Title:
The stratification of lifestyles. Elitism, eclecticism or omnivorousness?

Abstract:
p<>. The sociology of lifestyles is dominated by Bourdieu’s view on consumption and lifestyles. People’s tastes are seen as channeled by their position within the class structure (Bourdieu, 1979). Structural homology and habitus are the key concepts. The Distinction model establishes a systematic correspondence between the space of practices and consumptions on the one hand and the space of social positions on the other. This theoretical construct has inspired much criticism. Some postmodernist or radically individualistic arguments deny the social dimension of taste and lifestyles. The “omnivore/univore” hypothesis, which was originally proposed by Di Maggio (1987) and systematized in a seminal article by Peterson and Simkus (1992) on the musical tastes of contemporary Americans, supports the idea that the main social distinction today is a matter of cultural diversity rather than one of highbrow or lowbrow taste. The paper will deal the structural homology aspect of Bourdieu’s thesis. To what extent is it effectively possible to draw a correspondence between a space of positions and a space of lifestyles? Is the highbrow/lowbrow dimension the main principle organizing the life-styles? What kind of positions could be associated to these life-styles? Answering these questions will imply an operational definition of the two spaces and a statistical assessment of the correspondence between them. This work will be carried out from the survey entitled Permanent Survey on Living Conditions (EPVC) and conducted during 2003 about cultural and sport activities in France.