Lifestyles

A change in the way humans relate to nature could be the starting point for a new politics, which will also affect relations among humans. A new approach would help to radically transform the production system, not because it is unjust in the usually considered social terms, but because it endangers nature and humanity.
So far, the citizens’ grassroots organizations have failed to win broad consensus and political power in the representative institutions. When the time comes to transform the single environmental issue into an electoral platform, environmentalists lose unity and effectiveness since they lack a common political vision and an ensuing strategy. On the other hand European politics is rapidly transforming because the challenge brought by so-called populist movements.
We need to transform activists’ shared emotions and attitudes into political ideologies and platforms. Moreover, a new educational process and a new science politics are necessary to reform environmental policy.

Omniprésente dans les politiques publiques et les discours relatifs à l’énergie, la notion de transition énergétique a encore été assez peu problématisée par les sciences sociales. Dans la lignée des travaux récents consacrés en majorité à des cas européens, cet article propose une analyse originale portant sur la question du changement des comportements et des modes de vie dans la transition énergétique au Japon. L’archipel constitue un terrain d’étude fécond parce que la notion de transition y a suscité des traductions variées et des interprétations concurrentes depuis l’accident de Fukushima de mars 2011, mais aussi parce que la trajectoire japonaise partage de nombreux points communs avec celles de l’Allemagne et de la France notamment. En outre, comme dans bien d’autres pays, si la nécessité de changer les comportements et les modes de vie fait consensus, les conceptions de ce changement sont largement différentes selon les acteurs. Après avoir examiné les divergences en la matière, cet article montre que la transition énergétique conduite par l’État japonais se caractérise par un fort tropisme technologique, et par une vision peu ambitieuse du changement des comportements et des modes de vie. Par contraste avec les solutions de remplacement proposées par d’autres acteurs, le projet étatique se limite en effet à la réalisation d’économies d’énergie, à l’achat d’appareils efficients et d’autres dispositifs techniques, et à la participation des usagers à la gestion de l’énergie dans le cadre des réseaux électriques intelligents. En faisant l’impasse sur des changements plus ambitieux, ce choix repousse l’adoption de modes de vie plus sobres, perpétue de nombreuses pratiques énergivores et rend l’avenir du climat extrêmement dépendant des progrès technologiques.

Mots-clés : transition énergétique, politiques publiques, modes de vie, comportements, technologie, Japon

The notion of energy transition, which is omnipresent in public policy and discourse related to energy, has not been vastly analysed critically by social scientists yet. Following recent studies mostly focused on European cases, this paper provides an original contribution by examining the issue of behaviour and lifestyle change in Japan's energy transition. Japan is a fruitful case given that the notion of transition has been translated in various ways and has conveyed different meanings since the mars 2011 Fukushima accident, but also because Japan's energy transition shares many similarities with France and Germany. In addition, as in many other countries, while the necessity of changing behaviours and lifestyles enjoys a wide consensus, the conceptualization of the required changed significantly differs from one actor to another. After having examined these differences, this paper shows that Japan's energy transition is characterized by a strong technological focus and by an unambitious vision of behaviour and lifestyle change. By sharp contrast with alternatives preconised by other actors, the Japanese government limits its scope at promoting energy saving behaviours, purchasing of efficient appliances and other equipment, and inviting the public to participate to the energy management within the smart grids. By discarding more ambitious changes, this choice postpones the emergence and dissemination of low energy intensive lifestyles, perpetuates numerous energy intensive practices and makes climate change mitigation highly dependent on technological innovation.

Keywords: energy, transition, public policy, lifestyles, behaviours, technology, Japan

This study investigates the factors involved in changing a family's financial situation for 485 Midwestern households. High income families and those with high home equity levels have a smaller gap between their standards and levels of consumption. High income families are more satisfied with their financial situations than low income families. Those families with a large gap between their standards and levels of consumption are more dissatisfied with their fmancial situations. Older heads of households have higher satisfaction with their financial situations and are less likely to plan to change them. Large families are less satisfied with their financial situations than small families and are more likely to plan to change them.

