a part of the universe and that universe is orderly and regular, leaving the acceptance of the free-will postulate as an invitation to chaos and to a denial of the possibility of developing social science, let alone science, at all. Lastrucci Lastrucci, op. cit., p. 66. has ably summarized these contentions as follows: And it is most important to remember that -although the behavior of a single unit of a class of phenomena is not predictable- probability prediction for a group or class is highly desirable and useful knowledge. When one admits the fact that many aspects of human behavior (e.g., dietary preferences, death rituals, marriage customs, cultural regularities) both individually and collectively are at present better understood and therefore more predictable than are many aspects of physical phenomena (e.g., earthquakes, weather, cosmological occurrences, certain fatal diseases)- then the common notion should soon be dissipated that social or psychological problems are inherently too difficult to formulate and solve according to empirical scientific methods as practiced by competent researchers. Phillips Phillips, Bernard S. 1969. Sociology: Social Structure and Change. London: Collier-Macmillan Limited. P. 5. also states that "'free will' may indeed exist -in the sense that the individual is free to choose among different courses of action- yet it may still be possible to predict his behavior. For example, these choices are largely based on the individual's goals, and it is possible for the social scientist to measure these goals. Thus, the individual may freely choose on the basis of his goals, whereas the social scientist at the same time may be able to predict his choice as a result of measuring his goals." Freedom of choice, i.e., free will, is a vital and peculiar attribute possessed by human beings. Warner and England Warner and England. Op. cit. call this "agency." It is the "ability to choose between alternative actions and to have the choice make a difference." According to them, agency, purpose, and ethics are sufficiently prominent in social phenomena that a model which accounts for their operation is important. Areas of social activity such as innovation, development, organizations, education, art, rational choice, science, and literature exemplify valued and unique endeavors; they illustrate the operation of human agency, creativity, and morality (Pickering Pickering, Andrew. 1993. "The Mangle of Practice: Agency and Emergence in the Sociology of Science." American Journal of Sociology 99:559-89.). More importantly, the free will axiom is presently regarded as basis for the recent "rational choice sociology" movement, the movement that challenged traditional sociological answers to the problem of order which rely on normative consensus or domination. Rational choice sociologists reframe social order as a consequence of voluntary action by self-interested individuals. James Coleman, the founder and leader of this movement, launched a journal (Rationality and Society) and has also written an elaborate treatment of sociological rational choice theory: Foundations of Social Theory (Coleman 1990) which received the American Sociological Association's "book prize." The free will, however, is an expression of values which, in turn, affects the behavior in three ways. Observed choice, most commonly relied upon as the only dependable basis for understanding preferences. Secondly, conversations, a form of social interaction, just like choice, but it does not require explicit actions. Thirdly, adaptations people make as they learn. In his study, "revealed preference with a subset of goods," Varian Varian, Hal R. 1988. "Revealed Preference with a Subset of Goods." Journal of Economic Theory October : 179-85. proposed certain bounds on the expenditures for an omitted commodity (or set of commodities) which could be used to evaluate learning within a conventional model of individual choice. These bounds describe the size of change to rationalize observed expenditures with the strong axioms of revealed preference. For a detailed and provocative discussion on measurement and role of values in economics see Smith (1990). LEVELS OF MEASUREMENT AND SOCIAL SCIENCE DATA In spite of the widespread acknowledgement of the importance of good measurement in social science research, development of systematic and general approaches to measurement in social science was not observed until quite recently. Carmines and Zeller Carmines, Edward G. and Richard A. Zeller. 1981. "Reliability and Validity Assessment," Sage University Papers. Beverly Hills: Sage Publications. P. 9. claim that "historically, measurement has been more of an abstract, almost ritualistic concern instead of being an integral and central aspect of the social sciences. This condition, they contend, is attributable to the way in which this term is most commonly defined. The most popular definition of measurement is provided by Stevens Stevens. S. S. 1951. "Reliability," pp. 356-442 in R.L. Thorndike (ed.) Educational Measurement. Washington, D.C.: American Council on Education. who wrote: "Measurement is the assignment of numbers to objects or events according to rules." Phenomena such as political efficacy, alienation, gross national product, cognitive dissonance...etc. are too abstract to be considered "things that can be seen or touched" (the definition of an object) or merely as a "result, consequence or outcome" (the definition of an event). Steven's classical definition of measurement is much more appropriate for the physical than the social sciences. Measurement is most usefully viewed as "the process of linking abstract concepts to empirical indicants" (Carmines and Zeller Carmines and Zeller, op. cit. p. 10.) and as a process involving an "explicit, organized plan for classifying (and often quantifying) the particular sense data at hand -the indicants- in terms of the general concept in the researcher's mind" (Riley Riley, M. W. 1963. Sociological Research: A Case Approach. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich. P.23.). Thus, classification itself is a form of measurement (Lastrucci Lastrucci, op. cit. p. 168.). Nominal data, the facts that can be sorted into discrete categories, are the building blocks of social science research. The sorting process produces the so-called nominal scales on which a concept is differentiated into qualitatively different categories. If the categories provide an ordering of cases from the highest to lowest, best to worst,...etc., the scale is then recognized as ordinal scale. Accordingly, ordinal scales designate the relative degree (but not the absolute amount) of an entity. Although such scales are not as precise as interval scales, which provide measures of how much higher one item is than the others and at which measurement, in the common sense of the word, normally begins, ordinal scales provide comparisons in which we can have considerable confidence that one stimulus is stronger than another. Nominal and ordinal scales are so important because they are widely used by students, teachers, and researchers in the social sciences. The highest level of measurement is the ratio scale which possesses the zero-point of origin. In this case, applications of mathematical procedures such as division and multiplication are warranted. Manipulating units in an interval scale by normal mathematical procedures is a wholly indefensible operation common only to naive methodologists. Benefits of nominal and ordinal scales are not commonly recognized in the social sciences. For illustration, these scales are particularly useful to: (1) Political scientists, who may seek to determine whether ideology affects party identification- and may also measure the impact on voters of race, education, income, occupation, and so on. They also might deal in surveys asking whether a respondent is "liberal, moderate, or conservative" on an ideological continuum. (2) Sociologists and psychologists, who may use these scales to determine whether sex or race or income (or all three, measured through multivariate analysis) affect a person's sense of self-esteem as measured by sample surveys. They also might study status by asking respondents to rate (according to prestige) such occupations as teacher, secretary, doctor, salesman, and plumber; or who might study alienation by asking persons of differing socioeconomic backgrounds to rank their attitudes toward aspects of society. (3) Public policy analysts, who may ask if a particular policy (such as gun control) is more likely to be adopted in a "reformed" or "unreformed" legislature. They may also determine whether there are regional differences in the adoption of such policies in different parts of the country. (4) Communication researchers, who may analyze nominal data to determine which media (television, newspapers, magazines) are most trusted by various subgroups of the population. Using multivariate analysis, they might study the effect of sex, race, or urbanization on group attitudes toward the media. (5) Experimental psychologists, who depend on ordinal data for the analysis of psychological variables- reaction to stimuli are typically expressed in precisely the terms of "more" or "less" which require techniques of ordinal data analysis. (6) Economists, who frequently maintain that consumers cannot state with any degree of reliability the extent to which they prefer competing commodities, but can at least rank order their preferences. (7) School administrators, who can plan programs incorporating student preferences more effectively by asking for a rating (in order of preference) to such questions as: which would you usually prefer to order if our school cafeteria served sandwiches, salads, or "blue plated" for lunch?) These illustrations are mentioned by Uslaner in Hildebrand. et. al.,1977 :5-6 and in Reynolds, 1977: 6. Thus, it is important to recognize that measurement does not always have to be in the form of numbers. Concept classification (nominal scales) and concept ordering (ordinal scales) are important forms of measurement particularly in the realm of social science research. In fact, Uslaner , in introducing Rynolds Reynolds, H. T. 1977. "Analysis of Nominal Data," Sage University Papers. Beverly Hills: Sage Publications., claims that : "This extension of analysis of nominal data to multivariate situations is particularly important because it is generally not considered in most books on social science methodology (apparently, it is either considered too difficult or too obscure).......All of the techniques of analyzing nominal data are in flux. This is a field of data analysis that is rapidly growing." The nature of social science data lends itself more commonly to nominal and ordinal scales than to interval and ratio scales. This does not mean that we have not already improved significantly our measurement techniques through using the latter scales. But in many cases, as claimed by Griliches, the desired data are unavailable because their measurement is really difficult. He says that "after decades of discussion we are not even close to a professional agreement on how to define and measure the output of banking, insurance, or the stock market. Other difficulties arise in conceptualizing the output of health services, lawyers, and other consultants, or the capital stock of R&D. Nor are we close to having measures of such factors as the "work ethic" or aspects of the property-rights system which are likely to contribute much to the observed differences in productivity across nations" (Griliches Griliches, Zvi. 1991. "The Search for R&D Spillovers." Scandinavian Journal of Economics. Supplement , 94:29-47.). BENEFITS OF SOCIAL SCIENCE KNOWLEDGE Knowledge is transferred from one generation to the other through education, acculturation, and socialization. But the growth of knowledge is generated through research. Thus, research is responsible for the growth and validation of existing knowledge. But knowledge for what? Social science research, whether basic, applied, or policy-oriented, has an important role in fostering knowledge and making use of it for the promotion of human welfare in all aspects of material and nonmaterial existence. The theory of measurement directs us to define the concept before we move to techniques of measurement. Our present concept is the benefits of social science research. The following list of benefits is not certainly claimed to be comprehensive: 1. Pursuing Man's Mission on Earth: It is often said that "man does not live with bread alone." It can also be said that man does not live for bread alone. There must be a reason or wisdom behind our creation. The answer to this question is provided by the Mighty Creator in the holy books of heavenly religions, by mundane ideologies, and by thinkers of all walks of life. Worship, salvation, enacting God's prescriptions, development and reconstruction of the universe are alternative answers sharing the common underlying element of utility and good deeds. Even science, according to Shryock Shryock, Richard H. 1962. "American Indifference to Basic Science During the Nineteenth Century," in Bernard Barber and Walter Hirch (eds.), The Sociology of Science . New York: free Press. P. 110. is directed toward increased understanding of the importance of basic scientific studies, although the "major American emphasis continues to relate to applied studies, or to such types of basic investigation as seems to promise most for utility in the near future." Science has close relationships with Puritanism just as it has with industrialization. Just as Weber was able to trace definite relationships between Protestantism and capitalism, Merton has explored the relationships between Puritanism and science (Merton Merton, Robert K. 1957. "Puritanism, Pietism and Science," in Social Theory and Social Structure. New York: Free Press, pp.574-608.). In pursuit of his mission, reconstruction and development of the universe (that portion of the universe he is in contact with), man has to develop three main environmental components of the universe, i.e., natural, social and metaphysical environments. The following diagram illustrates the role of social sciences (cooperating with other disciplines) in developing the universe. The benefits of science and fruits of knowledge are not limited to physical comfort (food, drink, shelter, clothes, medicine, landscape...etc.) provided by the natural environment but extend to social and psychic welfare provided by social environment in addition to spiritual fulfillment provided by the relationship of man to his metaphysical environment. Social sciences, supported by natural sciences and humanities (all members of the kingdom of knowledge), take the task of developing that substructure of the universe (social environment) composed of personalities, groups, economies, organizations, institutions, communities, societies, and cultures. CREATURES ENVIRONMENTS DISCIPLINES All believed, unobserved and yet-to-be discovered creatures. Metaphysical Humanities: Religion, arts, language, philosophy, ...etc. Personalities, groups, economies, organizations, institutions, communities, societies, cultures. Social Environment Social Sciences: Economics, sociology, psychology, anthropology, political science, history. Humans as bio-systems, plants, animals, solid matter, liquids, (natural eco-system.) Natural Environment. Natural Sciences: Physics, chemistry, biology, geology, astronomy,.....etc. Diagram 1. Environmental Components of the Universe Most people, policy makers included, are impressed and fascinated by achievements in the realm of natural science research. This fact is manifested by the history of Nobel prize winners as economists, the first and still the only brand of social scientists, were kept away from Nobel laureates until 1969 when Professor Erick Lundberg, on behalf of the Nobel Committee proclaimed and justified the new economics reward observing that "economic science has developed increasingly in the direction of a mathematical specification and statistical quantification of economic contexts." For social science research, this is certainly a happy and promising start as the contemporary world begins to recognize the benefits of social science research. But unfortunately, social scientists, including traditional economists, have failed to bring incommensurable "non-economic factors" into the calculations of policy makers. It was beyond the capacity of a friend of mine, who happened to be a rural sociologist but also a very clever politician, to convince policy makers in the Ministry of Planning to allocate more than two hundred thousand pounds for the purpose of human resources development within the 69 million pounds devoted to rural development this year for his government body. To the Ministry of planning, rural development is limited to constructions, machines, infrastructure and other similar material components. Man's mission in life is not "bread alone." 2. Providing the Foundation and the Basic Building Blocks of Society: If we try to expose the anatomy of any society we might observe four basic components: values, norms, organization, and resources. Putting them hierarchically, values will occupy the foundation of society. Values are desired states of affairs. Policy-oriented social science research can create a working partnership between facts and theories, on the one hand, and questions of personal and social value, on the other. Social scientists, in merging their roles as scientists and citizens, are equipped to look ahead and envision some of the possible impacts of science, technology, invention, and industrial innovation on society. They can be, and many of them are, preoccupied by each of the following: (a) viewing, critically, some current social trends, (b) suggesting fresh ways to view a number of our modern concerns, and (c) forecasting some of the future social impacts of science and technology. RESOURCES (HUMAN AND NATURAL) ORGANIZATION NORMS VALUES Diagram 2. Major Components of Societal Structure. Norms represent standards of conduct. They regulate the means to the desired goals. Besides their normative and ideological characters, norms imply a dimension of efficacy. Social scientists deal with the former as citizens, and, through their research, they deal with the latter as scientists. Organization is the third component of social structure illustrated in the above mentioned diagram. In fact, if we were to summarize the scope of social science concerns in one single word, no selection can be more appropriate than "organization." Concepts like "system, structure, function, goals, means, equilibrium, efficiency, effectiveness, productivity, coordination, authority, control, communication, disorganization, conflict, roles, leadership, policy, planning, programming, project lay-out, self-help, popular participation, development, collective behavior," and many more represent the core concepts of organization. "People's technology", "social engineering", or "technology of coordination" are at least 'kin-concepts' or alternatives to "organization." No body can deny the contributions of social science research to the rich knowledge on "organization" practiced particularly in planning , management, politics, and development. The fourth of the major components of societal structure is resources. Even that is not unrelated to social science concerns. Human resources are not only part of societal resources, but it is the acting part, that that creates value to the other material and natural resources. On the same natural resources base civilizations rise and later they decline. Human resources are believed to be the locomotives of the civilization trains whether going uphill or moving downhill on that same natural resources base. 3. Prediction: Some social scientists claim that social science knowledge has rendered prediction of serious future events possible. Lundberg, et. al. Lundberg. et. al. Op. cit. , and Dentler and Cutright Dentler, Robert A. and Phillips Cutright. 1963. Hostage America: Human Aspects of a Nuclear Attack and a Program of Prevention. New York: beacon Press. assume that nuclear war, for example, would probably be selective rather than random in its destruction of the nation's labor force, and problems of social recuperation would be thereby aggravated. Demographic knowledge informs us that urban areas will be more affected by nuclear attack than rural areas. This would mean that one third of all Protestants had died, compared with two-thirds of all Catholics, and nine-tenths of all Jews. More Democrats than Republicans and more Northern than Southern Democrats would die. Thus, the religious, ideological, and political composition of the surviving population would have been appreciably altered. "Moreover, such an attack would have killed 72 percent of the nation's industrial and mechanical engineers, 79 percent of all foremen in the metals industry, 76 percent of the tool and die makers, 73 percent of the architects, not to mention 62 percent of the physicians." Other social scientists take a different perspective when they talk about the failure of social scientists to harness theoretical progress into conceptual categories that can be used to push our knowledge beyond its current limits. "Narrowly conceived," Tickamyer Tickamyer, Ann R. 1996. "Sex, Lies, and Statistics: Can Rural Sociology Survive Restructuring? (or) What Is Right with Rural Sociology and How Can We Fix It." Rural Sociology 61 (1). P. 11. states, "this is the process of operationalization and measurement that occupies positivist approaches to social science.......This problem concerns the sociology of data and the politics of data production. It arises from the failure to effectively apply our growing stock of conceptual and theoretical tools to studying the fundamental transformations occurring in our society and in all societies, domestically and globally....In short, we use modern data to study a postmodern world." Some social scientists repudiate all social statistics as lies and official statistics as particularly pernicious in obfuscating our understanding of social processes (Mies Mies, Maria. 1983. "Toward a Methodology for Feminist Research." Pp. 117-139 in Theories of Women's Studies, edited by G. Bowles and R. D. Klein. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul. ; Rienharz Reinharz, Shulamit. 1992. Feminist Methods in Social Research. New York: Oxford University Press. ). The validity of prediction is, thus, questioned by the latter team of social scientists. The scope of prediction is another question. What is the locus of our prediction in order to be beneficial? It seems that it should be within the realm of social and economic reconstruction. Social scientists claim that the basic outlines of reconstructing are well known. Macro-level changes in the economy, industrial and occupational transformations, shifts in geographical distribution of both populations and enterprises, and reorganization of the labor process are the forces that drive restructuring as we enter the twenty first century. (Bloomquist et. al. Bloomquist, L., et al. 1993. "Work Structure and Rural Poverty."Pp. 68-105. In Persistent Poverty in Rural America, by Rural Sociological Society Task Force on Persistent Rural Poverty. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.; Bluestone Bluestone, Barry. 1984. "Is Deindustrialization a Myth? Capital Mobility versus Absorptive Capacity in the U.S. Economy." Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science. 475:39-51.; Bluestone and Harrison Bluestone, Barry and Bennett Harrison. 1982. The Deindustrialization of America. New York: Basic. ; Frey Frey, William H. 1987. "Migration and Depopulation of the Metropolis: Regional Restructuring or Rural Renaissance." American Sociological Review 52:240-57.; Glass et. al. Glass, Jennifer, Marta Tienda and Shelley A. Smith. 1988. "The Impact of Changing Employment Opportunity on Gender and Ethnic Earnings Inequality." Social Science Research 17:252-76.; Kodras and Padavic Kodras, Janet E. and Irene Padavic. 1993. "Economic Restructuring and Women's Sectoral Employment in the 1970s: A Spatial Investigation across 380 U.S. Labor Market Areas." Social Science Quarterly 74:1-27. ; Lobao Lobao, Linda. 1993. "Renewed Significance of Space on Social Research: Implications for Labor Market Studies." Pp. 11-31 in Inequalities in Local Labor Markets, edited by J. Singelmann and F. Deseran. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.; Rifkin Rifkin, Jeremy. 1995. The End of Work: The Decline of the Global Labor Force and the Dawn of the Post-Market Era. New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons.) If we accept the above mentioned areas of reconstruction, and if we accept the preceding notion concerning the limitation of our positivist methodologies and the invalidity and impertinency of our statistics we will have to conclude that our predictions will probably lack validity. Unless we lay hand on new and more valid methodological approaches, design more reliable and valid measurement techniques, and start grappling with the "sociology of data and the politics of data production" our proper predictions will have to be postponed until further notice. Others, however, still believe in the validity of social science predictions claiming enough knowledge for desired reconstruction but blaming other forces for the implementation of the already existing knowledge. Lester Brown Brown, Lester R. 1978.The Twenty Ninth Day: Accommodating Human Needs and Numbers of the Earth's Resources. New York: W. W. Norton & Company. Inc. P. 286., for example, states regarding agricultural reconstruction: "Once those who actually work the land own it, or share in its ownership, the key to rapid progress becomes access to credit, technical advisory services, and markets. The basic formula for effective agricultural reform is rather straightforward and simple. What is lacking is the willingness of existing power structures to undertake the needed reforms." More than thirty years ago, social scientists devised a technique that has come to be dubbed the Delphi Technique to project the emerging scientific and technological developments and some of their possible social consequences. Daniel Bell Bell, Daniel. 