Assessing Class: Lifestyle Choices

Leisure and recreational choices, consumer and financial options, family and social relationships, and participation in exercise and good health care are major factors that add up to a lifestyle, or the way we conduct our daily lives. In the late twentieth and early twenty-first century, affluence, greater societal freedoms, and the general availability of low cost goods and information technology tools have increased the variety of lifestyle choices. Contemporary sociologists see less of a correlation of lifestyle to social class than classic sociologists who believed that social class and lifestyle were one and the same. An exception is that healthy choices and health care access continue to be more available to the upper classes than to the lower.

Keywords Access; Class; Consumption; Cultural Capital; Leisure Time; Life Choices; Lifestyle; Socioeconomic Status; Stratification; Stylistic Unity

Stratification & Class in the U.S. > Assessing Class: Lifestyle Choices

Overview

Income, wealth, occupation, and education are the factors most commonly used to define class, and the more abundant each of the factors, the more expansive are the lifestyle options; however, increased affluence and greater "openness" of society in the late twentieth and early twenty-first century has allowed for many more permutations of life courses. Classic sociological theory showed how those of the same social class pursued the same lifestyles, but in our increasingly diverse, multicultural society, it has become impossible to make the same assumptions.

What is Lifestyle?

Michael Sobel (1983) defined the word "lifestyle" for sociologists as simply, "… a distinctive, hence recognizable, mode of living" (p. 120). Attempting to characterize and correlate those modes of living to social strata is increasingly complicated. German sociologist Dieter Bögenhold (2001) says that "what people 'are' and what people 'do' can no longer be conceptualized by a simple one-to-one fit." The concept of lifestyle is linked to social rank and practice, but how people spend their leisure time and incomes "… is not a simple mirror of income level but must be regarded as being embedded in social behavior" (p. 830).

Michael Sobel (1983) quotes Edward Shils when he says that "lifestyle reflects 'a voluntary participation in an order of values,'" and goes on to say that it is very much related to culture and "… is one of the most important bases of prestige because, like occupational role, it is among the most continuous and observable of the various deference entitlements" (p. 116). In his research, Sobel also links lifestyle to "ethnicity …race … age… subcultural affiliation … urban versus suburban residence, and sexual preference." He also presents the concept of "stylistic unity," by which he means "the patterns of behavior which constitute that lifestyle are empirically common; i.e., similar patterns are shared by a sufficient number of others, relative to all others" (p. 117). He also says that "lifestyle could be conceptualized as a property of an individual, a group, or even a culture. But sociologists, despite the assertions of some to the contrary, typically … use the concept at the individual level." He avoids ascribing lifestyle to social class and says that "[by] definition a lifestyle is expressive, and thus a lifestyle form is a function of individual choice."

Prosperity in Western societies increased steadily through the post–World War II era of the latter half of the twentieth century. Economies grew, standards of living rose, and the average number of weekly work hours was reduced. In theory, more time was available for personal consumption and leisure activities. In addition, as educational opportunities have increased, consumer choices have become seemingly limitless, and technology and medical advances continue enhance the quality of life; the configurations of life paths have become diverse and complex.

Capital

The theories of Pierre Bourdieu, first presented in the mid-1980s, are frequently cited by sociologists as they build new theories on lifestyles. Many reference Bourdieu's expansion on the concept of capital to understand how life choices affect one's advancement in social ranks. Economic capital, generally defined as accumulated resources or another definition of wealth, is, according to Bourdieu, only one of three types of capital — the other two are social and cultural (Gilbert, 2008, p. 94).

Dennis Gilbert (2008) explains that cultural capital, closely linked to lifestyle, is knowledge in its broadest sense, including formal education, but also manners, sports abilities, or other social skills; social capital involves obligations that are components of family and other memberships (p. 94). Further, in an explanation of Bourdieu's theory, sociologist Bögenhold describes the metaphor that there is one multidimensional social sphere for social position, but there is another for the sphere of lifestyles: "Material distribution … is portrayed in one sphere, whereas in the other sphere the provisions of cultural resources are staked out and manifested in the form of varying life styles" (2001, p. 835).

Consumption

Growth of our economy is dependent on increased consumption, and consequently, Michael Sobel (1983) argues that consumption is “the best single index of lifestyle" (p. 123). He then differentiates the components of lifestyle into four groups:

• Prestige acquisition,
• Maintenance,
• High life, and
• Home life (p. 129).

Sobel believes that lifestyle "consists of expressive and observable behaviors," but this does not imply the existence of 'coherent' lifestyle forms, or what he calls "stylistic unity." Stylistic unity implies patterns or combinations of behavior that appear with such frequency as to not be unusual to observers. Stylistic unity, if it exists, he says, is “clearly the proximate cause of a lifestyle" (p. 124).

