Everyone is responsible for their own destiny. How he uses his capabilities, how he copes with adversity, how life flows - all these factors are under the control of the person himself. We will describe here six possible behaviors and their corresponding lifestyles.
You probably know families in which brothers and sisters have very different personalities. And therefore they have very different destinies. This confirms that self-regulation plays a paramount role in how we deal with our lives. Society does not determine our destiny to such a high degree as some sages believe, and as is stated in many political ideologies. Everyone is responsible for their own destiny. How he uses his capabilities, how he copes with adversity, how life flows - all these factors are under the control of the person himself. Whether we can avoid pressure, break off fruitless relationships in a timely manner, and wisely use favorable opportunities - all this depends on ourselves. Even the Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius (121-180) said: “Our life is what our thoughts turn it into.”
And the fate of our body also depends on our lifestyle, and to a much greater extent than a physician thinking from the point of view of natural science assumes. Each feeling is also a state of the body. Feelings of excitement or calm cause tension or relaxation. Instrumental measurements of the state of the body, subjective complaints show in which parts of the body the impact of feelings on the body is manifested.
The four senses of self: self-esteem, self-confidence, inner freedom and inner satisfaction are abnormally developed in many people. Two senses of self may, for example, be strong, while the other two may be too weak. For many people, a particular sense of self can even fall into a destructive vicious circle of overestimating or underestimating oneself.
Of all the possible modes of behavior, we will describe here only six characters and their corresponding styles of life, which manifest themselves in cases where two of the four senses of self predominate, and the other two are insufficient. At the same time, we will probably recognize ourselves and, of course, other people we know. We will know when we see: some want to be powerful, and others to be loved, some want to belong to the elite, and some to become popular, some need to pretend to be a celebrity at any cost, and some need communication, or at least presence during communication.
The four senses of self correspond to the perception of four colors:
- dark blue corresponds to satisfaction;
- bluish-green corresponds to self-esteem;
- orange-red corresponds to self-confidence;
- light yellow corresponds to inner freedom.
Through the perception of these precisely defined shades of color, one can gain insight into the essence of the mental state of all six styles of life. Therefore, every time the name of the described lifestyle contains two predominant colors.
Red-Green Lifestyle: Powerful
Anyone who needs protection from feelings of weakness and helplessness dreams of becoming strong and courageous in order to gain a sense of self-confidence.
And the one who is not in harmony with a sense of self-respect and experiences a feeling of inferiority, deceiving himself, also strives with arrogant arrogance to play the role of a powerful person.
Gaining self-confidence and earning respect - from these two impulses often arises the need to be powerful and dominate. Apparently, the will to power arises in a state of helplessness and impotence. The top-class boxer said that in his youth he was often beaten, and he decided to surpass his offenders. There are many cases where children from poor families, having experienced a feeling of being left out in their early years, went on to have successful careers: they became major industrialists, successful businessmen, and achieved outstanding results in sports or art.
The feeling of inferiority is often transferred to some external circumstance - small stature, physical defect, etc. And such a feeling can cause a desire for superiority and power over other people.
Family studies have shown: if the eldest son takes on the role of leader in relation to younger brothers and sisters, then in the future he will play the same role in any profession - director, teacher, priest, politician. And it happens like this... The eldest son experiences a state of imaginary rejection, loss and helplessness when another child appears in the family. It seems to him that he is bypassed by attention and parental love, that all this is given to the newborn. But in his role as helper and “reasonable older brother,” he regains his sense of self-worth.
The need for power, which displaces helplessness and self-doubt, is by no means unique to dictators. Power is exercised not only on the battlefield, but also in offices and bedrooms. Rapists, scolding hecklers, moralizing enthusiasts, debaters and all citizens with their index finger raised hope to achieve a favorable state through power. The thirst for power is common to many - politicians and leaders, small and large-scale businessmen, careerists and ambitious people who spend time at their desks.
Power is always manifested in relation to partners, therefore it is always associated with social responsibility and justice. The famous Basel historian Jacob Burckhardt (1818-1897) believed that power “in itself is not evil.” If responsibility and justice are absent, and especially if those in power violate these social values, then this is already an abuse of power. Powerful people who are alien to justice and responsibility are not leaders, but seducers who abuse their power. (Pun: in the German text Fuhrer is a leader, Ver - Fuhrer is a seducer, seducer. - editor's note).
A judge in court or in sports is recognized as an authoritative person if he strives for justice when making decisions. Only those who are willing to be fair and responsible have the right to wield power and give orders. If these principles are followed, then the teacher, the parents, the boss, the officer and the state can justifiably give orders.
The concept of “anti-authoritarianism” applies only to the abuse of power. Many people have lost the ethically necessary respect for fair and responsible public authorities. A competent person always acts reasonably and convincingly. A competent leader, elevated in position, certainly has power, he is authoritative, but not authoritarian.
Power can pursue two goals. One style of power is the preservation of established order and traditions. Such are the old aristocracy and the adherents of fundamental dogmatic instructions.
Another style of power is the desire to expand and improve life activities, to annex new territories, to penetrate new markets, to open and develop new areas of activity.
Local partnerships can also bear the imprint of both styles of power: the desire to subjugate a partner, or the desire to possess everything.
Power necessarily presents itself as signs of prestige. The small man in the street - with his car, the larger one - with his villa, and the most powerful - with something triumphant in the eyes of his descendants.
What a typical representative of power lacks is spiritual love. That's why no one really loves him. The successful boss was right when he said: “Although I am the one who brings money into the house, the only one who loves me is our dog.”
The theme of love will be discussed further when describing the “blue-yellow” lifestyle.
Japanese.
- Respect for elders . Family values are extremely important for the Japanese, which is why grandparents are held in high esteem here, even if they are strangers.
- The power of machines . Japan is a high-tech country. Apartments here can live in their own ecosystem thanks to “smart” technology, but there is usually little furniture in the house. Everything that a machine can do, the Japanese prefer not to do on their own.
