The paper comprises a literature review on the occurrences of lifestyle in literature, on samples of academic publications. The importance of work-personal life balance increased in the last 20 years and this can be seen especially in the changing role of lifestyle. So we find it natural that lifestyle is a topic highly debated in literature. Still, given the all-roundness of the concept, some frequency disparities appear. The first results show that only few articles refer to lifestyle in Europe, analyzed from the point of view of social sciences. The remaining majority discusses lifestyle from life sciences perspectives, with a particular focus on health acceptations of the concept.family studies, lifestyle, marketing, sociology

Mihaela-Cornelia DAN

Simona VASILACHE

English

Research Papers in Economics

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Abstract. The paper comprises a 
literature review on the 
occurrences of lifestyle in litera-
ture, on samples of academic 
publications. The importance of 
work-personal life balance 
increased in the last 20 years and 
this can be seen especially in the 
changing role of lifestyle. So we 
find it natural that lifestyle is a 
topic highly debated in literature. 
Still, given the all-roundness of 
the concept, some frequency 
disparities appear. The first 
results show that only few articles 
refer to lifestyle in Europe, 
analyzed from the point of view of 
social sciences. The remaining 
majority discusses lifestyle from 
life sciences perspectives, with a 
particular focus on health 
acceptations of the concept. 
 
Keywords:  family studies, 
lifestyle, marketing, sociology 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
RECENT TRENDS IN LIFESTYLE 
RESEARCH: A LITERATURE 
REVIEW PERSPECTIVE 
 
 
 
Mihaela-Cornelia DAN 
Academy of Economic Studies of Bucharest, 
Piata Romana, nr. 6, Bucuresti, Romania 
e-mail: mihaela.dan@fabiz.ase.ro 
 
Simona VASILACHE 
Academy of Economic Studies of Bucharest, 
Piata Romana, nr. 6, Bucuresti, Romania 
e-mail: simona.vasilache@gmail.com 
 
 
 
 
Management & Marketing  
Challenges for Knowledge Society 
(2010) Vol. 5, No. 4, pp. 111-120 
 
 Management & Marketing 
 
112
1.  Introduction 
 
The symbolic threshold of 2000 reshaped the attitudes people held towards 
work-life balance (Duxbury, Dyke and Lam, 2000), making them wish of quality time 
outside work, as the Workforce 2000 report of the Hudson Institute prophesised. 
Moreover, changes in socio-demographics, like the incremental number of lone-parent 
households (Duxbury and Higgins, 2001), contributed to the lifestyle transitions which 
became manifest in the late ’90s. A growing sensation of insecurity (Lowe, 2000), 
giving raise to the “safety utopia” (Boutellier, 2004), as well as an increasing need for 
a convenient life, for satisfaction, in a world where money earning conflicts with time 
consumption, dominate the new, emerging, lifestyle pattern. This ego-specific (Funk, 
2006) lifestyle suits the individuals who exhibit a strong desire for freedom being, at 
the same time, prone to affiliation (Rifkin, 2000). In the particular case of Europe 
(which undergoes a process of gradual expansion), lifestyle changes, related to 
migration (Jolly and Reeves, 2005), and fluctuating life standards, within a short 
period, add to macroscopic lifestyle transformations.  
 
2. Methodology 
 
Under these conditions, we find it natural that lifestyle is a topic highly 
debated in literature. Still, given the all-roundness of the concept, some frequency 
disparities appear. The SCOPUS database includes 32,539 research articles on 
lifestyle, published between 1
st of January 2000, and 31
st of December 2007. But only 
158 articles – approximately 0.48% – out of these refer to lifestyle in Europe, analyzed 
from the point of view of social sciences. The remaining majority discusses lifestyle 
from life sciences perspectives, with a particular focus on health acceptations of the 
concept, as a dietary parameter, and a means to assess health risks (Stürmer, 
Hasselback and Anelang, 2006; Manheim, 2007). 
Starting from this finding, we analyzed the articles on lifestyle contained in 
seven major research databases (EBSCO, Emerald Management Extra, Oxford 
Journals Online, PROQUEST, Sage Journals Online, SCOPUS, SpringerLink), in the 
aforementioned period, 1
st of January 2000 and 31
st of December 2007, after having 
excluded the repeated results. The relative frequency of the articles discussing, socio-
economically, lifestyle in Europe is: 
  4.27% for Oxford Journals Online 
  11.66% for PROQUEST 
  12% for Springerlink 
  24% for Sage Journals Online 
  25.1% for EBSCO 
  27.76% for Emerald Management Extra.  
  Recent trends in lifestyle research: a literature review perspective 
 
113
Based on these data, which reveal that examination of the European lifestyle 
from a social perspective forms less than one third – in the most socially specialized 
databases – of the total research papers dedicated to the topic, we set, from the 2010 
publications included in the Social Sciences Citation Index, a main group of seventeen 
journals, and a control group of three journals, publishing in English, French and 
German. The main group includes leading journals in the fields of sociology and 
marketing, while the control group includes journals which were thought to be more 
specialized on behavioural, lifestyle aspects, in order for us to be able to contrast the 
general trends with the specific ones.  
We examined exclusively research articles, leaving apart reviews, comments, 
viewpoints. The two groups of journals analysed are presented in Table 1.  
Table 1 
 