Despite decades of research on the dark side of the web and more than a decade of inquiry specifically on the phenomenon of cyberstalking, researchers have yet to find a theoretical scheme that can sufficiently account for this type of online victimization. The paper at hand reports on an ongoing research project that tests the extent to which the core concepts and analytic framework of a traditional etiology of crime and victimization could be transposed to online (or virtual) settings. More specifically, our work examines whether a modified version of lifestyle/routine activities theory is able to explain stalking victimization on the World Wide Web. Lifestyle/routine activities theory argues that individuals who lead lifestyles (or have routine activities) that are characterized by four key factors are more susceptible to victimization than individuals who do not lead such lifestyles. These four factors include a lifestyle or routines that: 1) place individuals in close physical ...

Status of women health is affected by multifaceted social, biological and cultural factors. These are interrelated and only be addressed in a comprehensive way. Quality and availability of health is determined not only by reproductive health and care, but also by levels of socio-economic development, women's position in society and the lifestyle. Health of women is compromised not only by the lack of medical knowledge, but also by breach in women's human rights including the reproductive health rights. Poor women, lacking basic health care, adequate food, or advanced contraception, suffer severe magnitudes for reproductive health. Woman who is undernourished and is in poor health runs greater risks in reproductive health issues and usually suffers without proper treatment and dies in most of cases.

One thing certainly alarming that goes away growing exponentially is that children eat too much and hurt. The figure, for about 10 years, is that 15 boys out of 100, in a critical age such as that between 6 and 14 years are obese and, unfortunately, it is not simple overweight: In some cases, we are faced to frankly obese children and 30% of obese children already suffer from diseases that once struck only adults such as hypertension and high cholesterol. Children and adolescents, therefore, should not be left free to eat as much as they want and they may run into errors harmful to their health in the future, therefore, is very important in the case of childhood obesity, the role played by the parents in education and in eating habits, by acquiring the child, their own conscience about what is good or bad for his health, learning to distinguish correct behavior in terms of power. Surely it is difficult to love fruits and vegetables to children, get them to dispense sweets and fats, encourage them to appreciate the variety of foods and get used to not exceed in amount, but it is a necessary effort to teach them not to compromise their health. The purpose of the information campaigns of the Ministry of health in schools for pupils is this: without obsessing and without penalizing or punishing the throat, you have to help them figure out what is best to eat and direct them towards a healthy and balanced relationship with food, making understand their respect for one's body.

F. W. Taylor is often celebrated as a founding father of organization and management theory, one whose commitment to efficiency is legendary. If we define efficiency in terms of maximizing output from a given – or lesser – number of workers it can be considered that, in some cases, Taylor’s science has achieved a remarkable success. Contemporary organizations managed to create such a state of commitment (be it spontaneous or imposed), that people have adopted excessive working as lifestyle. Life is organized around work, with work occupying more and more territory from the former private life. We discuss the notion of excessive working, present several forms of excessive working, contest the idea that excessive working is necessarily noxious, suggest a dynamic understanding of the different forms of excessive working, and challenge researchers critically to discuss their practical success. As the saying goes,

El presente artículo constituye un análisis de los discursos de los publicistas chilenos, centrándose en dos aspectos claves que permiten caracterizar la publicidad como un proceso de mediación cultural de carácter performativo: 1) la identificación por parte de los publicistas de sistemas de enclasamiento para clasificar prácticas y discursos en torno a estereotipos, y 2) la legitimización de estilos de vida propios de la clase dominante para así propiciar la reproducción de determinados gustos y disposiciones que configuran habitus. Respecto a esto último, se plantea que la aspiracionalidad constituye para los publicistas la fórmula generadora del habitus en Chile, precepto sobre el cual se conduce el diseño de estrategias comunicacionales en torno a la producción y circulación del deseo, problematizado aquí como una nueva forma de capital en el marco de la actual economía de mercado.


