The field of consumer education needs conceptual frameworks to organize the growing body of existing knowledge and to point to needed research. The use of the familiar l i e cycle variable for this purpose Is proposed. Generalizations, based upon a review of the literature, are offered about the characteristics, typical product and service purchases, marketplace concepts and knowledge, marketplace skills, typical marketplace problems and level of resources of different life cycle stage categories.Although the literature on consumer education, problems and issues is growing, it seems to lack an organizing framework by which researcher, educator, policy maker and consumer alike may grasp the full scope of the question at hand. It is the purpose of this article to propose a modified form of the familiar life cycle variable as a conceptual organizer for viewing consumer education and research. THE CENTRAL QUESTIONThe central question underlying many consumer education policy discussions over the years has been a basic one: specifically, what needs to be known [6, p. 581. That this still is the case should not be particularly surprising, given the production orientation of the American economy of the past, nor should consumer educators and researchers feel a need to apologize for the condition. That this should continue to be the case for the future argues against the social, political, economic, and ecological imperatives facing each of us as economic citizens of the world of the future. The central question, then, for consumer educators has both a research component and an application component. Research is required to answer the central question of "what needs to be known'' with confidence. Supportive educational policy at federal, state and local levels and efficient and effective teaching methods are required to apply the answer. Ronald W. Stampfl is Associate Professor of Consumer Science and Business, School of Family Resources and Consumer Sciences, University of Wisconsin-Madison. The author wishes to acknowledge the helpful suggestions of Professors Margaret Nelson, Beverly Henderson, Norleen Ackerman, and Ivan Preston, all of the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

The home economist has long been interested in effective family and consumer decision making and has tended to take a holistic or macro approach to decision theory. Recently, some applications of normative decision theory to consumer decision making—including the creation of rules for dealing with risk and uncertainty—have been advanced in home management textbooks. Since the early 1960s, consumer behaviour researchers in other disciplines have been developing a behavioural, micro‐decision perspective centring upon the presence of perceived risk in the purchase decision of any customer. The empirical literature in home economics does not appear to have dealt with either of these perspectives. This paper identifies perceived risk as a useful analytical variable in the study of consumer product and store decisions and presents empirical data depicting the dual components of perceived risk and its four dimensions. The relationship of the normative and behavioural approaches to decision risk is discussed and implications for future research and application in home economics are identified.

Children's learning of consumer economic concepts in two types of preschool teaching con ditions was contrasted. Children in the Ausubelian program (high proportion of teacher‐ directed learning activity) achieved a significantly higher level of performance on a test mea suring learning of consumer economic concepts than did children in the Piagetian program (high proportion of child‐directed activities). Children in the Ausubelian program were also more competent in applying such concepts to a shopping procedure.

Children are consumers and subject to a number of factors which socialize them into this role. Consumer education is often cited as an important tool in directing this socialization process toward the desired result of developing efficient and knowledgeable consumers. But how early can consumer education begin in the school setting? Can the preschool child be taught basic marketplace concepts and sequences or is this consumer simply too young? What are the early building blocks of consumer education? Do some approaches to teaching the very young consumer work better than others? This study presents a conceptual framework and the results of an exploratory laboratory study which begin to answer these important questions.

This article (1) reviews a current and historical context of disciplinary and gender diversity in marketing and retailing education, (2) explores cross-disciplinary dimensions and impact of the diversity, and (3) suggests ways to integrate diverse marketing-oriented programs, including cross-disciplinary cooperation and collaboration. The questions of degree standards and program accreditation are raised.