- One job for life . Dismissal is considered a disgrace. Many Japanese never change jobs in their entire lives; it is believed that one needs to achieve career heights in one company and preferably from scratch.
- Managing emotions . The Japanese are extremely unemotional, and this applies to both excessive joy and anger.
- Proper nutrition . There is a cult of food in Japan. The process of eating itself is a certain ceremony. During lunch breaks, the Japanese eat what they brought from home.
How do you know if you live the Japanese way? Thoroughness, diligence, and hard work are the three elephants on which the life of a person who has adopted the Japanese style is built. Work is sacred, it cannot be postponed or transferred; you have taken on the burden, which means you must bear it. You can and should be interested in everything new, but you should introduce it into your life only if it does not contradict life principles.
Adherence to foundations and rules is important, but this does not mean obsession or narrow-mindedness. Confidence in the future. Comfort of life and getting rid of unnecessary things come first. There is hardly room for one old ski on the balcony. Order in everything, from the space in the house to the thoughts in your head.
Take a personality type test
Blue-yellow lifestyle: needs for love
The experience of helplessness that children often experience can turn into a desire for power, or give rise to another powerful need - the need for love.
The child needs the attentive care of his parents and their constant willingness to understand their little person. The child needs protection.
Although such treatment is called maternal love, all people up to adulthood understand such sensitive parental attitude as love itself. Those who have an expectation of love similar to that characteristic of a child do not yet love themselves, but only feel the need to be loved.
Both can become in need of love: the one who grew up without love, and the one who is accustomed to being spoiled and being loved. Someone accustomed to love may not realize that love is an action embodied in turning to face another person with understanding and care. Those who have not learned to love themselves wait to be loved, but such hopes are most often not fulfilled.
Why don't we approach a person who seems attractive to us? Why are we afraid of being rejected? Why do we lack inner freedom to do as we please?
A small child needs affection and security. Freedom will not give him anything; it only creates a feeling of danger. Later, when his spiritual and physical abilities develop to a certain level, he will be able, in small steps, to learn to make free decisions. Thanks to freedom to make decisions - right or wrong, thanks to freedom to act - right or wrong, a person becomes independent. So he himself takes responsibility for his actions and for the consequences of his decisions.
Why are many afraid of this freedom and the associated responsibility for the consequences? My answer: for a person for whom the state of a loved one and pampered treatment have become habitual, it is very difficult to imagine that love is one’s own action. And it’s even more difficult for him to act.
A constantly loved and pampered being is prevented from finding love-action by another obstacle: the fear of being rejected. Those who feel an urgent need for love, or are initially spoiled by love, cannot tolerate rejection. He behaves absurdly, like the gambler who admits: “I only play when I win.” With this attitude, love remains a difficult desire to fulfill.
The unfulfilled need for love is difficult to bear. A person is dissatisfied because he does not find what he wants and what he considers meaningful. But he does not find this because he does not even dare to express his desires. Why doesn't he dare to show his desire for love? Because he is afraid of being rejected, because he himself is not ready to give up the desire for love. Such a person perceives refusal as a personal rejection, and one should learn to accept reality as it is, instead of feeling humiliated by cherishing one’s egocentric pride. Only those who are able to freely express their desires, being ready to give them up, have true, and rare, inner freedom. But if a person does not have internal freedom sufficient to find and experience sincere and admiring love, an unbearable deficiency of love arises in him. Thus, the need flares up, at all costs, to find a way out of this “hopeless” situation. The lifestyle of those fascinated by the need for love diverges along three paths - three paths of escape. The first path is used most often; divorced people take it first of all. It is a constant search for perfect love. Seekers of ideal love replace their sadness with hope for the future. For some wanderers of love, this path leads to a constant change of partners or to banal moral decay, while others escape into the world of spiritualistic dreams.
Those who are in an eternal search for ideal love often become very accustomed to their condition. They don’t even suspect that they themselves are no longer ready for real affection. From some point on, they begin to strive not for love affection, but for affection. They can be found in various Societies, Clubs, and Self-Knowledge Groups. They go there to chat about love, to cuddle, or to have an epiphany.
The second path is chosen by sensitive aesthetes. Their love no longer extends to their partners—their partners may disappoint. Their love is given to beautiful objects and impersonal experiences: music, literature, travel.
The third escape route is the riskiest. This path imitates true love. True love is built on a two-pronged relationship - “give” and “take”. But the one who thirsts for love, professing the style of the third way, plunges into a state of one-sided devotion. He does not want and cannot take it. The unrequited giver is convinced that in order to be loved, he must be ready at any moment to come to the aid of the object of love, and he comes, sometimes obsessively. Pampering a loved one with excessive care, he or she constantly imposes himself on the partner and inseparably clings to the object of his immense love. The partner perceives such love as embarrassment and suppression. Obsessive devotion can become unbearable when a loved one is constantly expected, or even with a pained expression on their face, they demand proof and confirmation of reciprocal love. The object of devotion is often prohibited from showing the slightest interest in something or someone. This hidden jealousy arises not from the desire to “own”, but from the fear of losing love and, ultimately, from one’s own loss: not only in love, but in everything. People who are passionately in need of love, with their need to take care of someone, easily and recklessly become attached to children, pets, the helpless and weak. They behave like alcoholics who value others who are suffering like themselves extremely highly.
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Safaryan A. V. The concept of “lifestyle” in sociology
Home / Humanitarian information portal “Knowledge. Understanding. Skill" / 2008 / No. 3 2008 – SociologyUDC 316
Safarian AV The Concept “Life Style” in Sociology
annotation
: The article analyzes various approaches to defining the concept of “lifestyle”. It is emphasized that lifestyle can be considered as synonymous with the individual’s free choice of his daily behavior and is directly related to the self-realization of the individual. The author comes to the conclusion that the use of the thesaurus approach when studying this issue will allow a more thorough study of the phenomenon of everyday life.
Keywords
: lifestyle, everyday life, E. Giddens, P. Bourdieu, thesaurus concept of youth.
