Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-7cvxr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-22T11:05:29.841Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The political meaning of dining out: testing the link between lifestyle and political choice in Italy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 October 2015

Nicoletta Cavazza  and
Piergiorgio Corbetta
Nicoletta Cavazza*
Affiliation:
Dipartimento di Comunicazione ed Economia, Università di Modena e Reggio Emilia, Italy
Piergiorgio Corbetta
Affiliation:
Dipartimento di Scienze dell’Educazione, Università di Bologna, Italy
*
*E-mail: [email protected]
Get access

Abstract

The debate that has arisen around the weakening of the traditional cleavages’ heuristic power in explaining vote suggests considering the role of lifestyles in designing politically meaningful social aggregates. We investigated the relationship between lifestyle and voting behavior, establishing the degree to which this relationship traces the effect of the socio-structural categories (e.g. social class) or is, at least in part, independent of them. Through a k-means clustering, we individuated a typology of four Italian lifestyles; we showed its relation to socio-demographic features and its ability to discriminate participants’ political attitudes. The subscription to each lifestyle was significantly associated with voting behavior, net of the variance accounted for by the traditional cleavages. The theoretical implication and further direction of research are discussed.

Keywords

lifestylesocial cleavagessocial classpolitical orientationvoting behavior
Type
Research Article
Information
Italian Political Science Review / Rivista Italiana di Scienza Politica , Volume 46 , Issue 1 , March 2016 , pp. 23 - 45
Copyright
© Società Italiana di Scienza Politica 2015 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Achterberg, P. (2006), ‘Class voting in the new political culture economic, cultural and environmental voting in 20 Western countries’, International Sociology 21(2): 237–261.Google Scholar
Achterberg, P., Houtman, D. and van der Waal, J. (2008), ‘Class is not dead! It has been buried alive’, Politics and Society 35(3): 403–426.Google Scholar
Andersen, R. and Heath, A. (2002), ‘Class matters: the persisting effects of contextual social class on individual voting in Britain, 1964–97’, European Sociological Review 18(2): 125–138.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Andersen, R., Yang, M. and Heath, A.F. (2006), ‘Class politics and political context in Britain, 1964–1997: have voters become more individualized?’, European Sociological Review 22(2): 215–228.Google Scholar
Anderson, W.T. and Golden, L.L. (1984), ‘Lifestyle and psychographics: a critical review and recommendation’, Advances in Consumer Research 11(1): 405–411.Google Scholar
Atkinson, W. (2007), ‘Beck, individualization and the death of class: a critique’, The British Journal of Sociology 58(3): 349–366.Google Scholar
Baines, P.R., Worcester, R.M., Jarrett, D. and Mortimore, R. (2003), ‘Market segmentation and product differentiation in political campaigns: a technical feature perspective’, Journal of Marketing Management 19(1–2): 225–249.Google Scholar
Baines, P.R., Worcester, R.M., Jarrett, D. and Mortimore, R. (2005), ‘Product attribute-based voter segmentation and resource advantage theory’, Journal of Marketing Management 21(9–10): 1079–1115.Google Scholar
Ballarino, G., Schadee, H. and Vezzoni, C. (2009), ‘Classe sociale e voto in Italia, 1972–2006’, Rivista Italiana di Scienza Politica 2: 263–294.Google Scholar
Bartle, J. and Bellucci, P. (2014), Political Parties and Partisanship: Social Identity and Individual Attitudes, London and New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Beck, U. (1987), ‘Beyond status and class: will there be an individualized class society?’, in M., Volker, D. Misgeld and N. Stehr (eds), Modern German Sociology, New York: Columbia University Press, pp. 341–355.Google Scholar
Beck, U. (1999), ‘From industrial society to the risk society: questions of survival, social structure and ecological enlightenment’, Modernity Critical Concepts 4: 17–39.Google Scholar
Beck, U. and Beck–Gernsheim, E. (2002), Individualization. Institutionalized Individualism and its Social and Political Consequences, London: Sage.Google Scholar
