Identity Construction - Essay Example

? Identity construction: Introduction Everyone in the society is a consumer of a form of either product or service at any one time. In consuming such, different people present different tastes and preferences to the products and services a feature, which is key in identity construction. The relativity of the consumers compel the producers to carry out effective market research in order to identify the specific features of their products and services that may attract to the consumers. Different factors contribute to the development of the different tastes and preferences, which is the basic determinant of identity. The body an example of an essential part of humanity that contributes to the development of the relative preferences in people a feature that studies establish validate the claim that it is increasingly becoming a channel for identity constriction. The discussion below relates the claim to a number of theories of personality to determine the role of the body in influencing consumption of products and services in the market (Aaker & Aaker, 2010). Chris Shilling for example in his theory asserts views the body as a project through which he explains the different diversities in people. It is natural that people are different; some of the difference are natural such as gender while others are artificial and people can therefore always manipulate such to fit different scenarios. Chris therefore seeks to investigate the role of these differences in people and the manner in which they affect the consumption of different products and services thereby making different group of people markets to different products and services. Through computation, individuals are markets to different products and services; this implies that any aspect of their life that affects their consumption of the good and services is of essence in tailoring the marketing strategies that the producers of such products and services employ. Marketing is a comprehensive management process, which entails the identification of new markets and devising effective methods of accessing and sustaining the demand. In doing this, marketer perform two key functions which include the determination of new markets. The second role is the maintenance of the current market position by sustaining the supply to meet the demand from the market. The nature of marketing dictates an effective understanding of the market group a feature that validates the extensive analysis of the consumers. Any factor that affect the creation of taste and preference therefore influences the marketing strategies of an organization in order to maintain the supply to the demand, which consequently refers to the profitability of an operation. In analyzing the body a project, Chris begins by analyzing the natural difference in humanity. Nature has an effective means of categorizing things, in humans one such means is the gender. Females taxonomical features most of which are conspicuously different from their male counterparts. The same is applicable to the male gender, from such a basic view of individuals; it becomes natural that the two therefore form markets to different products and service. A number of products and services that befit one of the genders while others are applicable to both. It is therefore a mandate of entrepreneurs to determine the difference and similarities between the two thereby developing enterprises that serve the diversities that the two present. The differences that arise from gender make the two potential markets to an assortment of products and services since the aspect influences preference. Women for example use sanitary pads; a feature that comes naturally. The victims of such monthly flows cannot influence their taxonomy. In the event of coping with the periodical flow and managing them more effectively, women become potential markets to the manufacturers of pads among other sanitary towels, a fundamental of a product that the female gender use that their male counterparts do not. Additionally, the clothes that the two genders use are distinct a feature that make each gender a potential market to the manufacturer of clothes. Sex is a basic element of the body that naturally determines identity in people. In this context, gender becomes an essential marketing tool that marketers analyze in order to determine the opportunities and demands, which are the markets that they therefore compete to fill. Another essential identity determinant in people is tribal identity a feature that contributes to the creation of different subcultures. Culture refers to a community’s way of life. Different people habiting a community and speak the same language always have specific features that dictate their nature of life (Tabbush, 2011). This includes such important aspects of life as worship and dietary. Culture is therefore essential in the determination of identity since it is an essential determinant of people’s practices and social structuring. Through interactions, people share cultural practices thereby trading values and social virtues. This results in scenarios in which people adopt new cultures while abandoning those they consider retrogressive. Cultures have an effective mechanism of compelling adherence thereby shaping people’s behavior. Iacobucci, (2012) asserts one such important subculture that plays an integral role in the process of identity determination is religion. Religion refers to the spiritual affiliations of an individual, different religions compel specific practices that are unique to the faith thereby dictating specific behavior patterns that consequently influence product and service consumption. Islam for example, which is one of the most conservative religions globally command unique attire and dietary. Most Muslims therefore do not eat pork; in such a context, therefore it becomes detrimental to set up such a business in an Islamic society. On the other hand, they have a unique attire consisting of lengthy gowns and veils with which their women cover their faces. The fact that the religion compel such attire among its adherents therefore make this one of the most lucrative business among such a society. Unfortunately, culture is relative and therefore differs from one region to another. A part from religion, there is no other elaborately practiced and predominant sub culture since unlike religion; the other subcultures do not have an effective mechanism of implementing strict compliance to the dictates of the culture. Through urbanization and globalization, people developed independent lifestyles thereby reducing the society to the institution of a family. Additionally, through the developed means of communication such as the internet and the use of mobile telephony, people currently interact different. Such features makes trading on information more convenient and easier. Through such people trade cultural products such as clothes and music. The lack of the unitary cultures as was the case before the world became a global village is an integral element of the modern society that has not only killed a number of previous enterprises but also provided unparalleled opportunity for marketers of creative products thereby increasing the profitability of their products. The demise of the previous culture resulted in the creation of the pop culture in the modern society. Popular culture just as the name suggests is