This article constitutes an analysis of Chilean advertisers’ discourses, focusing on two key aspects that allow characterizing advertising as a performative cultural mediation process: 1) the identification of class systems to classify practices and discourses around stereotypes, and 2) the legitimization of lifestyles corresponding to the ruling class to promote the reproduction of certain tastes and dispositions that configure habitus. Regarding this, it is posed that ‘aspirationality’ constitutes for advertisers the generative formula of habitus in Chile, precept from which the design of communicational strategies is conducted around the production and circulation of desire, problematized as a new form of capital in the framework of the current market economy.

'Shades of Tondo' gives a lens to Tondo's geographic situations and the lives of Tondo people residing there. It is a collection of two essays thus constitutes 'Landscapes and Lives of the Filipinos Below' and 'House Under the Crescent Moon.' The former mainly talks about Tondo poverty within the borders of the place and of how the people live their lives—all go together. The latter mainly sees the silver lining out of the former. Technically, this is a written speech intended to persuade the audience to visit Tondo. The two writings consider 'poverty' and 'silver lining' as central themes.

Status of women health is affected by multifaceted social, biological and cultural factors. These are interrelated and only be addressed in a comprehensive way. Quality and availability of health is determined not only by reproductive health and care, but also by levels of socio-economic development, women's position in society and the lifestyle. Health of women is compromised not only by the lack of medical knowledge, but also by breach in women's human rights including the reproductive health rights. Poor women, lacking basic health care, adequate food, or advanced contraception, suffer severe magnitudes for reproductive health. Woman who is undernourished and is in poor health runs greater risks in reproductive health issues and usually suffers without proper treatment and dies in most of cases.

A vast internal heterogeneity characterizes the classic category of middle class. Under a single label coexist individuals and families with very different income levels, lifestyles and political ideas. Within the middle class, salaried and non-salaried workers, people with skills acquired in the formal education system and other self-taught, public and private sector workers are brought together. Professionals, merchants, accountants, office workers, managers and teachers are unified in only one denomination. This empirical diversity may seem a hindrance; but as Raymond Aron suggested, many current historiographical and ethnographic investigations insist that this should be the starting point.Fil: Visacovsky, Sergio Eduardo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. Centro de Investigaciones Sociales. Instituto de Desarrollo Económico y Social. Centro de Investigaciones Sociales; Argentin

Despite decades of gender-balanced recruitment and clear-cut criteria for promotion based on meritocracy, women in public accounting firms remain proportionally fewer in number in the highest levels of the hierarchy than men. This paper aims to explore the mechanisms fostering women’s rarity in top positions within French accounting firms in terms of organizationally constructed approved paths. Drawing on 21 semi-structured interviews with both male and female accountants, the specificities of these approved paths, alongside the construction of alternative, feminised routes, lacking the legitimacy of the former and often implying a derailment of women’s careers from a very early stage, will be explored. It is suggested that more than a matter of only lifestyle preferences or practical constraints, this rarity is constructed by the interplay between the two, often resulting in “unintended and unwanted consequences, which retroactively may become unacknowledged conditions of future ac...

Since the 1970s, fitness has developed as a cultural field—a network of producers, consumers, products and practices that focuses on the exercising body. This article considers the textual aspect of the U.S. fitness field, drawing from a content analysis of several U.S. exercise manuals from the late 1970s to late 1990s. The content of exercise manuals sheds light on the broader tastes and attitudes of fitness consumers, who are chiefly middle and new middle class men and women. In particular, the article addresses three recurrent themes or „lessons ‟ regarding the fitness consumer and his or her attitude towards the body: as an object of consumption, as a source of calculable rewards, and as a motivational problem. Key words

The study assessed the role employee shared factors play in the practice of Management in the gulf cooperation council countries. It adopted a descriptive research design. A pilot study of 25 Managers who had worked in several of these countries but currently working in the United Arab Emirates was conducted. Its sample was 150 individuals in different cities of the United Arab Emirates, working for different organizations. A semi structured questionnaire was used. Demographic profiles were analyzed using descriptive statistics. For further analysis of the data, meaning was inferred by ascertaining the relationships of the variables of the study through correlation and regression analysis. The findings affirmed that employee shared factors affect the practice of management. The study took 90 days to be completed.

