Consumption Pattern

Introduction
The Nature of Consumption
The Definition of Concepts
Patterns of Consumption in Pre-industrial Societies
Consumption in Industrial Societies
Summary

Introduction

In this article, we'll talk about some key issues relating to the nature of consumption, its social context, and its interaction with production. We'll look at the consumption trends in both pre-industrial and industrial societies. The factors that influence consumption in societies with advanced technology are discussed.

The Nature of Consumption

Consumption encompasses a wide range of human activity. It is concerned with all stages of the consumption of goods and services for living. So, when we eat food, sleep in a bed, go to the doctor, or attend school, it can be said that we are consuming. However, consumption has additional facets. A step in the consumption process is choosing or selecting a particular basket of goods and services. In turn, this calls for gathering data, taking part in deals, making choices, and so forth. Then, it might be implied that consumption is a component of production: numerous white sheets of paper were consumed, used up, in the creation of this unit; or the worker eating his lunch is consuming to obtain the energy necessary to carry out his production activity.

Relationship between Consumption and Production

Consumption is a typical aspect of human societies. Even after products are produced, a significant amount of waste occurs in our economic system occasionally. Poor consumption practices are to blame for this waste. This type of consumption may lead to the misuse of useful resources in addition to a loss of satisfaction on the part of the consumer.

People who lack energy and, therefore, the will to work in society are the result of a consumption process that offers consumers little satisfaction. Consumers are more likely to be satisfied with a production process if there is little to no waste of the goods that are produced. In turn, this will result in a greater number of relatively healthy people who are better able to contribute to society's productive processes. In this sense, consumption and production are intertwined.

Social Aspects of Consumption

Consumption has significant social implications and is not solely a personal matter. For instance, a large portion of the food we eat comes from the food that other people have eaten. We frequently copy others' eating habits because we may not know what to eat or because we don't want to stand out by not consuming certain foods. Regarding the ultimate use of the goods produced by society, we have a consumption problem. The fundamental questions pertaining to the main theme of consumption are how much is consumed in relation to how much is saved, whether or not there is conspicuous consumption, what forms it takes in societies, and how much is saved, whether or not it is invested or hoarded.

The Definition of Concepts

The general definition of consumption is the use of products and services to satisfy the consumer. Consumption involves making a choice among a particular range of goods and services. Consumption includes the use of various goods and services for daily living, which is a form of using up. Additionally, there is a component of obtaining something through consumption; we refer to this result as utility or satisfaction. In order to provide the consumer with satisfaction or utility, certain goods and services are consumed.

According to this perspective, only the product's nature differs between production and consumption. Consumption produces a certain number of units of satisfaction while productive activities produce a certain number of units of tangible goods or services. A consumer is a distinct human being who engages in consumption. in the sense of utilizing goods and services as inputs to generate satisfaction. Individual family members frequently decide on the products and services they will use, and then they consume in accordance with the chosen pattern.

The Areas of Consumption

It is useful to divide consumers into four groups, though each group could be further subdivided based on factors like type and volume of purchases.
(i) The household or family is one of them.
(ii) Federal, state, and local government departments and agencies.
(iii)Manufacturing and commercial establishments.
(iv) Several non-profit organizations, including voluntary associations, independent schools, hospitals, and religious and charitable organizations.

The list of goods and services purchased from the market and actually consumed describes the level of consumption. The list of all goods, services, and circumstances that were actually used or experienced serves as a description of the plane of existence. It is a concept that encompasses everything that is consumed or experienced in daily life, including things like using public amenities like parks, schools, or one's place of residence in addition to goods and services purchased from the market. which are items, services, and conditions that cannot be sold.

The Level of Consumption

A composite or aggregate of the list of goods and services purchased on the market and actually consumed describes the level of consumption. The fact that it can be expressed as a single number makes it simple to order different consumption tiers. An amalgamation of all the elements that make up the plane of living serves as a description of the level of living. It is an expression of life as experienced on a single scale of numbers or values.

The list of products and services that are available on the market and that consumers may purchase, according to their beliefs, describes the standard of consumption. It is a normative concept because, unlike with plane or level, it refers to what should be rather than what is. A list of goods, services, and conditions that an individual or group aspires to obtain, maintains once obtained, and seeks to regain when lost serves as a description of their standard of living. It is a normative concept that describes how the person or group thinks they should be living.

