Veblenian social-psychological model

Definition:
One of the four basic models of buyer behaviour distinguished by Philip Kotler (Marketing Management, 1972) in which individual buyer behaviour is explained in terms of social rather than economic influences. According to Veblen, man is a social animal trying to conform to the general norms of his larger culture and to the more specific standards of the subcultures and face-to-face groupings to which he or she is bound. Based upon his 'theory of the leisure class' Veblen hypothesized that much of economic consumption is motivated not by intrinsic needs or satisfactions so much as by prestige seeking. Thus the Veblenian model proposes that man's attitudes and behaviour are conditioned by the norms of the social groupings to which he belongs: CULTURE, subculture, his social class REFERENCE GROUPS, and his family affiliations. His model was also the first to suggest the concept of CONSPICUOUS CONSUMPTION, although there is much subsequent work which indicates that the majority of consumers prefer to conform rather than stand out from their peer group. To this extent conspicuous consumption must be distinguished from the more familiar idea of 'keeping up with the Jones's'.

Cross-References:
[reference groups] [culture] [conspicuous consumption] [socio-economic classifications]

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