Create a 7 pages page paper that discusses social class theories and consumer behaviour. A third image of the consumer has been developed in recent times predominantly as a result of the effect of postmodern philosophy on social thoughts.

The new notion regarding consumers implies that they are neither rational nor are influenced heavily by market forces. Instead, they can be considered as a self-conscious influencer of various symbolic meanings that are associated with products. These consumers are selective about products and they evaluate these products in terms of specific intensions such as maintenance of social status, lifestyle, impression and/or identity. In this regard, Pierre Bourdieu introduced the concept of ‘habitus’ which gained significant importance over time in sociological literature related to human action theories. Based on this notion of habitus, the paper discusses the concept and its implication. Alongside, certain examples have been provided to exhibit the impact of specific habitus on consumer behaviour.

Bourdieu’s research invariably focussed on social class and its various aspects and in his research, he explained that social life is a relatively complex issue and cannot be understood merely just as an aggregate of individual behaviours. Bourdieu created habitus as a bridging factor between control and domination with respect to social structure. However, the original definition of the habitus implies that it can be considered as an acquired system of procreative schemes that objectively adjusts to the specifics of a particular situation or condition in which it has been constituted. Bourdieu did not implement the complete definition in the research but retained specifics associated with field, body and habitus. He indicated that body is to be considered as a mnemonic apparatus upon which basics of culture and taxonomies of habitus have been imprinted and encoded in the form of a learning process that commences during the phase of early childhood.