Main and Control Group of Journals Included in the Analysis 
 
Main Group  Control Group 
Acta Sociologica  Ageing & Society  
Archives Européennes de Sociologie  European Journal of Marketing 
Berliner Journal für Soziologie  Family Relations 
Current Sociology   
Economy and Society   
European Sociological Review   
International Journal of Social Welfare   
Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour   
Journal of Consumer Research   
Journal of Leisure Research   
Journal of Marketing   
Journal of Social and Personal Relationships   
Journal of Sociology   
Marketing Science   
Population and Environment   
Psychology and Marketing   
Sociological Perspectives   
 
The conceptual map of the research areas and topics which are, very probably 
– to our previous knowledge – reflected in literature is illustrated by Table 2.  
 
Table 2 
Current research agenda 
 
Research Areas  Research Themes 
Citizenship 
Constitution 
Country characteristics 
Norms  
State, citizenship and institutions 
Social system Management & Marketing 
 
114
Research Areas  Research Themes 
Demographic shifts 
Globalization 
Glocalization 
Immigration 
Localization 
Overpopulation 
Retirement migration 
Migration 
Transitional migration 
Culture 
Ethnicity 
Individualization  
Self-awareness 
Self-esteem 
Social differentiation 
Terrorism 
Identity and difference 
Violence 
Cross-countries comparisons 
Between gender comparisons 
Intergenerational comparisons 
Comparative studies 
Urban-rural comparisons 
Adoption  
Brotherhood  
Community  
Dating patterns 
Decline in fertility rate  
Division of household labour  
Dual career couples  
Empty/ Full-nest  
Family 
Friendship 
Grandparenthood  
Involvement  
Low income families  
Marriage 
Neighbours  
Parenthood 
Parents-children relationships 
Personal social network 
Social minorities 
Solidarity 
Widowhood 
Groups and society 
Working mothers 
Alcohol consumption   Individual and collective values, 
attitudes, beliefs, perceptions  Age roles  Recent trends in lifestyle research: a literature review perspective 
 
115
Research Areas  Research Themes 
Feminine ideal  
Gift giving  
Modes of thought  
Money meaning  
Music/ movie choice  
Playing sports 
Time value 
Vegetarianism 
Advertising 
Career  
Convenience  
Customer goods  
Customer orientation  
Earning  
Education  
Employment/ unemployment  
Gambling 
Homeless 
Inequality 
Loneliness 
Ownership 
Poverty 
Shopping 
Welfare and consumer behaviour 
Work-life balance 
Adolescents 
Ageing 
Agelessness  
Children 
Intergenerational conflicts and influences 
Long-term marriage 
Age labour market 
Social disability 
Early retirement 
 
 
Ageing and generations 
 
 
 
Ageing and generations 
Care giving 
Future of the society  IT age 
Methodological aspects  Conceptual tools 
 
Using content analysis software, we determined the frequencies of lifestyle 
topics, grouped on journals, years, research areas and research themes.  
 
 
 
 
 Management & Marketing 
 
116
3. Results  
 
After having examined the chosen groups of journals, a content hierarchy 
resulted, in both the main and the control sample. The ranking of journals in the main 
and control groups, according to the frequency of articles discussing lifestyle from a 
European, socio-economic perspective, is presented in Table 3: 
 
Table 3 
The Ranking of the Analyzed Journals 
 
Journal  # of 
articles  % of articles 
Current Sociology  29  13.67 
Psychology and Marketing   25  11.79 
Journal of Marketing   24  11.32 
Archives Européennes de Sociologie   21  9.9 
International Journal of Social Welfare   18 8.49 
Acta Sociologica   16  7.54 
Population and Environment  16  7.54 
European Sociological Review   12  5.66 
Berliner Journal für Soziologie   11  5.18 
Journal of Sociology   11  5.18 
Journal of Consumer Research   8  3.77 
Sociological Perspectives   7  3.3 
Economy and Society   6  2.83 
Journal for the Theory of Social 
Behaviour 
 3  1.41 
Marketing Science   3  1.41 
Journal of Social and Personal 
Relationships 
 2  0.94 
Journal of Leisure Research   0  - 
Main group 
Total       212  100 
Ageing & Society  64  45.71 
European Journal of Marketing  45  32.14 
Family Relations  31  22.14 
Control 
group 
Total       140  100 
 
The ranking of the first ten main research themes that we identified in the 
analysed sample of main group journals is presented in Table 4:  
 
 
 
 
 
  Recent trends in lifestyle research: a literature review perspective 
 
117
Table 4 
First Ten Research Themes in the Main Group 
 
Research Themes  # of articles  % of articles 
Costumer orientation   12  5.66 
Ethnicity 8  3.77 
Community   5  2.35 
Unemployment   5  2.35 
Family   4  1.88 
Poverty 4  1.88 
Shopping 4  1.88 
Age 3  1.41 
Gender 3  1.41 
Friendship 3  1.41 
 
