Chapter 12 Consumer Behavior

Blue-collar workers with relatively high-prestige jobs consider themselves as ________.

Working class lower middle

The average American's standard of living continues to improve. These income shifts are linked to two key factors: ________.

a shift in women's roles and an increase in educational attainment

Fred Johnson has worked hard all of his life to make a decent living for himself and his family. However, in recent years he has become obsessed with a fear of being ruined, either because of losing his job or losing all of his savings. According to clinical psychologists, Fred Johnson's fear of being ruined is equated to ________.

Atephobia

measures how optimistic or pessimistic people are about the future health of the economy and how they will fare in the future.

Consumer confidence

Money available to a household over and above what is required to have a comfortable standard of living is called ________.

Discretionary Income

Consumers who refuse to sacrifice style, but achieve it on a budget are called ________.

Frugalistas

Which of the following theorists is best known for arguing that an individual's relationship to the means of production determines his position in society?

Karl Marx

A ________ is an economy that is driven by a fairly small group of rich people.

Plutonomy

________ refers to the passage of individuals from one social class to another.

Social Mobility

The best predictor of major expenditures that do not have status or symbolic value is ________.

Social class and income

Consumers who buy everything in sight are called ________.

Spendthrifts

Which of the following is NOT listed as a determiner of how much a person will save (saving rate)?

The relationship between the lending prime rate and growth rates

One percenters are an example of ________.

income inequality

Although teenagers do not have the income of older consumers, they are still an attractive marked based on income. Why?

it's all discretionary