Durkheim proposed that society imposes restraints that limit the behavior of individuals. This proposal was part of the rationale for believing that society has a reality independent of the wills of individuals.
We have just completed a review of our data from this perspective. Our surveys ask affluent consumers to rate the relative importance of almost 2 dozen motives related to the acquisition of discretionary goods and services. One statistical group of these "personal drivers" describe how important a purchase is to, in effect, "being oneself." The two other group of persoal drivers describe (a) various types of feedback that a person might get from others and (b) reactions the individual might have to that feedback.
In a stratistical test that observes the relationship among these various personal drivers it was determined that there are signficant negative relationships bewteen satisfying a driver related to "being myself" and the majority of drivers related to feedback from others and the response to that feedback.
We interpret these results that Durkheim's premise is correct at least to the extent that a consumer anticipates how others will react and how the consumer him/herself will respond to that feedback.
The implication for merchants is to recognize that each potential choice of a good or service carries with it a consideration of others reactions. Anything that can be done to mitigate anticipated negative feedback, or the impact of that feedback, will be useful. (This phenomenon is also related to the issue of "avoidance of regret" mentioned by Thaler in his research.)
Our next step is to look at consumer preferences in brands in light of their sensitivity to feedback from others. One interesting note is that the personal driver of "show good taste" was not in opposition to any of the drivers associated with "being myself."
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