Attention to the topic of lifestyle in world sociology has begun to grow steadily in recent decades. In Germany, in particular, in the 1990s the number of publications on lifestyle issues reached 300 per year[1]. This circumstance is important to evaluate not in itself, but in the context of studies of social structure. Lifestyle, interpreted as a set of consistently reproduced patterns of behavior, has become a kind of loophole for many researchers in their desire to overcome the difficulties of social-structural analysis in conditions of rapid social change. As an analysis of many works shows, the essence of this loophole is that transferring research to the microsociological level, which allows us to record the close connection between social inequality and lifestyle, allows us to “extinguish the classical vertical paradigm” [2], that is, to get away from social class analysis reality.
In a more general form, the lifestyle aspect becomes an important part of theories of an individualized society, based on the assertion that in modern conditions of developed countries the behavior of people is largely determined by their inclinations, and not by the factor of social inequality. In particular, importance is attached to the influence on the individual of his consumer standards, attitude to religion, politics, health, and his value orientations. These factors, of course, are associated with social class stratification, but, firstly, not directly, and secondly, only ultimately. In this regard, it is not without interest that P. DiMaggio observed that “the macrostructural dimensions of social classes look like peculiar shock groups thrown into hostilities with misunderstood and unexplained differences”[3]. And it is the conceptualization of lifestyles that allows us to go beyond macrosocial factors and more thoroughly connect the actions and thinking of people with the variety of factors characteristic of an individualized society.
This interpretation of lifestyle is quite common not only in empirical studies, but also in theoretical works themselves, including works that have received wide recognition in world sociology. In this regard, the position of the prominent English sociologist Anthony Giddens, whose authority in world sociology is obvious, deserves attention.
The interpretation of lifestyle in the sociology of Anthony Giddens in the works of the 1990s is based on the concept of man, opposed to the postmodern understanding of the Self. Taking into account radical changes in the social environment, the affirmation of self-reference of the individual in a situation of uncertainty, the spread of expert knowledge in the sphere of everyday life and a number of other factors, Giddens makes conclusion about the transition from the “policy of emancipation” to the “policy of life”, in other words, from the struggle to implement the ideals of freedom, equality, justice to the choice of a life style based on the answer to the question of how one should live[4]. This choice is moral in nature and, to a certain extent, opposes the immorality of modern institutions. For Giddens, it relates primarily to the problems of bioethics (permissible limits of technical innovations and the use of genetic engineering, the right to life of a human embryo, etc.), social justice (gender equality, etc.), environmental protection, but they can also be interpreted in broader terms. social contexts (for example, in connection with the impact of the globalization factor on individuals and society, as Giddens himself showed in subsequent works [5]). In general, it is important that “life policy,” according to Giddens, brings the moral dominant to the center of the problems of life style.
This position follows from Giddens' theory of structuration, according to which differentiation in society is built on the difference in social practices, which are the unit of his analysis. Social practices form the continuous reproduction of social action, the result of which is the production of structures, rules, and resources. These, in turn, give rise to the actions of actors[6]. Actually, in this case we are talking about the structures that generate the actions of individuals not in the usual sense for structural-functionalist sociology, but about organized social practices [7]. In the spirit of structuration theory, they can be considered as styles of life.
From a slightly different direction, but in the same direction, the French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu gives an interpretation of life styles. Its initial positions are associated with the idea of class formation as a process occurring in the multidimensional space of social relations. For Bourdieu, the concept of social space, rather than social structure, acquires fundamental importance, since it captures the reality of both stable and random forms of connections. What matters here are connections, both real and imaginary, constant and unstable, coexisting in parallel, overlapping one another, converging and diverging[8]. In this space there is a distribution of capitals of various kinds (according to Bourdieu, there are four main forms of “capital” - economic, cultural, social and symbolic), which predetermines the proximity/remoteness of one or another agent in terms of significant differences and the connection/divergence of agents in struggle for positions within social space. As a result, the structure of social space is subject to the game of distribution of “capital” and “profit”. Social space with spontaneously manifested differences functions symbolically as a space of life styles ,
or as an ensemble of groups characterized by different lifestyles[9].
In accordance with this, the measurement of social stratification, according to Bourdieu, should be carried out in a two-dimensional mode, taking into account the fact that the choice of life styles is predetermined in some cases by the desire to strengthen one’s social position through conspicuous consumption in the spirit of T. Veblen’s concept, in others by the desire to consolidate one’s status orientation towards “high culture”. Consequently, consumption becomes a form of symbolic difference between social classes[10], and the stylization of life strengthens these differences and legitimizes them. This is also a form of influencing groups with other life styles, imposing on them their vision of man and the world.
Bourdieu's ideas have received wide recognition, especially in European sociology. Research on “capitals”, intersecting fields of social space and corresponding life styles has yielded certain results in the study of modern society, especially in establishing the role of such factors in choosing life styles as the cultural and material capital of parents, education, professional status, personal income[11].
In American sociology, the issue of life styles is studied in a slightly different way. Noteworthy is the direction of research in which the difference in the interpretation of the grounds for identifying lifestyles has manifested itself in practical activities to manage city development. This, in particular, is clearly seen in the material of urban sociology in the United States, where in the twentieth century the concept of city management changed more than once. It should be emphasized that the significant breakthrough that the Chicago School of Sociology made in this direction entailed the rooting in the United States of an approach to urban policy planning that was based on a certain sociological concept of the city. Even when in the early 1930s the positions of the Chicago School were relegated to the background and structural functionalism became the priority theoretical and methodological platform in most branches of sociology (including urban sociology), the idea of the “Chicagoans” about the ecology of the city remained and remains now the core of the adoption of the corresponding course in urban policy.
