Summary CHL20806 Lifestyle and consumption
Lecture 1: introduction
Lifestyle = the distinctive pattern of personal and social behaviour characteristics of an
individual or a group
Consumption =
using of goods and services
taking something in order to receive or to use it
processes related to an exchange of money or equal expectations are regarded as
acts of consumptions
buying, eating, drinking, travelling, wearing clothes
Consumption is studied in multiple different fields: economy, sociology, psychology, business
administration
A lot of processes are involved in consumption: buying, using, repairing, managing waste
etc., however legitimacy, norms and ethics are also important aspects of consumption: think
about the consumption of drugs, (illegal) markets for adopting children or organs.
How we consume is dependent not only upon the concrete society and time in which we live
but also upon our preferences, depending upon our lifestyles and related tastes, which are
almost always related to our position in the system of social classes.
Studies vary, as all is taking place in changing societies (abortion), different times (smoking
difference now and 30 years ago), different markets and cultures and different social classes.
Consumption trends: Sustainability & digitalisation of markets
1. Sustainability (circular economy)
Consequently, specific consumer behaviours: purchasing second hand, exchanging,
repairing, renting, gifting, etc.
Collaborative consumption: consumer access of goods and services based on an
interdependent peer-to-peer model
Exchanging, sharing, gifting, lending and leasing or renting. (Ride sharing, Airbnb,
uber)
Access-based consumption: transactions that can be market mediated but where
no transfer of ownership takes place
Goods become services (Vinted, Netflix)
2. Digitalisation of markets
For example: Dating → Tinder
Consequently: Geographical limitations diminish → global markets
Shifting role of consumers into hybrid functions:
- Prosumption: interrelatedness of production and consumption
- Prosumers: actors who are consumers but also producers
Examples: Google maps, YouTube (consumers make content, YouTube is just the
platform), airlines (checking in yourself), Airbnb
Consumption is contextualized (studied in different contexts)
Consumption and lifestyles are not just isolated individual behaviours, but patterns arise from
the social groups one belongs to, the physical settings in which one operates, and society at
large
,Lecture 2
Part 1: Life course perspective
‘’People have changing rationalities to spend (or save) money depending on their position in
their life cycles. In other words, younger people make different plans and have different
consumption plans than older people.” (pp.10) - Modigliani’s life cycle theory of consumption
Rather than thinking about life cycles, thinking about life course perspective.
Life cycle: universal biological process of aging, according to a fixed set of phases (fetus,
baby, child, adolescent, adult, elderly) –predominantly based on biological age.
A recent trend for adults (by biological age) is waiting to make the transition to adulthood
(traditionally marriage, children, home) until late twenties or later. This period in the life
course between college graduation and adulthood is called emerging adulthood.
Biological age does not have to be equal to social age
A life course perspective allows us to think about different stages in life: childhood,
adolescence, adulthood and old age.
These stages all have different attitudes towards and habits of consumption
Childhood
Changing role of children
Traditional and part of the industrial era: children’s value based on their financial contribution
to the household
Modern era: Children not valued, focus on protecting children and investing in their well-
being
‘’The child as consumer was born’’
Advertisers focused more on how their products could enhance the life of children.
Commodification of childhood: excessive role of consumption in the life of children (Schor,
2004). (Commodification: the transformation of goods, services, ideas, nature, personal
information or people into commodities or objects of trade)
Create brand loyalty from childhood onwards.
Late 1980’s: advertisers and marketers promoted ‘child empowerment’. (increasing the
child's personal, social, educational and economic strengths.)
But, also, changing parent-child relationships. More space for discussion and negotiation on
decisions with children.
Kidfluence: marketers targeting children in their advertisements/commercials
Pester power: children begging their parents for goods
Effects of food marketing on children’s physical health (Schor, 2004)
Strategies to associate food with toys and fun:
Market tie-ins: adding a toy promoting a movie to a fast-food restaurant’s children’s meal.
(happy meal)
Trans-toying: giving food toy-like qualities (cereal)
Increase in sale of foods that harm children's health (a lot of sugar, unhealthy foods)
Allison Pugh (2009):
Construction of an economy of dignity: feeling included by their peers if they have or know
about specific goods (Toys) or experience (Disney World) their classmates' values.
Parents: important role in this economy of dignity.
Higher classes - symbolic deprivation: limit the consumption of their children, yet largely
fulfilling children’s request out of concern of social exclusion.
, Lower classes - symbolic indulgence: buy one single large gift during that will be
meaningful. No concern about harm of material goods to their children, rather shield them
from deprivation they may have experienced
Zukin (2004):
Consumption as setting to offer children practical and moral education.
