Lifestyles

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Social psychology: Altruism · Attribution · Attitudes · Conformity · Discrimination · Groups · Interpersonal relations · Obedience · Prejudice · Norms · Perception · Index · Outline

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In sociology, a lifestyle is the way a person (or a group) lives. This includes patterns of daily activites, health behavior, social relations, consumption, leisure time use, and dress. A lifestyle typically also reflects an individual's attitudes, values or worldview.

Having a specific "lifestyle" implies a conscious or unconscious choice between one set of behaviours and some other sets of behaviours.

In business, lifestyles provide a means of targeting consumers as advertisers and marketers endeavor to match consumer aspirations with products.

The word "lifestyle" apparently first appeared in 1939. Alvin Toffler predicted an explosion of lifestyles ("subcults") as diversity increases in post-industrial societies. Pre-modern societies did not require a term approaching sub-culture or lifestyle, as different ways of living were expressed as entirely different cultures, religions, ethnicities or by an oppressed minority racial group. As such the minority culture was always seen as alien or other. Lifestyles, by comparison, are accepted or partially accepted differences within the majority culture or group. This tolerance of differentiation within a majority culture seems to be associated with modernity and capitalism.

See also

• Ethical living
• Holistic health
• Intentional living
• Lifestyle changes
• Lifestyle diseases
• Lifestyle drugs
• Lifestyle medicine
• List of lifestyles
• Personality
• Personality processes
• Quality of life
• Subculture
• Sustainable living
• Swinging

Additional material

Papers

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