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Upper-Upper class—inherited wealth and privilege;

Nouveau Riche—new money;

Upper-Middle class—high educational attainment and prestige;

Lower-Middle class—semi-professional, non-managerial employees and skilled crafts people,

whose lifestyle is considered average;

Upper-Lower class—solidly blue collar, with highly routinized jobs and steady incomes;

Working Poor—low on the social ladder and economically insecure)

Underclass—mostly unemployed and dependent on the government

Family is two or more persons related by blood, marriage, or adoption who reside

together.

Social class is the division of members of a society into a hierarchy of distinct status

classes, in which members of a class have relatively the same status and members of all

other classes have more or less status

The aspect of childhood socialization that is particularly relevant to the study of consumer

behavior is consumer socialization, which is defined as the process by which children

acquire the skills, knowledge, and attitudes and experiences necessary to function as

Consumers

Bachelorhood. Young single adult living apart from parents.

Honeymooners. Young married couple.

Parenthood. Married couple with at least one child living at home.

Post-parenthood. An older married couple with no children living at home

Social class is the division of members of a society into a hierarchy of distinct status classes,

so that members of each class have relatively the same status and members of all other

classes have either more or less status

Index of Status Characteristics—the Warner Index of Status Characteristics

(ISC)—is a classic composite measure of social class that weighs occupation,

source of income, house type, and dwelling area equality of neighborhood.

Socioeconomic Status Scores—the United States Bureau of Census

developed the Socioeconomic Status Score (SES) that combines the

socioeconomic variables of occupation, family income, and educational

attainment.

Downward mobility, defined as moving down, rather than up the social ladder, is taking

place with today’s second youngest generation; they will experience lower living standards

than their parents