Why Do We Send Christmas Cards?
It’s that time in December when I start to write out my Christmas cards. Do you send cards to people who send them to you? Or do you have a list of people, including family and friends, who you send cards to every year? Apart from the traditional aspect of sending cards at Christmas, why do we send them?
Sociologists from West Texas A&M University set out to answer this question. They randomly selected 600 names from the local area and sent them Christmas cards. They sent either very expensive looking cards, or hand made cards on red and green paper. Half of the people receiving the cards were high status individuals (such as CEO’s, lawyers), while the other half were lower status (such as blue collar workers).
In all only 20% responded to receiving a card from the ‘stranger’. However, of the 20% who responded a significant number (78% versus 22%) responded to the higher status sender.
These findings support the universities’ “upward mobility” hypothesis that Christmas card behaviour reflects the standard dynamics of ‘social competition’.
Have you ever experienced these findings at work or in other social settings? How do you feel about sending cards at Christmas?
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