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The term standard of living is used to describe behaviour of individuals and families to secure what they consider essential for themselves. Standard of living in the combination of many specific standards, which consist of the pattern of commodities, services and satisfactions which a person thinks are essential for living. A home maker will struggle to get or keep it, and if unable to do so, will feel discomfort. Standard of living is made up of the essential values to be sought. The standards of living determines the character of income of the family and its power to which we refer unconsciously in every choice we make. Thus the standard of living of a family encompasses not only the goods and services which it considers essential but also the way of using these goods and services and value pattern which are the foundations of the things that represents what an individual or a family views as a ‘must’ a mental image of what is essential.
Standards are the specifications of values and differ from place to place, person to person, group to group, religion etc. These standards are influenced by the resources, and environment. Generally standards and standard of living are cultural products that grow up in group life and are passed from one group to another. These standards vary from generation to generation. The term standard of living is used both to describe behavior of a social group and to explain the behavior of an individual or a family.
Standard of living refers to the quantity and quality of goods and services used for consumption of the family or individual is accustomed to.
Standard of living is a composite of all the goods and services and the pattern of consuming considered essential by person or a group. Standard of living can be defined as “it is the satisfactions which are considered essential by an individual or group” (Hoyt, 1938).In this definition essential means, goods most desired in the sense that, they will be first secured and last given up. Different classes have different standards and each one covers to look upon certain things as constituting the normal requirements of everyday life. Each class strives to attain its particular standard and having attained to keep it up and if possible raise it.
The standard of living is influenced by many factors as explained below:
- Income and number of dependents: Standard of living depends essentially upon the income of family and number of dependents. If dependents are few, the standard of living is high.
- Class of the individual: The class to which individual belong affects standard of living. It is rather different for a family to deviate from the standards set by class to which they belong. Different classes have different standards.
- Education and individual taste: Differ from person to person and these are powerful source which determine the standard of living of particular person.
- The physical environment: It determines the standards of living to certain extent. Generally the country with abundant natural resources and good climate have high standard of living.
- Economic system which a country has also affects the standard of living of its people. In industrial economy, the standard of living is higher than the agricultural economy of any country.
Standard of living is the combination of many specific standards. It consists of a pattern of commodities, services and satisfactions which a person thinks are essential for her living. These goods and services are most desired by families. A homemaker will struggle to get or keep it or if unable to do so will feel discomfort. Kyrk points out that, in the case of goods most desired means 'they will be first secured and last given up. According to Hazel Kyrk, 'Standard of living is made up of the essential values to be sought. It is an attitude toward a way of regarding or of judging, a given mode of life. Standard of living determines the character of the real income of the family within the limits set by resources and is a power to which we defer unconsciously in every choice we make. Thus the standard of living of a family encompasses not only the actual quantities and qualities of goods and services which it considers essential but also the ways of using these goods and services and the value patterns which are the foundation for the things and manner of using them considered essential. It should be accepted again that a standard of living represents what the individual or family views as an 'ought'-a mental image of what is essential. Once a person gets used to an item, he will probably feel that it is essential to him. When he feels like that, he will try his level best to procure it or will feel restless if it is not attainable. This inner conviction of what is important may include tangible or intangible things. Various people consider different things important and for this reason widely differing standards of living exist. Thus there are two major standards which differ fundamentally in the selection of commodities and services. The first is the conventional standard, where the selection of goods and services is based on prestige. The second include goods and services chosen by the individual as important regardless of whether or not others consider them so. This is called, the individual standard. A typical example of these two different kinds of standards could be illustrated from the way people celebrate Ex: Marriage. According to some, how others would think about them is the major criterion which determines how expenses are made in various categories. But to some others, it matters little what others think, but they would consider what is important for them to do within the limits of resources they are entitled to. Because standards develop in group life, most conventional standards of living are taken for granted and seem completely logical to the members of the group. However different groups view them differently. The conventional standards accepted by one group may not be the same as another group.
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