1965. "The Study of the Future." The Public Interest. Vol. 1, No. 1 Fall. Pp. 119-130., then chairman of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences' Commission on the Year 2000, described briefly the technique and some of the projections derived from its use saying that the intention of the Delphi Technique is to systematize the intuitive judgments of experts in science and technology with respect to projections of scientific and technological developments in the future and some of their social consequences. Eighty two experts were used: 20 engineers, 17 physical scientists, 14 logicians and mathematicians, 12 economists, nine social scientists, five writers, four operations analysts and one military officer. The members of this group were asked to make their predictions in the following six areas: (1) scientific breakthroughs, (2) population control, (3) automation, (4) space progress, (5) war prevention and (6) weapon systems. They were asked to predict the probable time of breakthrough. The possibilities they listed were resubmitted independently to each member of the group twice, that is, three submissions in all. The resubmissions were made for methodological refinements. The resubmissions were employed in order to achieve a feedback effect which enabled a respondent to reconsider his choices, reassert abandoned choices or predict new probabilities for his already declared choices. Predictions were made for three different periods: up to 1984, 1984 to A.D. 2000 and A.D. 2000 to A.D. 2100. Projections are summarized as follows: The World of 1984: Automation in agriculture, desalinated sea water, population fertility control, medical transplantation of natural organs and implantation of artificial plastic and electronic organs, widespread use of personality-control drugs, sophisticated teaching machines, automated libraries, worldwide communication by satellite relay systems and automatic translating machines, the establishment of a permanent lunar base, deep-space laboratories, and a considerable number of highly novel weapons of warfare. The World of 2000: Large-scale ocean farming and the manufacture of synthetic protein, controlled thermonuclear power, raw materials from the ocean, the beginnings of regional weather control, general immunization against bacterial and viral diseases, the correction of faulty heredity through molecular engineering, advances in automation from robot machines performing menial services to sophisticated high-IQ machines, manufacturing of propellant materials on the moon, terrestrial ballistic transport and continued advances in military technology. The World in the Year 2100: Chemical control of the aging process, the growth of new limbs and organs through biochemical stimulation, man-machine symbiosis enabling a person to raise his intelligence through direct electromechanical tie-in of the brain to a computer, household robots, remote facsimile reproduction of newspapers and magazines in the home, completely automated highway transportation, international agreements with respect to the distribution of the earth's resources and establishment of a permanent lunar colony with regularly scheduled traffic between the earth and its satellite. More than fifty years ago, social scientists were able to predict the unfortunate disappearance of the psychological sense of true community from the modern world. In 1950, Robert Nisbet, in his book The Quest for Community referred to what he called the vocabulary of alienation. This vocabulary includes such terms as disorganization, decline, insecurity, breakdown, frustration, anxiety, dehumanization, depersonalization, bureaucratization, anomie, acedia, homogenization, kitsch, and other types of social psychopathology. Also, writers like Kapp Kapp, William K. 1950. The Social Costs of Private Enterprise. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.P.287., Herber Herber, Lewis. 1962. Our Synthetic Environment . New York: Alfred A. Knopf. P.285. and Harrison Harrison, Ruth. 1964. Animal Machines: The New Factory Farming Industry. London: Vincent Stuart, Ltd.P. 186. have stressed the serious, social costs of unplanned and unregulated industrialization and urbanization. Among these they included: impairment of the human factor of production, the social costs of air pollution, depletion and destruction of animal resources, soil erosion, soil depletion and deforestation, the social costs of technological change, the social costs of unemployment and idle resources, monopoly and social losses, social costs of distribution, social costs of transportation, urban life and health, the problem of chemicals in food, environment and cancer, radiation and human health, and industrial farming. Social science research pointed long ago to an extremely important policy question, i.e., physical and community decentralization on a substantial scale. No doubt physical decentralization will be tried to some extent, once modern man realizes that excessive urbanization as a handmaiden to mass society tends to destroy genuine community. A rough understanding of such possibilities must be part of the equipment of the civic-minded citizen of our time, let alone the policy maker. 4. Contributions in Designing Techniques and Methods for Dealing with Social Complexity: It is beyond the capacity of even the most ambitious effort to list all methods of dealing with the complexity of social phenomena. However, the following list was mentioned by Henry Winthrop ‭ ‬Winthrop,‭ ‬Henry.‭ ‬1968.‭ ‬Ventures in Social Interpretation.‭ ‬New York:‭ ‬Appleton-Century-Crofts.‭ ‬Pp.‭ ‬282-83.: Cybernetics, operations research, general systems theory, new developments in economic theory and their applications, e.g., input-output analysis, linear programming, activity analysis, etc., new mathematical developments and their applications in the social sciences, e.g., game theory, theory of convex sets, polygons and polyhedral cones, as used in activity analysis, graph theory, Monte Carlo theory, etc., administration and organization theory, mathematical models in the social sciences, science and information theory, decision-theory, operant learning and conditioning and their educational and social implications, the use of symbolic logic in scientific research in the natural and social sciences, data-processing and computer theory and its applications, human engineering and human factors analysis, systems analysis in the natural and social sciences, simulation technique in the behavioral and social sciences, recent developments in the philosophy of science, new interdisciplinary fields in the natural and social sciences, e.g., zetetics, the unity of science movement, etc. Policy-oriented social science researchers are using many of these techniques in solving complex problems in many areas, i.e., organization and management, absenteeism and labor relations, economics, market research, efficiency and productivity, organization of flow in factories, methods of quality control, inspection and sampling, organization of technological change, transport, stocking, distribution and handling, rural and agricultural development, and communications. 5- Exposing and Developing the Concept of Human Capital and its Policy Implications: It was not until the late fifties when the subject of the economics of human resources as a field of inquiry began to revolutionize such traditional subjects as growth economics, labor economics, international trade and public finance. Today, economists, instead of dealing with the labor market in terms of homogeneous units of labor and capital, they realize that improvements in the quality of the labor force can have dramatic effects on economic growth. Changing hiring standards and promotions within jobs, planned expansion of collectively provided education, how much a country should spend on education, how should the expenditure be financed, education being mainly consumption or mainly investment and many other inquiries form the subject matter of a full-blown discipline of the economics of human resources. The core concept of this discipline is "human capital." Theodore W. Shultz, the most influential and recognized throned king of this discipline states: Although it is obvious that people acquire useful skills and knowledge, it is not obvious that these skills and knowledge are a form of capital, that this capital is in substantial part a product of deliberate investment, that it has grown in Western societies at a much faster rate than conventional (nonhuman) capital, and that its growth may well be the most distinctive feature of the economic system. It has been widely observed that increases in national output have been large compared with the increases of land, man-hours, and physical reproducible capital. Investment in human capital is probably the major explanation for this difference..... I shall contend that such investment in human capital accounts for most of the impressive rise in the real earnings per worker. (Schultz Schultz, T. W. 1961. "Investment in Human Capital." American Economic Review, 51: P. 1.) Schultz does not emphasize the quantitative dimensions of human resources (the number of people, the proportion who enter upon useful work, and hours worked ..etc.), but, rather, he focuses on the quality components as skill, knowledge, and similar attributes that affect particular human capabilities to do productive work. He distinguishes between expenditures for consumption and expenditures for investment. He mentions three classes of expenditures: those that satisfy consumer preferences and in no way enhance the capabilities under discussion - they represent pure consumption; expenditures that enhance capabilities and do not satisfy any preferences underlying consumption- these represent pure investment; and expenditures that have both effects. He believes that most relevant activities clearly are in the third class. This is why, according to him, measurement of capital formation by expenditures is less useful for human investment than for investment in physical goods. Accordingly, he suggests an alternative method for estimating human investment, namely by its yield rather than by its cost. "While any capability produced by human investment becomes a part of the human agent and hence cannot be sold, it is nevertheless 'in touch with the market place' by affecting the wages and salaries the human agent can earn. The resulting increase in earnings is the yield on the investment" (Schultz Ibid. p. 10. ). In trying to operationalize the concept of human capital, Schultz mentioned some of the more important activities that 'improve ' human capabilities: (1) health facilities and services; (2) on- the-job training, including old-style apprenticeship organized by firms; (3) formally organized education at the elementary, secondary, and higher levels; (4) study programs for adults that are not organized by firms, including extension programs notably in agriculture; (5) migration of individuals and families to adjust to changing job opportunities. He believes that, except for education, not much is known about these activities that is germane here. Along similar lines of thought, and much in agreement with Schultz, Johnson Johnson, H. G. 1964. "Toward a Generalized Capital Accumulation Approach to Economic Development." Pp.219-25 in Residual Factors and Economic Growth, Paris, O.E.C.D distinguishes between two types of capital, i.e., consumption capital, which yields a flow of services enjoyed directly and therefore contributing to utility, and production capital, which yields a flow of goods the consumption of which yields utility. Returns from the latter are observable, and therefore more amenable to measurement than the returns on consumption capital. He mentions the problems of economic analysis measurement and policy formation arising from all forms of capital other than capital goods. He also states that capital goods are not completely free of some of these problems. Depending upon the notion of the relationships of complementarities and substitutability in both production and consumption that may exist between types of capital, and aiming "toward a generalized capital accumulation approach to economic development," he points to the desirability of aiming at both balanced investment in the production of complementary types of capital and the selection of the most efficient combinations of types of capital in the light of the relative costs of different kinds of investment. His support for investment in human capital can be illustrated by his concluding statements: Apart from its implications for planning for economic growth, a generalized capital accumulation approach to economic development points to the potential fruitfulness of research into and analysis of the efficiency of a wide range of processes and policies that involve the allocation of capital but are not usually thought of as concerned with investment. Institutional arrangements for supporting and rewarding fundamental and applied research, considered as an industry producing intellectual capital, provide an even greater challenge to economists. .....Perhaps the most important area requiring rationalization in terms of a broadened concept of capital accumulation, however, is the theory and practice of public finance. Not only do income tax systems typically make a very poor adjustment for the capital investment element in personal income, but the necessity of recouping by income and profits taxation the costs of investments in human capital customarily provided free or at a subsidized price to the people invested in creates disincentives to the efficient use and accumulation of capital of all kinds (Johnson Johnson, op. cit. p. 25. .) In summary, human capital denotes all acquired capabilities of man and their related nonmaterial products. Even human health is hardly regarded by the present writer as a component of human capital. Health, in view of its physical nature and excluding famine-struck and very poor societies, could be regarded only as a prerequisite or an infrastructure for human capital rather than human capital itself. It is, of course, a basic element of human capital for the seven hundred million people living in a state of "hunger" in today's world. Derived from, and depending upon, diagram 1 mentioned above, the following diagram 3 illustrates proposed components and items of the concept of human capital.” Dream high, score low" is probably a required strategy for the concept of human capital development and its implementation. The notion of a "20-20 human development compact" adopted by delegates to the World Social Summit for Development lists a number of targets for human development: (a) universal primary education for girls and boys; (b) a 50% reduction in adult illiteracy rates, with the female rate to be no higher than the rate for males; © primary health care for all, with special emphasis on the immunization of children; (d) elimination of severe malnutrition and a 50% reduction in moderate malnutrition rates; (e) family planning services for all willing couples; (f) safe drinking water and sanitation for all; (g) credit for all, to ensure self-employment opportunities. These targets are probably suitable for famine-struck or very poor societies, but, due to a narrow concept of human capital, they don't seem to help much the majority of developing nations. The concept these targets are derived from seems to be data driven, depends on static averages and ignores the dynamic processes and capabilities representing the major crux of human development. Our conceptions should not be barred by limited data. I agree with Baron and Hannan Baron, James N. and Michael T. Hannan. 1994. "The Impact of Economics on Contemporary Sociology." Journal of Economic Literature. Vol. XXXII (September):1111-1146. that human capital theory proposed by Becker in 1964 has probably influenced sociology more than any other economic theory, but I see no justification for them to ceil the growth of human capital theory to "couch(ing) schooling, health, and other behaviors in investment terms." They say that "sociologists employed the language of human capital to refer to personal characteristics that have value in labor markets, without always specifying any structure of investment or depreciation." They even seem to be resentful of what they call a "minor sociological industry" that "has arisen to construct sociological parallels to human capital." Under the title "A Plethora of Capitals" they mention "consumption capital" proposed as, they say, by Stigler and Becker, "linguistic and cultural capital" mentioned by Pierre Bourdieu who also talked about "economic capital, social and cultural capital, capital of academic power, capital of intellectual renown and capital of political or economic power" (Bourdieu Bourdieu, Pierre. 1988. Homo academicus. Stanford: Stanford U. Press. Pp. 39-40.). They finally mention Siegwart Lindenberg's Lindenberg, Siegwart. 1992. "Self-Command Capital and the Problem of Agency." Paper presented at the Annual Meetings of the American Sociological Association. Pittsburgh. concept of self-command capital, i.e., the capacity to take authoritative direction, which makes a person attractive to employers. I tend to disagree with Baron and Hannan's apparent bordering of the concept of human capital within its traditional education, health and other "purely" economic dimensions. Humans are the makers of great civilizations; if we don't delve into their talents and identify their miraculous capabilities, to the best of our abilities, the concept of human capital will always be short of adequate exploration. The following diagram illustrates a much more elaborate plethora of human capitals, which I hope does not complicate more an already complex endeavor in pursuit of awareness of the human capital concept and implications. Almost all of these items have been studied, and many of them quantifiably, by different social science disciplines. Probably, this could be the particular subject that will evoke a real interdisciplinary social science movement. Social scientists need to expand the interaction effect as they work together in grasping what they have long failed to comprehend in isolation. PSYCHO- LOGICAL SOCIO- LOGICAL ECO- NOMIC POLI- TICAL CUL- TURAL *Creativity and innovativeness *Achievement motivation. *Psychic complacency. *Empathy. *Morale and group identification. *Level of education, on- the-job training, adult education programs. *Migratory labor adjustments and viable pop./resources distribution. *Organizational competence (efficiency and effectiveness). *The art and science of planning and management. *Institutional viability and institutional arrangements for supporting and rewarding basic and applied research. *Women and popular participation. *Cooperation, community integration and solidarity. Economic rationality. *Conservation-exploitation equilibrium. *Partnership between government, private sector and NGO's. *Capital accessibility to the masses. *Distributional justice. *Appropriate and environmentally sound technology. *Rational practice of public finance. *Political participation. *Democracy. *Human security (against hunger, disease, crime and repression. *Enlargement of people's choices. *Clear cultural convictions. *Cultural openness. *Clearly identifiable and strongly adopted normative standards. *Minimum degree of cultural contradictions. Diagram 3. Components of the Concept of Human Capital 6-Exposing and Measuring the Role of Science and Technology in Socio-economic Development: Most of natural science research findings are similar to gold, iron ore or otherwise, buried in a mine. Social science research evaluates these findings as to their value and benefits in addition to devising the techniques for their extension and adoption by targeted beneficiaries. It is recognized that the significance of science and technical change is that it permits the substitution of knowledge for resources, of inexpensive and abundant resources for scarce and expensive resources or that it releases the constraints on growth imposed by inelastic resource supply. This function is implemented by the use of social science knowledge and research. Taking agricultural research as an example of natural science research, we find that economic research, as representative of social science research, has illustrated the high rates of return to investment in agricultural research-well above the 10 to 15 percent (above inflation) that private firms consider adequate to attract investment (Ruttan Ruttan, Vernon W. 1982. Agricultural Research Policy. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. P. 241.). Ruttan presented more than 60 estimates of annual internal rate of return to investments in agricultural research, the following is a random selection presented in table 1. Table 1. Selected Studies of Agricultural Research Productivity STUDY COUNTRY COMMO- DITY TIME PERIOD ANNUAL INTERNAL RATE OF RETURN % Griliches,1958 USA Hybrid corn 1940-1955 35-40 Ayer, 1970 Brazil Cotton 1924-1967 77+ Hayami and Akino, 1977 Japan Rice 1915-1950 25-27 same same same 1930-1961 73-75 Nagy and Furtan, 1978 Canada Rapeseed 1960-1975 95-110 Evenson, 1979 Southern USA Technology oriented 1948-1971 130 Ruttan, Ruttan, Vernon W. 1995. "Commentary: Science and Technology in Agricultural Development." IFPRI Report (International Food Policy Research Institute) Vol. 17, No. 2:8. P. 8. in his "commentary: science and technology in agricultural development," writes : As the end of the twentieth century approaches, it is clear that the three high-payoff investments responsible for generating growth of agricultural production are investment in (1) the capacity of a public-sector agricultural research system to develop locally relevant scientific knowledge and technology; (2) the capacity of the private sector to develop, produce, and market the new inputs that embody the knowledge and technology generated by research; and (3) the education of rural people to enable them to make effective use of the new knowledge and technology. SOCIAL PROCESSES An interactive situation commences whenever two or more people begin to influence one another. It last as long as the participants continue to be influenced by one another without shift of interest away from the immediate contact. It is terminated when the contact is broken and the interest of those involved shifts to another situation. For example, an interaction begins as husband and wife discuss their son’s difficulty with mathematics. This situation ends suddenly when the man glances at his watch, jumps up, kisses his wife , and rushes to meet his tennis companions. PRIMARY PROCESSES OF INTERACTION These are cooperation, competition, and conflict. All other so-called processes of interaction are actually one or a combination of these three. Cooperation: When two or more human beings are working together to achieve objectives that will be mutually beneficial to all concerned, they are engaged in cooperation. It is believed that the entire process of evolution emerged from the abilities of individual organisms in certain species to integrate their activities through mutual aid. Survival of the fittest is actually survival of the most cooperative types of organisms. Human cooperation is much more complex than animal cooperation. Two coyotes may cooperate to corner a rabbit. But this is much simpler than the cooperation of human beings to produce a carton of milk. This human cooperation requires the integrated efforts of the cattle raiser, the farm work involved, transportation, pasteurization, advertising, mathematics, business techniques, the wholesaler-retailer chain… etc. This complexity is made possible by the ability of human beings to identify with each other’s attitudes and feelings much more than seems to be the case with other animals. Another facet of cooperation is that when two or more human beings work together to achieve an objective, they may benefit mutually but unequally from their efforts. The word “cooperation” should not be take to imply equal distribution of the rewards. Management and labor cooperation in bringing coal out of a mine, but their respective rewards for such effort are not the same. Competition: When two or more individuals are trying to obtain possession of something that is not available in quantities sufficient to satisfy all of them, they are engaged in competition. Say two grocery stores open up in a neighborhood that cannot supply enough business to provide both store owners with the margin of profit that will make their labor worthwhile. The two shopkeepers are in competition. Several social philosophers and other students of social life have argued that competition rather cooperation is the most basic of social processes. This was essentially the viewpoint of Charles Darwin, and it is mostly correct in a general sense. Plants compete for sunlight, water, and nourishment. Animals compete for sexual gratification and food. But although the view that competition is the natural condition of all existence applies generally to human interaction, it fails to explain much of the competition in which individuals engage. We compete for trophies, grades, money, impressive automobiles and clothes, political office, favorable attention from the opposite sex. All these items satisfy culturally acquired needs, but none imperative to life. Rivalry: Rivalry is the same as competition, as both follow the rules of honest competition, except that rivalry is a more personal and vigorous process than competition. Competing parties may exist without personal knowledge of each others. Cotton growers in Egypt may compete with those growers in Mississippi. But, rivalry becomes more vigorous as the competing parties know each others personally and the rewards expected are more than those in case of competition. Conflict: When abandoning honest rules of competition, and rivals begin to thwart, harm, or destroy one another, individuals are engaged in conflict. Conflict has been viewed, like competition, as a natural and inevitable condition of life. Thomas Hobbs expressed this belief. He contended that men are naturally destructive and vengeful. He considered it a redeeming characteristic of human beings that they had the ability