Another thing is that the very idea of what creates a city, its environment and what should be put in first place when city authorities make management decisions has undergone significant evolution. As Z. L. Miller, who thoroughly studied this issue, points out, this evolution was based on a change in views on the role of social groups in the life of the city[12]. In the interwar period (1920–1930s), the starting point for designing cities and assessing the effectiveness of urban policy was the thesis according to which social groups are the main regulator of lifestyles and lifestyles, while the individual is only significant in the social life of the city to the extent that he identifies himself with one or another social (cultural, ethnic, professional, etc.) group. Accordingly, urban policy sought to find its place in the process of building intergroup relations by influencing factors and through factors that act on groups without being controlled by their members (in particular, the migration factor, the factor of economic and technological changes, etc.) . In this case, the city acts as a territory in which pluralism is maintained not of individuals, but of groups, and where, as a result of such a policy, the best conditions are created both for the implementation of new technologies and, accordingly, for improving management, and for increasing on this basis the quality of life for all groups . This approach can be called deterministic cultural pluralism[13]. In this version, group interest and compromise of group interests constituted both the conceptual basis and the basis of management technology in determining urban policy.
However, this approach in practice gave rise to many contradictions, as a result of which, after the 1950s, the concept of the “death of the city” as a system that integrates the individual into itself became widespread, and urban policy began to be based on the principle of cultural individualism. In particular, this was the result of disillusionment with the principles of cultural engineering, the application of which in the 1920s and 1930s did not produce significant results in establishing an atmosphere of tolerance between ethnic groups and general social harmony.
A significant circumstance from the point of view of our research should be considered that the rebellion against determinism, as Z. L. Miller writes about this, came from the awareness of the necessary involvement of people in the choice of their own lifestyles and culture as an expression of an autonomous, free, individualized existence. The keywords of the new era of cultural individualism were diversity and choice, self-development as a psychological rather than a political good. The right to self-realization was considered as part of civil rights[14]. It is impossible not to take into account that even today the interpretation of the human self in the United States (as, indeed, in Europe) retains the characteristics of extreme individualism. From research in this area it follows that the emphasis on the self-sufficiency of an autonomous individual, who is charged with continuous self-actualization and self-reliance, remains the most typical in theory[15], which cannot but be reflected in interpretations of lifestyle.
Later, the idea of cultural individualism was criticized, and partly obstructed, as one would expect, but our task now is not to delve into the specifics of American municipal policy, but to establish the content that was given to lifestyles in understanding transient events in the life of American cities.
From an analysis of the literature, it becomes clear that lifestyle can be considered as synonymous with an individual’s free choice of his daily behavior and that certain theorists associate personal self-realization with lifestyle. This gives a reason to look at the problems of lifestyle through the prism of the thesaurus approach.
Thesaurus constructions are formed within the framework of social and cultural practices, which constitutes an important aspect of the socialization of the individual, especially at the age of adolescence, when thesauruses have not yet been established, but are already less dependent on the educational influence of significant others, i.e. when it is already possible to talk about free choice of behavior.
Shaft. A. Lukov, formulating the thesaurus concept of youth, emphasizes that “the thesaurus as ordered knowledge, sufficient for an individual (group) to navigate in society, has a unique property of the structure of information: its hierarchy is built not from the general to the particular, but from “one’s own” to “ to someone else's"
.
Thesauruses capture a mosaic of scattered events as a whole. This opens up wide opportunities for analyzing the phenomena of youth communities”[16]. Indeed, the choice of a course of behavior is, to a large extent, a choice of lifestyle, which appears in everyday life as a set of consistently reproduced patterns of behavior. But at the same time, it is also a characteristic of other components of everyday life that are often not taken into account in studies of youth that focus on recording behavioral reactions or cultural orientations. In this regard, Val’s interpretation of youth is heuristic. A. Lukov as “ a social group, which consists of (1) people who master and appropriate social subjectivity, have the social status of young and are young by self-identification, as well as (2) thesauri common in this social group and (3) expressing and reflecting them symbolic and objective world
"[17]
.
The fact that the symbolic and objective world of youth is included in the researcher’s field of view not as a particularity, but as an integral part of the understanding of youth, especially brings the thesaurus concept of youth closer to the issue of lifestyle.
The description of youth subcultures in literature[18] confirms the importance of the symbolic use of certain things (clothing, jewelry, home furnishings, objects of veneration, etc.) not only to mark one’s belonging to a particular group, but also as a filter of information, perceived from external sources, its structuring and hierarchization within the thesaurus and use to reconstruct the image of man and the world. But it should be taken into account that subcultural forms of youth activity are only the most noticeable phenomena for external observation, characterizing the specifics of youth at the stage of active socialization. Similar processes occur in the life of any young person, whose material and symbolic world has no demonstrable differences from the social and cultural norms accepted in the surrounding social and cultural environment.
Since in youth thesauri are subject to dynamic changes, life styles can also change dynamically, preserving at new stages of the socialization trajectory[19] some traces of the acquired social and cultural experience. This simultaneously means a change in social and cultural identity specific to a young age, as well as the active use by young people of the social construction of reality.
If we keep in mind that the self-realization of a young person is the main goal of state youth policy in modern Russia, then for Russian conditions it is important to understand whether in this case the task of supporting individual self-realization can be reduced to supporting a variety of life styles. At the very least, this would be consistent with the popular image of the “postmodern man” - tolerant, open to “many voices” and far from the intention of “declaring war on the infidels in defense of his own way of life.”[20]
So, the issue of lifestyle, which has become widespread in modern sociology mainly as an alternative to structuring society along social class lines, has a wider field of application when studying social and cultural phenomena associated with youth. If in the interpretation of social structure the appeal to the concept of “lifestyle” is largely compensatory in nature and is aimed at a better description and explanation of the processes that arose in the late 20th - early 21st centuries, then in the field of youth research, lifestyle characterizes the stability of certain life forms in the conditions of general instability of the system itself, which consists of youth and each individual young person. When using the thesaurus approach, lifestyle makes it possible to more thoroughly classify the structural foundations of the organization of everyday life in relation to a young person and youth communities.
NOTES
[1] Hermann D. Bilanz der empirischen Lebensstilforschung // Kölner Ztschr. für Soziologie und Sozialpsychologie. Köln, 2004. Jg. 56. HIS 153.
