Aspirations,reference groups and the consumer

Summary In this article it has been possible to give an explanation for the existence of nonsymmetrical Slutsky matrices and nonhomogeneous demand functions. For this purpose a relation was made with a number of sociopsychological theories regarding reference groups and aspiration levels. Following the approach of Lakatos, a ‘hard core’ was chosen from within the traditional theory concerning the market behavior of consumers. In particular, this article used the maximization process. The newly constructed theory, based on this ‘core’, appeared to have more content than the traditional theory. With this result an important requirement of Lakatos' approach was met. I should like to thank Professor A. Bosman for his valuable advice and stimulating criticism. Thanks are also due to Mr. R.E. Vercruijsse who translated this paper and to Mr. R.A. Meyer who checked the mathematics. I also benefited from the comments of an anonymous referee.