A more inclusive concept than the "plane of consumption" is the "plane of living," to summarize these concepts. However, "plane" and "level" refer to things that have actually been consumed in both cases. Like "standard of living," "standard of consumption" is a broader concept, but in both cases, "standard" refers to a performance that is derivable. One definition of a standard of living is a level of living that people believe to be theirs.

Patterns of Consumption in Pre-industrial Societies

The world's economies are typically divided into five categories by sociologists and social anthropologists: (1) hunting and food gathering, (2) 'herding' (3) horticulture, (4) agriculture and (5) factory-industrialism

Groups in the first four types are typically organized based on kinship for both production and consumption. Since the family is the fundamental unit of both production and consumption, there is little separation between the two organizational functions. On the other hand, since they are organized according to different principles, production and consumption units are separated in industrial societies. Even though other institutions, like the government, have emerged as significant consumers, the family continues to be the primary consumption unit of finished goods. In the first four types of economics, markets are less significant; however, under factory-industrialism, production and consumption units are linked by the market's mechanism.

Social and Cultural Aspects of Consumption

The lack of a pecuniary standard of value, which would allow one to calculate the value of resources allocated to different ends and effectively describe the resulting planes of living of a people, has been a major obstacle to the study of consumption in some preindustrial societies. Researchers noted some methodological issues in their attempts to determine the precise amount of . food the households consumed, how much was given away or wasted, and how much was received.

We are met with some surprises if we look at the customs that control how goods are consumed in non-industrial cultures. The most striking example of this is food, the most basic necessity of life. It has been discovered that concepts of what is and is not appropriate for human nourishment have an impact on even the consumption of this basic necessity. When looking at the differences between the two sexes' clothing, not only in terms of style but also in terms of the materials used to make it, one finds a similar selectivity. It is simple to see how arbitrary the choices made from the available supply of goods are.

Consumption habits also involve the element of prestige in addition to concerns about nutrition and personal taste. Guests must be served food in order to uphold a certain social status, regardless of what may be consumed privately. Furthermore, it is considered shameful if a man needs to send to the market to buy food to feed uninvited guests. One of the most significant and consistent aspects of how foods are used in many pre-industrial societies is the use of goods for ritual purposes, particularly ceremonial consumption to gain prestige.

Seasonal Variations in Food Production and Consumption

In pre-industrial cultures, people's diets also changed according to the time of year and the region of the nation they lived in. Similar to this, a chief may decide to temporarily halt the consumption of some foods in order to preserve them for a special occasion.

Domestic food supplies are typically lowest during periods of the most strenuous physical labor and highest during periods of the least amount of agricultural work. In other words, it would appear that food availability and needs are inversely related if we assume that more food is required to sustain the arduous agricultural work of the rainy season than the leisurely months of the dry season.

Neither the art of food storage nor the ideas of frugality and economy are lacking among farmers. Additionally, it should be kept in mind that, in addition to variations in the food supply at any given time, the rate of consumption may also be influenced by the amount of work completed during a particular season of the year, the unannounced arrival of visitors, or unforeseen demands from village neighbors. When reliance is placed on a single source and the technology is simple, seasonal supply variation can pose a serious problem. However, diversity in food resources keeps the level of basic subsistence goods relatively constant and offsets this issue.

Consumption in Industrial Societies

Many of the items that modern consumers in industrial societies consume are no longer made at home, and family members now concentrate their efforts on finding work. In order to give society's members acceptable standards of health, possessions, and happiness, the diverse output of industries must somehow flow through the buying process. What we refer to as the problems of consumption are revealed during the negotiation of this money exchange for goods and services. We make an effort to maintain a balance between the extra comforts and necessities we need in life and our income. Science, technology, enhanced retail, and the expansion of personal credit facilities. A long list of new goods and services have been developed outright, put into mass production, or elevated to the status of necessities of life as a result of rising living standards. These include new health standards, child rearing practices, comfort, convenience, cleanliness, travel, and a wider range of living arrangements. In most societies, where consumption patterns indicate social status, there is also some degree of one-upmanship in addition to these. e. One attempts to model their behavior after those who are wealthier and more successful than themselves. Learn more about American sociologist T. in the elective course ESO-03. Veblen (1857-1929) introduced the idea of "Conspicuous Consumption" to clarify why people attempted to emulate their neighbors' consumption.

