The Changing American Society: Values Changes in American

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CHAPTER 3
The Changing American Society Values
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Changes in American Cultural Values
Cultural values are widely held beliefs that
affirm what is desirable. Observable shifts in
behavior, including consumption behavior, often
reflect underlying shifts in cultural
values. Therefore, it is necessary to understand
the underlying value shifts in order to
understand current and future consumer behavior.
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Changes in American Cultural Values

• Self-Oriented Values
• Environment-Oriented Values
• Other-Oriented Values

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Changes in American Cultural Values

• Self-Oriented Values

Reflect a societys view of the appropriate
relationships between individuals and groups
within that society.
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Changes in American Cultural Values
Self-Oriented Values

• Religious/Secular
• Sensual Gratification/Abstinence
• Postponed/Immediate Gratification
• Hard work/Leisure
• Material/Nonmaterial
• Active/Passive

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Environment-Oriented Values

• Cleanliness
• Traditionally Americans have valued cleanliness
• Americans are getting messier, especially in
  their homes, but that doesnt mean they like it
  (most likely due to a poverty of time)
• Great marketing opportunities for products that
  help meet this cleanliness need

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Environment-Oriented Values Contd

• Tradition/Change
• Traditionally Americans have always been
  receptive to change.
• Often associate new with improved
• Americans still receptive to change, but are less
  receptive to change just for changes sake
• American population continues to get older on
  average and as people age they become less
  receptive to change as a general rule

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Environment-Oriented Values Contd

• Risk Taking/Security
• Americans have always valued risk taking, but in
  the 1930s through the mid 1980s there was a
  trend for security due to fears spawned from the
  Great Depression, WW2 and the Cold War
• Today risk-taking is highly valued by many
  entrepreneurs and investors looking to them for
  new opportunites

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Environment-Oriented Values Contd

• Problem Solving/Fatalistic
• Americans have always had a strong problem
  solving attitude
• Most believe that given enough time and effort
  most any problem can be solved
• (ex. most believe that the economy can be grown
  while improving the environment)

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Environment-Oriented Values Contd

• Admire/Overcome Nature
• Traditionally Americans have viewed nature as an
  obstacle, something to overcome
• While the number of people who say they are
  environmentalist has gone down, this may be due
  to some of the negative stigma tied to the word
  and the movement
• However, statistics show that people have become
  increasingly environmentally aware and are
  changing some purchasing and consumption habits
  (pg. 90)

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Environment-Oriented Values Contd

• Performance/Status
• Americans are shifting back their focus on
  performance over status brands
• While Americans are still willing to purchase
  status brands they must provide style and
  functionality in addition to the prestige of the
  brand

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Changes in American Cultural Values

• Other-Oriented Values

Reflect a societys view of the appropriate
relationships between individuals and groups
within that society.
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Changes in American Cultural Values
Other-Oriented Values

• Individual/Collective
• Diversity/Uniformity
• Limited/Extended
• Youth/Age
• Competition/Cooperation
• Masculine/Feminine

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• Individual/Collective

• As Americans we are a highly individualistic
  society
• doing your own thing

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• Diversity/Uniformity

• Americans are becoming more diverse every day
• Global economic success

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Limited/Extended

• Physical separation of traditional family members
• Lack of socializing with extended family

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• Youth/Age

• American culture is youth based
• Changing as baby boomers come of age

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• Competition/Cooperation

• Competitive society
• Individually or as teams

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• Masculine/Feminine

• Traditionally masculine
• This orientation is changing, as are gender roles