The (almost) universal extension of capitalist production and distribution processes has spread the “culture of consumption” to virtually every corner of the globe. This chapter discusses the relationship between spaces of consumption—shopping malls in particular—and the processes of identity construction. It begins with a brief review of the first works to examine consumption and its spaces without viewing them as neutral backgrounds where the distribution of goods would take place, but rather as physical and symbolic spaces in their own right. Further on, recent approaches that have been most influenced by symbolic interactionism are also analyzed. These perspectives, by putting the actor’s point of view and their concrete daily practices at the center of research, understood the processes of identity negotiation and the practice of shopping as an ordinary, contextual, and situated activity.

The aim of this study is to compare the results of a survey carried out on a sample of mothers and fathers about the knowledge and personal attitudes towards their own oral health and in terms of attention to that of their children. Mutual analogy and cognitive and behavioral differences between parents have been evaluated; in particular as the early assumption of a healthy lifestyle can influence the proper development of their children. This survey was conducted using a paper questionnaire distributed to a population of parents, men and women, in several private dental practices in Rome. The study lasted about three months. The results obtained from this study show that values obtained by mothers and fathers are essentially equivalent, there are no statistically significant differences (p> 0.05). This study has shown that there are no significant thinking and behavioral differences between parents regarding their oral hygiene and that of their children. Both parents have been s...

There is evidence that lifestyle intervention among Polynesian people can reduce diabetes incidence and complications, but this evidence has not been systematically reviewed. The aim of this study was to systematically review the efficacy of lifestyle interventions, targeting the prevention and management of type 2 diabetes among Polynesian people. MEDLINE, Web of Science, Cochrane Library, and Embase were searched to find randomised controlled trials (RCTs) and pre-post studies. Eight studies (four RCTs and four pre-post studies) with 1590 participants met the inclusion criteria. The data on health outcomes that was reported in these studies included blood pressure, body mass index, waist circumference, weight, and glycated haemoglobin (HbA1c). The meta-analyses showed that the interventions had resulted in statistically significant reductions in systolic blood pressure (SBP) across four of the studies (WMD, −9.93 mmHg; 95% Cl, −10.77 to −9.09; and < 0.00001). ...

Social participation plays a key role in predicting positive youth development (PYD). As a previous step of this link, this research examined how children and adolescents' relational lifestyles influenced their participation in political and civic activities. This research provides a multi-dimensional approach to the study of children's' social participation, based on six children's lifestyles factors (i.e. family dialogue, risky behaviours, cultural activities, civic values, family supervision, and peer group relationships). Using data from an international survey that included 6130 participants (2198 Spanish, 3932 Italian, Mage = 13.8), this study's results show that relational lifestyles (especially family dialogue, risky behaviours and out-of-school cultural activities) are positively related to political and civic participation among children and adolescents. On the contrary, some peer group relationships decreased their social participation in those key dimensions for PYD. Limitations of the current study, implications for future policy decisions, and applications to children social programs are discussed.

The study repõrted here examines these familial strategies that develop among merchant seamen families: replacement husband/father, conflict, contingen~ authority, and periodic gues~. Data were gathered from interviews with 141 families erer a 7-year period. Results indicate that merchant seamen families use a replacement husband/father strategy if male kin are available. When kin are not available these families eventually arrive at and remain in a periodic guest strategy. A discussion of family power as it relates to the development of specific strategies is also included.

