Social and cultural factors affecting the consumption and savings trends of families from various income profiles: A survey study of Elazığ

II SUMMARY Masters Thesis Social And Culturel Factors Affecting The Consumption and Savings Trends of Families From Various Income Profiles: A Survey Study Of Elazığ Ali ÇİÇEK University Of Fırat Graduate School Of Social Sciences Department Of Sociology 2000, Page: X+148 This research is a comparative field work that is prepared in order to determine the social and cultural factors on consumption and retrenchment tendencies of different individuals and families who have different income levels. In this study, Elazığ has been divided into three different regions to determine various ' income levels by regional sampling. To increase the representation power of sampling, İzzet Paşa was sampled as the first region randomly to represent upper income level, Saray Atik was the second to represent middle income level and Fevzi Çakmak which represents the lower income level was sampled as the third. At the end of this field work, it is seen that consumer behaviours differentiate between various income levels because of different social and cultural characteristics. A relation found between the income levels of families and their education levels, jobs, ages and consumption tendencies. It is seen that families' desires about being admired and approved in the society effect their behaviours to purchase. Not only the conventional values but also the kinship and neighbourliness effect them. About their consumption and retrenchment decisions. There is a similarity between the upper and the middle income levels about consumption tendencies but it is seen that middle income level tend to be more ostentatious to be a member of the upper income level. It is also found that the upper income level behaves more rationally about consumption and retrenchment decisions but they prefer to buy more symbolic and ostentatious goods. KEY WORDS: Consumption, consumption function, consumption tendency, savings, savings function, savings tendency, consumer, consumer behaviour, income, life-style, need, conspicuous consumption.