[2] Ibid.
[3] DiMaggio P. Social Stratification, Life-Style, and Social Cognition // Social Stratification: Class, Race, and Gender in Sociological Perspective / Ed. by D. Grusky. Boulder: Westview Press, 1994. P. 458.
[4] See: Giddens A. Modernity and self-identity: self and society in the late modern age. Stanford (Ca), 1991.
[5] Eg. in: Giddens A. Runaway World: How Globalization Is Reshaping Our Lives. London: Profile Books, 1999.
[6] See: Giddens A. The Constitution of Society: Outline of the Theory of Structure. Cambridge: Polity Press, 1984. P. 354.
[7] Ibid. P. 25–31.
[8] See: Bourdieu P. Sociology of Politics. M.: Socio-Logos, 1993. pp. 55–58.
[9] See: ibid. pp. 60–71.
[10] Ibid. P. 69.
[11] See: Ganzeboom HB, Kraaykamp G. Life-Style Differentiation in Five Countries // Social Correlates and Social Consequence of Social Stratification. Prague, 1989.
[12] See: Miller ZL The death of the city // The social sciences go to Washington: The politics of knowledge in the postmodern age / Ed. by H. Cravens. New Brunswick (L.), 2004. P. 181–213.
[13] See: Ibid.
[14] See: Ibid.
[15] See, for example: Smith MB Selfhood at risk: Postmodern perils and the perils of postmodernism // Amer. psychologist Wash., 1994. Vol. 49, No. 5. P. 405–411.
[16] Lukov Val. A. Thesaurus concept of youth // Abstracts of reports and speeches at the II All-Russian Sociological Congress “Russian Society and Sociology in the 21st Century: Social Challenges and Alternatives.” Moscow, September 30 — Oct 2 2003. M.: Alfa-M, 2003. T. 3. P. 71–72.
[17] Ibid. P. 71.
[18] See: Levikova S.I. Youth subculture. M.: FAIR-PRESS, 2004; Omelchenko E. Youth: an open question. Ulyanovsk: Simbirsk. book, 2004; Normal youth: Beer, partying, drugs; Part 2: No entry for outsiders: Narratives, diaries, artifacts... authentic evidence for and against “normalization” / Ed. E. Omelchenko. Ulyanovsk: Publishing house Ulyanovsk. state Univ., 2005; Humanitarian knowledge: prospects for development in the 21st century: In honor of the 70th anniversary of Igor Mikhailovich Ilyinsky /Under the general. ed. Shaft. A. Lukova. M.: Publishing House National. Institute of Business, 2006. pp. 478–506.
[19] See: Kovaleva A.I. Socialization trajectories of modern Russian youth // Youth and society at the turn of the century: International. scientific-practical conference, October 20–21, 1998: Section “The Future of Russia and Youth: Towards a New Concept of Youth Policy.” Part 1. M., 1998. pp. 33–34.
[20] Smith MB Op. cit. P. 408.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Bourdieu P. Sociology of politics. M.: Socio-Logos, 1993.
Humanitarian knowledge: prospects for development in the 21st century: In honor of the 70th anniversary of Igor Mikhailovich Ilyinsky / Under the general. ed. Shaft. A. Lukova. M.: Publishing House National. Institute of Business, 2006.
Kovaleva A.I. Socialization trajectories of modern Russian youth // Youth and society at the turn of the century: International. scientific-practical conference, October 20–21, 1998: Section “The Future of Russia and Youth: Towards a New Concept of Youth Policy.” Part 1. M., 1998.
Levikova S.I. Youth subculture. M.: FAIR PRESS, 2004.
Lukov Val. A. Thesaurus concept of youth // Abstracts of reports and speeches at the II All-Russian Sociological Congress “Russian Society and Sociology in the 21st Century: Social Challenges and Alternatives.” Moscow, September 30 — Oct 2 2003. M.: Alfa-M., 2003. T. 3. P. 71–72.
Normal youth: Beer, partying, drugs. Part 2: No entry for outsiders: Narratives, diaries, artifacts... authentic evidence for and against “normalization” / Ed. E. Omelchenko. Ulyanovsk: Publishing house Ulyanovsk. state University, 2005.
Omelchenko E. Youth: an open question. Ulyanovsk: Simbirsk. book, 2004.
DiMaggio P. Social Stratification, Life-Style, and Social Cognition // Social Stratification: Class, Race, and Gender in Sociological Perspective / Ed. by D. Grusky. Boulder: Westview Press, 1994.
Ganzeboom HB, Kraaykamp G. Life-Style Differentiation in Five Countries // Social Correlates and Social Consequence of Social Stratification. Prague, 1989.
Giddens A. Modernity and Self-identity: Self and Society in the Late Modern Age. Stanford (Ca), 1991.
Giddens A. Runaway World: How Globalization Is Reshaping Our Lives. London: Profile Books, 1999.
Giddens A. The Constitution of Society: Outline of the Theory of Structure. Cambridge: Polity Press, 1984.
Hermann D. Bilanz der empirischen Lebensstilforschung // Kölner Ztschr. für Soziologie und Sozialpsychologie. Köln, 2004. Jg. 56.HI
Miller ZL The Death of the City // The Social Sciences Go to Washington: The Politics of Knowledge in the Postmodern Age / Ed. by H. Cravens. New Brunswick (L.), 2004. P. 181–213.
Smith MB Selfhood at Risk: Postmodern Perils and the Perils of Postmodernism // American Psychologist. 1994. Vol. 49.No. 5. P. 405–411.
Safaryan Areg Vartanovich
— postgraduate student at the Department of Sociology, Moscow University for the Humanities.
Bibliographer. description
: Safaryan, A.V. The concept of “lifestyle” in sociology [Electronic resource] // Electronic journal “Knowledge. Understanding. Skill". 2008. No. 3 - Sociology. URL: https://zpu-journal.ru/e-zpu/2008/3/Safarian/ (access date: dd.mm.yyyy).
