Glossary entry (derived from question below)
English term or phrase:
consumer and client
English answer:
active, informed chooser vs. passive, uninformed recipient
Added to glossary by
Salavat07
Mar 3, 2014 19:12
10 yrs ago
5 viewers *
English term
consumer and client
English
Other
Medical: Health Care
state services
What is the difference between consumers and clients?
The passage was about disabled students.
This was from the following sentence: "The Rolling Quads realized that they would have to think of themselves as consumers of state services, not as clients."
The book title is "No pity: People with disabilities forging a new civil rights movement, Shapiro, Joseph P."
The passage was about disabled students.
This was from the following sentence: "The Rolling Quads realized that they would have to think of themselves as consumers of state services, not as clients."
The book title is "No pity: People with disabilities forging a new civil rights movement, Shapiro, Joseph P."
Responses
+6
13 mins
Selected
active, informed chooser vs. passive, uninformed recipient
The difference is usefully explained in the following article:
"The overall trajectory of post-war relations between British citizens and services provided by the State is one of a shift from client to consumer. [...]
Citizens were clients of the welfare state services that were provided for them, based on deference to top down definitions and prescriptions of what is best, and on passive acceptance of professionals’ authority and accredited expertise. [...]
The client, then, is someone who should accede to professional judgment because they lack the requisite expert knowledge background and so cannot diagnose their own needs [...] during the 1980s there was an explicit attempt by the Conservative Thatcher government to turn clients into consumers. That is, citizens would become customers of services, who know their own needs, shop around in an effort to satisfy them, and feel confident in judging the value of the ‘merchandise’ on offer."
http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/197635/5/CLIENTS_OR_CONSUMERS_v5....
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Note added at 31 mins (2014-03-03 19:44:09 GMT)
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These are special uses of the words applied to public services, and general definitions will not necessarily clarify the difference. This is particularly true of "client". The use of "consumer" here is perhaps easier to deduce, since the idea of a consumer is one who "shops around", choosing rather than merely taking whatever is offered.
"The overall trajectory of post-war relations between British citizens and services provided by the State is one of a shift from client to consumer. [...]
Citizens were clients of the welfare state services that were provided for them, based on deference to top down definitions and prescriptions of what is best, and on passive acceptance of professionals’ authority and accredited expertise. [...]
The client, then, is someone who should accede to professional judgment because they lack the requisite expert knowledge background and so cannot diagnose their own needs [...] during the 1980s there was an explicit attempt by the Conservative Thatcher government to turn clients into consumers. That is, citizens would become customers of services, who know their own needs, shop around in an effort to satisfy them, and feel confident in judging the value of the ‘merchandise’ on offer."
http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/197635/5/CLIENTS_OR_CONSUMERS_v5....
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Note added at 31 mins (2014-03-03 19:44:09 GMT)
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These are special uses of the words applied to public services, and general definitions will not necessarily clarify the difference. This is particularly true of "client". The use of "consumer" here is perhaps easier to deduce, since the idea of a consumer is one who "shops around", choosing rather than merely taking whatever is offered.
Note from asker:
| Thanks a lot! I appreciate it. |
Peer comment(s):
| agree |
Jack Doughty
16 mins
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Thanks, Jack!
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| agree |
Tina Vonhof (X)
31 mins
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Thanks, Tina!
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| agree |
Veronika McLaren
3 hrs
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Thanks, Veronika!
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| agree |
katsy
: of course whether a client CAN become a consumer with regard to certain state services remains debatable!
3 hrs
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Absolutely! Thanks, katsy :)
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| agree |
Giovanna Alessandra Meloni
12 hrs
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Thanks, Giovanna!
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| agree |
Yvonne Gallagher
14 hrs
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Thanks, Gallagy :)
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4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer.
Comment: "Well done!"
17 mins
please see below
Customer is one who has
intension to purchase GOODS,
client is one who has intension
to avail SERVICES,
consumer is one who has the
makes end use of the GOODS
and SERVICES (i.e. not a
middleman)
A client is the one to be
served, economically or not,
the economical one being a
customer. A customer
(purchaser) is not
necessarily a client, when
product(s) rather than
services are offered.
A consumer is the one who
uses products or services,
paid or not. So, a consumer
is not necessarily a
customer. Children at toy
shops are usually
consumers, their mothers
being customers.
intension to purchase GOODS,
client is one who has intension
to avail SERVICES,
consumer is one who has the
makes end use of the GOODS
and SERVICES (i.e. not a
middleman)
A client is the one to be
served, economically or not,
the economical one being a
customer. A customer
(purchaser) is not
necessarily a client, when
product(s) rather than
services are offered.
A consumer is the one who
uses products or services,
paid or not. So, a consumer
is not necessarily a
customer. Children at toy
shops are usually
consumers, their mothers
being customers.