The economic health of a capitalist society is dependent on the levels of effective consumer demand. The production of goods must find a market, and Bögenhold (2001) theorizes that "contemporary discussion of the pluralization of life styles reflects the fact that the level of vertical differentiation in terms of financial resources has little to do with the level of cultural expression as a form of individual life practice" (p. 832).

Teen Consumerism

Research studies in sociology and consumer markets have long focused on social groups and their consumption patterns and preferences. As a very well-defined and lucrative market, American teenagers are consequently frequently the subject of that research. Tim Clydesdale (2005) attempts to make some sense of contemporary teenage consumerism. He interviewed a series of teenagers, from a range of social strata, who had part-time jobs to maintain their free-spending lifestyles. Most all worked to fund cars, clothes, entertainment, and technology. In response to questions, few understood what he meant by leisure, but instead responded to questions about "free time." The majority of this interview population responded that they had little of either.

Another interesting niche study by Karen Bettez Halnon (2003) explored the phenomenon of "poor chic." She found irony that young people of all classes were "dressing down" in an age of conspicuous economic inequality. The social phenomenon of "dress casual" among what used to be called "white collar" workers and the trend since the 1970s, where blue jeans, T-shirts, and sneakers have been the favored off-work wear of Americans, blur at least the superficial appearance of social classes.

Social Memberships

Gilbert also points to involvement in associations as a lifestyle indicator that is patterned by social class. Membership with explicit purposes and rules of membership attract individuals with similar social standing. The most active participants tend to be from the upper income ranges since it is theorized that lower classes do not have time or energy for them. As an example, Gilbert explains that typecasting of membership in churches continues to hold true. He says that higher-status individuals belong to churches with services of "quiet dignity" such as Unitarian or Episcopal; while the middle-class are Methodist, Mormon, and Lutheran. The lower class favors revivalist and fundamentalist denominations, and Catholics’ participation reflects the timing of their families' immigration to the United States (2008, p. 116).

Lifestyle may imply choices about leisure, but those, of course, are limited by resources and other constraints. Demanding occupations, even though well paid, do not allow for another scarce commodity of contemporary society — time. Postwar prosperity increased the number of recreational and leisure choices available to Americans as more education allowed the middle class to pursue a greater range of activities, whether as participants or observers. Electronic media brought the concert hall (once reserved for the elite) to the masses.

High-Status Culture

Erickson (1996) refers to Bourdieu's theories that "class and culture are both vertically ranked … the culture of the highest classes becomes the most distinguished culture" (p. 217). In other words, those at the top are in possession of greater cultural capital. Erickson accepts his theories but attempts to show that networks are stronger links to cultural variety and does not buy Bourdieu's theory about higher-class culture. She cites studies that show that "higher-status people are more likely to consume highbrow culture than are lower-state people, but only a minority of high-status people consume any particular high-brow genre. There is no one kind of taste profile that advantaged people share" (p. 219).

Erickson argues that cultural inequality is not so much a hierarchy of tastes, as it is a hierarchy of knowledge—i.e., someone may know as much about soap operas as operas and have those "cultural weapons can find one to suit the battle at hand…Thus the most widely useful form of cultural resources is 'cultural variety'" (p. 219).

Research by Ningzi Zhang (2003) on high-status culture supports this argument. Zhang sees a movement away from cultural elitism to eclecticism. Another study by García-Álvarez, Katz-Gerro, and López-Sintas (2007) studied heterogeneity in Americans' musical taste. They differentiate between breadth and level of taste, "two independent dimensions of cultural consumption" and proposed that that modern "high brows" were "cultural omnivores," but not necessarily elitists (García-Álvarez, Katz-Gerro & López-Sintas, 2007, p. 417).

Resources for leisure-time activities have became commodities and filled a huge economic niche. Dieter Bögenhold marvels that we speak of entertainment and tourist industries, saying that "due to the rapid growth of social wealth, it is becoming ever more interesting for sociologists to see how disposable time is used and how leisure practices relate to money income" (p. 831). Sports have been seen as "useful cross-class coordinating genre, popular in all class levels and widely seen as something in common with others at work. Sports discussions help to build cooperative ties across class levels" (Erickson, 1996, p. 223). Yet higher status has been associated with greater participation in physical fitness activities (Stalsberg & Pedersen, 2010), especially among young children (White & McTeer, 2012).

Health & Lifestyle

Although most modern sociologists struggle to precisely correlate consumer and cultural preferences to social class, issues related to exercise, eating habits, and smoking are more vertically aligned. Socioeconomic status has an impact on health. It is known that those with lower incomes smoke more and are more often obese and exercise less than those in higher-income strata. Is this a factor of despair, lack of education, or risk inclination as much as a decision about lifestyle?

