Consumer socialization

Consumer socialization is the process by which young people develop consumer related skills, knowledge and attitudes. This field of study has increasingly interested policy makers, marketers, consumer educator and students of socialization.

George Moschis and Gilbert A. Churchill, Jr posit that mass media, parents, school and peers are all agents of consumer socialization. According to this theory children and young adults learn the rational aspects of consumption from their parents while the mass media teaches them to give social meaning to products; schools teach the importance of economic wisdom and finally peers exercise varying social pressures.