Working paper by Gunn Elisabeth Birkelund & Yannick Lemel, Lifestyles and Social Stratification: An Explorative Study of France and Norway, FMSH-WP-2013-48, GeWoP-3, octobre 2013.

The authors

Gunn Elisabet Birkelund is Professor in sociology at ISS University of Oslo. Her research interests are in social stratification and labour market studies. She was Director for Advanced Programme in Labour Studies, at the Faculty of Social Science, University of Oslo, 2006-2007.

Yannick Lemel is INSEE Inspecteur Général Honoraire. He was director of the CREST’s laboratory of Quantitative Sociology from 1993 to 2008. He was Director of: the INSEE’s Parisian Economic Observatory from 1988 to 1993. He is a researcher associated with GEMASS. His research interests are in social stratification and the sociology of inequalities.

The text

An earlier version of this paper was presented at a meeting of The ISA’s Research Committee on Social Stratification and Mobility, Yale University, 2009, at the SOCCULT seminar, Centre Maurice Halbwachs, 2009. We thank participants at these meetings for valuable comments. This version was first published by the GEMASS in February 2012 as GeWop-3. A version of this article was published in Gunn Elisabeth Birkelund (ed.), Class and Stratification Analysis (Comparative Social Research, Volume 30), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, p.189-220.

This paper is published by the Groupe d’étude des méthodes de l’Analyse sociologique de la Sorbonne (GEMASS – CNRS, Paris Sorbonne, FMSH) in Paris, under the cover of the Fondation Maison des sciences de l’homme’s collection of working papers.

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Abstract

Comparing France and Norway we will take a new approach to the discussion on lifestyles and social stratification. Instead of anchoring our definition of social stratification in predefined concepts, such as social class or status, we will empirically explore the latent patterns of social stratification and lifestyles. Our strategy allows us to investigate if social stratification is best measured by one, two or more dimensions; and then to map associated patterns of lifestyles onto this/these dimension(s).

As indicators of social stratification we use education, household income and occupational status, and to measure lifestyles we use data from two surveys on lifestyles and cultural consumption (Media og kulturforbruksundersøkelsen 2004, Norway and module Pratiques culturelles et sportives, Enquête Permanente sur les Conditions de Vie 2003, France). We limit our analysis to occupationally active respondents, 20-64 years of age.

We would expect our findings to differ somewhat between the two countries, but given that social stratification is a pervasive element of all modern societies, we would also expect to find common empirical patterns that may be of relevance to the way we conceptualize lifestyles and social stratification.

Keywords

social stratification, France, Norway, cultural consumption, social spaces

Styles de vie et stratification sociale. Une étude exploratoire de la France et de la Norvège

Résumé

En comparant la France et la Norvège, nous adopterons une nouvelle approche en matière d’étude des modes de vie et de la stratification sociale. Au lieu d’ancrer notre approche dans des concepts prédéfinis, classe sociale ou statut, nous adopterons une démarche empirique. Nous examinerons d’abord la dimensionnalité des espaces sociaux, nous permettant de décider si la structure sociale est mieux représentée par une, deux ou plusieurs dimensions. Nous cartographierons ensuite les modes de vie sur cette / ces dimension(s).

Comme indicateurs de position dans le système de stratification sociale, nous utilisons l’éducation, le revenu du ménage et le statut professionnel. Pour étudier les modes de vie, nous utilisons les données de deux enquêtes sur les « modes de vie et de consommation culturelle « (Media og kulturforbruksundersøkelsen) 2004 enNorvège et le module « Pratiques culturelles et sportives », Enquête Permanente sur les conditions de Vie 2003, pour la France. Nous limitons notre analyse aux personnes actives, de 20 à 64 ans.

Nous nous attendons à ce que nos résultats diffèrent quelque peu entre les deux pays, mais étant donné que la stratification sociale est un élément omniprésent de toutes les sociétés modernes, nous nous attendons aussi à trouver un modèle commun qui pourrait être pertinent pour conceptualiser les modes de vie et de la stratification sociale.

Mots-clefs

stratification sociale, France, Norvège, espaces sociaux, consommation culturelle

Content

Introduction

Social stratification
Lifestyles
Why compare France and Norway?
A two-fold explorative design

Some theoretical points

The dimensions of social stratification
Cultural activities & lifestyles
Cultural niches

Data and methods

Surveys
Variables
Methods

Social stratification – France and Norway compared

Lifestyles – France and Norway compared

France
Norway
Comparing the full set analysis with the reduced set in Norway
Comparing lifestyle clusters – France and Norway

Mapping lifestyle clusters onto Social Structure

Conclusion

References

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