Lesson 1: sociocultural aspects of hospitality

Reading:

The structure of society is usually represented by sociologists as a pyramid divided into three unequal parts:

1. Upper classes (less than 3%) are the social elite who live on inherited wealth and/or have earned high incomes through skills in the professions or business. The first group often buy and dress conserva­tively rather than showing off their wealth. While small in number, "upper uppers" serve as a reference group for others. The second group includes the "new rich" who consume conspicuously to impress those below them. They tend to be active in social affairs and buy for themselves and their children the symbols of status.

2. Middle classes (about 42%) have neither family status nor unusual wealth. They are primarily concerned with "career". Usually they are divided into the "upper middle class" (bankers, merchants, corporate managers, etc.) who make market for good homes, clothes, furniture, and the "lower middle class" (well-paid intellec­tuals, white-collar workers who live on "the better side of town". To keep up with the trends, they often buy products that are popular, seeking the better brand names. Better living means owning a nice home in a nice neighborhood.

3. Lower classes (about 55%) include the "upper lowers" (average-pay blue-collar workers and those who lead a "working-class lifestyle", whatever their income, school background, or job. They depend heavily on relatives for financial and emotional support, especially in times of trouble, and the "lower lowers" (7%) are poverty-stricken. Often they are not interested in finding a job and prefer "to be on welfare" (receive social security benefit).

People from the same social class, and even occupation may have quite different lifestyles. Life-style studies capture something more than the consumer's social class or personality. They profile the person's whole pattern of acting and interacting in the world. The technique of measuring lifestyle is known as psychographics. It involves measuring the major personality dimensions: activities, interests, and opinions. According to their lifestyles, the consumers are classified into "principle-oriented" people whose purchases depend on their own views of the world, "status-oriented" people who base their purchases on the opinions of the others, and "action-oriented" people who are driven by their desire for activity, variety and risk taking. During his lifetime, a person may go through several of these lifestyles or even may play several roles. But this concept, when used carefully, can help the marketers understand changing consumer values and behavior.

 

 

Exercises:

1. Find in the text the following topical words and phrases, make sure that you are able to explain in English what they mean, and add them to your working vocabulary:

the social elite, the new rich, to consume conspicuously, a career, to keep up with the trends, a white-collar worker, a blue-collar worker, to be on welfare, occupation.

 

2. Write out from the text the parts of the sentences which contain the following words and phrases and translate them into Russian:

inherited wealth, poverty-stricken, principle-oriented, status-oriented, action-oriented.

 

3. Answer the following questions using the topical words and phrases:

1. What term is used by American sociologists to refer to social elite?

2. What differences have been noticed in the buying behavior of the aristocrats and of the "new rich"?

3. What segments are the middle classes usually divided into and what is typical of the buying behavior of each segment?

4. What do the members of the middle class mean by "living on the better side of town"?

5. What people are usually referred to as "working class"? What is typical of their buying behavior?

6. Where is the dividing line between the "upper lowers" and "lower lowers"?

7. What does psychometrics study?

8. What personality dimensions are especially important for this science?

9. How are people classified according to their lifestyles?