ObjetivO dO estudO: O objetivo deste estudo foi comparar indicadores do estado de saúde e estilos de vida, avaliados de igual forma nos dois últimos Inquéritos Nacionais de Saúde (INS), na população idosa. MétOdOs: Utilizaram-se dados recolhidos nos últimos dois INS, realizados em 1998/1999 e em 2005/2006. As variáveis comparadas entre os dois períodos foram: autoperceção do estado de saúde, prevalência de algumas doenças crónicas (auto-declaradas), utilização dos cuidados de saúde, tabagismo, ingestão de bebidas alcoólicas e número de refeições diárias. ResultadOs: Neste período de sete anos, observou-se um aumento da proporção de idosos que considerou que o seu estado de saúde era bom ou muito bom (10,6% vs. 13,8%). Constatou-se uma ligeira diminuição da proporção de idosos que realizou ≥3 consultas no trimestre prévio à entrevista (29,4% vs. 25,2%) e um aumento na proporção de idosos que consultou um profissional de saúde oral no último ano (29,7% vs. 34,1%). Em termos de doenças crónicas, verificou-se um aumento de 10% na prevalência de hipertensão (HT), de 3% na de diabetes mellitus (DM) e de 4% na de obesidade. No que se refere a estilos de vida, salienta-se uma diminuição de 50% na proporção de fumadores e um acréscimo de 25% nos idosos que referiam comer ≥2 vezes fora das refeições principais. COnClusãO: Ao longo de um período de sete anos, constatou-se um aumento das prevalências de HT, DM e obesidade, mas, concomitantemente, uma melhoria na autopercepção do estado de saúde da população idosa portuguesa, particularmente entre os idosos com ≥85 anos, um aspeto positivo a registar na sequência da implementação de medidas específicas nesta área.

The objective of this cross-sectional study is to analyze the changes in physical activity (PA) practice of a sample of 2099 French adults, mostly females, who answered an online questionnaire during the first COVID-19 lockdown (March–May 2020). A descriptive analysis of participants was performed using relative frequencies. Chi-squared tests were performed to compare the responses of selected variables. Multinomial logistic regressions were performed to compare the variations of PA with all the variables identified. The age of participants ranged from 18 to 88. Among people who practiced PAs before the first lockdown, the probability to keep practicing PAs is higher among those with a lower level of education, among housewives and retirees and among those who lived in cities of 10,000–19,999 inhabitants. For those who did not practice PAs before the social distancing, the probability of starting to practice is greater in those with a lower level of education and for those who suffe...

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to test the relationship between cognitive age and the adoption of defensive ageing consumption activities and its effect on life satisfaction in an Asian context. The relationship between the antecedent variables of chronological age, biological age and transitional life events and cognitive age is examined.Design/methodology/approachSurvey method. The study was conducted in Malaysia, an Asian country that is characterized as collectivistic. Data collection method used is convenience sampling method, using a sample of adults aged 40 years or older based on previous research. Measures used include cognitive age developed by Barak and Schiffman and validated by Wilkes. Life stage transitional events include a list of ten major life events that respondents experienced in the past 12 months. Biological changes are summated index of the number of biological changes (e.g. lengthy hospitalization or rehabilitation, hearing impairment) adopted from Mathu...

Social participation plays a key role in predicting positive youth development (PYD). As a previous step of this link, this research examined how children and adolescents' relational lifestyles influenced their participation in political and civic activities. This research provides a multi-dimensional approach to the study of children's' social participation, based on six children's lifestyles factors (i.e. family dialogue, risky behaviours, cultural activities, civic values, family supervision, and peer group relationships). Using data from an international survey that included 6130 participants (2198 Spanish, 3932 Italian, Mage = 13.8), this study's results show that relational lifestyles (especially family dialogue, risky behaviours and out-of-school cultural activities) are positively related to political and civic participation among children and adolescents. On the contrary, some peer group relationships decreased their social participation in those key dimensions for PYD. Limitations of the current study, implications for future policy decisions, and applications to children social programs are discussed.

Mass media consumption has increased markedly in recent years. One unintended consequence of this increase is the proliferation of risky consumption, including online and offline pornography. Although the literature has noted a series of predictive variables (age, gender, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and family structure), recent studies have suggested including values and lifestyles as relevant factors in consumption decisions. The objective of the present study was to examine whether adolescents’ lifestyles were relevant predictors of the consumption of pornography both on the Internet and in magazines or videos. A cross-sectional observational study design that included a representative sample of 9,942 Colombian adolescents (Mage=14.93, SD=2.47) was used. To control the effects of sociodemographic, structural, and individual variables, their lifestyles were examined using a multiple regression analysis and mediation analysis. The results indicated that a positive intrafamilia...