Social Class is...''a division of society made up of persons possessing certain common social characteristics which are taken to qualify them for intimate, equal status relations with one another, and which restrict their interaction with members of other social classes'' Krech, Crutchfield & Ballachey in Dubois 2000.

Social class is often determined by a complex set of variables ranging from income to family background. However, income is often the variable most closely associated with your social class and the purchases made available through a high/low income often symbolise social class. For example, a person with a very high income will be able to afford the lastest Mercedes- Benz car, whereas, an individual with a low income may only be able to afford a second-hand ford escort. In a warped way, these things symbolise our standing in society when really someone of a lower class could win the lottery and be able to afford the same as a higher class individual and someone of a higher class (due to family background) may have no money at all and be unable to afford the luxuries associated with the higher classes.

In terms of consumerism, social class is a good indicator for products that have a symbolic aspect, for example, fine art, but is a bad indicator for low to moderate priced goods such as cosmetics as class does not tend to affect these. Income is a good indicator of purchase decisions for non-symbolic, but high- expenditure goods such as washing machines. For products such as cars or houses both social class and income affect the purchases made. In terms of marketing and advertising, appealing to the different classes is quite difficult to achieve. However, brands such as Harrods produce adverts with class and a regal element to them, suggesting that they are targeting the higher classes. This may put the lower classes off from going there as they may feel inadequate for the standard of people expected by the shop.