to develop strong governments that prevented them from following their natural inclination to indulge in perpetual conflict. Evidence collected since Hobbes does not support his theory as a universal principle. Human conflict, unlike animal conflict, is complicated and takes different forms. Many different kinds of physical conflict can take place. Fight by words is another form of conflict. It could be more dangerous as it ruins reputation or careers. Some writers believe that a major source of conflict lies in inadequate communication. But the fact remains that people who speak the same language engage in family feuds and civil wars. In fact, increased contact may accentuate the difference and the seemingly irreconcilable objectives, fears and insecurities arising from observation of potential rival. Coser and Dahrenhorf as well as other conflict theorists believe that conflict, in spite of its dangers, does have certain positive functions for society: (1) Conflict may connote adventure, novelty, growth, clarification, creation, and dialectical rationality. (2) Conflict acts as a safety valve for the society. Small scale series of conflicts prevent the occurrence of a total explosion that may eradicate the stable and coherent nature of the society. (3) Conflict encourages social change and act as an agent for revitalizing societies. (4) Conflict leads to group formation, and strengthening the integrity of existing groups normally involved in conflict. SECONDARY PROCESSES OF INTERACTION There are two secondary processes of interaction: accommodation and assimilation. Both are essentially related to cooperation. Accommodation: When two or more people involved in conflict with one another agree to suspend or cease hostilities, this interaction between them is termed accommodation. Accommodation is a state of cooperation emerging from a conflict situation. One example is an agreement between two individuals to postpone their struggle because they are physically exhausted; another example is “cold war” on the international level. Accommodation is also exemplified by relatively permanent adjustments, as when two nations that have been warring over their respective boundaries lay down their arms, sign a treaty delineating the agreed-upon borders of each country, and respect this agreement thereafter. Still another example of accommodation is a community in which two ethnic groups have been hostile toward each other for years, engaging in open conflict from time to time. Gradually the members of one group come to know those of the other better and better. They vote on the same issues, fight common community perils, unite to make civic improvements. The children of one group find themselves play in with children of the other group. The parents work in the dame establishments, shop in the same stores, attend same gatherings in the same schools. Imperceptibly, individuals from one group decide that those from the other are worthy of respect. Conflict diminishes, until finally it exists no longer. The two groups have accommodated, one to the other, more or less permanently. Assimilation: When two or more cultural groups living in the same locality are in the process of uniting and becoming a single cultural group, the form of interaction taking place is termed assimilation. This process is marked by the gradual disappearance of some cultural differences distinguishing the groups and is a product of prolonged cooperation between or among them. Egyptisn culture has its distinctive characteristics today, has borrowed from the cultures of the Chinese, the Indians and the immigrants from many lands who came and still come to this country. Similarly, a full measure of the cultures of incoming Poles, Russians, Britons, Italians, Germans and many others has been incorporated into the American way of life. Afro-Americans have contributed elements of their original African cultures in the States. The ancestors of the Americans in Pennsylvania contribute elements of Hungarian culture. Also, new arrivals to the American land have taken over many cultural elements from other groups, so have newer arrivals to this land borrowed aspects of the culture they found there. Assimilation is a two-way process. But this does not mean that one group exchanges all of its cultural characteristics for an entirely different set of cultural characteristics. Immigrants to America do not enter a figurative melting pot and emerge “100 percent Americans,” each exactly like every other individual in this country, in every respect culturally identical. Realistically considered, American culture is not one culture, but a mosaic of a number of cultural patterns. GROUPS, ORGANIZSTION, AND CULTURE Above mentioned, the problems of social interaction have been simplified to social situations involving not more than two people. Presently social situations involving more than two people will be considered, First, interaction may take place between members of small social groups with three, four, or more members. Second, there may be differences of power, status or role in social organizations. Third, people are steeped status or role in social class background, which prescribes the linguistic and non-linguistic means of communication, as well as the rules governing behavior in different situations. MEMBERSHIP OF SMALL SOCIAL GROUPS A great deal of social interaction takes place between people who are members of small social groups – such as work-team committees or groups of friends. Small social groups are an essential part of life; they are joined because many activities cannot be performed alone – most kinds of sport and work, for example. They also satisfy the various social motivations. People often join a group for economic or other non-social reasons in the first place; they then become attached to the group. There has been a great deal of research into small social groups, mainly by means of laboratory experiments, in which groups of different kinds are created, subjected to various experimental conditions, and their behavior carefully recorded. Groups of two (dyads) are of special interest since they provide the simplest instances of social interaction, and because more complex cases are explicable in terms of the principles which work here. However, dyads are unique in a number of ways – they are less stable and there is more danger of interaction collapsing, there are more signs of tension, but there is less expression of agreement and disagreement. Groups of three also have certain unique features. The addition of a third member to a dyad, even merely as an observer, changes the situation entirely. Each of the original participants now has to consider how his behavior will be affected differently if this is (a) an attractive girl; (b) his mother; (c) his tutor, etc. If the new member takes part in interaction, the situation is changed further. A and B may have worked out their decision to speak to C now, as C has to be fitted into this hierarchy – he may dominate both, be intermediate, or be dominated by both. A and B may have worked out the level of intimacy they can tolerate; C and A, and C and B, have now to work out the same problem, and the result may affect the relationship as it might be weakened. In groups of three there are various kinds of internal competition and jockeying for position. With three males there is usually a straight battle for dominance, and the weakest become excluded. If there are two males and one female, the males will compete for the attention of the female. Females behave rather differently; if there are three females and one begins to get left out, the others will work hard to keep her in . If there is one powerful and dominating member of a triad, the others may from a coalition in which weak against the strong is observed in small group experiments and in real life: it has been summarized by the proposition ‘in weakness there is strength’. As group size increases from four to ten or more the character of interaction changes. It is less easy to participate, both because others want to take the floor and because of greater audience anxiety; it is less easy to influence what the others will do; there is greater discrepancy between the amount of interaction of different members – in large groups the majority scarcely speak at all; the variety of personality and talent present is greater differentiation of styles of behavior; discussion is less inhibited and there is ready expression of disagreement; if the group has work to do, there is a greater tendency to create rules and arrange for division of labor. Most people seem to prefer as much as they want to and exert influence over other personalities and talents among those present for tacking common tasks or for purely social purposes. Groups develop definite ‘pecking orders’ in terms of amount of speech and influence permitted. During the early meetings of the group there is a struggle for status amongst those individuals strong in dominance motivation, as with groups of two and three. When the order has settled down, a characteristic pattern of interaction is found. The low status members at the bottom of this hierarchy talk little, they address the senior members politely and deferentially, and little notice is taken of what they have to say. A person’s position in the hierarchy is primarily a function of how useful he has been in the past; thus the hierarchy is maintained in equilibrium - people are allowed to talk and are listened to if their contributions are expected to be useful. The group uses techniques of reward and punishment to maintain this system: a person who talks too much is punished, while high-status members who feel sleepy are stimulated to speak. When people with different positions in the hierarchy interact, the pattern of relationship between them is part of the total scheme of group organization. If they meet when away from the group entirely it is likely that the interaction between them will partly revert to one simply dependent on their two personalities. In addition to having different degrees of status and influence, group members adopt styles of behavior which are differentiated in other ways. Sociologists have found that in discussion groups there was usually a popular person, a task-specialist, and sometimes a third person who was very active. It is interesting that the same person does not do all these things – reflecting contrasting types of motivation among the members. An analysis of role differentiation was made by Davis who studied 172 ‘Great Books’ clubs in America. The task roles of providing ‘fuel’, putting the ‘threads’ of the discussion together, and clarification, were generally performed by the same person; the social roles of making tactful comments to heal hurt feeling, and joining, were performed by others. Groups develop norms of behavior, which can be regarded as a kind of culture in miniature. Such norms will govern the styles of social behavior which are approved and admired. Anyone who fails to conform is placed under pressure to do so, and if he does not is rejected. Numerous experiments show that a deviate becomes the object of considerable attention, and of efforts to persuade him to change his deviation is on some matter which is important to the group, which challenges deeply-held beliefs. An interesting exception to this is for persons very high in formal status, in virtue of their contributions to the group; Hollander has suggested that they earn ‘idiosyncrasy credit’ and the group gives them permission to deviate – their deviation is seen as a possibly new line of action rather than as a failure to attain the approved standard. It is important that people should deviate from the norm in a constructive way and lead the group to adopt a better solution to its problems in response to a changing external situation. If two members meet outside the group setting, and the behavior of one is nearer to the group norms than the other, he will be less likely to change in order to adjust to the other. Indeed he will probably try to change the other’s behavior, and have confidence based on the group’s social support. Two people from different groups are apt to treat each other as ‘outsiders’, members of the out-group, and to reject one another through their failure to conform to the norms of the in-group. If they meet in the territory of one of the groups, the other member will even come to accept himself as the outsider, and feel under some pressure to conform to the norms, or accept himself as inferior and rejected. When a group is engaged in the performance of a task, as are work groups, committees, and sports teams, the interactions between members will depend on the way the task brings them together. The very nature of the task is a major factor in determining the status hierarchy: those who are best at the task or most able to contribute to its solution will be most influential. Several experiments with laboratory groups have shown how changing the group task will lead to changes of leadership. The group task may create certain lines of communication between group members and suppress others. One consequence of this is that those in the most central positions become most influential and come to assume a dominant role. Berkowitz found that in a star pattern (diagram 4) D becomes the dominant member; if D was not an assertive personality, it took him a number of trials before he came to accept the dominant role. A B D C Diagram 4: Star pattern of communication Group members are usually interested in the successful accomplishment of the group task; they will work together, help one another, i.e. cooperate to this end. They are also inclined to compete – through the operation of dominance or achievement motivation, or the hope of getting a bigger share of the proceeds. Group behavior is typically both cooperative and competitive. It is possible to accentuate either of these tendencies by experimental manipulation. If group members are to share equally in the group product, they will cooperate; if the best performer is to take all, they will compete. Experiments have found that under cooperative motive members help each other more, there is more division of labor, and they come to like one another; performance at group tasks requiring joint effort is superior. Under competition hostile attitudes will develop; an example of this is the payment of sales girls by individual piece-work, leading to their fighting over the more desirable customers. SOCIAL ORGANIZATIONS A great deal of social behavior takes place against a background of social organization - in families, industry, hospitals, and else-where. ‘Social organization’ means the existence of a series of ranks, positions or offices – such as father, foreman, hospital sister, etc. which persist regardless of particular occupants. Certain behavior is found to be characteristic of most occupants of a position: a waiter is polite and submissive to the diners, but he does not behave like this to the cooks, or when he is off duty: it is part of the role of waiter. By a ‘role’ is meant a pattern of behavior which is shared by most occupants of a position, and which comes to be expected of them. The role usually includes a series of distinct relationships with people in other positions. A hospital sister has a different relationship with patients, visitors, nurses, housemen, surgeons, and so on. Social organization introduces a totally new element which has not so far been considered. To predict how A and B will behave towards one another it may be much more useful to know about their personalities or preferred styles of interaction. In the extreme cases of church services and drill parades the whole course of interaction can be ‘predicted’ by knowing the formal procedure. Even a person’s popularity may be more a function of his position than of his personality – it depends whether he has a rewarding role like awarding bonuses of giving out free buns, or has a punitive role. Behavior in organizations differs from that in small social groups in a number of ways. Interaction patterns are not so much a product of particular groups of personalities, but are part of the organizational structure. People come to occupy positions of influence or leadership not through the spontaneous choice of their subordinates, but because they are placed there by higher authority. Further more, they have power, i.e. they can control sanctions of reward or punishment; for example, more senior officers in the services are entitled to administer a greater number of days’ detention. This formal power may become ‘legitimated’ if the junior members come to accept the authority of their seniors, in the light of evidence that the latter really are good at the job. Social organization is an essential part of modern life, because it would be impossible to coordinate the activities of the numbers of people involved in large-scale enterprises without extensive division of labor and a hierarchy of leadership. As a small workshop expands to become a factory, or when a guerrilla band becomes an army, the paraphernalia of social organization becomes necessary. To manufacture motor cars, for example, thousands of different parts must be made by a large number of different people and fitted together. This requires a great deal of planning and coordination. Social organization is essential, but the precise forms which we have are not necessarily the best and are in fact found to be dissatisfying by many who serve in them. It is impossible to understand why the members of an organization interact as they do without knowing their organization chart. Consider diagram 5. It is likely that A will have rather strained, formal relations with his immediate superior, B; an uneasy mixture of cooperation and competition with his co-worker, C; friends , relaxed relations with D, if he knows him; friendly, not quite so relaxed relations with E, slightly strained by the difference in rank, but not disturbed by power relations. How do people come to learn the role behavior appropriate their positions as waiters, hospital sisters, and so on? It is partly a matter of selection – since only some people want the job, and selection by higher authority as being of ‘ the right type’. There are also special training courses, social pressures on the job for those who do not conform, and spontaneous imitation of senior practitioners. The job itself may require a certain style – teachers acquire a loud, clear, and didactic voice as this is needed in order to do the job. F B E a b c d Diagram 5: Organization chart Since behavior carries with it the rank or position of the other, it is important to be able to categorize people; many organizations have uniforms, and members of others can usually be placed by more subtle aspects of their appearance. When an outsider enters an organization, even for a short visit, there is great pressure to find out his ‘equivalent’ so that everyone shall know exactly how to treat him. In many primitive societies the main principle of social organization is not rank but family relationship: a potential mother-in-law is avoided, an uncle is played jokes on, and so forth. It is reported of one savage tribe which operated such a classificatory kinship system that if it could not be discovered how a visitor was related to everyone he was eaten – because people did not know how to behave towards him. In western society, when people of different social status meet, at conferences, office parties, and the like, there is a characteristic type of interaction: Note the keen interest, the total absorption of the lesser members… The greater member is looking past the ear of the lesser, scanning the through for an acquaintance whose status is greater than his own from whom enhancement may be drawn. Permanent relationships in the organization have a similar quality. Less important people are much concerned about what their superiors think of them; their superiors, however, are more concerned with what their superiors are thinking. Organizations differ in the jobs they do – compare hospitals, universities, and factories. They differ in the contents of the roles in them – compare hospital sisters, professors, and managers, they differ in the amount of power leaders have over their subordinates, and in the social distance between them. They differ in the ‘organizational climate’, i.e. the general pattern of relationships between members, and particularly the styles of supervision which are used. The climates of different firms and different universities are very different. So far the importance of the organizational structure has been emphasized. In fact, there are considerable deviations from this on the part of individuals, who may take their roles in unusual ways, despite the expectations and pressures of others. If A is the supervisor of B, an important climate of each will play a part. However, A and B will work out their own particular pattern, and the personalities and preferred social techniques of become an important determinant of the relations between them. A may succeed in establishing a more dominant, authoritarian relation, or B may manage to have more voice in decisions than is usual. This might be a result of the basic motivations of A and B, or because they have had previous experience in another organization with a rather different climate – as when a brigadier becomes a professor, or a hospital sister becomes a teacher organizational climate may change. There is a further aspect of social organization which is found in industrial and similar organizations - the work – flow system. To coordinate the efforts of all those concerned, work people may be grouped in various ways. They may be on assembly line, which means that they interact only with their neighbors, but are dependent on the whole group for their pay. They may be in a group under a forman on individual piece-work, or may be isolated at control points in an automated system. These arrangements have definite effects on the relations between people – it may make them love or hate each other – depending on whether they are helping or hindering one another; it may make communications easy or impossible, as a result of their hours and places of work. A simple example is the case of a commercial organization in which customers went first to the sales department, and then to the credit department. After the salesmen had done a lot of work making a sale, as a often as not the credit department would not allow no credit, so that the sale was cancelled. This resulted in a great wastage of time and in hostility between the two departments. The solution produced by industrial consultants was simply to reverse the order of the two departments so that credit was cleared first. CULTURE, ETHNICITY AND SOCIAL CLASS Culture refers to a set of values, ideas, artifacts, and other meaningful symbols that help individuals communicate, interpret, and evaluate as members of society. It has been described as the “blueprint” of human activity, determining the coordinates of social action and productive activity. Culture has also been defined as a set of socially acquired behavior patterns transmitted symbolically through language and other means to the members of a particular society. Culture does not include instincts or idiosyncratic behavior occurring as a one-time solution to a unique problem. It does, however, reflect certain influences from factors such as ethnicity, race, religion, and national or regional identity, as seen in the following diagram. As some of these elements change within a society, so then does the culture change. * Ethnicity *Race *Religion *Religion or national identity Culture Abstract/ Behavioral Physical/ Material * Values * Norms * Rituals * Symbols * Artifacts * Technology * Infrastructure Diagram 6. Influences on Culture Culture includes both abstract and material elements, which allow us to describe, evaluate, and differentiate cultures. Abstract elements include values, attitudes, ideas, personality types, and summary constructs, such as religion or politics. Social interaction takes place within a cultural setting. By the culture of a group of people is meant their whole way of life – their shared patterns of behavior, their common ideas and beliefs, their technology, and their art, science, literature, and history. There is a culture that is shared by the inhabitants of Great Britain, and there are sub-cultures for particular geographical areas, social classes and organizations, and even for particular small social groups. Several aspects of culture affect the processes of interaction, notably the conventions governing social behavior, moral rules about interpersonal behavior, verbal and non-verbal means of communication, and other social techniques. Culture is studied by anthropologists and sociologists, who carry out descriptive field studies of particular groups of people. Social conventions. In any culture there are a series of rules and expectations governing most kinds of social encounter, and there are classes of accepted types of encounters into which every interaction should fall. At Oxford University, for example, a faculty member can meet students at lectures, tutorials, discussion classes, or to give personal advice and guidance. He can meet his friends at sherry parties, dinner, ‘coffee’, etc. In each of these situations it is generally understood how long the encounter will last (in some the actual time of day is fixed), what clothes shall be worn (e.g. whether a gown, suit, etc.), how much of the time each person will talk, whether they stand or sit, and so on. This pattern of conventions varies sharply between different culture and sub-cultures, and certain types of encounter may be unique to a particular culture. Visitors to the U.S.A. may have to learn what happens at a pyjama party, a bull session, a picnic, a baby shower, and may have to learn the elaborate rules which surround dating. When visiting someone to ask a favor in West Africa it is assumed that a gift will be presented – not as a bribe, just as the traditional exchange of gifts. The rules governing selling vary in different parts of the world, and the procedure will involve more or less bargaining and take more or less time accordingly. If one party breaks the cultural rules