Question

categories and examples based upon gerontographics

the six different types of American generations

the terms of cohort analysis, subjective discretionary income, social stratification, and social status

the pros and cons with using single-item indexes and multi-item indexes

the social structure categories in the United States

Answer 1

Gerontographics refers to the act of acknowledging and accepting the differences in the ageing process and also the differences n ageing dimensions. Usually segmentation is done on the basis of data collected from the young generations. However, the needs of the old are different from those of the young. Based on gerontographics, which monitors the consumer behaviour of older adults, the mature market is segregated into four broad categories:

1. Healthy Indulgers: The people in this category are independent, active and in good health. They are the least hesitant when it comes to indulging and stress on product information. They are picky about the goods and services they consume and welcome any technological innovation in the market. This is a very good category for market surveys. (Eg- Baby Boomers)
2. Healthy Hermits: The old people in this category exhibit good physical and mental health. Psychologically they are detached from the society who do not care about the newest technology entering the market. They are satisfied with the subsistence level of consumption and is the least responsive to marketing strategies. (Mature Generation)
3. Ailing Outgoers: The old people in this category do not exhibit the best in class health, but tend to be very health conscious. They are responsive towards new innovations and are very conscious about financial matters. This is the best category when it comes to the market for consumer goods and services and exhibit favourable behaviour towards market strategies.
4. Frail Recluses: These people are psychologically detached from society and are lonely and exhibit poor health. They are concerned about financial and physical security and do not care much about product information before going in for any purchase.

There are 6 different types of living American generations which are as follows:

1. The GI Generation: They were born within 1926, who have witnessed the World Wars ad Great Depression. They are regarded as ‘The Greatest Generation’ who exhibit strong personality, energy, team spirit and did not believe in the concept of retiring unless completely retiring from life.
2. Mature or Silent Generation: They were born between 1927-1945 and witnessed the Korean and Vietnamese War. They were disciplined, self conscious and believed in relaxing after retirement from work.
3. Baby Boomers: They were born between 1946 and 1964. They believe in being self-righteous and self-centred. They welcome any kind of change in the market and usually spend a lot even in credit. They are a part of the ‘Healthy Hermits’ category. They were the first generation to have given a positive vibe to the word ‘retirement’ by looking forward to doing more active things later in life.
4. Generation X: They were born between 1965-1980 and were smart but somewhat isolated. They have been raised in a transition phase who lack the identity of a separate generation. They are cautious, self-reliant and very suspicious of all organizations.
5. Generation Y: They were born between 1981-2000 who are mature and focussed. This generation expects a lot from itself and experience tremendous academic pressure. They have unlimited access to information and demand a good environment to work in.
6. Generation Z/Boomlets: They were born after 2001 who are born into the world of technology. They are tech savvy and over saturated with brands, and at the same time have seen very little of playing out in the open air.

The word ‘cohort’ means a group of people having similar characteristics. The term ‘Cohort Analysis’ refers to a study that focuses on the activities of a particular cohort. For example, calculating the average income of a group of students belonging to the same cohort, for a period of four years following their graduation (say choosing students who graduated in 2012), would be a cohort analysis.

Subjective Discretionary Income refers to an estimate from the consumer’s end on how much money is to be spent on non-essential goods or services. The word ‘discretion’ means the power to make a choice among different alternatives. Thus, subjective discretionary income regarding certain consumer goods/services can help infer the thinking patterns of consumers based on their consumption preferences and behaviouristic patterns.

Social stratifications is defined as a system by which the society categorizes people by ranking them according to hierarchy. In every country, some groups have greater wealth or power over others. This categorization is what leads to social stratification.

Social status refers to the position that one holds in a society. One single person can identify with different social statuses at the same time. For example, a person can simultaneously have the social status of being a mother, a wife, a rich daughter, a teacher, an American and a woman.

Social classes are often indexed based on one single item or multiple items. Some of the pros and cons can be explained as follows:

The pros of single-item indices (like education, occupation, income etc) and thus the cons of multi-item indices (Hollingshed Index of Social Position) include the following:

1. Single-item indices are easy to calculate whereas multi-item indices involve complicated calculation.
2. Single-item indices are easy to understand and interpret. The effect of each index can be separately identified regarding how much of social status is being affected by each factor. Multi-item indices are difficult to interpret. The impact of each independent variable on the social status cannot be identified easily.

The cons of single-item indices and thus the pros of multi-item indices (Hollingshed Index of Social Position) include the following:

1. Single-item indices are less accurate than well developed multi-item indices because the overall social status of an individual is influenced by several dimensions together rather than one single item at a time.

The social structure categories in the United States can be divided into four broad types:

1. The Upper Class: This includes people who have either inherited wealth or have become elites in the corporate world. They are further classified into the ‘upper-upper class’ and the ‘lower upper class’ and possess power over other classes in the society.
2. The Upper Middle Class: This category consists of highly educated and salaried professionals. Their occupations require very high academic qualifications.
3. The Middle Class: This is the most nebulous form of class which is not clearly defined with distinguished characteristics. It contains individuals with a mixture of characteristics from different classes. The class simply called the middle class represents the lower end of the middle class who have college degrees but not education of the highest repute, or are well paid, but not as well as the professionals in the upper middle class.
4. The Working Class: This class includes people working in low-level retail and service categories. They are often unemployed and also temporarily (or contractually) employed for manual labour. This class is characterised by poverty, hunger and insecurity.