Teaching them about the value of money, comparison shopping, budgeting, self-control, etc.
For example: first shopping trip without parental supervision symbol of growing autonomy,
while using these trips as the raw material to shape identity.
Adolescence and youth
Adolescent consumption as an arena of self-definition and rebellion.
Rise of youth subcultures: groups that develop distinctive identities, rituals and values via
consumption - marking them as different from the broader society they inhabit.
Distinctive lifestyles
Lifestyle = ’an individual or group’s usual way of living/navigating their circumstances,
often expressed through attitudes, work, family, leisure, behaviours, artistic tastes and
consumption choices. Lifestyles signify an individual’s mode of personal expression and
foster a sense of individualism. At the same time, lifestyles also represent a group’s
collective consumption patterns and can produce a sense of social solidarity.
Early studies into subcultures: British youth expressing opposition to the broader society
through their consumption of specific music styles, distinctive dress, and shared
values.
Now, more mundane groups, like neighbourhood gardeners.
Consumer tribes – focus on “the multiplicity of groupings that we all participate in, knowingly
or not, through the course of our everyday live.” (Cova and Dalli, 2018: 236). Belonging to
more than one at the same time. (e.g. sports team, student association, online gaming
friends)
Distinct from the idea society is increasingly individualised – community/social connection
still happening - yet in other than traditional ways.
Some characteristics of a consumer tribe:
The consumption of cultural resources (goods, brands, leisure experiences)
circulated through markets is not the essential thing in contemporary life.
Rather, these things are the means to facilitate social relations.
tribes – social, proximate groupings – shape consumer behaviour.
Face-to-face or via internet/other media.
Membership is fluid, transient and multiple.
Emphasis on playfulness and construction of meaning
“A consumer tribe could form around any leisure-based activity, interest, hobby or
passion [just] find other likeminded devotees and voilà you will have the basis of a tribe.”
(Cova and Dalli, 2018)
Zukin (2004): Youth rebellion marketing of rebellion in 1970’s
For example: blue jeans
Cool hunting (Klein,2010) = hiring younger people to research wat was ‘cool’
Design and promotion of products drawing from hip hop
Teens: Early adopters of new technology new category of consumers ‘tweens’, digital
generation
Lecture 1: introduction
Lifestyle = the distinctive pattern of personal and social behaviour characteristics of an
individual or a group
Consumption =
using of goods and services
taking something in order to receive or to use it
processes related to an exchange of money or equal expectations are regarded as
acts of consumptions
buying, eating, drinking, travelling, wearing clothes
Consumption is studied in multiple different fields: economy, sociology, psychology, business
administration
A lot of processes are involved in consumption: buying, using, repairing, managing waste
etc., however legitimacy, norms and ethics are also important aspects of consumption: think
about the consumption of drugs, (illegal) markets for adopting children or organs.
How we consume is dependent not only upon the concrete society and time in which we live
but also upon our preferences, depending upon our lifestyles and related tastes, which are
almost always related to our position in the system of social classes.
Studies vary, as all is taking place in changing societies (abortion), different times (smoking
difference now and 30 years ago), different markets and cultures and different social classes.
Consumption trends: Sustainability & digitalisation of markets
1. Sustainability (circular economy)
Consequently, specific consumer behaviours: purchasing second hand, exchanging,
repairing, renting, gifting, etc.
Collaborative consumption: consumer access of goods and services based on an
interdependent peer-to-peer model
Exchanging, sharing, gifting, lending and leasing or renting. (Ride sharing, Airbnb,
uber)
Access-based consumption: transactions that can be market mediated but where
no transfer of ownership takes place
Goods become services (Vinted, Netflix)
2. Digitalisation of markets
For example: Dating → Tinder
Consequently: Geographical limitations diminish → global markets
Shifting role of consumers into hybrid functions:
- Prosumption: interrelatedness of production and consumption
- Prosumers: actors who are consumers but also producers
Examples: Google maps, YouTube (consumers make content, YouTube is just the
platform), airlines (checking in yourself), Airbnb
Consumption is contextualized (studied in different contexts)
Consumption and lifestyles are not just isolated individual behaviours, but patterns arise from
the social groups one belongs to, the physical settings in which one operates, and society at
large
,Lecture 2
Part 1: Life course perspective
‘’People have changing rationalities to spend (or save) money depending on their position in
their life cycles. In other words, younger people make different plans and have different
consumption plans than older people.” (pp.10) - Modigliani’s life cycle theory of consumption
Rather than thinking about life cycles, thinking about life course perspective.