this creates anger and consternation among the others involved. In some social skills it is necessary to teach clients the new cultural tradition – as with subjects of motivation research interviews, or patient undergoing psychotherapy. It seems to be usual to create the impression that there is a stable tradition, which the newcomer hasn’t heard about. A peculiarity of research in psychology is that subjects are placed in very unusual situations – but even here there has come to be a tradition, governing how long it shall take, how much subjects are paid, how much they are told, and so on. New words are created to cover new situations, which become added to the cultural store. If a person does not know the word he will be unlikely to distinguish the situation or to know about the rules. Ideas and normal values are rules of conduct of a rather different kind. Compared with most social conventions, e.g. when to wear a tie or a suit, they are more directly concerned with interpersonal behavior, and particularly with behavior which will help or harm other people. Furthermore, disapproval is more severe when they are broken. In modern societies there are great variations between different groups of people in the extent to which different moral values and ideas are accepted. They are taught by parents, teachers, clergymen, politicians, and others, and are learned by children brought up in the culture. Values and ideals function as restraints which control and inhibit certain spontaneous patterns of behavior. while aggressive and sexual behavior are among the main targets of these controls, the whole style and strategy of social behavior may also, be affected. Moral codes may be learned as simple sets of rules – ‘It is wrong to tell a lie’. Or as rather high-level principles such as ‘Do unto others as you would they do unto you’. They may be expressed as attitudes which should be adopted – ‘Love your neighbor’. Most moral codes in fact recommend behavior which is more affiliative, less dominating, and less aggressive than social behavior often is. Moral may take the form of ideals to be followed, and cultures can be distinguished by the heroes which they admire most. In many cases the hero has a well-defined style of social behavior – compare Jesus of the parables, the nineteenth – century English gentleman, and the cowboy of 1890 vintage, to name a few at random. There are rewards for behaving in accordance with such ideals. The grosser failures are punished by legal sanctions, the less gross by general public disapproval. The higher levels of moral attainment are reward by social approval, sometimes by social mobility, or by hopes of better prospects in the next life. It is interesting that while the specific rules are impossible to obey (Never tell a lie), the more general ones (Love your neighbor) are exceedingly vague. The study of interpersonal behavior may perhaps be able to suggest how such ideals could be spelled out in more detail. Social techniques. Within a given culture there is a shared language, so that every utterance has an agreed meaning. Nonverbal acts also have special meanings. So that it is not enough just to learn the language when traveling abroad. Without attempting an exhaustive account, a few examples can be given to show the extent of these. Verbal techniques: There are variations in the way communications are composed. Americans put commands in the form of queries or suggestions: ‘Would You like to’. Arab speech contains a great deal of exaggeration and emphasis: ‘If an Arab says what he means without the expected exaggeration, other Arabs may still think that he means the opposite’. Thus an Arab will continue to pursue a girl who does not rebuff him vigorously enough, and will assume a visitor really wants more to eat unless he refuses three times. English upper-middle-class speech includes considerable understatement; a person who fails to follow this convention is regarded as boastful. There are interesting variations in the significance of non-verbal noises - hissing in Japan signifies deference to social superiors, but not in Britain. Gestures are used quite differently in different cultures. Ruesch and kees observe how British and American gestures are directed towards activity, e.g. the hitch hiking sign; Italian gestures are a passionate and expansive expression of emotion; Jewish gestures accompany words to emphasize and underline the points made; French gestures are elegant and precise and display taste and style. The same gesture may have a quite different meaning in two cultures. Sticking out the tongue means an apology in parts of China, the evil eye in parts of India deference in Tibet, and simple negation in the Marquesans. Facial expression: Although the facial expression of emotion is party innate and universal, there is a lot of cultural modification. The Japanese smile when bringing bad news, while in a number of countries it is customary to conceal emotional states. Eye-contact is taboo during conversation in parts of the Far East; such avoidance of eve-contact in Western countries would be regarded as a sign of rudeness or mental disorder. Physical Distance: People from the Middle East or south America will stand closer than Europeans or Americans. Bodily contact takes very diverse forms in different cultures – various kinds of embracing, stroking, buffeting, or kissing to greet people. Various kinds of hand-holding or leg- entwining during encounters. Establishing rapport: It was observed above that Americans are to establish a certain, rather superficial contact very quickly, whereas the British are experienced as more ‘stand –offish’, or simply difficult to get to know. This may be due to differences in affiliative motivation or to differences in the social techniques which are acquired. Etiquette: All cultures have their rules and expectations; when these are elaborate and rigid they are referred to as ‘etiquette’. In Western countries, it is only in old – fashioned upper- class circles that these rules are make into explicit codes of etiquette. In the Far East, especially in Japan, formal etiquette is more widely followed, but this only applies to certain traditional social situations, and not apparently to getting on buses and trains. There has been a tendency to move away from formality in America, according to Riesman and his colleagues, there is a cult of the informal or ‘familial’ style of behavior, when people speak, they do not ‘perform’, they have no ‘presence’, in contrast to the behavior of Europeans. Much of what is sometimes described as ‘national character’ can be looked at simply as differences in social techniques, and in norms of behavior. When Latin Americans stand closer than North Americans, it does not follow that their desire for intimacy is greater; it may just be that they learned different social techniques. On the other hand, if the people from some cultural groups are consistently aggressive, affiliative, or dominating in several ways, we can say that their norms are different; but it may be more useful to say that their level of motivation is different, and to regard this as a feature of their ‘national character’. A difficulty with this notion is that there are great variations in personality within a given culture, and the overall difference between two cultures may be hard to detect; on the other hand, there may be much more homogeneity in social techniques: whatever else is said about the national character of the French, there is no disputing that they speak French. When people from two different cultures meet, there is infinite scope for misunderstanding and confusion. This may be a matter of misunderstanding the other’s communications, verbal or non-verbal. There is the Englishman who depreciates his own abilities in what turns out to be a highly misleading way; there is the Arab who starves at a banquet because he is only offered the dishes once; there is the African who puts his hand on a Western knee. There may be difficulties in setting up a stable pattern of interaction – Americans and Europeans have been seen retreating backwards or gyrating in circles at international conferences, pursued by Latin American trying to establish their habitual degree of proximity. There is considerable friction between those accustomed to etiquette and those used to informality. In each case what happens is that A judges B as if B was a member of A’s culture. The result of these cross – cultural misunderstandings is likely to be that each person rejects the other as one who has failed to conform to the standards of civilized society, and looks on him as impossible to get on with. There are several solutions to this problem: one is to find out the cultural patterns of the other and either conform oneself, or at least use them to interpret the other’s behavior properly. The difficulty here is that many of these patterns of behavior are very subtle, and it takes a long familiarity with the culture to know them all. Another approach is to be far more flexible and tolerant when dealing with people from other cultures, and to take a real effort to understand and to control one’s reactions to the unusual aspects of their behavior. The immigrant to another country is faced with the problems of learning the new language, rules and values. At first he is inclined to reject the new ways – and to be rejected himself for not conforming to them. Immigrants often keep to the company of others from the same country until they are thoroughly assimilated. The British immigrant to Australia has very little informal contact with Australians for the first two or three years, and dislikes their ‘excessive familiarity’ in personal relations, such as the use of Christian names after only brief acquaintance. Social class: Most societies, and all modern industrial ones, are stratified into social classes. These are groups of people who regard members of the other groups as inferior or superior, and where each group has a common culture. Members of each social class mix freely and can form intimate relationships with other members, but are much less likely to do so with people from other classes. Class is really a continuous variable, and boundaries between them are hard to find, through groupings and barriers appear from time to time. A development in the British class system during the 1950s was the emergence of an supper working class, whose members shared much of the material culture of the middle class, but did not mix socially with that class or have the same pattern of social behavior. Social class is shared by families, and depends mainly on the husband’s occupation, income, and education, and on the size and location of the home. Class systems vary in different countries. While class is mainly a function of occupation and education in Britain, it depends almost entirely on money in the U.S.A. The social distance between classes, i.e., the difficulties of communication and interaction, are greatest in caste and feudal societies, and very low in the U.S.A; Britain is intermediate in this respect. Class have different cultures, so what was said about different cultures applies here too. Instead of individual languages there ate different accents, and in Britain this in of course one of the main clues to class. Bernstein has found that there are also class differences in the linguistic composition of speech – working – class people, for example, use short and simple sentences, use personal pronouns frequently, confuse reasons and conclusions, and make much use of a few idiomatic phrases. There are differences in gesture and facial expression; as far as other social techniques are concerned, it seems likely that in Britain working – class people make social contact more readily, are distant and formal, but are more aggressive and make less use of complex strategies and techniques than middle – class people. When people from different social classes meet, the kinds of problems arise that were discussed in connection with people from different cultures. The results are the same – there is misunderstanding and mutual rejection. There is the additional problem that social classes are ranked in a social prestige hierarchy, so that people react to those from other social classes as superiors and inferiors. For many people the social class of others is as important as sex and age, and is recognized fairly easily from their speech and clothes – or from their social techniques. This leads to the adoption of the appropriate style of social behavior – which also be culturally prescribed. Such encounters are often a source of discomfort and tension to both parties, the more so the greater the difference in class, and the more feudal the society. People who are found formal, dull or remote by outsiders can be genial, gay, and relaxed when with members of their own group. Social mobility upwards is widely desired, and in industrialized societies is very common, but it has its drawbacks. Like the immigrant, the mobile person has to learn a new language, a new set of conventions and values, and has to unlearn the ones he had before. Unless he does so he will not be accepted by the new group. Some cultures also believe in myths or have superstitions ‏‭ ‬Superstition has always had a big impact on human behavior,‭ ‬sometimes yielding macroeconomic effects for even the most industrialized societies.‭ ‬An example of the effects of superstition is the rate of Japanese births from‭ ‬1960‭ ‬to‭ ‬1990.‭ ‬A general,‭ ‬steady decline is evident in recent decades.‭ ‬But what jumps out is the single-year‭ ‬25‭ ‬percent drop in‭ ‬1966.‭ ‬Such a sudden dip and recovery in birthrates meant all kinds of problems for companies selling baby cribs in‭ ‬1966‭ ‬or bicycles in‭ ‬1972,‭ ‬for colleges and universities in‭ ‬1984,‭ ‬and for employers in‭ ‬1988.‭ ‬Why did the market plunge‭ ‬25‭ ‬percent for only one year‭? ‬In much of Asia‭ (‬where Chinese influences are strong‭)‬,‭ ‬each year is associated with one of twelve animals.‭ ‬For example,‭ ‬1996‭ ‬was the year of the Rat.‭ ‬Both‭ ‬1990‭ ‬and‭ ‬1978‭ ‬were years of the Horse,‭ ‬as was‭ ‬1966.‭ ‬In Japanese culture,‭ ‬there is a traditional belief about heigo,‭ ‬or the year of the Fire Horse,‭ ‬which occurs once every‭ ‬60‭ ‬years,‭ ‬the last time in‭ ‬1966.‭ ‬According to this long-standing superstition,‭ ‬a female born in a year of the Fire Horse is destined both to live an unhappy life and to kill her husband if she marries.‭ ‬Judging by the birthrate that year in Japan,‭ ‬superstitions about the year of the Fire Horse deterred people from having children.‭ ‬The relevant point here is that superstitions can substantially affect behavior on a macroeconomic scale in industrialized countries.. A symbol might also evolve to represent a culture, such as the bald eagle, which represents the characteristics of courage and strength and the culture of the United States. This type of symbol, which embodies three central components - language, aesthetic styles, and story themes - becomes short-hand for a culture, defining its characteristics and values in a way similar to how brands define the characteristics of a company or product. Material components, sometimes referred to as cultural artifacts, include such things as books, computers, tools, buildings, and specific products, such as a pair of Levi’s 501 jeans or the latest CD by Aero smith or Garth Brooks. Computers, cellular phones, and Starbuck’s coffee shops can all be considered American cultural artifacts of the last two decades of the 20th century, while business suits and air conditioners have become signs of global cosmopolitanism and modernity. Products also provide symbols of meaning in a society and often represent family relationships, as in the case of a special recipe handed down through generations, or are associated with one's national or ethnic identity. Products sometimes are used in ritual behavior, such as foods eaten during holidays or religious ceremonies. Occasionally, products become so much of a symbol in a society that they become icons, as in the case of brands such as McDonald’s and Coca-Cola. In Brazil, the belief in the mystical properties of guarana (a plant believed to enhance power, spirit, and sexual prowess) represents an abstract element of Brazilian culture, and guarana-based drinks available throughout Brazil are cultural artifacts. Even today, Brazilian consumers like Coke but love to drink guarana-based drinks. Similarly, Unicum, a traditional Hungarian herb liqueur, has become part of the Hungarian culture and acts as a Hungarian cultural icon. Culture provides people with a sense of identity and an understanding of acceptable behavior within society. Some of the more important characteristics influenced by culture are the following: Sense of self and space Communication and language Dress and appearance Food and feeding habits 5.Time and time consciousness Relationships (family, organizations, government, and so on). Values and norms Beliefs and attitudes Mental processes and learning10. Work habits and practices These characteristics can be used to define and differentiate one culture from another and identify cultural similarities. Marketers often use cultural characteristics to segment markets on a global basis or to advertise and sell products to different markets. For example, while expanding globally, McDonald's had to address food and eating habits of various cultures. Although research showed that the basic menu items would sell well in most markets, it had to add some foods to reflect the cultural preferences of local markets. In Japan, it added rice (the country's staple food) to the menu. In India, it addressed the sacred beliefs of the Hindu culture (that prohibit eating cows) by putting lamb-burgers on the menu. In fact, such a large portion of this society is vegetarian that adding a veggie - burger to the menu would also have made sense. VALUES AND NORMS Two important elements of culture are values and norms. Norms are rules of behavior held by a majority or at least a consensus of a group about how individuals should be have. Cultural or social values are those shared broadly across groups of people, whereas personal values are the terminal (goals) or instrumental (behavior) beliefs of individuals. Societal and personal values are not always the same; in fact, values may vary among people of the same culture. To illustrate this point, examine societal values about how we should treat others. Although societal values may condemn killing people, a terrorist’s personal values might condone such behavior. Further, look at vegetarians around the behaviors from the cultural norms that say that eating animals and meat is acceptable, whereas in India, vegetarianism is the cultural norm and part of the value system of much of the country. These types of social values, described in this chapter, are closely related to the personal values described in Chapter 7 and can sometimes be measured with psychographic (AIO) or Rokeach (RVS) scales. Values and norms represent the beliefs of various groups within a society. Macro culture refers to values and symbols that apply to an entire society or to most of its citizens. Micro culture refers to values and symbols of a restrictive group or segment of consumers, defined according to variables such as age, religion, ethnicity, social class, or another subdivision of the whole. Micro cultures are sometimes called subcultures, but we use the term micro culture to avoid concern that calling ethnic groups subcultures connotes inferiority. Some countries, such as the United States, Switzerland, and Singapore, have national cultures made up of many micro cultures, whereas other countries, such as Japan, tend to be more homogeneous. Countries like the United States reflect diverse ethnic components of their cultures, making them more dynamic and likely to change. U.S. marketers have to be ready to adapt to the changing needs of the market as influenced by the changes in the diverse ethnic groups and many micro cultures. For example, hamburgers are a U.S. cultural icon, but the ethnic influences of the increasing Latino market have caused a change in what condiment is put on hamburgers - from ketchup to salsa. In contrast, a marketer in Tokyo can look out his corporate window and will have similar beliefs about honor, family, religion, education, and work habits, all important in understanding consumer behavior. How Do People Get Their Values? Unlike animals, whose behavior is more instinctive, humans are not born with norms of behavior. Instead, humans learn their norms through imitation or by observing the process of reward and punishment of people who adhere to or deviate from the group's norms. The processes by which people develop their values, motivations, and habitual activity are called socialization (the process of absorbing a culture). Parental practices, often directly related to cultural norms, can affect consumer socialization. For example, Japanese consumer socialization is characterized by benevolent dependence, which is consistent with a collectivist, interdependent society, whereas American consumer socialization is characterized by directed independence, which is consistent with an individualistic society.” Although some studies focus on how young people learn consumer skills, it is recognized that consumer socialization is a lifelong process. The process of how values are transferred from one generation to the next and where individuals get their values is summarized in diagram 7. The values transmission model shows how the values of a society are reflected in families, religious institutions, and schools, all of which expose and transmit values to individuals. These institutions and early lifetime experiences combine to affect which values individuals internalize and which ones they disregard. Also important in the adoption process is the influence of peers and media. Media not only reflects societal values, but it can significantly influence the values of individuals. For example, a movie might portray taking drugs or driving drunk (values that society does not condone) as being acceptable or “cool,” thereby potentially influencing the values of individuals. Media can also highlight cultural values important to a society and help pass them onto another generation or reinforce them in the society. European and German cultures emphasize the importance of children in families. Through the socialization process, people adopt values that influence how they live, how they define right and wrong, how they shop, and what is important to them such as pleasure, honest}, financial security, or ambition. These life forces produce preferences relating to color, packaging, convenience, hours of shopping, and characteristic interactions with sales people and many others. Further, the values adopted by individuals shape the values of future societies. But just as individuals adopt certain values, they also abandon values when they no longer meet the needs of society. In fact, some anthropologists view culture as an entity serving humans in their attempts to meet the basic biological and social needs of society. When norms no longer provide gratification in a society the norms are extinguished. Diagram 7. The Values Transfusion Model Values of Society Cultural Transfusive Triad Family Lifetime Religious Institutions Educational Institutions Early Experiences Peers Individual Internalized Values Media Society of Future Adapting Strategies to Changing Cultures: Culture is adaptive, and marketing strategies, for example, based on the values of society must also be adaptive. When cultural changes occur, trends develop and provide marketing opportunities to those who spot the changes before their competitors do. As culture evolves, marketers may associate product or brand benefits with new values, or they may have to change the product if that value is no longer gratifying in society. For example, beef and other meats used to be staple breakfast, lunch, and dinner foods in the mass American culture. When most consumers worked on a farm or in strenuous manufacturing and labor jobs, high-energy and high-calorie foods were valued and gratifying. As those jobs were replaced by white-collar and other sedentary careers, the meat industry had to change its appeal to lean meats with fewer calories and less fat and cholesterol. Americans now consume more pounds of poultry per year than beef and pork. Sometimes cultural norms change easily, and sometimes they remain the same for decades. Marketers must address consumer socialization, the acquisition of consumption-related cognitions, attitudes, and behavior. Norms learned early in life maybe highly resistant to promotional efforts. When an advertiser is dealing with deeply ingrained, culturally defined behavior (about food, sex, basic forms of clothing, and so on), it is easier to change the marketing mix to conform to cultural values than to change the values through advertising. As an example, eating dogs, horses, sheep eyes, or even live fish is normal and healthy behavior in some cultures. Advertising would have great difficulty, however, in convincing typical North American consumers to buy these products. How Culture Affects Consumer Behavior: Culture has a profound effect on why and how people buy and consume products and services. It affects the specific products people buy as well as the structure of consumption, individual decision making, and communication in a society. Influence of Culture on Pre-Purchase and Purchase: Culture affects the need, search, and alternative evaluation stages of how individuals make purchase decisions in a variety of ways. Although marketers can influence these stages through point-of-purchase displays, advertising, and retailing strategies, certain cultural forces are difficult to overcome, at least in the short term. Cultures view differently what is needed to enjoy a good standard of living. For example. North American households used to contain one television, around which family members gathered to watch shows. Now, consumers often buy several televisions for one household, and having a second television in the bedroom or the kitchen has become the cultural norm. Will computers experience the same increased importance? However, other cultures see this type