Welcome back. In the last segment you learned that Chinese consumers are more materialistic compared to U.S. Consumers. However, materialism in China is not driven by the motivation to bolster self-esteem with material possessions. If so, why do some Chinese consumers endorse materialism? We now turn to answer this question. As we discussed in lesson one, Mainland Chinese are status conscious in brand consumption, particularly high status consumers purchase from luxury brands to signal the elite status. Therefore, they prefer buying brands name products with highly visible brand logos. How can we explain this pattern of consumer behaviors in China? Here is the answer I propose. Chinese consumers believe that being an elite can help them attain multiple valued goals. That is, if someone is regarded as an elite in the society, he or she will gain admiration, reputation and social power. As a result he or she will have more social capital, a better Guanxi to compete for even more resources and opportunities for further advancement in the society. When relational mobility is low, people cannot easily form new relationships. Under these circumstances having an elite status is a precious and relatively permanent asset. Publicly signaling one's elite status through conspicuous consumption is instrumental to maintaining and enhancing one's competitive advantage in a hierarchical society. To understand how elitism and relational mobility affects consumers perceptions on luxury brand consumption, I asked respondents in our cross-national survey how much they support the notion of elitism. For example, they were asked how much do you agree with statements such as, great art Is not meant for the common folks, or the ideal world is run by those most capable. The questions are items in a standardized measure that social scientists have developed to assess people's personal endorsement of elitism. People who strongly agree with these statements believe that elites in the society have superior status and being a elite allowed individual to attain many valued goals. These beliefs provide justifications for unequal distribution of wealth, status and privileges in a hierarchical society. Aside from elitism, I also asked respondents how much relational mobility is allowed in the society? According to Masaki Yuki, a professor of psychology in the Hokkaido University, relational mobility refers to the amount of opportunity and freedom individuals have to form new leave currents relationships in a given society or social context. Individuals who have experienced lower levels of relational mobility in the society are more likely to agree with statements such as, it is often the case that they cannot freely choose who they associate with. These statements are Items in standardized measure of relational mobility. Here Is what the data showed. Elitism is higher among mainland Chinese consumers than U.S. consumers. The mainland Chinese consumers also report having lower levels of relational mobility in the society compared with the U.S. counterparts. Interestingly, among the Chinese consumers those who agreed that elitism is instrumental to attaining many valued goals, also tend to experience less relational mobility. That is if a Chinese consumer feels that being a elite is important for attainment of personal goals, they also feel that it is not easy to form new relationships with others or leave the current relationships. These findings suggest that Chinese consumers generally believe that it is not easy to move up the socio-economic ladder in China. Those who are not an elite will unlikely be able to move up by acquiring valuable Guanxi. How does this belief in elitism and experience of low relational mobility influence Chinese consumers preferences and choices? This is the question we will discuss in the next segment.