Blue-green lifestyle: elite
The elite lifestyle is conveyed by the concept of “venerable.” This epithet indicates what exactly defines an elitist attitude and behavior. For the elite, two senses of self are important: self-respect and inner satisfaction. To those uninitiated in elitology, the category “venerable” immediately catches the eye. Indeed, as a first approximation, one might think that respectable approval is important to the elite. For the “chosen ones,” it is of great value to live according to one’s own convictions in order to maintain self-respect thanks to these principles. But it is possible that recognition and self-respect serve for the elite only as a means of achieving life satisfaction. One belief has undoubtedly become ingrained in the flesh and blood of the elite: only those who live according to their own convictions and uncompromisingly maintain self-respect can be satisfied with life.
Another concept distinguishes an elite lifestyle. First of all, behavior that meets high ethical and aesthetic criteria. An elite person seeks true quality of life not in fashionable everyday life, but in values that have stood the test of time. The elite type finds the true quality of life where the best representatives of society have reached the heights of culture. Where many generations of outstanding people have created a generally recognized high style. Therefore, the easiest way to meet a bearer of elitism is in an antique store. He is looking for a rare book that is not on the order list. He puts his favorite books in leather binding and enjoys carefully holding the rarity in his hands. In a junk shop, he looks for a cabinet or table, painted in an unattractive color, but perfect in form, so that, having eliminated traces of bad taste, he can enjoy the marvelous object. He knows the normal price for everything, but he is ready to pay a lot of money for good wine or a silk carpet. One ancient chronicler described the inhabitants of my hometown with the following words: “More to be than to appear.” A real person does not show what and how much he owns.
When I was a student, a professor of philosophy and mathematics invited me to visit. He made this rare exception for me, because even then I shared his favorite thesis: “The psyche functions according to mathematical laws.” Every time I voiced this statement, he confirmed: “Of course, because Proclus also said...” Each time followed by a long statement in Greek. I still don’t know the meaning of this expression. I don’t know, probably because I felt very subtly: I would never be able to admit to this elitist scientist that I knew only a few words in Greek. The professor belonged to a patrician family that had been represented at our university for several generations.
The park and the professor’s house were located in the most expensive part of the city: for the money that a plot of land measuring 10x10 square meters cost here, one could build a small house. The professor's simple brick house was located at the end of a poplar alley. The house was furnished with stylish furniture and hung with oil paintings, which at that time did not interest me at all. One day a professor wanted to explain to me an aesthetic principle using mathematics. He explained this principle using the example of a painting hanging over the sofa on which he usually sat. In conclusion, the professor said: “You see, Leonardo knew that beauty is a mathematical concept.” There really was an original Leonardo da Vinci hanging on the wall. “More to be than to appear” - for a representative of the elite this is something taken for granted. This man did not have a car. He walked or rode the tram. If a scientist on a tram noticed a person he liked, he went to him with the words: “My name is S...” What is your name?" The self-respect that the elite possesses eliminates the feeling of inferiority. The man has found inner peace, he is satisfied with life. This attitude turns a person into a tactful, interested observer. He is a connoisseur, and if necessary, an expert. The main thing for him is quality, true dignity. He is picky about the people he associates with. Strict in the interests that he supports. Selective in the objects with which he surrounds himself.
Self-esteem and satisfaction require quality. But it is necessary not only in aesthetic, but especially in ethical behavior. The ethical qualities characteristic of an elite person are, first of all, fairness, reliability and responsibility. It is precisely this range of responsibilities that includes the thesis: “the position obliges.”
On the contrary, people without the appropriate origin (“sine nobihtate”), that is, snobs, are pseudo-elite dudes. A snob tries to pretend to be a noble person. And he creates his high position by external means. Snobs don't always buy the best, but they always buy expensive things. Snobs don’t care whether things in themselves are good or bad; they care about a well-known brand, the name of the manufacturer of things. They would even put on the “king’s new dress” if this “nothing” had the name of a famous fashion designer on it. They hang on themselves and on the walls what is considered prestigious. The easiest way is to imitate aesthetic models. You can learn a “subtle” understanding of style in no time: just turn to an antique dealer. I learned from an American how old antique things should be. He showed me his spacious villa, describing in detail every picture, every table, every lamp. He talked about things that I, with all their merits, saw with my own eyes, but the American always ended his comments on each thing with the words “... and over 150 years old.”
A representative of the elite does not show off anything - neither his property, nor education, nor knowledge, nor titles. A snob, on the contrary, demonstrates everything possible. He is a show-off. His life principle: “More to appear than to be.” Anything is good for appearances - a car that can be rented, a title that can be bought, a title that consists of several meaningless letters. In the restaurant, he pretends that he knows good wines, while focusing on prices. He is always welcome at opening days, and this is very important to him, and the paintings do not bother him. Being present at a concert, he, of course, knows the name of the famous conductor. He is able to distinguish a Bach fugue from a Radetzky march by the volume of its sound. When talking to a snob, after just a few sentences you are amazed at how many influential and famous friends he has. In his elitist pose there is no real quality, there is an appearance of quality. Imaginary elitism (snobbery) is not self-respect, but a desire to arouse the admiration of the public.
Style and lifestyle - Two Nicks
Life style. I thought about this concept for a long time, lifestyle is too voluminous, it’s not a clothing style or an interior style. Lifetime style. What should such a comprehensive concept include? One of the definitions I found on the Internet suited me quite well. Lifestyle is a person’s way of life, his interests and opinions, how he spends his own time and money. Plus, you can also add his external image, the way he presents himself. Simply put, lifestyle is both what is outside and what is inside.
In this life, we all play certain roles: a quiet housewife tormented by fate, an office employee no less tired of life. Or a strange and incomprehensible, and maybe not understood, artist. Or a languid aristocrat, or an active wife of a millionaire. From simple to complex. It can be the other way around, depending on what is considered unbearably difficult. Everyone has their own role. But the only interesting thing is what we consider difficult. We are not interested in the nurse and the teacher, the worker and the engineer. We are only interested in those who are at an unattainable height, in the world of luxury and gloss. Those who look at us from the covers of expensive magazines. We are also interested in abnormal people, those same poor, but always creative artists in everything. They are also very interesting to read about. This is the lifestyle! - the reader will admire.
