Relationship Between Cultural Consumption, Identity And Holidays - Essay Example

Relationship between cultural consumption, identity and holidays How culture dictates peoples’ choice of holiday destination This essay tries to trace the interconnection between choice of holiday destination and how it is influenced by culture and identity of holidaying individuals Introduction People go on a holiday to take a break from everyday grind, relax and be rejuvenated for the long haul ahead for the rest of the year. However, there has been a long running debate as to what exactly are the necessary ingredients that would guarantee the much needed relaxation and rejuvenation that all those going on a holiday so eagerly desire. Would they require a replication of the basic environment in which they normally spend their days, or, would they love to have a complete break from their routine lives and go for an experience that they seldom or never encounter in their daily lives? Marketers and scholars alike have debated this extremely vexed question about how people choose their holiday destinations. Do they choose their destinations in such a way that reveals their true identity or do they choose it in a way that is a complete break from their routine lifestyle? An anecdote, albeit apocryphal, might highlight the basic question that this essay attempts to answer. The narrator of this anecdote was on a conducted tour of the Lake Districts in United Kingdom where a young couple caught his attention. The attractive lady was so very enthusiastic about every little detail and almost bounced out of the bus as it pulled in at each of the many tourist spots in the tour. She avidly followed what the tourist guide was saying about William Wordsworth, Coleridge and Southey and was really at her effervescent best when the time came to stop at the inn where Thomas De Quincey used to have his daily shot of opium. The gentleman, on the other hand, wore a look of extreme boredom on his face and spent most of his time with the driver of the tourist bus and in tinkering with lubricant, grease and small tools that are kept handy by any driver worth his salt. The narrator had been observing for a considerable period this apparent anomaly in tastes of the couple and finally could no longer hold himself back and went ahead to express his sympathies to the lady for having to suffer a husband who did not have even an iota of interest in English literature and culture. The lady, most unexpectedly, was extremely surprised and so was the narrator when he came to know that while the lady worked in a commercial bank, the gentleman taught English Literature in London University and was a poet himself with a couple of published volumes. Though this anecdote is purely imaginary it does throw up certain important issues about what a person expects from his holiday. Does he or she go to places that reflect his or her inherent ethnicity or cultural identity, or does an average tourist want to break away from the mundane world of everyday existence and take a trip into the world that is far apart from the cultural cocoon that he or she resides in on a day to day basis. But before any attempt is made to unravel the relationship between cultural consumption, identity and choice of holiday destinations, we need to know what these words actually mean and what ideas these concepts convey when used in an academic discussion. Cultural Consumption The literature on consumer behaviour has laid a great deal of emphasis on culture of an ethnic group and the impact it has on the consumption behaviour of that particular group. Marketers have attempted to categorise consumption patterns on the basis of cultural identity. Some experts are of the opinion that cultural consumption happens to be one of the key activities of everyday life and it clearly reflects our ethnic background and social status and also reflects where we would like ourselves to be. (Storey 1999) Some authors emphasise that identity construction happens through consumption which is essentially a two way process – both internal and external. While internally consumption deals with an individual experience and assimilation of that personal experience, externally consumption acts as an indicator of the social strata the consumer belongs to. (Baudrillard 1998) Consumption can carry different meaning and different connotations in different societies and this is nowhere more starkly exhibited than in commercial advertisements in different societies. As for example, advertisements for consumer goods in socialist societies did not highlight the aspect of consumer satisfaction and associated product desirability as much as it was done in western societies. Instead, these consumer goods were show pieced as examples of industrial progress of the country and the customers were exhorted to be a part of the nation’s march towards progress by buying these goods. (Csikszentmihalyi and Rochberg-Halton 1981) However, cultural consumption at times becomes a symbol of showing solidarity with one’s own ethnic roots and is a potent weapon of getting closer to the stereotype that is portrayed by the media. (Corner 1999) This is very much evident in the consumption patterns of Afro-centric consumers in New York and Chicago where it was observed that Blacks use consumption to climb upwards in social recognition in the form of social status, equality with white Americans and respect from other members of the society. So, it was observed that Blacks purchased more premium brands and went to more upscale shops and black women spent more on personal care and hygiene. Consumption thus has become an easy means of acquiring status. The study of how blacks use consumption to shape their collective identity further revealed that black households spent four times as much as their white counterparts on clothing and dresses. (Lament and Molnar 2001) Thus one might conclude culture does have an impact on consumption patterns of specific categories of people. These categories need not be ethnic minorities only; these categories represent various broad sections of a diverse society. Marketers aim to create products and launch advertising campaigns aimed at specific categories to extract maximum impact and robust contribution to bottom lines. (McCracken 1992) Identity Right from the advent of industrial revolution and the use of capital as the most valued factor of production, people tried to identify themselves with the nature of work they did. As factory system of production gradually took root, people expected a