DIFFUSION WITH DISTINCTION - THE DIFFUSION OF HOUSEHOLD DURABLES IN THE UK

Futures researchers have long been interested in studies that investig ate the diffusion of innovations among consumers. Often this is simply as a basis for extrapolating future trends in access to technologies. But also this literature has been particularly useful in providing fr ameworks for understanding the processes by which new commodities come into circulation and spread across populations of adopters. In this p aper we seek to deepen the analysis. We argue that many studies have o versimplified the issues by treating populations of potential adopters as being homogeneous. This, we believe, is inadequate for understandi ng the diffusion of products in consumer markets. Drawing on debates f rom cultural studies and the sociology of consumption, as well as emer ging theories from evolutionary economics, and analysing household sur vey data, we show that there are discernible social groups that adopt products at different rates. These differential rates of adoption are attributable to the existence of groups with different tastes, and not simply a question of different income groups. (C) 1998 Elsevier Scien ce Ltd, All rights reserved.