Authors
Abstract
In recent years, the high level of consumption in Iranian society has provoked wide social and political debates. Nevertheless, there have been few systematic social studies to examine social and individual factors that influence consumption values and behaviors. This paper examines social determinants of consumption aspiration of married women. Data for the study collected through a cross-sectional survey in 2009 among a representative sample of 684 respondents in the city of Yazd, Iran.
To study the impact of socio-economic factors on the consumption aspirations, in this paper we conceptualize and evaluate the impact of the hypothesized relationships at three levels: 1- individual characteristics of respondents, 2- intergenerational influence of the parental characteristics, and 3- family and household socio-economic condition.
Our analysis confirms the effect of individual attributes, socio-economic condition of household and intergenerational influence of parental characteristics on the level of consumption aspiration of respondents.
In evaluating the impact of individual characteristics (including respondent's age, education, mass media exposure and place of origin), findings reveal the most important impact of mass media exposure on the formation of consumerism life style and consumption culture.
An examination of the household's condition hypothesis (including the household income and household size) indicate a powerful and direct effect of family income on the consumption aspiration. Findings also confirm the intergeneration influence of parent's characteristics on the consumption aspirations of respondents.
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