Social class is not a new concept, although sophisticated methods of classification are relatively modern. Social class awareness is often said to be one of the more enduring characteristics of British life.
Some might deny that social stratification exists at all modern Britain: that egalitarianism has spread widely since the Second World War and eroded social class distinctions. Others, equally trenchant in their views, declare that while the old social barriers may have fallen, new criteria of distinctive social and economics behavior have replaced them.
Little bit of history
Social allotment in ancient Rome was set by legal precedents, not simply discrimination. Wealth, Roman citizenship and freedom were the elements factoring into an individual’s standing. Freedom was categorised into three further sections: slaves, freedpersons (i.e. ex-slaves) and free persons. Although wealth and freedom were always causes of division, the social status set by one’s citizenship became more flexible as the roman timeline progressed through the republic.
The distribution of wealth in ancient Rome is not accurately comparable to that of our modern society. In our society the term ‘middle class’ encompasses a wide variety of jobs and is easily the largest ‘social’ class. In ancient Rome the vast majority were extremely poor with few earning enough to live comfortably and even fewer in the extremely wealthy upper orders; those controlling the city.
The Aristocracy
Rome worked hard to prove that she was, in fact, a democracy and hence called herself a republic. Polybius is adamant of this and describes how no law is passed and no action taken without the consultation and vote of the masses. This reputation was created and protected by the aristocratic classes. These consisted of the patricians, the senatorial order and later the equestrian class, publicans and the nobles This pretence of a democratic governing body was made possible by the fact that positions of influence in political Rome were unpaid and therefore only the independently wealthy, usually by means of land-ownership and agriculture, could afford to hold them.
The Patrician and Plebeian Classes
When Rome was under monarchic rule, the positions of officials and advisers to the king were filled by the men of the wealthiest families and were known as ‘fathers’ of the state or ‘patricians’. After the monarchy’s dissolution they assumed control of the city and formed the basis of the aristocracy. The multitude, which included all those outside the patrician class, was known as plebeian.
Plebeians could not, at first, be politically active, become priests, join the senatorial order or even marry into patrician families. By 287 BC, the wealthier plebeian families had, after a great deal of political lobbying, achieved a certain amount of equality. The aristocracy then expanded to include the plebeians who had managed to become politically influential. Those plebeians came to be titled nobiles or ‘nobles’.
Social class is one of the main factors which influence our behaviour.
The class in which we were growing up determinates our decisions. Of course, there are 'wandering' between classes, but change of the material status, or change of the environment cannot totally uproot our habits, familiarity, and education.
The marketers need to understand the roles played by the buyer’s culture, subculture, and social class. Culture is the most basic cause of a person’s wants and behaviour. Growing up in a society, a child learns basic values, perceptions, wants, and behaviours from the family and other important institutions.
They are relatively permanent and ordered divisions in a society whose members share similar values, interests, and behaviours. Social class is not determined by a single factor such as income but is measured as a combination of occupation, income, education, wealth, and other variables. Marketers are interested in social class because people within a given social class tend to exhibit similar behaviour, including buying behaviour.
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