16 hrs
taking what is provided vs having the right to instruct
I think that Charles' definition is based on a false premise and a Thatcherite argument (as given in his reference). In fact, the post-war status of deferential beneficiaries of welfare services (not generally referred to as "clients") was already being challenged well before Thatcher came on the scene. I worked in a local authority housing department at the time and we deeply resented tenants (i.e. people with a specific legal status and tenancy rights) suddenly being called "customers" (i.e. no different from a purchaser of a tin of beans in a supermarket). As translators, we call our clients "clients" because we have a professional relationship and they instruct us, as a lawyer is instructed by his or her client.
A consumer may be able to shop around and buy from Tweedledum or Tweedledee, but they have no real control over the nature or range of what is offered to them for consumption. I would argue that a "client" has more rights than a "consumer" and that it is the latter who can be seen as passive.
A consumer may be able to shop around and buy from Tweedledum or Tweedledee, but they have no real control over the nature or range of what is offered to them for consumption. I would argue that a "client" has more rights than a "consumer" and that it is the latter who can be seen as passive.
Peer comment(s):
| neutral |
Václav Pinkava
: I would have said you are entirely correct, but there seems to be good evidence that in the social services sector the word client is merely a way of saying "dependent", as per the original etymology. http://bjsw.oxfordjournals.org/content/39/6/1101.full
30 mins
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That looks like a very interesting article, but I haven't time now to read it. From the bit I did read, I think you might possibly be misinterpreting it. The ethos of particular social services departments also plays a major role.
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| neutral |
Charles Davis
: I find your interpretation of "client" perfectly reasonable in itself, but to me it seems clear that "have to think of themselves as consumers of state services, not as clients" fits the use of the terms I have quoted, not the one you are outlining.
11 hrs
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That depends whether the statement is meant positively or negatively and the Asker hasn't told us that.
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-1
8 mins
Václav Pinkava
United Kingdom
United Kingdom
Native in English
&
English
United Kingdom
Prime quality, at your service
Native in: Czech 
, English
Works in: Czech to English, English to Czech, Slovak to English
group versus individual focus
A consumer is one of a supplier target group. At best, s/he can hope to like what s/he gets.
A client can hope to get whatever s/he asks for from the provider.
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Note added at 17 hrs (2014-03-04 12:23:48 GMT)
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CORRECTION:
I accept that I have got it wrong, in the given context. Rather than withdraw my answer, I think it is useful to leave it up for reference. "Client" is a paradoxical word, given its etymology, and cotrasting usage in the social services and private sectors. This is a great example of how context dependent English terminology really is. Well discussed here: http://www.nonbillablehour.com/2006/02/why_customer_no.html
A client can hope to get whatever s/he asks for from the provider.
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Note added at 17 hrs (2014-03-04 12:23:48 GMT)
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CORRECTION:
I accept that I have got it wrong, in the given context. Rather than withdraw my answer, I think it is useful to leave it up for reference. "Client" is a paradoxical word, given its etymology, and cotrasting usage in the social services and private sectors. This is a great example of how context dependent English terminology really is. Well discussed here: http://www.nonbillablehour.com/2006/02/why_customer_no.html
Peer comment(s):
| disagree |
Tina Vonhof (X)
: It is exactly the opposite.
37 mins
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I'll have to tell that one to my clients :)
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| neutral |
Christine Andersen
: In many contexts, this would be right. We regard clients as the individuals who 'pay the piper and call the tune'. Health service clients are often the weaker, non-expert party, who are guided, possibly dominated. Consumers are supposedly more discerning.
13 hrs
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Indeed. I got the context wrong, in fact, having worked in the private sector, including FMCG. However, I stand corrected.
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Discussion
Funny how the linguistic perspective has now changed!
"In the UK, however, the term ‘client’ came to be challenged both from within and outside the profession. From within, there was a concern that the notion of a ‘client’ represented an objectification of the social work relationship whereby it was assumed power laid with the professional to identify what the passive client needed. [...]
Within this relationship, the ‘client’ is constructed as someone in need of help, because they lack either the necessary abilities or the capacity to help themselves and thus need the specialist knowledge and skills of the social worker. [...]"
Lawyers and other expert professionals (like translators!) have clients. It connotes respect, but also, perhaps, a certain passivity (not always the case with our clients, I grant you): putting yourself in the expert's hands.
This page reports a recent British debate among social workers and those they serve as to whether the term "client" or "service user" is more suitable. What is interesting for us is that a number of the social workers comment that "client" is the long-standing standard term but that it has negative connotations. One says that "it has the overtone of receiving services rather than an equal relationship". Several object vehemently to "consumer" or "customer" as carrying a phony implication of free choice.
http://www.communitycare.co.uk/blogs/mental-health/2012/07/s...