Lifestyles: A Multidisciplinary Approach 3402-10SŻPM

This second of the "flagship" lectures for the Anthropology of Contemporary Times specialization (apart from Contemporary Anthropological Theories) is intended to be an example of anthropology as "the art of prowling the borderlands" in relation to three key concepts: CULTURAL STYLE, STYLE IN CULTURE and LIFESTYLE.Therefore, we begin with the disciplines that first employed the concept of style: literary theory and theories in the visual arts. The module begins with an analysis of the use of these concepts in everyday life and concludes with a review of the theoretical applications of the concept of style in theoretical reflections on music, film, and other fields (including, for example, the concept of cognitive style in psychology).
The second module of the lecture is devoted to classical approaches to lifestyle and way of life, or Lebensfuhrung, in sociology and anthropology. It encompasses the theories of Alfred L. Kroeber, Thornstein Veblen, and Max Weber. We assume that, in the context of the previously discussed concepts, the classics' findings gain new theoretical contexts.
The third module of the lecture focuses on the issue of lifestyle, using the examples of research and the theories derived from it: Andrzej Tyszka (sociological analysis of social differentiation, methodology), Andrzej Siciński (urban lifestyle research, "theory on the march," methodology), Barbara Fatyga (youth lifestyles, methodology, and their contribution to the theory of living culture), Pierre Bourdieu (distinction: structural differentiation, methodology, and the richest conceptual framework). We also want to show the theoretical benefits and losses of the contemporary perspective on lifestyle research, narrowed to "consumer behavior", as well as perspectives on research on crime, sustainable development, feminism, etc.
Topics covered:
1) The concept of style and lifestyle in everyday life – analysis of linguistic usages.
Module I
Style in reflection on art
1) The origins of stylistics – Aristotle's "Rhetoric" and "Poetics."
Stylistics is a separate branch of literary theory and the oldest subdiscipline in the humanities that deals with style.
2) Theoretical stylistics in Poland and worldwide, sociolinguistics and the study of speech styles, and the study of style in discourse analysis.
3) Style, manner, taste, beauty in art theory and aesthetics.
During the lecture, we analyze selected conceptual tools used by historians, art theorists, aestheticians, and thinkers in the visual arts.
4) Style and form in the work of art in the concepts of H. Read and A. Hauser. In fact, the "great absentees" in the title of this lecture include Panofsky, Ortega y Gasset, Hartmann, and Wölflin. Reflection on style here reaches into philosophy and cultural theory, but also into very specific problems of practical analysis of visual communication.
5) Structuralist Inspirations in the Study of Style in Art – M. Porębski.
This lecture is a typical example of a "reading guide"; it aims to demonstrate how the extraordinary style of structuralist analysis of works of art can be useful to a contemporary anthropologist and/or a sociologist of culture.
6) Style in the Study of Music, Theater, and Film.
This lecture will jointly discuss concepts of style and examples of stylistic analyses of works from these artistic fields.

Module II
Classic Approaches to the Issues of Cultural Style, Style in Culture, and Lifestyle

7) Lifestyle in T. Veblen's Theory of the Leisure Class.
A complex theory, partly anachronistic ("long-headed blonds," etc.), but an excellent example of analyses combining the macro level (civilizations) and the micro level (analyses of ethnographic details – a spoon, a top hat, etc.).
8) Lifestyle, ethos, Lebensführung, and the ideal type in Weber's sociology.
His concepts of cultural style and lifestyle remain fundamental to sociological reflection to this day. We place particular emphasis on the concepts of ideal type, concubine, commensalism, and ethos – also in the thought of Weber's successors.

9) Lifestyle in the study of social status – the sociological practice of lifestyle research. Weber's reading (criticized during the lecture) gave rise to the formation of a classic model for the sociological study of lifestyles in relation to social structure.

10) Style in culture and cultural style in A. L. Kroeber's cultural theory.
This distinction applies to all three classics. Kroeber's concept of style can be analyzed within the conceptual framework of his cultural theory. The lecture proposes not only a specific reading of this theory but also its adaptation to contemporary research needs.
Module III.
Contemporary Theories and Research on Lifestyle

11) Lifestyle Research as a Form of Participation in Culture.
The theory and methodology of A. Tyszka's now-classic research. The lecture revisits the question of the differences between sociological and anthropological approaches to lifestyle.

12) Lifestyle as an Autonomous Subject of Scientific Research and Research Methodology. Using the example of what is undoubtedly the most interesting and largest research project to date in Polish social sciences, we primarily highlight the connections between theory and research practices.
13) Lifestyle as Approached by P. Bourdieu and A. Giddens.
This lecture is devoted to trends in contemporary approaches to lifestyle: the first, symbolized by Bourdieu, is based on a kind of theoretical hypertrophy, but also takes into account research methodology; the second, on theoretical regression.

14) Lifestyle in Contemporary Marketing Research, Consumption Studies, Health Studies, and Sustainable Development – ​​the theoretical foundations of this type of research are analyzed here.

15) The Conceptual System of Cultural Theory and Lifestyle.
A proposal for theoretically embedding the concept of lifestyle in a system derived from the so-called cultural studies (Wrocław) school of cultural theory. I also attempt to demonstrate how this approach can be used (after operationalization) in research.