The term “lifestyle” is used to describe a set of habits, beliefs, and values that determines how an individual or group of individuals live. It is often associated with social status, wealth, and cultural context. A person’s lifestyle can be influenced by their social and economic background, their health, and the nature of their environment. People can also adopt a specific lifestyle to meet their own needs or desires, for example, by spending time with family or friends or by eating a healthy diet. People can also change their lifestyle to meet the demands of others, such as by pursuing a glamorous image or buying designer products.
The concept of lifestyle has mainly been studied from two perspectives, the first being sociological and the second psychological. A sociological perspective has focused on the analysis of the structure of society and of the position of individuals inside it. Thorstein Veblen opened this approach with his concept of emulation, which asserts that people follow specific schemes of life and in particular specific patterns of conspicuous consumption in order to differentiate themselves from the social strata they consider inferior and to try to emulate the ones they identify as superior. The following analyses have continued in this direction: Georg Simmel, with his theory of the field, identifies processes of identification, differentiation, and recognition as fundamental to lifestyle; and Pierre Bourdieu, with his concept of the habitus, renews this perspective with his assertion that social practices are the result of the encounter between internal causes (beliefs, attitudes, and expectations) and external causes (the structure of the field and the rules of appropriation that define it).
From a psychological point of view, the concept of lifestyle has been analysed on the level of thought or action. It has been compared with personality traits or the unique psychic imprint that characterises each individual, and it has been linked to the need for a compromise between individual needs and social demands (as shown by the concept of hedonistic living).
In the recent years, the idea of a lifestyle has been explored from a salutogenic perspective. It has been repositioned as the way in which an individual tries to maximise their potential for healthy behaviours and minimise unhealthy behaviours. This has led to the development of theories and research that link lifestyle with a range of biological, psycho-social, and environmental variables. Nevertheless, the current definition of lifestyle still restricts itself to the behavioural component and neglects the other dimensions. This article explores a possible new definition of lifestyle, one that combines the behavioural, identity, and life span dimensions.