of consumption as frivolous; their definition of need dictates that one television is adequate. Culture also affects how consumers are likely to search for information. In some cultures, word-of-mouth and advice from a family member about product or brand choice are more important than information found in an advertisement. And some cultures are more likely to search the Internet for information. Regardless of method, marketers must understand which is valued more in a particular culture in order to formulate the most effective information strategy. During alternative evaluation, some consumers place more weight on certain product attributes than on others, often due to the consumer’s culture. For example, some wealthy consumers may think low price is the most important attribute, not because they lack money but because “thrift” (a cultural value) influences their choices. Conversely, a poor consumer may purchase an expensive pair of shoes because of personal or group values that persuade the individual to follow a fashion trend. During purchase processes, the amount of price negotiation expected by both seller and buyer is culturally determined. In Greece and some Middle-Eastern countries, for instance, even the price of a physician's services is subject to negotiation, whereas in North American markets, a physician's fee is generally predetermined and non-negotiable. In Hong Kong, consumers are accustomed to walking through crowded marketplaces, in extreme heat, examining and buying freshly slaughtered meat that is hanging in the open air, as seen in Figure 11.5. North American consumers would be fearful of bacteria that might accumulate on the meat from exposure to the heat and insects. Influence of Culture on Consumption and Divestment: Culture also affects how consumers use or consume products. Consumers buy products to obtain function, form, and meaning, all of which marketers must address since they are defined by the cultural context of consumption. When consumers use a product, they expect it to perform a function - to clean clothes in the case of washing machines. But consumers' expectations about function and form often vary between cultures. In European cultures, washing machines are expected to last for decades, “cook” the clothes to get them sanitary-clean, and be compact in size. Highly efficient, front-loading machines costing more than $1,000 are marketed successfully throughout Europe and Asia by firm such as Miele, a German-based manufacturer and supplier of household appliances. Yet, when Miele introduced this product in North America, it found only limited success. Americans move more frequently than Europeans and do not want to “invest” in a machine they will have for only a few years; further, they expect the more convenient but less efficient cleaning ability of top - loading machines. Culture also influences how individuals dispose of products. Consequently, washing machines are almost a disposable product in the United States. When they break or if the consumer moves, they are often left behind or discarded. Some cultures promote reselling products after use, giving them to others to use, or recycling them and their packaging when possible, whereas others support throwing them away. How Core Values Affect Marketing? Successful retailers know that a basic group of products is essential to a store's traffic, customer loyalty, and profits. These products are known as core merchandise. A group of values, called core values, also exists. These values are basic to under-standing the behavior of people and can be helpful to marketers in several ways. Core values define how products are used in a society. Not only do core values determine what foods should be eaten, but they also determine with what other foods they are appropriate, how they are prepared, and the time of day to eat them. Core values provide positive and negative valences for brands and communications programs. Marketers may use celebrity athletes or musicians such as Tara Lipinski or Elton John to achieve positive valences to their brands, a successful strategy unless the image of the celebrity changes negatively. Core values define acceptable market relationships. A firm's native culture (and values) influences its business strategies, tactics, and practices in the global market place, and it affects international buying practices as well. For example, in Japan, a company will often do business with small suppliers or distribution companies owned by former employees, with whom they have a relationship or similar cultural backgrounds. But in the United States, where the culture favors impersonal relationships and equality, it may be more difficult to develop the trust needed for effective relationship marketing. Core values define ethical behavior. The ethics of a particular firm are influenced by the values or ethics of the individuals it employs, just as the ethical climate of a country is influenced by the core values of its individuals and institutions. In recent years, the United States has been characterized as a "money culture" in which business executives operate principally on greed. Depending on a person's own ethics, he or she might find various corporate goals incompatible with his or her own personal ethics, causing stress and dissatisfaction. Sales managers can decrease the likelihood of ethical conflict by selecting and hiring individuals who have values and beliefs consistent with the organization's or who can learn the organization’s values. GEOGRAPHIC CULTURE Although national cultural characteristics may exist for an entire nation, geographic areas within a nation sometimes develop their own culture. For example, the Southwest area of the United States is known for casual lifestyles featuring comfortable clothing, outdoor entertaining, and active sports. The Southwest may also appear to be more innovative toward new products, such as cosmetic surgery, when compared with conservative, inhibited attitudes that characterize other areas of the nation. Climate, religious affiliations of the population, nationality influences, and other variables are interrelated to produce a core of cultural values in a geographic area. Yet, research indicates that culture can cut across national, state, and provincial borders, and incorporate the culture, climate, institutions, business organizations, and resources of each region. Understanding the values of various regions may guide marketers' efforts to position products to various regions. For example, an advertisement promoting the capacity for self-fulfillment (e.g., “Set yourself free with Stouffer’s”) of a product may be more successful in the West than in the South. Security, on the other hand, may be a more successful appeal in the South than in comparably urbanized areas of the West (e.g., “Protect your home from break-ins with Electronic Touch Alarm”). For personal computers, an advertising campaign emphasizing how computers can help a person accomplish his or her goals or emphasizing the computer attributes that facilitate accomplishment will probably be more effective in the East than in the South. North American Core Values: Core values can be observed in Canada and the United States, even though both countries encompass values reflecting diverse national origins within their populations. Values are less rigid in North America because these countries are so young compared with most Asian and European countries. The Foundation of American Values: The United States was an agrarian nation only two generations ago. Although it is now primarily urbanized and suburbanized, understanding its origin helps us analyze today’s culture. Much of the religious and ethical tradition is believed to have come from Calvinist (Puritan) doctrine, with emphasis on individual responsibility and positive work ethic. “Anglo-Saxon civil rights, the rule of law, and representative institutions were inherited from the English background; ideas of egalitarian democracy and a secular spirit sprang from the French and American Revolutions. The period of slavery and its aftermath, and the European immigration of three centuries, have affected the American character strongly.”34 Even though most people are employees of large, complex organizations rather than farmers or shopkeepers, and goods are purchased rather than produced, many American values retain the agrarian base, emphasizing good work ethics, self-sufficiency, and the philosophy that an individual can make a difference. American Values and Advertising: What are the core values that provide appeals for advertising and marketing programs? Sometimes advertisers are accused of appealing mostly to fear, snobbery, and self-indulgence, but you can see how such an approach would have limited appeal. Marketers are more successful when they appeal to core values based on hard work, achievement and success, optimism, and equal opportunity for a better material standard of living. Advertisers must understand values to avoid violating standards. Benetton, the Italian apparel retailer, uses ads that reflect social issues. But most Americans never see some of Benetton’s more provocative material. In one, readers are presented with pastel-colored balloon-type images. A closer look reveals that they are condoms, part of a safe-sex blitz in which some stores gave away condoms. What some considered a religiously offensive ad ran throughout Europe, as did an ad designed to promote harmony among races, which was deemed as too provocative for the United States. Still another Benetton ad showed a black man and a white man chained together to promote the “united colors” theme. It was withdrawn in the United States after minority groups complained that the ad implied the black man was a criminal, and charged the company with racism. U.S. and Canadian Variations in Values: Canada and the United States are similar in many ways, but their values and in situations vary in important ways. For one, there is less of an ideology of Canadianism than there is one of Americanism. The emphasis on individualism and achievement can be traced to the American Revolution, an upheaval that Canada did not support. Canada presents a more neutral, affable face that distinguishes it from its more exuberant and aggressive neighbor. Canadians have greater awareness of American media and institutions than conversely. Canada and the United States have different situations and different histories. For example, law and order enforced by the centrally controlled Northwest Mounted Police (now RCMP) tamed Canada's frontier much earlier than was the case in the United States. Seymour Lipset, one of the most prolific analysts of Canadian-U.S. relationships, believes this is the reason Canadians generally have more respect for law and order today than do U.S. citizens. Variations in Values Between Canada and United States More observance of law and order Emphasis on the rights and obligations of community Courts are perceived as an arm of the state Lawful society Use the system to change things Canadians find success in slightly bad taste Greater value of social relationships Canadians more cautious Corporate network denser in Canada. 1984-80% of companies on TSE controlled by 7 families; 32 families and 5 conglomerates control about 33% of all nonfinancial assets 5 banks hold 80% of all deposits and combines legislation weakly enforced Favor partial or total government ownership Business leaders more likely to have privileged upbringing and less specialized education Emphasis on social programs and government support Canadian labor union density more than twice that of the American Fewer lobbying organizations in Canada even in proportion to smaller Canadian population. Since politicians toe party line, lobbying not as important. Less observance More emphasis on individual rights and obligations Courts perceived as a check on the powers of the state Greater propensity to redefine or ignore rules Employ informal, aggressive, and sometimes extra-legal means to correct what they think is wrong” The greater lawlessness and corruption in the U.S. can also be attributed in part to a stronger emphasis on achievement” “Americans worship success” Greater importance of work Higher commitment to work ethic Greater value of achievement (Goldfarb study) Americans take more risks One hundred largest firms own about 33% of all nonfinancial assets, few controlled by individuals Literally thousands of small banks in the United States Business affected by antielitist and anti-big business sentiments Strong antitrust laws Anti-big business, pro competition Business leaders more likely to have a specialized education More laissez-faire Seven thousand lobbying organizations registered with Congress-since Congresspersons can vote as they choose on a bill, lobbying can be effective. Source: Summarized from Seymour Martin Upset, Continental Divide: The Values and Institutions of the United States and Canada (New York: Rout/edge, 19901. How Markets Adapt to Core American Values? Material Well-Being: Achievement and success are measured mostly by the quantity and quality of material goods. There is display value in articles that others can see, such as designer clothing, luxury cars, and large homes. Although rebellion against such values is sometimes expressed, well-being is fundamental to the American value system. Americans believe in the marvels of modern comforts (good transportation, central heating, air conditioning, and labor-saving appliances) and believe in the "right" to have such things. Twofold Moralizing: Americans believe in polarized morality, in which illegal, moral or immoral, and civilized or primitive. Consumers cast these judgments on public officials and companies, deeming them either ethical or unethical, not a little of both. Similarly, advertising that is “a little deceptive” is considered bad even if the overall message is largely correct. However, some conditions exist making the same behavior right or wrong depending on the situation. Gambling in many instances is illegal or “wrong,” but when organized as a state lottery to benefit a good cause, it can be legal or “right.” Importance of Work over Play: Although work is associated in American values with purpose and maturity, play is associated with frivolity, pleasure, and children. In other cultures, festivals and holidays and children having fun are the most important events in society, whereas in the United States, even socializing is often work related. Time Is Money: Americans view time differently from many other cultures. In the United States, time is more exact in nature, whereas in countries such as Mexico, time is approximate. Americans tend to be punctual, schedule activities at specific times, and expect others to keep appointments based on set times. Effort, Optimism, and Entrepreneurship: Americans believe that problems should be identified and effort should be made to solve them. With proper effort, one can be optimistic about success. Europeans sometimes laugh at their American friends who believe that for every problem there is a solution. This attitude is based on the concept that people are their own masters and can control outcomes. In American culture, effort is rewarded, competition is enforced, and individual achievement is paramount. Entrepreneurship is one result of American values of effort, optimism, and the importance of winning. Mastery over Nature: American core values produce a conquering attitude toward nature, which is different from Buddhism and Hinduism, in which people and nature are one and work with nature. Americans’ conquering attitude stems from three assumptions: the universe is mechanistic, people are the masters of the earth, and people are qualitatively different from all other forms of life. American advertising depicts people who are in command of their natural environments when they show men fighting hair loss or women fighting wrinkles. Egalitarianism: American core values support the belief that all people should have equal opportunities for achievement. Though some discrimination does occur, the core values, codified legislatively and judicially, favor equality of all people, especially those accepting the values and behaviors of the social majority. Humanitarianism: American values support assistance of those less fortunate. Assistance expresses itself in the giving of donations to unknown individuals and groups needing aid because of natural disasters, disabilities, or disadvantages. Organizations such as the American Lung Association or the American Cancer Society benefit from Americans’ beliefs in humanitarianism. For corporations, humanitarianism is not only a social responsibility but an important means through which to communicate with consumers. Ethnic Microcultures and Their Influences on Consumer Behavior: Ethnicity is an important element in determining culture and predicting consumer preferences and behaviors. It is a process of group identification in which people use ethnic labels to define themselves and others. A “subjectivist” perspective reflects ascriptions people make about themselves. An “objectivist” definition is de rived from socio-cultural categories. In consumer research, ethnicity is best defined as some combination of these, including the strength or weakness of affiliation that people have with the ethnic group. To the degree that people in an ethnic group share common perceptions and cognitions that are different from those of other ethnic groups or the larger society, they constitute a distinct ethnic group that may be useful to treat as a market segment. Specific consumers may not reflect the values of the ethnic group with which they are commonly identified. To believe that a given individual necessarily accepts the values of any specific microculture would make the observer guilty of stereotyping. Consumer behavior is a function of “felt ethnicity” as well as cultural identity, social surroundings, and product type. America’s Ethnic Microcultures: America, like countries such as Switzerland/ Singapore, and South Africa, is a montage of nationality groups. Recent figures register 54 countries represented with 100,000 or more American residents. Immigration to the United States has changed over time, thus changing the makeup of the population and the influences on culture. Yet there do exist many similarities between immigration at the beginning and the end of the 20th century. For example, the number of immigrants (over one million) entering the United States during peak years is about the same, even though countries of origin are different in the early 1900s than in the late 1900s. However, during both periods, the economy was under going restructuring – with a shift from agriculture to industry in the beginning of the century and a shift from services to information in the 1990s. In either case, immigrants arrived from countries and cultures different from the past, bringing with them new religions, cultures, and languages. Some immigrants identify with much of their culture of origin; others do not. A variable closely associated with national ethnic identity is the language spoken at home. Two groups of Americans who often speak a language other than English are Chinese and Hispanics. Eighty – one percent of Chinese – Americans speak Chinese at home, whereas 43 percent of Hispanics speak Spanish at home, including Cuban – Americans at 92 percent and Mexican – Americans at 77 percent. Their values, however, determine the degree to which immigrants embrace traditional American core values and how they contribute to the cultural diversity of North American. When an immigrant family becomes American, the members often manifest and reinforce the work ethic that is at the core of American values. As individuals are exposed to various ethnic subcultures, they often adapt to or take on characteristics of that culture. Acculturation measures the degree to which a consumer has learned the ways of a different culture compared to how they were raised. Individuals adapt to cultural changes in both social and professional situations—as they live among, befriend, and work with others. Managers and salespersons faced with the challenge of global business, find more success when they respond and adapt to the cultural differences of their business partners. Just as individuals adapt to cultural changes, so do companies and organizations operating in an increasingly global marketplace. A recent study of Latino, Asian, Middle Eastern, and Anglo retailers found that when they adapted to the cultures of their clients, changes occurred to themselves, their firms, their consumers, and ultimately, the marketplace. Euro-Descent Americans: More than 200 million Americans are of European descent; England is the back ground nation for 26.34 percent of Americans, followed closely by Germany with 26.14 percent and Ireland with 17.77 percent. In addition to the millions of second- and third-generation European-Americans, the increasing number of foreign-born European-Americans is attracting the attention of marketers, who recognize that Greek-Americans have different preferences than Swedish-Americans. European immigration, which had been on a decline since the 1950s, increased dramatically from 1985 to 1995, experiencing a 155 percent increase over the period, to 161,000 persons in 1994. According to the Immigration and Naturalization Service, over 1.2 million European immigrants came to the United States during those ten years, primarily stemming from the fall of Communism and the resulting freedom of Eastern Europeans. Recent immigrants and native-born Americans with close ties to their European heritage are defined as Euro American ethnics. Traditionally, European-American ethnics have displayed a “work hard, play hard” mentality and have been willing to work extended hours to save money for things like education, housing, and retirement. Misunderstandings about the meaning of time may be one of the reasons Mexican-Americans have more complaints about the delivery service of retailers than do other consumers. Hispanic Idiosyncrasies: Marketing blunders sometimes occur from failure to understand the idiosyncrasies of each segment of the total Hispanic market. A beer company filmed a Hispanic advertisement using the Paseo del Rio (Riverwalk) in San Antonio, Texas, as a background. The ad was well received among Hispanics living on the West Coast, who liked the Spanish atmosphere. In San Antonio it-self, Hispanics did not like the ad because they considered the Paseo del Rio to be an attraction for non-Hispanic white tourists rather than for Hispanic residents. French-Canadian Culture: One of the largest and most distinct cultures in North America is the French-Canadian area of Canada, mostly in Quebec. This might be considered a nationality group or a geographic culture. The province of Quebec accounts for more than 27 percent of the Canadian population and about 25 percent of income and retail sales. For years, the French culture was somewhat ignored by English- oriented advertisers, thereby creating a social problem and limiting the potential effectiveness of communications to the French market. Some of the differential treatment may have been caused by different social class groupings compared with Anglo markets. Is advertising transferable between the French-Canadian (FC) culture and the English-Canadian (EC) culture? Some marketers believe that separate advertising material must be developed to be effective in the FC microculture. Others believe materials can be developed that are effective with both groups. A minimum of verbal material is used, with emphasis on the visual. Tamilia's research, which compared communications with FC and EC consumers on a cross-cultural basis, indicated the potential for increasing effectiveness in advertising communications by targeting PCs with people-oriented ads and ECs with message-oriented ads. Because of the size and importance of the FC market, it has attracted the attention of many marketers. The process of understanding communications in a cross-cultural setting, however, is applicable to other situations in which diverse ethnic groups are the target for marketing programs. Social Class Microcultures: Microcultures can also be described in terms of social class. Social classes defined as relatively permanent and homogeneous divisions in a society into which individuals or families sharing similar values, lifestyles, interests, wealth, status, education, economic positions, and behavior can be categorized. Class membership exists and can be described as a statistical category whether or not individuals are aware of their common situation. Some of the concrete variables that define various social classes include occupation, education, friendships, ways of speaking, and possessions. Other perceived variables include power, prestige, and class. Marketing research often focuses on social class variables since the mix of goods that consumers are able to buy is determined in part by social class. For marketers and sociologists, status groups are of primary interest because they influence what people buy and consume. Status groups reflect a community’s expectations for style of life among each class as well as the positive or negative social estimation of honor given to each class. Simply stated, whereas “classes” are stratified based on their relations to the production and acquisition of goods, “status groups” are stratified according to lifestyles and the principles of the consumption of goods. However, for practical purposes, it is usually adequate in the study of consumer behavior to treat the terms status and class interchangeably, recognizing that status may also be used in other contexts to describe differential respect given to an individual within a group. If the 1980s were about greed and ostentation for upper social class groups and the 1990s were about value and self-fulfillment, what will be the legacy of the 2000s? The experts observe that in recent years, affluent tastes have run more toward the utilitarian. Range Rovers, Lincoln Navigators, or Ford Explorers, rather than Porsches, have been the vehicles of choice of upper income consumers, prompting Mercedes and Lexus to develop and market SUVs to their “utilitarian, upper social class” consumers. WHAT