Bellucci, P. (2007), ‘Changing models of electoral choice in Italy’, Modern Italy 12(1): 55–72.Google Scholar
Bennett, W.L. (1998), ‘The uncivic culture: communication, identity, and the rise of lifestyle politics’, PS: Political Science & Politics 31(4): 741–761.Google Scholar
Bohrnstedt, G.W. and Knoke, D. (1994), Statistics for Social Data Analysis, Itaca, IL: F.E. Peacock Publishers.Google Scholar
Bonneau, C.W. and Cann, D.M. (2013), ‘Party identification and vote choice in partisan and nonpartisan elections’, Political Behavior 37(1): 43–66.Google Scholar
Bourdieu, P. (1979), La Distinction, Paris: Les éditions du Minuit.Google Scholar
Brooks, C. and Manza, J. (1994), ‘Do changing values explain the new politics? A critical assessment of the post-materialist thesis’, The Sociological Quarterly 35(4): 541–570.Google Scholar
Brooks, C. and Manza, J. (1997), ‘Social cleavages and political alignments: US presidential elections, 1960 to 1992’, American Sociological Review 62(6): 937–946.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Butler, P. and Collins, N. (1999), ‘A conceptual framework for political marketing’, in B.I. Newman (ed.), Handbook of Political Marketing, Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, pp. 55–72.Google Scholar
Chan, T.W. and Goldthorpe, J.H. (2007), ‘Class and status: the conceptual distinction and its empirical relevance’, American Sociological Review 72(4): 512–532.Google Scholar
Clark, T.N., Lipset, S.M. and Rempel, M. (1993), ‘The declining political significance of social class’, International Sociology 8(3): 293–316.Google Scholar
Cobalti, A. and Schizzerotto, A. (1994), La Mobilità Sociale in Italia, Bologna: Il Mulino.Google Scholar
Corbetta, P. (2006), ‘Variabili sociali e scelta elettorale. il tramonto dei ‘cleavages’ tradizionali’, Rivista Italiana di Scienza Politica 36(3): 415–430.Google Scholar
Cova, B. (1997), ‘Community and consumption: towards a definition of the ‘linking value’ of product or services’, European Journal of Marketing 31(3/4): 297–316.Google Scholar
Crane, D. (2013), Fashion and its Social Agendas: Class, Gender, and Identity in Clothing, Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Everitt, B., Landau, S. and Leese, M. (2001), Cluster Analysis, 4th edn., London/New York, NY: Arnold/Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Fischer, C.S. and Hout, M. (2006), Century of Difference: How America Changed in the Last One Hundred Years, New York, NY: Russell Sage Foundation.Google Scholar
Fischer, C.S. and Mattson, G. (2009), ‘Is America fragmenting?’, Annual Review of Sociology 35: 435–455.Google Scholar
Forno, F. and Ceccarini, L. (2006), ‘From the street to the shops: the rise of new forms of political actions in Italy’, South European Society & Politics 11(2): 197–222.Google Scholar
Garzia, D. (2013), ‘Changing parties, changing partisans: the personalization of partisan attachments in Western Europe’, Political Psychology 34(1): 67–89.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goldthorpe, J.H. (1980), Social Mobility and Class Structure in Modern Britain, Oxford: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
Graubard, B.I. and Korn, E.L. (1999), ‘Predictive margins with survey data’, Biometrics 55(2): 652–659.Google Scholar
Güveli, A., Need, A. and De Graaf, Nan Dirk (2007), ‘The rise of new social classes within the service class in the Netherlands: political orientation of social and cultural specialists and technocrats between 1970 and 2003’, Acta Sociologica 50(2): 129–146.Google Scholar
Haddon, E. (2015), ‘Class identification in New Zealand: an analysis of the relationship between class position and subjective social location’, Journal of Sociology 51(3): 737–754.Google Scholar
Hayes, D. (2009), ‘Has television personalized voting behavior?’, Political Behavior 31(2): 231–260.Google Scholar
Heath, A., Martin, J. and Elgenius, G. (2007), ‘Who do we think we are? The decline of traditional social identities’, in A. Park, J. Curtice, K. Thomson, M. Phillips and M. Johnson (eds), British Social Attitudes: The 23rd Report – Perspectives on a Changing Society, London: Sage for the National Centre for Social Research (NatCen), pp. 1–34.Google Scholar
Hopkins, N. and Reicher, S. (2011), ‘Identity, culture and contestation: social identity as cross-cultural theory’, Psychological Studies 56(1): 36–43.Google Scholar
