Von Lebensstilen zu kulturellen Präferenzen - Ein Vorschlag zur theoretischen Neuorientierung

Abstract

In the analysis of social structure the concept of lifestyles is often discussed as a kind of alternative to notions of class and strata in the description of the structure of contemporary societies. Against that this article argues for two theses: firstly, class membership and lifestyles of persons in capitalist societies in the 20th century have always been relatively independent of each other and therefore, can not be viewed as competing concepts of social structure. Secondly, the notion of lifestyle has the same theoretical problems in explaining social action as traditional class concepts and therefore it should be replaced by the term cultural preferences resp. dispositions. These notions are capable of theoretically explaining behavior more precisely and of taking opportunity structures and constraints into account. An exemplary empirical analysis of this thesis on the basis of survey data argues for the further elaboration of this theoretical conception.