DETERMINES SOCIAL CLASS? Your social class is influenced mostly by the family in which you were raised. Your father's occupation probably had a significant effect, since that has historically been the most important determinant, followed closely by the wife’s occupation.109 Variables that determine social class have been identified in social stratification studies since the 1920s and 1930s. Today, social class research includes thousands of studies dealing with the measurement of social class in large cities; movement between social classes; interactions of social class with gender, race, ethnicity, and education; and the effects of social class on poverty and economic policy. From extensive research, nine variables have emerged as most important in determining social class. For consumer analysts, six variables are especially useful in understanding a consumer's social class. These variables are occupation, personal performance, interactions, possessions, value orientations, and class consciousness. Occupation: Occupation is the best single indicator of social class in most consumer research. The work consumers perform greatly affects their lifestyles and consumption patterns. For example, blue-collar workers spend a greater proportion of their income on food, whereas managers and professionals spend a higher share of their income on eating out, clothing, and financial services. Sometimes, people make the mistake of equating social class with income. Social class is not determined by income even though there may be a correlation due to the relationship between income and other variables that determine social class. A senior garbage collector, for example, might earn more than an assistant professor of history. The professor typically would be ascribed higher social class however. You can probably think of more examples of how income and social class differ. Personal Performance: A person's status can also be influenced by his or her success relative to that of others in the same occupation - that is, by an individual’s personal performance. Even though income is not a good indicator of overall social class, it may serve as a gauge of personal performance within an occupation. Personal performance also involves activities other than job-related pursuits. Perhaps your father has a lower-status occupation, but your family may still achieve more status if your father is perceived as one who helps others in need, is unusually kind and interested in fellow workers, or is a faithful worker in civic or religious organizations. A reputation as a good mother or a good father may contribute to one’s status. Economic, Interaction, and Political Variables Economic Variables Interaction Variables Political Variables * Occupation * Income * Wealth *Personal prestige * Association * Socialization * Power * Class *Consciousness * Mobility Interactions: People feel most comfortable when they are with people of similar values and behavior. Group membership and interactions are considered a primary determinant of a person’s social class. The interaction variables of personal prestige, association, and socialization are the essence of social class. People have high prestige when other people have an attitude of respect or deference to them. Association is a variable concerned with everyday relationships, with people who like to do the same things they do, in the same ways, and with whom they feel comfortable. Social class behavior and values are clearly differentiated in children by the time they have reached adolescence, in variables that vary by social class such as self- esteem.112 Social interactions ordinarily are limited to one’s immediate social class even though opportunities exist for the same or adjacent social classes. Possessions: Possessions are symbols of class membership - not only the number of possessions, but also the nature of the choices. Conspicuous consumption: people’s desire to provide prominent visible evidence of their ability to afford luxury goods, helps explain why different classes buy different products. Thus, a middle-class family may choose wall-to-wall carpeting, whereas an upper-class family is more likely to choose Oriental rugs, even if the prices are equal. Possessions and wealth are closely related. Wealth is usually a result of an accumulation of past income. In certain forms, such as ownership of a business or stocks and bonds, wealth is the source of future income that may enable a family to maintain its (high) social class from generation to generation. Thus, possessions that indicate a family’s wealth are important in reflecting social class. Some products and brands are positioned as symbols of status, as the products used by upper middle or upper classes. For people who are striving to become associated with those classes, the purchase of such brands may be partially based on the desire for such affiliation or identification. Value Orientations: Values indicate the social class to which one belongs. When a group of people share a common set of abstract convictions that organize and relate many specific attributes, it is possible to categorize an individual in the group by the degree to which he or she possesses these values. Some observers believe that in countries other than the United States, values are more important than possessions. Class is indicated more by merit derived from expressions in art, science, and religion and even in such mundane things as dressing and eating properly. In contrast, people in the United States are believed to make a religion of money. Class Consciousness: One of the important political variables of social class is class consciousness - the degree to which people in a social class are aware of themselves as a distinctive group with shared political and economic interests. To some extent, a person’s social class is indicated by how conscious that person is of social class. Lower social class individuals may recognize the reality of social class but may not be as sensitive to specific differences. Social Stratification: Have you noticed that in many contexts, for example, school or work, some people are ranked higher than others and are perceived to have more power or control? Americans may hope that everyone has the same opportunity to access products and services; however, the reality is that some people have either “more luck” or are better “positioned” to attain than others. Social stratification refers to the perceived hierarchies in which consumers rate others as higher or lower in social status. Those who earn a higher status due to work or study have achieved status, whereas those who are lucky to be born wealthy or beautiful achieve ascribed status. Regardless of how status is achieved, social class can be classified into six distinct segments, as defined by W. Lloyd Warner in 1941: Upper upper, lower upper, upper middle, lower middle, upper lower, and lower lower. The Gilbert and Kahl definitions, shown below, provide generally accepted estimates on the size of various social classes, and emphasize economic distinctions, especially the recent emphasis on capitalism and entrepreneurship. The Coleman-Rainwater approach emphasizes how people interact with each other as equals, superiors, or inferiors, especially in their work relationships. One complexity in measuring social class is the problem of status inconsistency-when people rate high on one variable but low on another. Highly paid athletes and popular musicians often fit this category. The other end of the spectrum of status inconsistency would include some professors who have average or lower income but much education and many cultural advantages. These people do not fit into many of the generalizations about social class. SOCIAL CLASSES IN AMERICA Two Recent Views of the American Status Structure The Gilbert-Kahl New Synthesis Class Structure: A situations model from political theory and sociological analysis Upper Americans Capitalist Class (1%)-Their investment decisions shape the national economy, income mostly from assets earned inherited, prestige university connections Upper Middle Class (14%-Upper managers, professionals, medium businessmen; college educated; family income ideally runs nearly twice the national average Middle Americans Middle Class (33%)-Middle-level white- collar, top-level blue-collar; education past high school typical; income somewhat above the national average Working Class (32%)-Middle-level blue- collar; lower-level white-collar; income runs slightly below the national average; education is also slightly below Marginal and Lower Americans Working Poor(11-12%)-Below main- stream America in living standard but above the poverty line; low-paid service workers, operatives; some high school education Underclass (8-9%)-Depend primarily on welfare system for sustenance; living standard below poverty line; not regularly employed; lack schooling Class Hierarchy: A reputational behavioral view in the community study tradition Upper Americans Upper Upper (0.3%) – “Capital S society” world of inherited wealth, aristocratic names Lower Upper (1.2%) – Newer social elite drawn from current corporate leadership Upper Middle (12.5%)-Rest of college graduate managers and professionals; lifestyle centers on private clubs, causes, and the arts Middle Americans Middle Class (32%) – Average – pay white – collar workers and their blue – collar friends; live on “the better side of town,” try to” od the Proper things” Working Class (38%) – Average –pay blue – collar workers; lead” Working-class lifestyle” whatever the Income, School background, and job. Lower Americans “A lower group of people but not the lowest” (9%) – Working not on welfare; living standard is just above poverty; behavior judged” crude,” “trashy” Real lower (7%) – On welfare, visibly poverty – stricken, usually out of work for have ‘the dirtiest jobs”); “burns,” “common criminals” Abstracted by Coleman The American Class Structure: A New Synthesis (Homewood, III:. The Dorsey Press, 19821. “This condensation of the Coleman-Rainwater view is drawn from Chapters 8,9, and 10 of Richard P. Coleman and Lee P. Rainwater, with Kent A. McClelland, Social Standing in America: New Dimensions of Class (New York: Basic Books, 1978). SOCIAL CLASS DYNAMICS Is it possible to change your social class? Social mobility refers to the process of passing from one social class to another, but includes more than just changing your occupation or income level. In England, citizens can rarely change class rapidly and cannot be royalty unless born into it. In India, the family never changes class, but individuals may do so through reincarnation. In countries such as Russia, China, and Hungary, consumers formerly subscribed to the common person ideology of Communism and Socialism. Today, there are new stirrings and the emergence of a consumer culture that is demonstrated in homes, electronic equipment, cars, number of bodyguards, and clothes that no longer reflect the stereotyped view of a person as a cog in the societal mechanism. Although in the United States it is possible to climb upward (upward mobility) in the social order, the probabilities of this actually happening are not very high. Children's social class usually predicts their social class as adults, ultimately limiting social mobility for men and women, due to factors such as limited access to good education and racial prejudice. Although individuals might not change their social status easily, they often display behaviors or symbols of other social classes. Parody display describes the mockery of status symbols and behavior, whereby an upper-class individual might wear blue jeans with holes in them to proclaim distaste for class or his or her own security in the social status system. Though some people think about upholding their social class, others rebel against it by becoming part of the counterculture, perhaps displaying their distaste for their class with body piercing or tattooing. Social Class and Consumer Behavior: Social class affects consumer behavior in a variety of ways. Certain consumers read magazines, such as Town & Country and Architectural Digest, because the contents reflect the interests of the affluent social classes to which the readers belong or to which they aspire. The magazines advertise upscale products for affluent consumers and contain articles that reflect the themes and motivations of special significance to affluent social classes-articles about arts and craftsmanship, interior decoration, dominance of nature, the triumph of technology, fashions, and the ideology of affluence. Table 3. Median Income by Household Type Median Income (1997) Percent Change in Real Income (1989-1997) All households 37,005 -0.8 Family households 45,347 1.6 Married couples 51,681 3.5 Female householder (no husband Present) 23.040 3.3 Male householder (no wife present) 36,634 -6.3 Non family households 21,705 -2.3 Female householders 17,631 -1.4 Male householders 27,592 -5.0 Source: U.S. Bureau of the Census, Money Income in the United States: 1997, P60-200 Marketers are increasingly interested in single-parent households. About 11 million of these are headed by a female with no husband present, and about 3 million by a male householder with no wife present. Women without husbands maintain 13 percent of all white family households, 44 percent of all black family households, and 23 percent of all Hispanic family households. The rate of increase in single black parenthood slowed during the past decade to 3.8 percent per year, but the rate for Hispanics more than doubled to 7 percent per year, the highest rate of increase for any ethnic group. About 26 percent of white children, 64 percent of black children, and 37 percent of Hispanic children live in a single- parent household. Median household income levels (in 1997 dollars) have increased from $31.583 in 1967 to $37.303 in 1989, but declined steadily until 1993 and began to rise there after, reaching $37.005 by 1997. Table 12.2 shows how the median income levels of various household types have changed during the last decade. Notice the significant decrease in real income among families and nonfamilies with male house holders and nonfamily householder married couples. Nonfamily households grew substantially from 1980 to 1990, yet the annual incomes of families headed by single women or men barely changed. SOCIAL AND CULTURAL CHANGE Changing Values: Society’s values change continuously even though the core values are relatively permanent. Marketers must pay special attention to values in transition because they affect the size of market segments. Changes in values may alter responses to advertising as well as responses to service offerings and preferred retailing formats. Some changes that have occurred during the 1990s have been identified in research at Young & Rubicam. They represent a paradigm shift or fundamental reordering of the way we see the world around us. Changes in a society’s values can be forecast on the basis of a life-cycle explanation, meaning that as individuals grow older, their values change. Therefore, the distinctive values seen now among young people will become like those of older ages in a few decades, and societal values in the future will be similar to today as younger people grow older and grow into the values of their parents. This is a theory of behavioral assimilation. Generational change, in contrast, suggests that there will be gradual replacement of existing values by those of young people who form the leading generation in value terms. When today’s young people grow old, they will retain the values of their youth and replace societal values of today’s olderconsumers.21 What do you think? In 30 years, will you be more like your peers or your parents? Your answer will depend on how your values will be affected by the cultural transfusive triad (families, religious organizations, and schools) and early lifetime experiences. CHANGING FAMILY INFLUENCES Family is the dominant transfusive agent of values in most cultures. Many changes are occurring in the family, but some of the most significant are outlined here. Less time for in-home or parent-child influence. With many mothers working outside the home, about 60 percent of 3- to 4-year-olds attend preschool or daycare compared to 5.7 percent in 1965. Today, children are increasingly learning their values outside the family from babysitters, schools, and the media. The increase in single-mother births also diminishes potential parental influence on children. Increasing divorce rates. Most children are now raised part of their lives in single-parent households, contributing to decreased family influence. These children are often less likely to form and live in traditional families, influencing values of the future generation. The isolated nuclear family. Geographic separation of the nuclear family from grandparents and other relatives (due to increased mobility of jobs and education) contributes to lack of heritage or a yearning for roots. Changing Values in Western Civilization Traditional Values New Values Self denial ethic Self-fulfillment ethic Higher standard of living Better quality of life Traditional sex roles Blurring of sex roles Accepted definition of success Individualized definition of success Traditional family life Alternative families Faith in industry, institutions Self-reliance Live to work Work to live Hero worship Love of ideas Expansionism Pluralism Patriotism Less nationalistic Unparalleled growth Growing sense of limits Industrial growth Information and service growth Receptivity to technology Technology orientation Note: Developed Western societies are gradually discarding traditional values and are beginning to embrace emerging new values on an ever-widening scale. Source: Joseph T. Plummer, “Changing Values,’ Futurist 23 (January/February 1989),10. CHANGING RELIGIOUS INFLUENCES The degree to which individuals attend religious institutions and believe in a “God” or “higher power” and the types of religious beliefs they have affect societal culture. Judeo-Christian religious institutions historically played an important role in shaping the values of Western cultures. In recent years, these institutions have changed substantially. Catholics haven from tiny levels in1776 to a quarter of the U.S. population largely because of European immigration in the early 1900s and current immigration from Hispanic countries. Baptists have replaced Anglicans (Episcopalians) as the dominant Protestant group. The following summarizes some of the trends in religion occurring in the United States: Decline in loyalty to traditional churches and religions. The decline of institutionalized religion accelerated after World War II, with the spiritual seekers of the baby boomers. In 1958,1 in 25 Americans had left the denomination in which they were raised, but by 1999, this number had jumped to 1 in 3. Religious groups declining in membership currently include moderate and liberal groups (Lutherans, Methodists, Presbyterians, Episcopalians, and others). Increase in non-Christian religions. With the increase in ethnic diversity has come an increased number of practicing Buddhists, Muslims, and others. These religions often promote conservatism and respect for family members. Shift from traditional religion to spirituality. Many Americans, especially aging baby boomers, are searching for experiential faith and spirituality rather than traditional religion. Spirituality is more personal and practical, involves stress reduction more so than salvation, and is about feeling good, not just being good.22 Under this loose definition of faith and religion, millions of Americans have a sudden passion for spirituality, and more people than ever are defining themselves as “religious,” even if they rarely attend a church service. Women becoming more religious. Women tend to express their religious beliefs and spirituality more so than men and are joining more bible studies and women's groups to support each other in these efforts. Women are also more likely than men to define success in religious terms Religion and spirituality are big business. With the increase in spirituality has come an increase in the sales of religious books (on subjects from New Age practices to spiritual healing), spirituality retreats, apparel, alternative healthcare, spiritual education, religious broadcast stations, and religious gifts, especially those relating to angels. According to the Book Industry Study group, in 1997, consumers spent $982 million on religious books, $268 million on inspirational books, and $27 billion25 on alternative medicine (on treatments from massage to acupuncture). CHANGING EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS The third major institution that transmits values to consumers is education. The influence of education appears to be increasing, due partly to the increased participation of Americans in formal education and partly to the vacuum left by families and religious institutions. At the same time, there is concern about the nature of the increased influence. A dramatic increase in formal education. Today, one in four workers in the United States is a college graduate, up from about one in eight in 1970. Although fewer working women than men are college graduates currently, that might change since today more women are enrolled in colleges and universities than are men. Weekend and evening MBA programs and other innovations in university continuing education departments encourage higher levels of education, even among older individuals. The University of Phoenix is a for-profit corporation leading the way in many new, innovative methods of education and reaching nontraditional student groups. Teaching: from memorization to questioning. Previously, teaching often emphasized description and memorization of facts, with no latitude for questioning. The trend has been toward analytical approaches emphasizing questioning of the old and the formulation of new approaches and solutions. Consumers taught in this new environment may reject rigid definitions of right or wrong and practice aggressive consumerism. In turn, marketing organizations must revise sales programs and product information formats to provide answers when customers ask questions. Internet teaching. More students are experiencing some form of Internet learning, whether it be actual instruction from teachers through electronic sources or performing secondary research on the Internet. As young consumers, exposed early to computers and the Internet, become consuming adults, their expectations about how and for what to use electronic information and commerce will influence the marketing strategies of many firms and organizations. THE INFLUENCE OF AGE-RELATED MICROCULTURES ON VALUES In addition to families, religious institutions, and educational institutions, culture and values are shaped by early life experiences. Consumer analysts employ cohort analysis to investigate the changes in patterns of behavior or attitudes of groups called cohorts. A cohort is any group of individuals linked as a group in some may usually by age. Cohort analysis focuses on actual changes in the behavior or attitudes of a cohort, the changes that can be attributed to the process of aging, and changes that are associated with events of a particular period, such as the Great Depression or the Watergate scandal. Though the 1960's counterculture brought with it an increase in feminist and immigrant values, some analysts say we have entered a post-modern era, in which cultural contradictions are celebrated and blended. Although fads may change (flat-top haircuts in the 1950s and body piercing in the 1990s), the cultural dynamic is the same - minority groups will seek out these changes, and the majority will fall into the “I don't get it” category. NATIONAL CULTURE Culture has a profound impact on the way consumers perceive themselves, products they buy and use, purchasing processes, and the organizations from which they purchase. Marketers are giving more attention, however, to understanding macrocultures and how they affect consumer behavior. Hofstede found four dimensions of culture that are common among 66 countries. These dimensions serve as a foundation for characterizing, comparing, and contrasting specific national cultures, and they are helpful in identifying environmentally sensitive segments of the market: Individualism versus collectivism. Individualism describes the relationship between an individual and fellow individuals, or the collectivity that prevails in society. Figure 11.10 summarizes the attitudinal and behavioral differences associated with individualism and collectivism. AGE COHORTS THE DEPRESSION COHORT (the G.I. generation) BORN 1912-21 AGE IN'00:79 to 80 % OF ADULT POPULATION: 7% (13 million) MONEY MOTTO: Save for a rainy day. SEX MINDSET: Intolerant FAVORITE MUSIC: Big band People who were starting out in the Depression era were scarred in ways that remain with them today-especially when it comes to financial matters like spending, saving, and debt. The Depression cohort was also the first to be influenced by contemporary media: radio and especially motion pictures. THE WORLD WAR II COHORT (the Depression generation) BORN 1922-27 AGE IN'00:73 to 78 % OF ADULT POPULATION: 6% (11 million) MONEY MOTTO: Save a lot, spend a little. SEX MINDSET: Ambivalent FAVORITE MUSIC: Swing People who came of age in the 1940s were unified by the shared experience of a common enemy and a common goal. Consequently, this group became intensely romantic, A sense of self-denial that long outlived the war is especially strong among the 16 million veterans and their families. THE POSTWAR COHORT (the silent generation) BORN 1928-45; AGE IN ‘00:55 to 72 % OF ADULT POPULATION:21% (41 million} MONEY MOTTO: Save some, spend some. SEX MINDSET: Repressive FAVORITE MUSIC: Frank Sinatra Members of this 18-year cohort, the war babies, benefited from a long period of economic growth and relative social tranquility. But global unrest and the threat of nuclear attack sparked a need to alleviate uncertainty in everyday life. The youngest subset, called the cool generation, was the first to dig folk rock. THE BOOMERS I COHORT (the Woodstock generation) BORN 1946-54 AGE IN ‘00:46 to 54 % OF ADULT POPULATION; 17% (33 million) MONEY MOTTO: Spend, borrow, spend. SEX MINDSET: Permissive FAVORITE MUSIC: Rock & roll Vietnam is the demarcation point between leading-edge and failing-edge boomers. The Kennedy and King assassinations signaled an end to the status quo and galvanized this vast cohort. Stilt, early boomers continued to experience economic good times and want a lifestyle at least as good as that of their predecessors. THE BOOMERS II COHORT (zoomers) BORN 1955-65 AGE IN'00:35 to 45 % OF ADULT POPULATION: 25% (49 million) MONEY MOTTO: Spend, borrow, spend. SEX MINDSET: Permissive FAVORITE MUSIC: Rock & roll It all changed after Watergate. The idealistic fervor of youth disappeared. Instead, the later boomers exhibited a narcissistic preoccupation that manifested itself in things like the self-help movement In this dawning age of downward mobility, debt as a means of maintaining a lifestyle made sense. THE GENERATION X COHORT (baby-busters) BORN 1966-76 AGE IN '00; 24 to 34 % OF ADULT POPULATION: 21% (41 million) MONEY MOTTO: Spend? Save? What? SEX MINOSET: Confused FAVORITE MUSIC: Grunge, rap, retro The slacker set has nothing to hang on to. The latchkey kids of divorce and day care are searching for anchors with their seemingly contradictory “retro” behavior: the resurgence of proms, coming-out parties, and fraternities. Their political conservatism is motivated by a “What's in it for me?” cynicism. Source: Faye Rice and Kimberly Seals McDonald, Making Generational Marketing Count, Fortune 131,12 {June 26,1995), 110. Uncertainty avoidance. Uncertainty avoidance concerns the different ways in which societies react to the uncertainties and ambiguities inherent in life. Some societies need well-defined rules or rituals to guide behavior, whereas others are tolerant of deviant ideas and behavior. Power distance. Power distance reflects the degree to which a society accepts inequality in power at different levels in organizations and institutions. It can affect preferences for centralization of authority, acceptance of differential rewards, and the ways people of unequal status work together. Individualism Versus Collectivism Individualism Collectivism 4 (e.g., United States, Australia, Canada) (e.g.. Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan) Self-construal Defined by internal attributes, personal traits Defined by important others, family, friends Role of others Self-evaluation (e.g., standards of social comparison, sources of appraisal regarding self) Self-definition (e.g., relationships with others define self and affect preferences) Values Emphasis on separateness, individuality Emphasis on connectedness, relationships Motivational drives Focus differentiation, relatively greater need to be unique Focus on similarity, relatively greater need to blend in Behavior Reflective of personal preferences, needs Influenced by preferences, needs of close others Masculinity-femininity. This factor defines the extent to which societies hold values traditionally regarded as predominantly masculine or feminine. Assertiveness, respect for achievement, and the acquisition of money and material possessions are identified with masculinity; and nurturing, concern for the environment, and championing the underdog are associated with a culture’s femininity. CHANGING ROLES OF WOMEN Marketing managers have always been interested in lifestyle changes occurring among women because female consumers buy so many products-for themselves and for families. Women’s lifestyles have changed dramatically during the last century, especially since Gloria Steinem made “feminist” a household word and singer Helen Reddy sang the 1970’s smash hit, “I Am Woman.” Those times brought with them a fight for equality between the sexes in terms of job opportunity, respect, and pay. And women never looked back. In fact, interest in female consumers continues to intensify because of greater numbers of women in the population, improved purchasing and employment status, and changed roles of women. The female population is growing faster than the male population because women tend to live longer than men do. Some experts say this is due to genetic makeup, and others say it is stress related, speculating that as women move up the corporate ladder and manage households, they may begin to mirror the life expectancy of men. And women sometimes mirror the lifestyles of their male counterparts, especially as they take on similar roles in the work force or in social activities. Smoking trends as they relate to Asian women are highlighted in Consumer in Focus 12.2. Regardless of why women live longer than men, females now outnumber males by 6.5 million in the United States. Feminine roles are of great concern today to consumer analysts and marketers. A role specifies what the typical occupant of a given position is expected to do in that position in a particular social context. Consumer analysts are especially concerned with gender roles of women in the family and in their position as purchasing agents for the family. One of the greatest challenges women face today is balancing their roles as wife or partner, mother, wage-earner, and consumer. Female Employment: Women in North America, Europe, and other countries today have much higher rates of employment outside the home than in past eras. Women have left hearth and home to bring home some of the bacon. Today, more than 59 percent of women in the United States are employed, in contrast to less than 25 percent in 1950. This trend is occurring on a global scale as well, with the percentages of women who work reaching 52 percent in Canada, 49 percent in Japan, 47 percent in Great Britain, 46 percent in Australia, and 39 percent in Western Germany. Women can choose to work full time or part time outside the home or stay at home, caring for the family and home full time. The greatest effect of work status is in family income, and therefore, family buying. Families in which the female works full time average more than $14,000 additional income than households with only one person working. Today, the wife's work status is less of a determinant to how a family spends its income than is the total amount of net income the family has to spend. Though employment might increase family income, working outside the home may increase family expenditures on items such as childcare, clothing, food away from home, gasoline, and motor oil. Families with two incomes also spend more on shelter than do one-earner families. To Smoke or Not To Smoke? Tobacco companies and lung disease experts alike see Asian women as a fertile market for their products-cigarettes and antismoking campaigns, respectively. Compared to American and European women, roughly 25 percent of whom smoke, only 4 to 8 percent of women living in Asia smoke. The Global Congress on Lung Health points out that 60 to 70 percent of Chinese, Japanese, and South Korean men already smoke. And although women begin smoking for different reasons than men (women tend to begin smoking to express maturity, independence, and sociability and to relax and ease stress) experts predict that the non-saturated female market will be targeted by tobacco companies soon. Tobacco companies can approach this market from two different angles-by appealing to gender equality emotions or by appealing to feminine traits. As Asian women lag behind their U.S. counterparts in terms of job opportunities and advancement, some marketers speculate that some women will want to emulate the habits of men to fit into the work culture better and be viewed as more similar to professional Asian men. The other approach focuses on the fact that fewer women quit smoking because they think it will keep them thin. “This is the sort of connection that the tobacco industry is trying to make to every girl in the world,” said Patricia White of Britain’s National Health Service. Cigarette ads that portray smoking as a way to enhance beauty, confidence, and seductiveness will appeal to the feminine side of women. The International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease classifies smoking in every country as an epidemic that starts off slowly, builds up and peaks, then declines as anti-smoking campaigns set in. Just as tobacco companies see this market as a means of increasing sales, so do health experts and social agencies see it as a market needing anti smoking campaigns. The battle for gaining consumers’ attention has begun. (Source: “Anti-smoking experts suggest ads targeted toward women,” Marketing News , January 19991, 5.) Career Orientation: Employed individuals are sometimes classified by orientation toward their careers. Rena Bartos finds two groups of working women: those who think of themselves as having a career and those to whom work is “just-a-job.” There are also housewives who prefer to stay at home and those who plan to work in the future. For marketers, this may be important because homemakers and just-a-job women are more likely to read traditional women’s magazines, whereas professional women are more likely to read general interest and business-oriented magazines and newspapers. As with other consumer classifications, working or nonworking wives should not be treated as homogeneous segments because many differences exist and account for different purchasing behaviors within these groups. Women and Time: Married working women experience many time pressures. They often have two jobs: household responsibilities, including children, plus their jobs in the marketplace. Studies show they have significantly less leisure time than either their husbands or full-time homemakers. This would suggest that working wives would buy more time-saving appliances, use more convenience foods, spend less time shopping, and so forth. Actually, research shows that working and non working wives are similar in such behavior if income, life stage, and other situational variables are held constant, and that working-wife families appear to spend more on food away from home, childcare, and some services. Role Overload: Role overload exists when the total demands on time and energy associated with the prescribed activities of multiple roles are too great to perform the roles adequately or comfortably. Sex-role ideology, especially found in feminism, and other forces are creating pressures toward more equality in work-loads between men and women. Research shows that employed women work more hours each day than husbands who are employed and wives who are not employed, resulting in role overload for many women. As women contribute more to the family income, they expect in return a more equal division of the household responsibilities. There is evidence, especially among younger families, of a shift in attitudes toward work and housework that is causing a move toward more household equality between the sexes. Marketing to Women: Consumer researchers are interested in women’s multiple roles, time pressures, and changing family structures in order to develop effective marketing and communication programs to reach them. With such information, marketers can look beyond the one-size-fits-all description of general segments of women to more descriptive and specific descriptions. The “mother” category has been a relatively under-studied segment because of assumptions about this market segment. Leo Burnett, a U.S.-based advertising agency, studied the premise that “all mothers must be the same and can be reached through similar advertising because they are all concerned with the same issues (health and well-being of their children).” Through Leo She, its unit focusing on marketing to women, the company found four major groups of mothers, each with unique characteristics. Different mom segments look at advertising, messages, products, time, and brands differently. For example, time-strapped Tug-of-War moms are the most brand conscious because they use recognized brands to save time and help simplify their shopping trips. Consumer products companies targeting these women should spotlight the values of their brands. But new brands or brands that are in trouble can benefit from targeting the emerging groups of Strong Shoulders moms (via inspirational television shows) and Mothers of Invention (via the web), according to Leo She. The key is not to treat all moms the same or expect to capture all of them with one single message. Retailers and not-for-profit agencies can apply such information to existing strategies to better reach, keep, and service clients. For example, retailers are open longer hours than in years past because of conflicting work schedules. One study found that among mothers who work full time, 45 percent work different shifts than their spouse, and 57 percent of part-time working women work different shifts than their husbands. Increased time pressures have also caused many retailers and agencies to create catalogs. Internet sites, and alternative shopping or access methods. Don Caster, a direct marketer of upscale women's clothing, adapts to women's busy schedules and hectic lifestyles by showing its products in the comfort of associates’ homes. Clients can make appointments during their lunch hours, evening hours, or weekends to view and try on clothing in the comfort of a nice home. Or associates will bring samples of clothing to clients’ homes or offices. Multiple Moms: Four Strategies June Cleaver. The Sequel These women believe in the traditional roles of “stay-at-home” moms and “bread-winner” dads. They tend to be white, highly educated, and from upscale backgrounds. Slightly more than half of them stay at home full time to care for their families, compared to the national average of 30 percent. Tug of War Moms They share some of the same traditional notions of motherhood, but are forced to work – and they aren’t happy about that these moms, 79 percent of whom work outside the home, are full of anger and anxiety. Strong Shoulders More than a third of this group are single mothers, who have a positive view of their lives, despite their lower income levels and little support from their children’s dads, Thirty-four percent of these women are between 18 and 24 years old. Mothers of Invention These women enjoy motherhood, work outside the home, and have help with their child-rearing responsibilities from husbands. Unlike the Tug-of-Wars, this group has developed new and creative ways to balance career with a happy home life. Changing Masculine Roles: Roles of men in families are changing substantially as well. It is not uncommon in the United States for the woman of the household to buy new tires for the car while the husband stays home to cook dinner or play with the kids. As men’s share of family income decreases and as values shift in society men are free to participate more fully in family functions and are taking on new roles in consuming and purchasing products. In a survey of 1,000 American men by the advertising agency Cunningham & Walsh, more and more men could be observed as househusbands. The privately published survey disclosed that 47 percent of men vacuum the house, 80 percent take out the garbage, 41 percent wash dishes, 37 percent make beds, 33 percent load the washing machine, 27 percent clean the bathroom, 23 percent dust, 23 percent dry dishes, 21 percent sort laundry, 16 per cent clean the refrigerator, and 14 percent clean the oven. More than 50 percent of men take part in regular shopping trips, suggesting that men are important targets for many types of household products. Men not only participate in household and consumption activities but are in creasing their rate of participation. Men now do one-fifth of the cooking, cleaning, and laundry, and married men now do more housework than unmarried men. Similarly, fathers are doing more (in the household) than they once did. Much literature has focused on the new roles of men. Joseph Pleck, a leader in the field, notes that though the “new father” image is increasingly portrayed in the media, there is, in reality, substantive change in men’s behaviors. The new father is present at the birth, is involved with his children as infants (not just when they are older), participates in the actual day-to-day work of child-care, and is involved with his daughters as much as his sons. Men in the 21st century see themselves as being more sensitive. Men remain interested in romance, but they also express a high interest in fitness, health, helping raise the children, helping out with household chores, and finding a better balance between work and leisure. These new roles appear to be creating a male market that is more interested in brands than in earlier decades As economic conditions and men's roles in the home change, men are redefining themselves. Whereas the man of the 1950s wanted a settled, stable, suburban existence, and the man of the 1970s cared more about power than fitting in, today’s “organization man” carries a briefcase in one hand and pushes a baby carriage with the other. And although he considers his career important, he doesn't want to sacrifice time with his family. Businesses will have to adapt to the changes that men are facing, such as having to stay home with a sick child. The compromises today's organization man is making are very similar to the ones made by working women, and firms that do not address these changing roles and needs could lose some of their best and brightest female and male employees. Children and Household Consumer Behavior: Children change dramatically how the family functions, in terms of relationships, employment, and purchases. Studies based on Canadian data indicate that young children cause less participation in the labor force, change how families spend their money, and reduce the amount of time and money available for leisure. Influence of Children: The children’s market has captured the attention of marketers worldwide because of the increasing dollars, lira, and pounds they spend on products and because of the enormous influence they exert over spending power in a growing number of product categories, including footwear and clothing. Children spent over $25 billion in 1998, buying confections, games, movies, and music from U.S. retailers. The fastest growing purchase category for children has been apparel, due in part to children assuming more responsibility for their own necessities. Armed with money received from allowances, chores, and gifts from grandparents, children average just over 200 store visits per year, either alone or with parents. A typical 10-year-old goes shopping with parents two to three times per week (directly influencing about $188 billion of household purchases) and shops alone around once a week. But their influence on household spending varies by product user and by degree. Children tend to have greater influence in purchase decisions involving products for their own use, whereas their influence is more limited on more expensive, higher risk products. Children exert direct influence over parental spending when they request specific products and brands. Direct influence also refers to joint decision making-actively participating with family members to make a purchase. Children’s influence might also be indirect, occurring when parents buy products and brands that they know their children prefer, without being asked or told to make that specific purchase. These kinds of transactions account for al most $300 million in household spending. Automakers target kids in magazines and point-of-purchase displays because they indirectly influence about $17.7 billion in auto purchases. And the influence of children on computer purchases is just beginning to blossom. Not only do children influence choices, they are actually making purchases, with family money and with their own. Just as children affect family purchases, families affect young consumers’ perception and evaluation of product and brand choices. Children's consumer behavior is absorbed at very young ages from familial examples so that if parents exhibit brand loyalty to a specific brand, children perceive that brand and product to be good. A family's influence upon a child's brand choices must be recognized by marketers because the influence affects purchase decisions later in life as well. Where do children like to shop best? Convenience stores rank at the top of children's shopping lists because they sell a lot of candy and other products children like and because they are accessible. In fact, most children will make their first independent purchases at convenience stores. As children reach ages 8 to 10 years, they prefer mass merchandisers because of the breadth of products in the toy, snack foods, clothing, and school supplies categories. They also like to shop specialty stores because of the depth of toys, music, or shoes offered. Children usually have a favorite grocery store and recommend their mothers shop there when they shop together. Finally, children find drugstores and department stores cold and boring, and very adult oriented. Childhood Socialization: Much of consumer behavior is learned as a child. Family communication about purchases and consumer behavior is the key in children's consumer socialization process. Children who buy Pepsi when they are young are more likely to buy Pepsi when they are older. They are also more likely to react negatively to product changes but are less affected by price increases. And single consumers tend to be more loyal to the brands they learned to buy as children. So, how do children learn their consumer behaviors? They learn primarily from shopping with parents-known as co-shopping. Co-shoppers tend to be more concerned about their children’s development as consumers, and they place more value on children's input in family consumer decisions, including decisions on products not encountered on typical co-shopping trips such as automobiles, major appliances, life insurance, and vacations. Co-shoppers explain more to their children why they don’t buy products and discuss the role of advertising, which to some extent may mediate the influence of advertising. Different types of mothers communicate consumer skills and knowledge to their children in different ways. Researchers found that mothers who are restrictive and warm in their relationships with their children tend to monitor and control children's consumption activities more, whereas mothers who respect and solicit children's opinions use messages that promote purchasing and consumption decision-making abilities. Retailers can benefit from understanding the role of children in buying. Some retailers may consider children an interference with parents’ shopping time. Retailers such as Ikea, the Swedish furniture firm with stores around the world, provide play areas for children while parents shop. A more proactive approach is found in Japanese department stores, which encourage children and parents, principally mothers, to interact with toys found in the store, making it a fun place for children to visit. Many changes in family structure directly affect how marketers communicate to children and their families. For example, delayed marriage and higher education are increasing the number of families with only children (who are accustomed to communicating with adults more than with siblings or peers). Their preferences may be much more “adult” than marketers traditionally expected. Effective communications must take into consideration the higher verbal and creative skills. DEMOGRAPHY AND METHODS OF DEMOGRAPHIC ANALYSIS Population refers to the total number of human beings in a society at a particular time and place. The technical study of human population is referred to as demography. This includes their size, composition and distribution as well as the reasons or causes of changes in these factors along with the consequences of these changes. Populations are in a continuous process of change and this is through the interplay of three demographic processes-namely, births, deaths and migration. Human population may be classified in terms of age, creed, sex, occupation, residence, etc. and then analyzed to indicate trends in particular directions and explore causes of change. This demographic analysis is based on certain principles, methods and concepts that are used in computation and analysis of population data: Population change. Population growth is computed by the formula P2 = P1 plus Natural increase plus Net migration. The future population P2 of any given area is the result of the present population P1 plus the natural increase and the net migration. The natural increase is obtained by subtracting the number of deaths from the number of births over a given period of time. Net migration is the difference between the number of persons who enter a certain area during a given interval of time (immigrants) and the number who leave that area during the same interval (emigrants). The basic factors or variables of population change are fertility , mortality and migration (both movement into and out of an area) and will be discussed later. Any change in population size is a result of influence on these demographic factors. Rate of natural increase. The growth of population in an area excluding migration is computed by the formula: Birth per year - Death per year X 1000 Total population Birth rate. Dividing the number of births during a given year by the total population or by the number of females of child-bearing age, usually between the ages 15 to 44 years provide a Crude birth rate in the former case and a Refined birth rate in the latter. The formula for computing crude birth rate is : Number of live births per year X 1000 Total population Fertility ratio is the ratio of the number of children under five years to the number of women of child-bearing age (15 to 44 years) multiplied by 1000. Total fertility rate (TFR) is a rate that is commonly used to indicate the average number of children in a family. This does not measure the fertility of any real group of women, since it is actually a synthetic rate. What it does measure is the fertility of an imaginary group of women who pass through their fictitious reproductive lives subject to the rates of child bearing experienced by real women in a given year. TFR is used by demographers as a tool in studying the level of child bearing at which couples have an average of two children (TFR-2.00), thus replace themselves in the