steady, durable and continuous working career that became the single most identifying parameter in everyone’s’ life. (Bauman 2005) However, times have changed a lot since the industrial revolution took place and now neither jobs nor professions are neither fixed nor determined for a lifetime. Things have become much more fluid and identity as such can no longer be associated with the nature of work. Rather, as Bauman would like us to believe (Bauman, Consuming Life 2007), most of the wealthier western societies now build their identities around what they consume. Holiday This word immediately conjures a break from the mundane activities from daily life and in almost all cases a trip to some place away from home. There are of course some pedantic arguments about whether holiday is indeed the correct word and whether the word ‘vacation’ is more sound in connotation in this situation or not. But even if we leave aside this pedantic hair-splitting, the basic fact remains unchanged that almost all of us prefer to take a trip away from home when there is a scheduled break (usually once a year) from work. Researchers agree that consumption is done not only for self satisfaction but also for the message such consumption conveys to the peer group in particular and society in general. Thus tourists, as they choose their holiday destinations, tend to express their social status and refined tastes and ensure these are highlighted while doing so. The most important factor in such a choice usually is whether the choice sufficiently conveys the message `who I am. (Therkelsen 2008) Common thread between cultural consumption, identity and holidays Literature on cultural consumption of services as those related to holiday services and buying processes like choosing holiday destinations have considered in detail the cultural variable as it acts as a regulator of behaviour, attitudes, values and the extent of tolerance of other cultures. (Hofstede 1980) Culture, one must understand is not what one thinks to be the ideal behavioural norms as expected in his or her social group, but it is an inherent predisposition of human beings to act in a manner that is considered appropriate within their social groups. (Ferdman 1992) In simple words, culture varies from country to country and from civilisations to civilisations and this is true even in this era of internet and the concept of global village. Hofstede studied data from 53 countries in the form of 117,000 completed questionnaires and concluded that people have different intentions, give different attributions and react differently due to their cultural group. (Hofstede, Cultures and Organizations 1991) The other most interesting aspect of the study by Hofstede was that culture can also be used as a predictive variable not only in the realm of psychology but also, very importantly in the field of Marketing, Advertising and Consumer Research. The country scores obtained by Hofstede still have a remarkable relevance in today’s world of cross cultural marketing that attempts to cater to consumers coming from varying cultural backgrounds. (Smith, Bond and Kagitçibasi 2006) The concept of individualism-collectivism as propounded by Hofstede happens to be the most relevant aspect when any attempt is made to unravel the internal linkage between cultural consumption, identity and holidays. Hofstede observed that residents of individualistic cultures prefer to make their choices independently of other community members while members of collective cultures tend to take their decisions more as a group. Later day researchers refined the concept of individualism-collectivism and have used it to study and predict with reasonable levels of accuracy consumer choices and behaviour. (Shavitt, et al. 2006) For the purpose of studying in detail the impact of cultural consumption on choice of holiday destinations, two distinct social groups, one from Australia and another from Brazil had been identified and their reactions were analysed in great detail in a detailed study conducted by Torres and Pérez-Nebra. (Torres and Pérez-Nebra 2007) It has been assumed that Brazilian culture provides a decent example of a culture where collectivist values are preferred (Torres and Dessen 2002) while Australian culture is more prone towards individualistic decision making. (Singelis, et al. 1995) Any study can be worthwhile only when extreme values are considered and analysed as these would surely include all data that lie in between. Research has demonstrated that consumers view service essentially from two perspectives. (Allen 2000) The first and most obvious perspective is the tangible aspect of the service where the practical utility of the service is measured in terms of convenience, efficiency and whether the service is worth the money value that is being charged. This is basically a predominantly utilitarian approach of evaluating the service that the consumer plans to purchase. It is more a matter of personal experience and evaluation. The second approach is more a matter of the mind and here the cultural background of the consumer comes into play as it determines the consumer’s attitude towards the service and this quite naturally has the greatest impact on the decision whether to purchase or not to purchase a particular service. Members of collectivist societies tend to form an opinion about a product only after consultation with other members and generally tend to fall in line with what majority of the society is thinking. The symbolic attributes of the product are shaped through a subjective categorisation that is done through available communication systems, well established social institutions and the overall culture of the society. These symbolic attributes, though intangible have more importance to members of a collective society. Thus, here is an opportunity available to marketers, for if they are able to guide and help in forming an initial favourable opinion about a service, there is little chance that it will ever be refuted, as subsequent customers will be guided by group feeling and will obviously have a positive attitude to what is being offered. The collectivist culture somehow strikes a positive correlation between affective and cognitive components and instead of contradicting each other, people in collectivist societies simply integrate the cognitive component with the affective component as that satisfies the overwhelming desire to project a monolithic ‘we’ instead of the individualistic ‘I’. There is huge emphasis on in-group harmony and any behaviour that disturbs that