WHEN DO SOCIAL NORMS REPLACE STATUS‐SEEKING CONSUMPTION? AN APPLICATION TO THE CONSUMPTION OF CLEANLINESS

Julia Sophie Woersdorfer

Metroeconomica, 2010, vol. 61, issue 1, 35-67

Abstract: Interdependencies in consumer behavior stem from either status‐seeking consumption or compliance with social norms. This paper analyzes how a consumption act changes from a means to signal the consumer's status to a means of norm compliance. It is shown that such a transformation can only be understood when consumer motivations other than social recognition are taken into account. We depict norm emergence as a learning process based on changing associations between a specific consumption act and widely shared, non‐subjectivist consumer needs. Our conjectures are illustrated by means of a case study: the emergence of the cleanliness norm in the 19th century.

Date: 2010
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https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-999X.2009.04065.x

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