Lifestyle is very different, it can only be reduced to general formulas: for example, famous actresses and actors or singers, we will certainly be interested in what they wear, and most importantly from whom, in what events they participate, with whom they live and where, how do they relax, and of course, firstly, or is it still secondly?, their creativity. In the lives of rich people, by the way, the set of our interests is very similar, only creativity is excluded, it is replaced by the amount of money, or rather, interest in how it was earned.
Style and lifestyle of the characters.
Someone was right when he wrote that any famous person is just a character for us, the audience. And we follow his life, and the genre, the genre can be anything - from a novel to a detective story. However, there may not be one character, famous people are always nearby and our stories are full of intertwining roles and destinies, interactions and relationships between characters.
Do the characters, and in general they are real people, know what they are going to do when they gain fame? They should know, they read newspapers and watched TV before, you can see with a grin. And you can also think about why it happened that the public is not as interested in creativity as they are in the lives of actors, singers, and musicians. What's wrong here? And why does one day’s admiration for their life turn into envy, and why do all the falls and failures of these same “characters” cause the crowd to rejoice?
Lifestyle is not a stable concept. The lifestyle of a certain person is created by himself, but to a greater extent by the press and the opinion that is formed about him. You can’t follow one style and one image all your life, even drinking coffee every morning is relative constancy; the morning will come when you simply forget to drink it. But the image has been created. And this image is interesting.
I'll talk about two images. I will not rely on third-hand information. In blogs and personal diaries, everyone is free to write about themselves whatever they see fit. In his blog, a person independently creates his own image and his own style, including life.
I'll tell you about two Nicks. One is the wife of a fairly rich man. The second artist is from a godforsaken country and a godforsaken city. What do they have in common? The ability to write captivatingly and an army of fans and readers of their LiveJournal blogs. Let's call them Nika B. and Nika S.
Nika B. is the wife of a fairly rich man, even too rich for many. She lives in France, and sometimes visits Moscow. Her life, for many, could probably become simply the embodiment of an ideal and a dream. Between her and her husband they have five children. But as Nika B. noted, either in one of her interviews or on her blog: one day she realized that “I’m turning into a textbook wife on the outskirts” and was almost ready to join a similar Montecarlian community and start discussing “who will win?” how much it gives per month and how unbearably long it takes for another crocodile bag to arrive. Horror".
Deciding for herself that this was horror, she launched a vigorous activity. Fortunately, she has good inclinations, her mother was from Odessa, her father was from St. Petersburg. And Nika B. traveled between these two cities as a child. Cities with character and special culture. Here's the character, as if by choice, she also has the most interesting. And she became known to a wide community on the Internet. And not only. Nika B. began cooking and writing recipes, and turning it all into unique stories. But in her life, the main thing is not only the kitchen, there is also travel, which she also writes about in a fascinating way. There is also a photograph. Ah, these wonderful photographs of delicious dishes.
She had four husbands, the first was an artist. She attended the Higher Directing Courses in Moscow, and was the owner of a large business - an advertising agency. Started publishing a magazine. In many ways, she is an adventurer and a hooligan, this can be felt even in her manner of writing, but only recently she has been very restrained, having forgotten about her past pranks.
Nick B. is an interesting read, her style is that of home, family and friends, the smell of baking and the tide of the sea. But at the same time, with a share of her elusive, personal charm, which makes one feel that she will be a woman “with a twist” in any situation. She will bring this uniqueness to everything. And he will make the world around him interesting, not at all banal. After all, her current plot - the wife of a millionaire, in general, is terribly banal, but she herself is not banal and her vanilla - sweet stories with the smell of sea water and the sound of waves. A sort of romance novel, or its happy ending?, told in culinary recipes.
Nika S. is also a woman “with a twist”, with her energy and ability to entertain herself and those around her. Her grandfather, by the way, was Greek. Nika S. knows how to not be boring in the most ordinary things. She also changed more than one man. It's emotional and unexpected. She only draws what she likes; her art is difficult to fit into any specific framework or direction. She studied to be a geographer, but never began working in her profession. She was involved in the auto business, and then plunged headlong into creativity.
Nika S., reading her blog (fly-tree), one gets the impression that she is a very sincere person. Everything she doesn’t do, everything she doesn’t say, she invariably does from the heart: she gets angry, admires, participates in “revolutions.” Her blog is a complete mosaic from personal to social and political, but the latter is still less common, but there is still personal in everything. In both the last and the penultimate, she sometimes says out loud what many Belarusians are thinking about. And on her blog there are a lot of pictures and photographs, strange and beautiful at the same time.
If we forget about all the meanings that are put into the concept of a socialite, and leave only one - fame, albeit in narrow circles, and life, one’s own life, becoming public, plus communication with people of a certain circle, even, for example, creative ones, then Nika S. can well be called a Belarusian socialite.
Two Nicks, both of them, most likely are not wise, in the classical understanding of a wise woman, they are more hooligans and more children. And they are not at all kind. Like children, they do not know how to feel sorry and understand. They are just themselves and for themselves, and the rest of the world agrees and obligingly revolves around them. Perhaps Nika B. is more mature and therefore calmer. Nick S. is a force of nature: unpredictable and dangerous.
But this is just an opinion based on lines from their diaries.
Red-yellow lifestyle: popularity
I first realized the differences between different life styles a long time ago. Then I was in one vacation spot. One day we were sitting with a director in the market square. A famous pop singer approached us. “Robert, your film about the famous X is fantastic!” - the singer began. “You should definitely make a film about me.” “You are the last person I will undertake to make a film about,” came the frank answer. The hit master insisted: “Robert, everyone knows me. I'm popular. If you make a film about me, I will become very famous, and I want to become very famous." Neither the singer himself nor his songs were to my taste, but I was surprised by the precision with which he chose his words and his honest assessment of his image. Thanks to this singer, I started thinking: what is popular, famous, famous? And what do other social statuses and their corresponding life styles mean? Many of those who want to become popular cannot even hope that someone will have too high an opinion of them. If a waiter or barmaid calls such “unknown celebrities” by name, this is already a balm for their hearts.