population. A population that achieves or has reached replacement level fertility will stop growing. Death Rate. The crude death rate refers to the number of deaths per 1000 population at midyear, and is computed by the formula: Number of deaths per year X 1000 Total Population Life Expectancy. The average length of life attained at the time of death by persons who were born during a specified time interval is the life expectancy. Maximum life span is the number of years lived by the oldest members of the group, or the age to which an individual could expect to live if he were protected to the extent possible from disease or injury. Age and Sex Composition. The number and/or per cent of population in various age categories is called the age composition. The sex ratio, the number of males in population per 100 females is expressed by the formula: Sex ratio = Males X 100 Females Demographic Transition in World Population: It is the change in the ratio of births to deaths that has resulted in the unparalleled and unprecedented growth of world population in modern times. Earlier, with high death rates due to poor health, difficult living conditions and low life expectancy (less than 30 years), the birth and death rates fluctuated around a relatively high level as illustrated in the following figure, essentially canceling out each other. In these societies high birth rates were encouraged by the culture. Large families brought with them an economic advantage by providing farm labor. The family farm was more of a way of life (as continued in most Third World countries) and less of a business enterprise. Further, large families made for a strong class, community, tribe or nation. This has been considered the first stage of demographic transition. The second stage was marked by a drop in death rate in response to improved health practices and living conditions. The birth rate, however, continued at a bout the same level – giving rise to the population explosion which emerged from lower mortality. Stage 1 Birth/ Death Rates Stage 2 Stage 3 Birth rate Natural Increase Death rate Stage 4 Time The Stages of Demographic Transition Source: Population Research Bureau, Washington, DC, USA As shown in the above mentioned diagram there is a downward dip in the birth rate in the third stage of demographic transition, as it eventually catches up with the death rate. During the early part of this stage, population growth remains relatively high but drops to near zero in the latter part. Both birth and death rates are close together again in the fourth and final stage of demographic transition, but they fluctuate around a relatively low level. Natural increase is near zero. Demographers indicate that in areas such as Europe and the USA have largely completed the demographic transition, while most developing Third World countries are still in stage two or the early part of stage three of the transition. Most population experts assume that these Third World countries will complete their transition to low fertility and mortality but may differ from USA and European countries in the path they take . For even if all countries eventually undergo and complete the transition, they will doubtless follow different timetables and paths that would be deeply influenced by the social and cultural factors and prevalent conditions that exist in each country. However, the completion of the transition will have enormous long-term consequences that determine the ultimate size of world population. It is well known that population of the world over past centuries has increased rapidly in recent years. It was 960 million in 1800, 1.65 billion in 1900, 6.2 billion in 2000 and expected to reach 8.5 billion in 2025. COLLECTIVITIES A collectivity is a number of persons whose behavior is specifically polarized around a temporary center of attraction that leads to interaction and a unity which exists only as long as the center of attraction exists. Through the other components of social structure-institutions, organizations, ecological entities and groups- society has regularized actions according to specified values, norms of behavior prescribing roles, and accepted procedures of functioning . All social behavior, however, is not orderly and regularized. Under certain circumstances and for temporary periods of time, people may act in a disorderly fashion-sometimes contrary to and in violation of established rules of society- to form crowds, mobs, and other such aggregations of people. The behavior displayed by such aggregations has been termed “collective behavior” by sociologists, and the social entities through which such behavior expresses itself are referred to as collectivities. For example, a large gathering of people collected together to watch a house on fire is a collectivity. After the fire is brought under control, the people disperse, another example of a more violent collectivity is a mob, assembled to damage certain properties or to demonstrate. The collective action of the mob persists until the gathering disperses and normal activities are resumed. Characteristics of Collectivities: Collectivities as specific entities in societal structure have several characteristics, the more important of which are listed below: Composition. Collectivities are composed of people who are randomly drawn towards the focus of attention. The size and composition of collectivities cannot be predicted, and anonymity is the chief characteristic of persons who compose a collectivity. Each person loses his individual identity in a collectivity, and as a result, irresponsible action by a collectivity is frequent. In addition, collectivities rarely reappear in exactly the same composition; each collectivity is hence unique in its composition. Focus of Attention or Polarization. Polarization is a distinctive feature if collectivities and differentiates it from other forms of human relationships. Individuals in a collectivity are always drawn together around some event, circumstances or situation which becomes their focus of attention. This may be an accident, a stage performance, an exhibition or a demonstration of a new product by a salesman or extension worker. Whatever it may be, it serves to temporarily fuse into one unit people who previously may have had nothing in common. Structure. Collectivities have no planned or premeditated structure. They are largely unanticipated because the focal stimuli are not systematically developed in advance. Duration of Existence. Collectivities are, by nature of the circumstances and polarizing factors that cause them usually temporary and short live.. Gathering of people at accidents, stage performances, and similar events and incidents disperse as soon as the incident is over. Most collectivities are random and temporary although some last for longer periods of time. Collectivities have been described as the temporary crisis structures of society. Standards of Behavior. Norms of behavior within each type of collectivity are not standardized. The common practices that may be followed in some collectivities do not emerge as standard required norms of behavior for all collectivities. The determination of a collectivity’s standards of behavior depends on the existing circumstances; these standards sometimes contradict accepted social norms. Permanent Structures May Result from Collectivities. Collectivities, while temporary, may sometimes result in more permanent structures in society. Collectivities often call attention to undesirable situations causing society to organize itself in more permanent ways to prevent re-occurrence of such incidents or circumstances. Social Conditions that Produce Collectivities: There are certain distinctive social conditions that give rise to the creation of collectivities. These are: Disturbance in the normal Routine of Daily Life. A stranger visiting a remote town will immediately become the focus of attention for the residents, who assemble to see the stranger. As he leaves, town life returns to its normal routine. A flash flood engulfs a village, and people are stunned as their homes are washed away by the swirling waters. As they recover, all efforts are made to save both life and property. Thus, collectivities are formed because normal patterns of life have been disturbed. Deliberately Planned Variation in the Routine of Daily Life. Some collectivities emerge from situations or occasions that are deliberately planned to introduce change in the normal routine of daily life. In Egyptian villages, one function of the festivals celebrated is to change the routine of daily life. Weakness, Lack or Collapse of Social Control. When society has weak controls to prevent incidents of theft, robbery involving physical violence and threat to life and property, collectivities may form with their own norms and ways of handling the situations. A murder, for instance, may lead to the assembly of a lynching mob composed of otherwise orderly people. Looting, arson, and attacks on individuals may at times be the behavior expressed by collectivities when social controls collapse completely and the collectivity assumes control. Most Collectivities Develop in a Context of Social Unrest. Collectivities are created when the normal functioning of society is disrupted and important needs are not met. If society is unable to remove the causes of discontent, frustration and desperation may set in and provide a fertile ground for formation of collectivities and collective action. Three Conditions characterize such relatively unstructured and unstable situations: Inadequacy or absence of social forms: The weakness and lack of social forms prescribing norms, rules and procedures of behavior to cope with emergencies and unanticipated situations such as famine, earthquake, revolution and the resulting unstable conditions give rise to collectivities and collective behavior. A context which leaves decision-making open and ambiguous: Within certain political systems, such as democratic society in particular, public opinion is held in high value, Hence while the broad framework of government is specified, much is deliberately left open to influences by the opinions of the people. Changed perspectives and values: With technological advances, urbanization, and industrialization, changes in values and perspective take place and the result is open conflict between the traditional ways and the new. Customs and prevailing ideologies are questioned by those who have accepted new values and perspectives. A fluid unstable situation, perhaps lasting for a period time, is fertile ground for collective behavior often expressed in the formation of social movements. Forms of Collective Behavior: Collective behavior in society may express itself through various types of structural forms which may be considered its products. The more important of these forms are: A. Crowds. The crowd is the most common form of collective behavior and consists of a “temporary collection of people reacting to stimuli”. A crowd therefore consists of : A number of people with focused attention. A mere collection of people does not make a crowd-their attention must focused on something. Physical presence at a particular place. An affinity between the members creating cohesiveness. Impersonality-members of a crowd are anonymous and lose their individual identity to that of the crowd as a unit. Action taken by crowds is quite impersonal. Heterogeneity and impermanence of composition. A crowd can be composed of any person of any class, creed, color, or economic status. Further, the composition is impermanent and rarely, if ever, reassembles with exactly the same composition. Even while assembled, its composition may change as it grows in size or diminishes, depending on the intensity of interest displayed by its members. A factional composition. Different people viewing the situation that brought them together will react in different ways. Thus a crowd watching a wrestling mach in a village is factional and sides are taken, some cheering one of the competitors and the other. A tendency to act readily and uncritically on suggestions-particularly those made authoritatively, forcefully and in a decisive manner. Crowds re highly suggestible and can be easily persuaded to action. With skillfully made suggestions, violent crowds have pacified and peaceful crowds incited to actions of extreme violence. Emotional build-up that can be transmitted from one member to another. Emotions, generated, fostered and quickly built up in a crowd, can spread like a contagious disease among members. When emotionally aroused, a crowd may act on the first suggestion given to it, no matter how irrational it may be. Crowd behavior does, however, have limitations despite its unrestrained nature. Four major limiting factors have been identified: Emotional Needs of Members. Crowd behavior usually is limited to actions that members would like to perform but normally do not perform individually. The crowd situation protects the individual, enabling him to express impulses, aggression, and anger that he would normally, in calmer moments, refrain from expressing. The more homogeneous a crowd-as at a political rally-the greater the likelihood of a response towards aggressive action, since members share a common set of hostilities and prejudices. In addition, the behavior of a crowd tends to be limited to the feelings of its members. Analysis of some race riots, for instance, reveal that the active participants had previous police records, violent race prejudices, frustrations, few responsibilities, and bitter class hostilities and resentments. Mores of the Members. The crowd seldom behaves in ways which do not have at least some measure of approval. Lynching rarely, if ever, take palace where they are strongly condemned by the entire society, but may occur where tolerated. The existing mores of society exert powerful influence even in unstructured volatile situations involving crowds of various types. Leadership in the Crowd. The unstructured and unstable context of a crowd situation is particularly conducive to action-directed influence by a skillful individual who assumes the role of a leader. With an impressive appearance and a manner of confidence, conviction and responsibility, such a leader can move a crowd to extreme violence or peaceful dispersal. To do so, usually he first establishes rapport, then builds up emotional tension, and finally suggests action to release tension following this suggestion quickly by “sound” justification for the suggested action. Crowd behavior is limited by the type, performance and influence of crowd leadership. External Controls Exercised on Crowds. The police and other agencies for maintenance of law and order usually provide a limiting factor by their physical presence and intervention, by implementing laws against crowd formation, by splitting and dividing crowds or potential crowds, by various means, etc. Moreover, weather conditions, such as heavy rain, snow, intense cold, intense heat, and storms have obvious limiting effects on crowd behavior and formation which usually results in the dispersal of crowds. While such natural external forces constitute definite limiting factors, the principal external forces that limit crowd behavior are exerted by the police or agency responsible for maintenance of law and order in society. Types of Crowds: Although the terms used to describe each crowd type may differ, four major classifications are recognized: Casual Crowds. Incidents that occur regularly, in daily life, such as an accident, or an altercation between neighbors, give rise to the formation of casual crowds, the most common form of crowds. Action Crowds. The attention of an action crowd is always focused on some external objective with which it collectively deals. Strong emotional tensions usually are built up, and an action crowd is always focused on some external objective with which it collectively deals. Strong emotional tensions usually are built up, and an action crowd seeks to release this tension by some form of overt behavior action. Such crowds are highly open to suggestion as to course of action to be followed. Slogan chanting, name calling, and violence are common features of action crowds, which most often can be considered mobs, bent on such acts of aggression as lynching , looting or destruction of property. Riots are another form of action crowds. Another form of action crowd is one which the purpose to serve the individual’ interests. When tensions of a crowd are released through revelry, rather than an attack on any individual, group or object, the crowd behavior is called an “orgy.” Factors that operate in other forms of crowd behavior such as social contagion, transfer to moral responsibility to the group, and leadership and suggestibility, are also found in an orgy. The occasions of feasting, games, drinking etc., that took place during the Roman period of history and among primitive tribes are examples, as well as modern day orgies in both eastern and western societies which involve behavior that is normally inhibited and restrained. An orgy may involve a few people of a very large number of individuals. Panic. The panic is a form of action crowd which involves people who are primarily concerned with their own safety, yet generate a high level of emotional contagion which develops rapidly under the stress of a crisis. Such a form of crowd behavior is characterized by action leading to rapid dissolution of the crowd in irrational attempts by members of the crowd to escape from impending danger such as fire situations, earthquakes, wild animal escaping from the zoo, etc. Panic is influenced by rumors. Expressive Crowds. Characteristic of this type of crowd is an objective to release pent up emotions by uninhibited and unconventional expressions of joy, such as collective singing, dancing, laughter, shouting and teasing of onlookers. Illustrations are celebrations after crises such as war or other period of extreme anxiety and/or danger to society and groups in society. In some cultures, festivals have been placed in the agriculture calendar to fall immediately after crucial periods of agricultural operations involving considerable physical and mental strain. These festivals thus enable individuals to relieve their pent up emotions in relaxed, unstructured behavior. Expressive crowds are commonly formed on such occasions and under such conditions. Conventional Crowds. Conventionalized crowds are those that operate according to social convention. Behavior in such crowd is therefore deliberately organized, systematic and in accordance with societal norms of behavior, often to correct certain undesirable forms, sometimes involving damage to property and undue harassment of individuals. To combat such undesirable action various communities will organize festival celebrations in such a way as to make them more orderly and desirable, taking into consideration the feelings and sentiments of all. In addition to the above four major types of crowds, other forms of crowd-like behavior can be found. Fads and Fashions, such as the growing of beards and long hair, wearing of mini-skirts, beads, bell-bottom trousers and drainpipe trousers among young people, often becomes an obsession, e.g., various forms of dancing and games. Mass hysteria has also been cited as a form of crowd behavior in which some excited screams and fainting spells of teenagers in the USA during performances of singing stars is an illustration. B. Audiences. An audience has been described as “a number of persons present in the same place at the same time and subject to the same stimulus.” Interaction is minimal. The audience is temporary in duration. Audiences include both listeners and spectators of all kinds, but do include such scattered groups as listeners of radio programs and viewers of television programs. Audiences seek to recreate, information and/or conversation C. Publics. Along with the development of industrialization, technological advance, urbanization and growth of cities has been the development of techniques for the use of the media of mass communication: radios, newspapers, television, motion pictures, magazines and other printed material. The receivers of mass communication are “a number of individuals who are responding as individuals to the same stimulus in a similar way. They are a scattered group who share an interest in a particular topic. They provide opportunity for the expression of various and often widely divergent opinions. While both crowd and public behavior has a single focus, the public strives to achieve its common direction through collective discussion of merits sand demerits of an issue. Illustration of public are the voting public, farming public, retail business public, the literate or educated public. Etc. Public Opinion, Propaganda and Education. Public opinion is the collective opinion of the public and constitutes the composite point of view arrived at by the public concerning an issue. This does not imply a single point of view; public opinion may comprise a set of opinions held by the public concerning an issue which may differ. Propaganda “is the deliberate use of communication to induce people to favor one predetermined line of thought or action over another.” It includes all efforts made to persuade people to accept a particular point of view in respect of an issue-from a simple leaflet to the massive propaganda machinery of Nazi Germany in World War II. The distinction between education and propaganda may not always be clear-cut and well defined, for in practice education does use propaganda to some extent. However, while education seeks to cultivate an individual’s ability to make enlightened decisions and judgments in the presence of factual knowledge and information and provides information as the basis of which decisions may be made, propaganda seeks to persuade an individual to accept a decision without thought or consideration. D. Social Movements. One form of collectivity which is distinctive from other collectivities by being more permanent in nature with a more definite structure and organization is a social movement. A social movement has been defined as “ a collectivity acting with some continuity to promote a change or resist a change in the society or group of which it is apart.” A social movement is accompanied by expressive behavior but also develops defined goals and progressively builds a structure aiming at partial or complete modification of the social order. When social conditions are unstable-as in a rapidly changing society-the ground is fertile for the development of social movements. Social movements also often reflect changes in society such as urbanization, or industrialization which are accompanied by changes in the primary relationships in rural areas. These may take the form of protest against the status quo, promotion of ideologies, reforms and the like. A social movement is usually directed toward a goal and against existing conditions that it seeks to correct. For instance, fragmentation of farm holdings and the feudal system of landlordism in rural areas led to social movements resulting in land reform in many countries. Illiteracy, repeated famine, malnutrition and disease in various parts of the world gave rise to the establishment of social movements aimed to undertake ameliorative measures and efforts for the prevention of such conditions. Social movements are distinctive from other forms of collective behavior because of comparatively long duration. Social movements further exhibit greater organization and structure than the shorter lived collectivities. Many social movements ultimately involve the overthrow of old institutional patterns and their replacement by new patterns. The following main features of social movements have been identified: Ideology. Social movements greatly emphasize ideologies which provide them with justification and direction. The conviction that God has made all men equal was the basis ideology underlying Mahatama Gandhi’s movement for “uplift” of those considered outcasts and untouchable in Hindu society. A strong sense of dedication. The ideals and basic philosophy of the movement and its “cause” provide a source of dedication for the members. Focus on action. Action is the emphasis in social movement-action against certain conditions and towards certain corrective goals. Members must constantly be involved in definite action in order to maintain their interest and solidarity. Classification of social movements according to three basic criteria follows: Relation to primary norms and values. Social movements often are classified as being either reformative or revolutionary. If the desired changes are in accordance with existing norms and values, the movement is of the former type. If, however, it seeks to replace existing norms and values, the movement is classified as revolutionary. Scope. If the movement seeks to change the entire society, introducing a new order or a society based on entirely different basic tenets, it is classified as a totalitarian social movement. If, on the other hand, it strives to change only a part of society it is called a segmental social movement. Method. Social movements differ in strategy. For instance, reformative-segmental movements are more likely to employ rational persuasive procedures, such as education, discussion, and legislation by peaceful, gradual and democratic means. Revolutionary-totalitarian social movements, on the other hand, are more likely to rely on dramatic, emotional and extra legal devices which are authoritative, coercive, spectacular and violent. Components and Stages of Social Movements. The following have been listed by Anderson as characteristic components and stages of development of social movements: Social unrest, Emergence of leadership, Definition of issues and problems, Formation and propagation of ideology, Program organization and strategies, Capture of power, and Institutionalization. These stages and components are not to be considered as distinct and separate; rather they are interrelated and overlap to varying extents.* ‏‭* ‬The preceding section draws heavily on J.‭ ‬B.‭ ‬Chitambar.‭ ‬Introductory rural Sociology,‭ ‬Second Edition.‭ ‬New Delhi:‭ ‬New Age International Publishers,‭ ‬1993,‭ ‬pp139-145,‭ ‬203-212. ‏PAGE‭ ‬1