Ethnic, Racial, and Religious Subcultures

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Ethnic, Racial, and Religious Subcultures
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Subcultures and Consumer Identity

• Subcultures
• Group memberships within society at large
• Ethnic and Racial Subcultures
• Ethnic Subculture A self-perpetuating group of
  consumers who are held together by common
  cultural or genetic ties, and is identified both
  by its members and by others as being a
  distinguishable category.
• Ethnicity and Marketing Strategies
• High-context Culture Group members tend to be
  tightly knit, and they are likely to infer
  meanings that go beyond the spoken word.

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Is Ethnicity a Moving Target?

• De-ethnicization
• Refers to the process whereby a product formerly
  associated with a specific ethnic group is
  detached from its roots and marketed to other
  subcultures.
• The Big Three American Subcultures
• African Americans
• Hispanic Americans
• Asian Americans

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Acculturation

• Acculturation
• Refers to the process of movement and adaptation
  to one countrys cultural environment by a person
  from another country.
• Acculturation Agents
• People and institutions that teach the ways of a
  culture.
• Culture of Origin
• Culture of Immigration

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Segmenting Hispanics by Acculturation
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A Model of Consumer Acculturation
Figure 14.2
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Processes of Immigrant Adaptation

• Movement
• Refers to the factors motivating people to
  physically uproot themselves from one location to
  another.
• Translation
• Attempting to master a set of rules for operating
  in the new environment.
• Adaptation
• Cultural learning that leads to new consumption
  patterns
• Assimilation
• When immigrants adopt products, habits, and
  values that are identified with the mainstream
  culture.
• Maintenance
• Resistance
• Segregation

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Perspectives on Ethnic Adaptation

• Ethnic Pluralism
• Argues that ethnic groups differ from the
  mainstream in varying degrees, and that
  adaptation to the larger society occurs
  selectively.
• Progressive Learning Model
• Assumes that people gradually learn a new culture
  as they increasingly come in contact with it.
• Host Culture

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Asian Americans

• Chi
• An invisible energy current that is believed to
  bring good or bad luck
• Feng Shui
• Translated literally as the wind and the water
• Fastest growing minority group in the U.S.
• The most affluent, best educated, and most likely
  to hold technology jobs of any ethnic subculture
• Prosperous Asians tend to be very status
  conscious
• Advertising featuring celebrities can be very
  effective in reaching this group

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Religious Subcultures

• The Rise of Spirituality
• Explosion of religion in popular culture
• Old and New Religions
• The Impact of Religion on Consumption
• Not studied extensively in marketing (too
  taboo)
• Religious affiliation has the potential to be a
  valuable predictor of consumer behavior