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ConsumerIn economics, consumers are individuals or households that "consume" goods and services generated within the economy. Since this includes just about everyone, the term is a political term as much as an economic term when it is used in everyday speech. Typically when businesspeople and economists talk of "consumers" they are talking about person-as-consumer, an aggregated commodity item with little individuality other than that expressed in the buy/not buy decision. However there is a trend in marketing to individualize the concept. Instead of generating broad demographic and psychographic profiles of market segments, marketers are engaging in personalized marketing, permission marketing, and mass customization.
In standard microeconomic theory, a consumer is assumed to have a budget which can be spent on a range of goods and services available on the market. Under the assumption of rationality, the budget allocation is chosen according to the preference of the consumer, i.e. to maximize his or her utility function.
In time-series models of consumer behaviour, the consumer may also invest a proportion of their budget in order to gain a greater budget in future periods. This investment choice may include either fixed rate interest or risk-bearing securities.
In the context of mental health, consumer is also a term applied to describe a person living with mental illness.
Concern over the best interests of consumers has spawned much activism, as well as incorporation of consumer education into the school curriculum. One non-profit publication active in consumer education is Consumer Reports.
Within many selling companies "consumer" has come to be a derogatory term. Meaning "purchaser of products who is not very intelligent." This is in contrast to the meaning of customer. Which is defined as an intelligent purchaser who has power in the purchasing relationship between buyer and seller.
See also : marketing, economics, liberalization, consumer rights
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International Federation of Home Economics
Provides an international forum for home economists to develop and express concerns for individuals, families, and households at the United Nations and among other international non-governmental organisations whose interests parallel those of home economics.
http://www.ifhe.org/
Family and Consumer Science Resources Online
Annotated list of Internet resources covering the field of Home Economics/Family and Consumer Science.
http://members.tripod.com/~kburge/fcs.html
Education Index - Home Economics Resources
Search for educational information and links in the field of Home Economics
http://www.educationindex.com/homeec/
History of Women and Science, Health, and Technology
Bibliography of home economics and domestic science professions and their disciplines.
http://www.library.wisc.edu/libraries/WomensStudies/bibliogs/hws/hws08.htm
The Ecology of the Family
Background paper for a family-centered approach to education and social service delivery.
http://www.nwrel.org/cfc/publications/ecology2.html
History of Home Economics
Notes on early home economics extension work in Iowa including a statement concerning the development of home economics teaching at Iowa State College.
http://www.exnet.iastate.edu/polk/history/homeec.html
From Domesticity to Modernity: What Was Home Economics?
Cornell University Library exhibition on the history of home economics. Traces the in history of the profession, provides a timeline, biographies, bibliography and interviews.
http://rmc.library.cornell.edu/homeEc/
Home Economics Institue of Australia
Professional association for home economists. Includes member information, publications, news, chat, student links and related resources.
http://www.heia.com.au/
The Home Economics Database
A searchable bibliography of articles in the field of home economics, family studies and consumer sciences, covering technological, social and economic aspects of both private and institutional households.
http://www.agralin.nl/huisho/
US Census Bureau Families and Living Arrangements
Demographic characteristics of households and families.
http://www.census.gov/population/www/socdemo/hh-fam.html
Forum for Family and Consumer Issues
A refereed e-journal designed to integrate, appply, and transmit knowledge about issues of current interest in Family and Consumer Sciences.
http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/fcs/pub/forum.html
Consumer Behavior and Marketing: The Psychology of Consumers
Provides an overview of topics in consumer psychology from a marketing point of view.
http://www.consumerpsychologist.com/
Taking ADvantage
An online book with the thesis that advertising creates stimuli that take advantage of human subconscious processing which is a particular product of physical and cultural human evolution.
http://www.wsu.edu:8080/~taflinge/advant.html
Consumer Culture Bibliography
Contains references on consumer culture, compiled by Don Slater.
http://homepages.gold.ac.uk/slater/consumer/biblioa.htm
What's Driving Consumption?
A debate in Boston Review, centered around Juliet Schor's "The New Politics of Consumption", includes comments by Robert H. Frank, James Twitchell, and others.
http://bostonreview.mit.edu/ndf.html#Consumption
Home Economics Archive
Electronic collection of historic books and journals in Home Economics and related disciplines. The full text of these materials, as well as bibliographies and essays are available.
http://hearth.library.cornell.edu/
Rural American Women and Directed Cultural Change
Shows the effect of the domestic science movement on individual farm women in the early 20th century. By Laura Carroll.
http://lilt.ilstu.edu/soa/anthrothesis/carroll/carroll.html
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