Call for more understanding on how social standing influences health care comes from Stephen Isaacs and Steven Schroeder (2004), who argue that the "wide differences in health between the haves and have-nots are largely ignored. Race and class are both independently associated with health status, although it is often difficult to disentangle the individual effects of the two factors" (para. 3).

Further Insights

What are the variables that sociologists use to assess lifestyle? Michael Sobel's (1983) early study on lifestyle differentiation drew from an even earlier data set, the 1972–1973 Survey of Consumer Expenditures. His analysis led him to develop a matrix of four factors:

• "Visible success" or "prestige acquisition"
• "Maintenance"
• "High life"
• "Home-life" (p. 129).

His classification evolved from surveys related to research on 19 dependent lifestyle variables. These were:

He then correlated these with the obvious independent variables:

• Region of U.S.,
• Family size,
• Family status,
• Location size (city, small town, etc.);
• Total consumption,
• Education,
• Household and individual income (p. 126).

Drawing on data from the same time period, Hughes and Peterson (1983) reanalyzed a national survey on the arts that was conducted by Louis Harris and Associates for the American Council of the Arts. The survey looked at American leisure activities and included evaluation of participation in the performing arts, sports, "going out," domestic activity (needlework, cooking, gardening, etc.), outdoor activity, anti-arts attitudes, craft activities (photography, painting, woodworking, etc.), museum attendance, and amateur performance (participation in music, drama, or dance). Their critique found that the data included nothing about the population's most common activity — watching television. Most importantly, they could not identify a significant fit between social class and cultural classes.

A relevant study from 1998 by Douglas B. Holt examined whether Pierre Bourdieu's theory of cultural capital applies to consumption patterns in the United States. He defined six dimensions of taste from those with high capital resources to those with low:

• Material versus formal aesthetics — furniture, food, and clothing preferences;
• Referential versus critical interpretation — real life vs. critical view of books, movies, etc.;
• Materialism versus idealism — luxury vs. metaphysical experience;
• Local versus cosmopolitan tastes;
• Communal versus individualist forms of consumer subjectivity — authenticity and connoisseurship decisions about possessions;
• Autotelic versus self-actualizing leisure — self-expression and realization.

Holt distinguished between those with high and low cultural capital resources. His findings suggest that "consumption continues to serve as a potent site for the reproduction of social class" (1998, p. 1).

Weeden and Grusky (2005) reported on their extensive surveys that categorized class and lifestyles by consumption practices and institutional participation. Institutional participation included marriage and divorce, children; union membership, and veteran status. Consumption practices were broad and involved questions about news knowledge, TV watching hours, reading (literature), and family life.

Viewpoints

Is Class Structure Declining?

A debate has raged since the early 1990s among sociologists regarding whether social classes are fading out. An article with that very title by Terry Nichols Clark and Seymour Martin Lipset (1991) recognized the emergence of new social strata and the need to create new models. If there is any single lifestyle variable that would disprove the decline of the class definitions of social class, it would be health.

Does Class Affect Health?

Does inequitable distribution of income and wealth cause poor health? Wealth and income are distributed less equitably in the United States than in any other industrialized country, and the gap between the rich and the poor has grown since the 1980s. Isaacs and Schroeder (2004) beg social scientists to look at the importance of socioeconomic status as it relates to health. They point to data that indicate that lower-income people generally die earlier than do people at higher socioeconomic levels. It is "a pattern that holds true in a progressive fashion from the poorest to the richest." Their data also showed that “those who earned $15,000 or less per year from 1972 to 1989 were three times as likely to die prematurely as were those with earning in excess of $70,000 per year" (Isaacs & Schroeder, 2004, para. 5).

Isaacs and Schroeder verify that those in upper classes have healthier behavior. Their charts clearly show, as is generally acknowledged, that the higher the income, the less an individual is likely to smoke. Likewise, those in the lower income brackets "are nearly three times as likely not to engage in leisure-time physical exercise" and have "less health insurance coverage, poor neighborhoods and exposure to more environmental hazards." Beyond that, they say, "there is something about lower socioeconomic status itself that increases the risk of premature death" (para. 8).

In a review of the sociology research literature, Neckerman and Torche (2007) identified research studies that verify the "status hypothesis" that proposes that relative deprivation — "the subjective awareness of one's own economic position relative to others — influences health directly through the effects of stress on the body or indirectly through poor health behaviors such as smoking or alcohol abuse" (p. 341). They refer to a study by Eibner and Evans (2004) that supports the contention that income inequality for the poor "raises mortality risk as well as the risk of heart disease and tobacco-related mortality; it is also associated with unhealthy behaviors such as smoking and sedentary lifestyles. Their results suggest that half the impact of individual income on mortality may operate through relative deprivation" (p. 342).