Life cycle: universal biological process of aging, according to a fixed set of phases (fetus,
baby, child, adolescent, adult, elderly) –predominantly based on biological age.
A recent trend for adults (by biological age) is waiting to make the transition to adulthood
(traditionally marriage, children, home) until late twenties or later. This period in the life
course between college graduation and adulthood is called emerging adulthood.
Biological age does not have to be equal to social age
A life course perspective allows us to think about different stages in life: childhood,
adolescence, adulthood and old age.
These stages all have different attitudes towards and habits of consumption
Childhood
Changing role of children
Traditional and part of the industrial era: children’s value based on their financial contribution
to the household
Modern era: Children not valued, focus on protecting children and investing in their well-
being
‘’The child as consumer was born’’
Advertisers focused more on how their products could enhance the life of children.
Commodification of childhood: excessive role of consumption in the life of children (Schor,
2004). (Commodification: the transformation of goods, services, ideas, nature, personal
information or people into commodities or objects of trade)
Create brand loyalty from childhood onwards.
Late 1980’s: advertisers and marketers promoted ‘child empowerment’. (increasing the
child's personal, social, educational and economic strengths.)
But, also, changing parent-child relationships. More space for discussion and negotiation on
decisions with children.
Kidfluence: marketers targeting children in their advertisements/commercials
Pester power: children begging their parents for goods
Effects of food marketing on children’s physical health (Schor, 2004)
Strategies to associate food with toys and fun:
Market tie-ins: adding a toy promoting a movie to a fast-food restaurant’s children’s meal.
(happy meal)
Trans-toying: giving food toy-like qualities (cereal)
Increase in sale of foods that harm children's health (a lot of sugar, unhealthy foods)
Allison Pugh (2009):
Construction of an economy of dignity: feeling included by their peers if they have or know
about specific goods (Toys) or experience (Disney World) their classmates' values.
Parents: important role in this economy of dignity.
Higher classes - symbolic deprivation: limit the consumption of their children, yet largely
fulfilling children’s request out of concern of social exclusion.
, Lower classes - symbolic indulgence: buy one single large gift during that will be
meaningful. No concern about harm of material goods to their children, rather shield them
from deprivation they may have experienced
Zukin (2004):
Consumption as setting to offer children practical and moral education.
Teaching them about the value of money, comparison shopping, budgeting, self-control, etc.
For example: first shopping trip without parental supervision symbol of growing autonomy,
while using these trips as the raw material to shape identity.
Adolescence and youth
Adolescent consumption as an arena of self-definition and rebellion.
Rise of youth subcultures: groups that develop distinctive identities, rituals and values via
consumption - marking them as different from the broader society they inhabit.
Distinctive lifestyles
Lifestyle = ’an individual or group’s usual way of living/navigating their circumstances,
often expressed through attitudes, work, family, leisure, behaviours, artistic tastes and
consumption choices. Lifestyles signify an individual’s mode of personal expression and
foster a sense of individualism. At the same time, lifestyles also represent a group’s
collective consumption patterns and can produce a sense of social solidarity.
Early studies into subcultures: British youth expressing opposition to the broader society
through their consumption of specific music styles, distinctive dress, and shared
values.
Now, more mundane groups, like neighbourhood gardeners.
Consumer tribes – focus on “the multiplicity of groupings that we all participate in, knowingly
or not, through the course of our everyday live.” (Cova and Dalli, 2018: 236). Belonging to
more than one at the same time. (e.g. sports team, student association, online gaming
friends)
Distinct from the idea society is increasingly individualised – community/social connection
still happening - yet in other than traditional ways.
Some characteristics of a consumer tribe:
The consumption of cultural resources (goods, brands, leisure experiences)
circulated through markets is not the essential thing in contemporary life.
Rather, these things are the means to facilitate social relations.
tribes – social, proximate groupings – shape consumer behaviour.
Face-to-face or via internet/other media.
Membership is fluid, transient and multiple.
Emphasis on playfulness and construction of meaning
“A consumer tribe could form around any leisure-based activity, interest, hobby or
passion [just] find other likeminded devotees and voilà you will have the basis of a tribe.”
(Cova and Dalli, 2018)
Zukin (2004): Youth rebellion marketing of rebellion in 1970’s
For example: blue jeans
Cool hunting (Klein,2010) = hiring younger people to research wat was ‘cool’
Design and promotion of products drawing from hip hop
Teens: Early adopters of new technology new category of consumers ‘tweens’, digital
generation
