reference group

Social factors include reference groups—that is, the formal or informal social groups against which consumers compare themselves. Consumers may be influenced not only by their own membership groups but also by reference groups of which they wish to be a part. Thus, a consumer who wishes to be…

…the terms membership group and reference group. The former has the obvious meaning of a group of which the individual is a member, here and now, by reason of one characteristic or another (such as being a member of a particular family or a member of the sixth-grade class in…