Entwicklung und Test einer integrativen Typologie der Lebensführung für die Bundesrepublik Deutschland / Construction and Test of an Integrative Lifestyle-Typology for Germany

Abstract

Summary: Since the 1980 s lifestyles have been seen as a new dimension of social inequality in Germany. Despite many years of debate, however, no cumulative research program has been established in German lifestyle research. Typically, empirical lifestyle typologies face four problems: they are scarcely comparable and replicable; questionable in the substance of their reality; complicated to administer in surveys; and theoretically not well-founded. The main reason for these deficits is to be found in empiricist methods based on cluster and correspondence analysis. In order to solve these problems, the usual procedure is turned around by developing a conceptual typology of nine differential lifestyles first and operationalizing it accordingly. This is done by drawing on a meta-analysis of numerous empirical studies of lifestyle and values research. The analysis shows contemporary lifestyles in Germany to be structured primarily along three dimensions: material level, modernity/biographical perspective, and scope for action. The first two are used for the index-based and methodically efficient construction of an integrative lifestyle-typology. On the basis of three population surveys the typology is validated with respect to its temporal stability and its congruence with the results of conventional methods.

Unpacking the Habitus: Meaning Making Across Lifestyles

“…The second dimension, Biographical Perspective , represents self‐assessments of “traditional” versus “modern” worldviews: for instance, concerning religiousness, family values, and leisure time activities. Based on this meta‐analysis, Otte (Otte ; Otte and Baur ) developed a valid, reliable, and economical short scale that locates respondents on these two latent dimensions, spanning an ordinal 3 x 3 (high, middle, low) matrix representing nine distinct lifestyle categories (see Fig. ).…”

“…Lifestyle groups according to Otte (, ) and Otte and Baur (), authors' translation of German labels. Y‐axis represents the dimension Living Standard , i.e., economic and cultural capital.…”

“…For some European societies, a number of typologies do exist (e.g., Savage et al. ; Schulze ; Vester ; see Otte for an overview). Their goal is to assign individuals to a specific “lifestyle category” or “social milieu” based on in‐depth interviews and/or a comprehensive range of individual‐level indicators that reflect theoretical aspects of the lifestyle concept: for instance, values, consumption, resources, or aesthetic preferences.…”

“… Even though Otte () uses Weber's German term Lebensführung (conduct of life) to emphasize both latent value orientations and manifest behaviors, we retain the term lifestyles for the sake of coherence. …”

Li-BIM, an agent-based approach to simulate occupant-building interaction from the Building-Information Modelling

“…Evora et al (2011) and Hauser (2013) deepened this aspect by proposing a real sociological approach in which nine household archetypes are defined based on the equipment level and the modernity of the lifestyle. These typologies of lifestyle have been first developed by the sociologist Otte (2005). Interpersonal relations could lead to different sets of actions since human people do not behave the same way when they are alone or among a community (Yan et al 2015).…”