universally accepted and shared among people all over the world. This implies that such cultural products access the international market thereby providing a large market for appropriate cultural products and service. Popular culture relies on trends, any behavior pattern that the global community perceive trendy immediately becomes a cultural practice. Coupled with the effectiveness of the means of communication in the modern society, such trends become viral globally thereby becoming cultural practices. Such a society therefore consists of technological individuals who maintain constant interaction with the international community through the means of communication. Such features become essential characteristics of personality that contribute to identity of creation. Fournier, (1998). Explains that popular culture therefore relies on trendsetters who coincidentally become the greatest beneficiaries of their creations. The culture dictates specific attires that trend within the target population. Such attires for example therefore provide an extensive opportunity for their producers (Lane, 2005). This explains the status of the wealthy international designers such as Ralph Lauren among many others. Such creators carry out extensive market research to determine a product that is more likely to win the affection of the market population. Such products must have the appeal to the tending features of the society and the culture. However, popular culture has a great disadvantage to marketers thereby compelling marketing dynamism to help cushioning marketers from incurring loses. On such disadvantage of the popular culture is the fact that it is contemporary. The trending features of the society keep changing from time to time depending on the creativity of the trendsetters (Bogomolova, 2011). This implies that the cultural products in the market therefore have a short life span within which they stay relevant to their market population. Adherents of the popular culture exhibit this dynamism in their consumption since they must always stay relevant to the trend features of the culture by ensuring that they obtain the cultural products while they are still trending and therefore relevant to the society. However, the invention of a better trend results in the abolition of an already established brand a feature that makes the culture precarious and risky to marketers. The trend in the cultural market therefore requires unique yet appropriate marketing strategies to ensure profitability in the evidently precarious market (Homburg, Sabine & Harley, 2009). One such effective marketing criteria is staying in touch with the target market. The current population have a number of features through which they stay in contact and sustain their interactions. The advent of the internet and the subsequent development of the social networking sites is currently common among the consumers of the cultural products. It is through such channels that they obtain information on the different trends and cultural innovations. The internet and its associated media overcome the geographical barriers thereby creating a universal market place (Chatterjee & Hevner, 2010). The size of the market presents an opportunity to the producers yet requires effective surveillance. The elite trendsetters therefore stay in touch with their target market by staying interactive on the social networking sites. Through these platforms, they share views with their markets and engage their markets in the trending features. This way they get ideas while increasing the reputation of their design labels. Among the most commonly, traded cultural products are clothing and media content such as videos and music (Pickton & Broderick, 2005). Market presence is yet another important aspect of marketing that modern business organizations must maintain. The market place is expanded, the use of the internet succeeded in creating a global village out of the previously expansive world. This implies that while the world has become increasingly accessible using technology, it has stayed the same geographically thereby making the nature of business more complex (Thomas & Michael, 2001). With an effective understanding of the complexity and dynamism of the market, modern businesses create effective channels through which they maintain market presence thereby safeguarding the availability of a trending product on any part of the globe that they consider lucrative. Fortunately, the internet forms an elaborate and secure platform through which major organizations transact business thereby conveniently overcoming the effects of geographical barriers (Kotler, 2010). In addition to culture and gender, there are a number of other natural identity features, which apply conventionally to humans such as race. Just as ethnicity, race contributes to the creation of a specific cultural practice, which thereafter influences consumption patterns. Just as is the case with ethnicity, through increased interactions in the modern society. The society developed very liberal ideologies and structures thereby quelling the effects of such pertinent factors as race and ethnicity in the creation of market structures. Through intermarriages, different ethnicities and races abandoned their cultural practices as they assumed superior cultures, which unified the two through the rise of a race less group among them. Beside the naturally occurring identity determiners in the body, people have a number of other artificial influencers of identity, which influence their ability to consume the products, and services I the market.one such feature is financial ability of the people. People have relative financial abilities owing to their investments and employments. This implies that people have different abilities to purchase the different products and success the services in the market. The financial ability of the market is the most important identity determinant of the market population since it influences their direct ability to purchase products and access services. The financial implications and its relative nature results in the creation of different market categories (Kotler & Kevin, 2010). The market is subdivided into either two or three depending on the financial abilities of the population. These include the rich or the wealthy with the financial ability to purchase whichever product. However, the population of the group is always small. This implies that the products targeting the population must have specific features to enable the profitability of the manufacturer and a quality assurance to the consumers who consequently attach more importance to the quality of the products they access in the market. The second category and possibly the last is the middle class and the poor. This constitutes the majority of consumers. However, their purchasing power is limited owing to the fact that they have limited finances. The group therefore consist of people who account for their money by spending only when it is necessary (Parente, 2005). In retrospect, personality is an essential component of humanity, which determines the consumption patterns thereby compelling the marketers to carry out extensive researches and obtain an understanding of the different markets that result from the diversity in personalities of people. References Aaker, D. A., & Aaker, D. A. (2010). 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