Lifestyle and Social Class

Bibliographic Data

ID2234712
AuthorsM Tomlinson (0000-0001-9808-7615, University of Manchester, corresponding author)
Year2003
Volume19
Issue1
Pages97-111
Publication date2003-02-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueEuropean Sociological Review (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0266-7215 • E-ISSN: 1468-2672
PublisherOxford University Press (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1093/esr/19.1.97
OpenAlexW2003358539
LanguageEN
Citations received59
References cited7

Using data on health and lifestyles the paper attempts to show that it is possible to identify distinct niches of behaviour in British society in the 1980s and 1990s. Contrary to many current theories of consumption and lifestyle, however, it also shows that traditional notions such as social class and gender are still highly relevant to a discussion of lifestyle and consumer behaviour and may even be better determinants. The ‘post‐traditional’ groups and behaviours postulated by certain ‘post‐Fordist’ thinkers are no more powerful than the ‘traditional’, although the reasons why this is so remain to be explained. The discussion is loosely framed around two opposed views of consumption and lifestyle. Bourdieu argues that social classes possess varying levels of different types of capital (social, economic, and cultural) and that these are a major determinant of lifestyle and this will be represented in patterns of eating or varieties of leisure activities. A more recent view, associated with writers such as Lash and Urry, Giddens, or Beck, postulates that consumption is now more likely to be driven by post‐traditional forms of life relating to the fact that old social structures have effectively been flattened. The data find more support for the first of these views. The analysis uses categorical data techniques on the 1985 Health and Lifestyles Survey and 1992 follow‐up survey to first show the clustering of behavioural patterns, and secondly to show that these clusterings tend to be strongly associated with traditional social categories such as class and gender.

Class (philosophy) · Consumption (sociology) · Epistemology · Political science · Social class · Social science · Sociology · Cultural Differences and Values · Psychological Well-being and Life Satisfaction · Psychology · Social and Cultural Dynamics · Social Psychology

Tools

Open DOISci-Hub