ABSTRACT
Health lifestyle theory is based on the earlier work of Weber and Bourdieu. It emphasizes the importance of SES in determining lifestyle patterns, along with other structural variables consisting of age, gender, race/ethnicity, collectivities, and living conditions. These variables provide the social context for socialization and experience that influence life choices (agency) and constitute life chances (structure). The interaction of choices and chances commission the formation of dispositions to act (a habitus), leading to various health practices (action). Chapter 10 presents this model and the research literature supporting it.