Hornik, J. (1989), ‘A temporal and lifestyle typology to model consumers’ smoking behavior’, Advances in Consumer Research 16(1): 44–50.Google Scholar
Inglehart, R. (1997), Modernization and Postmodernization: Cultural, Economic, and Political Change in 43 Societies, Princeton, NJ: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Inglehart, R. and Rabier, J.‐R. (1986), ‘Political realignment in advanced industrial society: from class‐based politics to quality‐of‐life politics’, Government and Opposition 21(4): 456–479.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lash, S. and Urry, J. (1994), Economies of Signs and Space, London: Sage.Google Scholar
Lazer, W. (1963), ‘Lifestyle concepts and marketing’, in S.A. Greysser (ed.), Toward Scientific Marketing, Chicago, IL: American Marketing Association, pp. 243–252.Google Scholar
Lipovetsky, G. (1983), L’ère du Vide: Essais sur l'Individualisme Contemporain, Editions Gallimard, Paris.Google Scholar
Lizardo, O. (2006), ‘How cultural tastes shape personal networks’, American Sociological Review 71(5): 778–807.Google Scholar
Micheletti, M. (2003), Political Virtue and Shopping. Individuals, Consumerism and Collective Action, London: Palgrave MacMillan.Google Scholar
Oesch, D. (2006), ‘Coming to grips with a changing class structure an analysis of employment stratification in Britain, Germany, Sweden and Switzerland’, International Sociology 21(2): 263–288.Google Scholar
Pakulski, J. and Waters, M. (1996), The Death of Class, London: Sage.Google Scholar
Petev, I.D. (2013), ‘The association of social class and lifestyles persistence in American sociability, 1974 to 2010’, American Sociological Review 78(4): 633–661.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Plummer, J.T. (1974), ‘The concept and application of lifestyle segmentation’, The Journal of Marketing 38(1): 33–37.Google Scholar
Rokkan, S. (1970), Citizens, Elections, Parties, Oslo: Universitetsforlaget.Google Scholar
Rose, R. and McAllister, I. (1986), Voters Begin to Choose: From Closed-Class to Open Elections in Britain, London: Sage.Google Scholar
Sassatelli, R. and Davolio, F. (2010), ‘Consumption, pleasure and politics slow food and the politico-aesthetic problematization of food’, Journal of Consumer Culture 10(2): 202–232.Google Scholar
Shah, D.V., McLeod, D.M., Kim, E., S.Y. Lee, M.R. Gotlieb, S.S. Ho and H. Breivik (2007), ‘Political consumerism: how communication and consumption orientations drive ‘lifestyle politics’’, The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 611(1): 217–235.Google Scholar
Shavitt, S. and Nelson, M.R. (2000), ‘The social identity function in person perception: communicated meanings of product preferences’, in G.R. Maio and J.M. Olson (eds), Why We Evaluate: Function of Attitudes, Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum, pp. 27–57.Google Scholar
Simmel, G. (1957), ‘Fashion’, The American Journal of Sociology 62: 541–558.Google Scholar
Slater, D. (1997), Consumer Culture and Modernity, Cambridge: Polity.Google Scholar
Smith, G. and Hirst, A. (2001), ‘Strategic political segmentation – a new approach for a new era of political marketing’, European Journal of Marketing 35(9/10): 1058–1073.Google Scholar
Stolle, D., Hooghe, M. and Micheletti, M. (2005), ‘Politics in the supermarket: political consumerism as a form of political participation’, International Political Science Review 26(3): 245–269.Google Scholar
Tajfel, H. and Turner, J.T. (1979), ‘An integrative theory of intergroup conflict’, in W.G. Austin and S. Worchel (eds), The Social Psychology of Intergroup Relations, Monterey, CA: Brooks/Cole, pp. 33–47.Google Scholar
Vezzoni, C. (2014), ‘Italian national election survey 2013: a further step in a consolidating tradition’, Rivista Italiana di Scienza Politica 44(1): 81–108.Google Scholar
Vyncke, P. (2002), ‘Lifestyle segmentation from attitudes, interests and opinions, to values, aesthetic styles, life visions and media preferences’, European Journal of Communication 17(4): 445–463.Google Scholar
Weber, M. (1922/1968), Economy and Society, Berkeley and Los Angeles, CA: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Wind, Y. (1978), ‘Issues and advances in segmentation research’, Journal of Marketing Research 15(3): 317–337.Google Scholar
Zuckerman, A.S. (2005), The Social Logic of Politics, Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press.Google Scholar