It can be seen from here that, due to the large number of identified themes and 
to the multivariate perspective of approaching lifestyle, the thematic clusters are quite 
narrow in scope, as far as the main group of journals is concerned. Still, the prevalence 
of costumer orientation is visible, certifying the connection which is made, in 
literature, between lifestyle and marketing tools.  
The corresponding leading ten research themes identified in the journals 
belonging to our control group are presented in Table 5: 
 
Table 5 
First Ten Research Themes in the Control Group 
 
Research Themes  # of articles  % of articles 
Costumer orientation   11  7.85 
Family   10  7.14 
Age 9  6.42 
Advertising   4  2.85 
Globalization 3  2.14 
Poverty 3  2.14 
Ethnicity 2  1.42 
Friendship 2  1.42 
Neighbours 2  1.42 
Religion 2  1.42 
 
In the control group the clusters are, again, narrow. Their ranking may account 
for the main directions in defining and theorizing lifestyle. The prevalence of the 
marketing perspective is maintained in the control group as well, like in the main Management & Marketing 
 
118
group. With some exceptions, the proportion of the themes is similar, between the two 
groups. In the control group, the second position is held by family, and the third by 
age, illustrating the tendency which exists in literature to tie lifestyle, on the one hand, 
to social groups and, on the other, to generational groups. In order words, lifestyle is 
thought to vary following a relational and a time pattern.  
The frequency distribution of the articles, both main group and control group, 
by year of publication, is presented in Figure 1: 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Figure 1. Frequency distribution by year 
 
  The chart shows that the interest for lifestyle, in literature, exhibits a peak 
in 2002 (if we think at the regular academic journals metabolism, the articles 
published in 2002 seized the transformations which began to take place in 2000), then 
a regression, between 2003 and 2005, followed by a growth tendency, starting with 
2006. The interest in lifestyle being consistent with the interest in fashion, advertising, 
etc. it is expectable that its evolution has seasonal ups and downs, following the major 
trends of the considered year.  
  According to the research methods used in the articles, the distribution, 
comparatively, in the main and control groups, is presented in Figure 2: 
 
 
 
 
  Recent trends in lifestyle research: a literature review perspective 
 
119
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Figure 2. Research methods distribution 
 
Articles in the journals forming the control group are less empirical and 
statistical then the ones in the control group, which may be explained by the tie 
existing, especially in the control group, between lifestyle and marketing. If lifestyle 
data are to be used in market research, then the articles’ orientation towards 
quantitative techniques is a normal consequence.  
  
 4.  Conclusions 
 
  Between January 2000 and December 2007, lifestyle issues were debated in 
352 articles, considered in our literature review. Out of these, 212 were found in a 
group of general sociology and marketing journals, which we designated as the main 
group, and 140 in a group of more specialized journals, which we designated as the 
control group. The pattern of distribution over years shows that the interest in lifestyle 
reached a peak value in 2002, when published literature actually reflected the matters 
which were in focus in 2000, and that the interest in this topic is currently growing. 
The mapping of the topics of interest shows a relative homogeneity between the main 
and the control group, with customer orientation in the leading position, echoed by 
sub-related topics as shopping and advertising, which certifies the influence of 
lifestyle studies on marketing studies. Another stream of research refers to family 
studies, regarding family as the closest social group which may shape a person’s way 
of living. Next, lifestyle is related to generations, to ageing patterns, which may affect Management & Marketing 
 
120
it not only in terms of health capital, “hygiene” (eating, sleeping, etc.) behaviour, but 
also as far as changes in the social roles are involved. These are to be explored more in 
detail in a further research.  
 
 Acknowledgements 
  We would like to acknowledge the support received from UEFISCSU 
ROMANIA through PNII research projects ID_1774/ 2008, ID_1812/2008, and 
PD_642/2010. 
 
References 
 
Boutellier, H. (2004) The Safety Utopia: Contemporary Discontent and Desire as to Crime and 
Punishment, Dordrecht, Kluwer Academic Publisher 
Duxbury, L., Dyke, L., Lam, N. (2000) Managing High Technology Employees. Scarborough, 
ON: Carswell Publishing 
Duxbury, L., Higgins, C. (2001) Work-life balance in the new millennium: A status report. 
www.cprn.ca/7314_en.pdf, accessed 14 June 2010 
Funk, R. (2006) The Psychodynamics of the Postmodern I-am-me Orientation, Fromm Forum 
(English Edition), Tübingen, Selbstverlag 
Jolly, S., Reeves, H. (2005) Gender and Migration: Overview Report,  Bridge, Institute for 
Development Studies, University of Sussex 
Lowe, G. (2000) The Quality of Work: A People Centred Agenda. Oxford University Press 
Rifkin, J. (2000) The Age of Access. How the Shift from Ownership to Access is Transforming 
Modern Life. London, Penguin 
 

The Psychodynamics of the Postmodern I-am-me Orientation, Fromm Forum (English Edition),

The Safety Utopia: Contemporary Discontent and Desire as to Crime and Punishment,

RECENT TRENDS IN LIFESTYLE RESEARCH - A LITERATURE REVIEW PERSPECTIVE

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