Similarly, Rebecca White (2012) suggests that those in the lower socioeconomic strata lack not only physical access to nutritionally healthful foods but also information about proper nutrition. Thus, the rising rates of diet-related disease in the United States can be seen as both an issue of lifestyle choice and social class.

Terms & Concepts

Cultural Capital: Defined as education or knowledge, but may include table manners or the ability to participate in a sport. It was defined by Pierre Bourdieu as one of three forms of capital along with economic and social.

Leisure Time: Author Tim Clydesdale (2005) distinguished “free time” as having been lifted from school or camp schedules to describe unstructured time in a structured day and is commonly used by modern youth. By “leisure time,” he means the hours where one can choose freely between activity or inactivity (p. 11).

Socialization: The learning process that prepares new members of society for social life.

Lifestyle: Michael E. Sobel defines lifestyle as a "distinctive, hence recognizable, mode of living" (p. 120). Max Weber defined lifestyle as patterns of social interaction, leisure, consumption, dress, language, and so on, associated with a social group — in particular, a prestige class, or in Weber's terminology, a "status group" (Gilbert, 2008, p. 245).

Stylistic Unity: "Coherent lifestyle forms" as defined by Michael E. Sobel (p. 120).

Bibliography

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García-Álvarez, E., Katz-Gerro, T., & López-Sintas, J. (2007, December). Deconstructing cultural omnivorousness 1982–2002: heterology in Americans' musical preferences. Social Forces, 86, 417–443. Retrieved September 7, 2008, from EBSCO online database SocINDEX with Full Text. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=sih&AN=28056473&site=ehost-live

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Suggested Reading

Blackshaw, T. (Ed.) (2013). Routledge handbook of leisure studies. London, England: Routledge. Retrieved November 11, 2013 from EBSCO online database eBook Collection (EBSCOhost). http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=611784&site=ehost-live

Bourdieu, P. (1984). Distinction. (Nice, R. trans.) London, England: Routledge & Kegan Paul.

Cross, G. (2006). Crowds and leisure: thinking comparatively across the 20th century. Journal of Social History, 39, 631–650. Retrieved September 6, 2008, from EBSCO online database SocINDEX with Full Text. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=sih&AN=20499313&site=ehost-live

DiMaggio, P., & Useem, M. (1978). Cultural democracy in a period of cultural expansion: The social composition of arts audiences in the United States. Social Problems, 26, 55.

Dumas, A., & Laberge, S. (2005). Social class and ageing bodies: Understanding physical activity in later life. Social Theory and Health, 3, 183.

Giddens, A. (1973). The class structure of the advanced societies. New York, NY: Harper & Row.

Hughes, M., & Peterson, R. (1983). Isolating cultural choice patterns in the U.S. population. American Behavioral Scientist, 26, 459.

Jarosz, L., & Lawson, V. (2002). Sophisticated people versus rednecks: Economic restructuring and class difference in America's west. Antipode, 34, 8. Retrieved September 22, 2008, from EBSCO online database Academic Search Premier. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=6068243&site=ehost-live

Korol, S. A. (2011). Uncovering the SES-health myth: How modern society undermines our achievement of optimal health. In Q. Lê (Ed.), Health and well-being: A social and cultural perspective (pp. 25–36). New York, NY: Nova Science Publishers. Retrieved November 11, 2013 from EBSCO online database eBook Academic Collection (EBSCOhost). http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=e000xna&AN=368650&site=ehost-live

Levy, G., & Churchill, C. (1992). New middle class youth in a college town: Education for life in the 1990s. International Journal of Politics, Culture & Society, 6, 229. Retrieved September 22, 2008, from EBSCO online database Academic Search Premier. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=10729516&site=ehost-live

Mohr, J., & DiMaggio, P. (1995). The intergenerational transmission of cultural capital. Research in Social Stratification & Mobility, 14, 167–199.

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Osgerby, B. (2003, January). A pedigree of the consuming male: Masculinity, consumption and the American 'leisure class'. Sociological Review Monograph, 51, 57–85. Retrieved September 22, 2008, from EBSCO online database SocINDEX with Full Text. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=sih&AN=11914805&site=ehost-live

Riesman, D., Denny, R. & Glazer, N. (1950). The lonely crowd: A study of the changing American character. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.

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Veblen, T. B. (1899/2007). The theory of the leisure class. London, England: Oxford University Press.