Furthermore, according to French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu (1991), social classes in a society distinguish one another not only on the basis of objective reality but also by drawing lines of demarcation based on symbolic reality. For eg. a person's lifestyle, the type of car they drive, etc.

Factors Affecting Consumption in Industrial Societies

Availability of Choice
There is currently an unprecedented amount of choice available to consumers, which is a problem. In turn, the production units must compete in an increasingly widening field of rivalry for a share of the consumer's rupee, not just against rival brands of the same commodity but also against the entire field of alternative goods and services.
Amount of Income
The amount of money a consumer has determines his ability to purchase goods. Consumer credit is readily available, expanding their options and purchasing power. A regular consumer can purchase expensive items thanks to the instalment and small loan facilities.
Family Size
Availability of Goods
The pressures to consume vary depending on the localities or regions in which people live in addition to the amount of income and the various family needs. Climate has an impact on consumption of things like clothing, fuel, housing, and cars. The level of wealth and the availability of goods in a particular community place strong pressure on the consumer because standards of consumption are largely social rather than private in nature. For instance, a farmer faces less pressure to maintain a high standard of dress than a businessman in a big city, and a family living close to several trading centers with elaborate shop networks and high standards of competitive spending tends to face more pressure to purchase a variety of goods than a family served by a single, underwhelming trading center. As a result, the range of options available to consumers can be increased or decreased depending on how readily available goods are to various segments of the population. It's important to note that more products are now accessible than they were a generation ago, even in socially and geographically isolated areas.
Merchandising Practices
The development of merchandising practices like branding and advertising is required by the pressure to sell more goods. Advertising is closely related to production output and retail distribution. The following are the general goals of advertising:
i) to create awareness among consumers,
ii) to break down consumer resistance,
iii) to create consumer acceptance, and
iv) to create consumer demand.

The spread of packaged and branded goods was further aided by the specialization of commodities and increased competition among manufacturers in their quest to establish national markets. As a result, the value of a brand name has steadily increased, and there are now more brands available for particular goods. a NCAERN report. In its research, Delhi (1993) discovered that about 700,000 ton of detergent were sold in India under the Nirma brand, which has the highest sales. Retailers regret that customer loyalty is no longer what it once was as the consumer is reportedly switching brands at an accelerating rate. As millions of people shop every day, style, cost, quality, and convenience come and go.
Consumer Literacy
Consumer literacy is in high demand due to the proliferation of new goods and services, the decline in knowledge of basic household tasks, the complexity of mechanical devices and manufactured goods, the pressures placed on consumers to make purchases, and internal consumer tensions. Knowledge of goods and the ability to buy them are two aspects of this literacy issue. Government's role is incredibly important when thinking about consumer habits due to the expanding industry-government collaboration and the growing amount of printed and radio content it distributes to consumers. In addition, a few non-profit and professional organizations have emerged to support the consumer. In this area of consumer education, consumer cooperatives are also important.

In light of this, the analysis above focused on specific elements that affect the consumption process. But because they are all so intricately woven into the intricate system of family budgeting, none of these factors can be isolated as the root cause of consumer behavior. Budget studies to some extent reveal how individual families divide their total income. While some consumers still enjoy going shopping, there is evidence that as more alternative activities become available, men and women are growing increasingly dissatisfied with the labor-intensive process of making purchases. They are trying to make the process as simple and quick as they can. People use the Internet to buy nearly everything in more developed nations like America, including jewelry, clothing, plane tickets, movie tickets, and even fruits and vegetables. India is also catching up to this trend, especially in the major cities. As a result, from the perspective of consumption, the world has united.

Summary

The way that people act to produce, distribute, and use goods can be used to explain economic organization. Consumption occurs primarily within a small group in non-industrial societies where production and distribution methods are straightforward. They only produce for consumption. They consider the four basic necessities of life to be food, clothing, shelter, and articles of protection. The mechanisms of consumption have advanced in complexity in industrial societies where surpluses are produced in large quantities and production and distribution methods are complex. In this article, a number of factors that contribute to the development of consumption habits in contemporary societies are identified and explained.