But those who strive for real popularity must make great efforts. He participates in the work of some union or party because his colleagues do so. And to become even more famous, he takes on the responsibilities of a corporate treasurer, or some kind of mass work, because he must constantly be in sight. If he notices that although they greet him, many do not know him by name, then such humiliation arouses even greater zeal in him. To become president and to be called in the future “Mr. Mayer, our president” - this is how a person thirsting for popularity sees the fulfillment of his dream. He carefully reads newspapers to borrow any innovation.
If he is hailed as “our enterprising president”, he will be happy because that is the mark of a progressive person. When participating in the work of some union, party or sect, the main thing for him is development, the future, because development is at the same time an increase in his popularity. Such a person, in principle, can be considered a progressive. Moderately progressive, of course. Any other treatment would be unfair.
With some reservations, such a progressive can be considered among the elite. But this is not an expert knowledgeable in special fields, he is only an exponent (or even a translator) of popular opinions. It is enough for him to be a herald to receive applause. He participates in everything and goes everywhere where he should be known. Depending on the fun or seriousness of the moment, he always has the usual maverick jeans or a reactionary tailcoat ready. But for all occasions he has a spectacular speech ready without any content, a speech about nothing.
The hidden motivation for all these actions are two weakened feelings of self, which he wants to get rid of with the help of popularity. The first is the fear of being rejected, the fear of being lost. The second is weak self-confidence, fear of not achieving recognition. Anyone who has achieved popularity no longer feels lost; he can imagine that he has achieved recognition. But this is just an embellished fantasy. Most often, it is not truly elite individuals who strive for such a goal, but celebrities.
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American.
- Ostensible politeness . Americans don't always say directly what they don't like, especially when it comes to higher-ups. Therefore, they have a habit of deliberately losing to their boss in something in order to show respect.
- Good neighborliness . Friendship with neighbors is expressed in frequent barbecues on weekends and decorating houses for the holidays “like everyone else.” It is practiced to greet new residents, always with refreshments.
- Any work is paid . In many American families, children receive pocket money for doing feasible chores around the house - mowing the lawn, cleaning the garage. Sometimes they help a neighbor for a monetary reward.
- Freedom of movement . Moving from one state to another for work or study is quite easy for an American (not in material terms, but in moral terms). They go to Washington for a political career, and to Los Angeles for popularity. They freely make friends with neighbors and colleagues, so moving does not seem emotionally difficult to them.
- Public life . Participation in a golf club, bridge, playing Bingo, going to church on Sundays. Americans love to "huddle together."
How do you know if you're living the American way? Practicality is at the core of this lifestyle. Everything is done for a specific purpose. Family is salvation from loneliness; work is for earning money and building a career. Time is the most valuable resource, therefore everything is captured and clearly divided. Everything has its price, for some you have to pay with money, for others with principles.
Central to the American lifestyle is the belief that dreams can come true with the right amount of effort. Purposefulness, broad-mindedness, courage in making plans - this is what it means to live the American way.
Green-Yellow Lifestyle: Celebrities
The celebrity lifestyle has no external distinctive features. Their characteristic feature is a life attitude that raises them to the level they occupy on the social ladder. But we need to understand what the concept of “celebrity” means and what distinguishes it from popularity, elitism and power. I put it this way: “celebrity” occupies a place between “being powerful” and “being elitist.” And in relation to “popularity” all three states are located higher.
It is impossible to answer the question of what a celebrity is without defining the difference between the concepts of “fame” and “celebrity”. Television announcers or even popular television program hosts are famous people, but not famous. Tabloid journalism, which relies on exaggeration and falsification, can elevate any ubiquitous writer to the rank of celebrity in order to benefit from his publicity. Then, when the writer leaves his artificially constructed throne, the expense of an artificial celebrity will be justified. For real celebrities, media representatives are simply correspondents.
If you think about it, you can imagine what the Pope's lifestyle is like. There are famous artists who lead an original lifestyle, and there are other celebrities who live in ordinary surroundings. The Nobel laureate is certainly a famous person, but the Nobel laureate does not seek to transfer his private life to the pages of secular magazines. Some famous people will be brought in a black limousine, while others will arrive there on a bicycle. One may live in a palace, while the other sleeps on a cot in a laboratory. There are no obligatory external manifestations typical of the lifestyle of famous people.
What makes a person a famous person? What unites a great scientist, a great thinker, a prominent statesman, a famous artist, and a revered church leader? What can a person be famous for?
I have a friend Rolf who always hits the nail on the head, so I asked him what he meant by “famous.” He was found: “The one who opens up new dimensions is famous.” This is what applies to everyone I consider famous. These are people who, thanks to their exemplary conviction, have achieved great things in our time. Among the outstanding and famous people are Martin Luther King, Albert Einstein, Gorbachev, Picasso, Pope John XXIII. Assigning the rank of “famous” brings honor to society when this rank is assigned thoughtfully, based on real outstanding achievements of an individual.
If a celebrity label is stuck on a garrulous politician, a stuffed money bag, or a full-breasted naked movie star, then it resembles gilded tin.
Celebrities do not get their greatness in the cradle. Achieving greatness requires motivation. At first, the function of such a motive is performed by personal vanity or the desire to surpass someone. These types of celebrities often act according to teachings and even dogmas to get their way. Those in whom there is a desire to understand something and act correctly, achieve maturity through intense critical attention to reality. For such people, instead of egocentric vanity, the creation of harmony, social, scientific or artistic creativity comes to the fore.
Those whom society makes its chosen celebrity bear a multifaceted responsibility to it. Therefore, society harbors a grudge against famous people if they find themselves involved in the same intrigues as ordinary people.
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