equilibrium is invariably considered to be a loss of face that must be avoided at all costs. (Mooij 2004) However, it would be a travesty of truth if it is assumed that members of collectivist society do not give any importance to functional aspects of a service. It is just that the attitude that is shaped by societal influence tends to bias a prospective customers mind while he or she is making a choice. (Kilbourne 1991) It has been observed that members of individualistic cultures like Australia lay greater emphasis on the utilitarian approach of evaluating a particular service as they are less encumbered or constricted by what peer group reactions with respect to similar service. (Cervellon and Dubé 2002) Choice of holiday destination Various studies have been done analysing the factors that determine the attractiveness or otherwise of a destination. It was revealed that the attractiveness of a destination depended basically on several factors such as favourable location, easy access, level of facilities/amenities and leisure/recreational pursuits available. (Klenoski 2002) Another study concluded that the really important factors that determine the choice of a holiday destination are scenery and entertainment options available at the destination. (Hall 2002) As already mentioned, a detailed study was done by Torres and Pérez-Nebra (Torres and Pérez-Nebra 2007) on a group of Brazilians and Australians and the empirical results of the study primarily showed that Brazilians indeed reacted more in groups rather than as individuals while Australians exhibited a more individualistic streak. 59.8% of the Brazilians and 36.3% of the Australians preferred to go to places of natural scenic beauty and while 14.4% Australians had spent their holidays in large cities of each country, only 11.9% of the Brazilians did so. A considerable number of Brazilians (16.9%) went to their native places to spend their holidays while only a few Australians (12%) did so. The other most significant revelation of this study was 27.9% of Australians went abroad to spend their vacations while only 5.5% of the Brazilians did go outside their country to consume their holiday. A summary analysis of the available findings clearly reveals a distinct impact of cultural forces in the choice of destinations of both the Brazilians and the Australians. Natural scenic beauty is more a matter of individual perception but in collective societies there are certain long-established lists of places that are deemed to be endowed with beautiful natural scenery and it is considered be grossly out of synchronisation with societal mores if one does not visit those places. Thus we find that almost 60% of Brazilians prefer to go to places that have beautiful natural scenery. That the Australians are a more individualistic lot who make their own choices is apparent from the fact that only 37% are willing to go beautiful places. They would rather discover beautiful places on their own than go to places that have been labelled as beautiful by a large number of people! That same streak is visible when we find that 2% more Australians preferred to spend their holidays in major cities. A major city is a place where a person loses his or her identity – both individual and collective, and members of a collectivist society would generally feel at a loss spending their time in such environments where they cannot relate to their group identities. Members of a society that celebrates individualism would however have no qualms in visiting places where their group identity might get overshadowed as they never give much importance to group identities in any case. The general trend of results is maintained as we find that 5% more Brazilians preferred to spend their holidays at their native places and it would never come as a surprise to any analyst who is aware of the collectivist temperament of Brazilians. They feel more at home at their native places where not only the environment is known but also it is a place where they remain surrounded by family members, relatives and close friends. The group feeling and the associated feeling of security and stability is reinforced during a holiday spent at the native place. This, however, does not in any way imply that the Australians are not fond of their families, relatives and close friends. It is just that they feel that they can recharge themselves by going to places where they might have something new to discover and something fresh and novel to experience. While there is no denying the fact that Brazilians on an average have far less per capita disposable income in comparison to their Australian counterparts, and are hence much less capable financially to make holiday trips abroad, the basic fact that the Brazilians have a more collectivist culture also has a role to play in it. As a large number of Brazilians do not have the wherewithal to go abroad, the general feeling in the society is that holidays are better spent when they are spent within the country. This notion is further supported by the statistics that show while 28% of Australians prefer to spend their holidays abroad; only 5.5% of Brazilians would like to do so. Thus the research and subsequent analysis of data clearly indicated that choice of holiday destinations depended largely on the cultural trend of the society under consideration. Members of a society made choices in accordance with the human values that were attributed to various destinations and it was further confirmed that human values played a much more decisive role in collectivist societies than in individualistic societies. Thus this study also brings to light the most pertinent fact that a proper analysis of subjective trends in a culture is absolutely imperative if one were to form clear predictive perceptions about how people transfer value to their environment and how they make their consumption choices. (Triandis 1994) The commercial lesson that can be obtained from this study is that these findings must be kept in mind when formulating campaigns to attract tourists from various societies having various biases and any product or service that can be placed favourably with respect to the perceptions of that particular society will quite obviously get a very positive reception from large sections of the society. Conclusion An individual customer never acts in a vacuum; he always acts as a member of a society. But the extent to which society can impact an individual’s decision depends entirely on the nature of the society. 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