ABSTRACT
The process of individualization - the historical process in which the individual gradually becomes separated from society - and the notion of individuation - a maturational process in which the individual has to work through his or her earlier experiences in order to develop a relatively stable identity - have come to occupy a central position in the lifestyle discussion (Johansson and Miegel 1992a: 29ff.). It is even appropriate to speak about an individualistic turn within lifestyle research. Researchers within this area have frequently showed a tendency to put too much emphasis on the sole individual (see, for example, Mitchell 1983). Individuality is never developed in a vacuum; it is always developed in a cultural and social context. 'The tension of our lives would be even greater if we did not, in fact, engage in practices that constantly limit the effect of our isolating individualism, even though we cannot articulate those practices nearly as well as we can the quest for autonomy' (Bellah et al. 1985: 151). The value of individualism is not equally embraced within the whole population. Men tend to place great importance on expressing and claiming their material and social status and their individuality, whereas women seem to put more importance on developing their individuality without abandoning their values of security and concern for others, for example (Chodorow 1978; Miller 1976, 1984). Basically, however, the continuity of self-identity - that is, the persistence of feelings of personhood in a continuous self and body - is only maintained through constant interaction with others. An elegant description of this process may be found in Gidden's book Modernity and Self-Identity:
The existential question of self-identity is bound up with the fragile nature of the biography which the individual 'supplies' about herself. A person's identity is not to be found in behaviour, nor - important though it is - in the reactions of others, but in the capacity to keep a particular narrative going. The individual's biography, if she is to maintain regular interaction with others in the day-to-day world, cannot be wholly Active. It must continually integrate events which occur in the external world, and sort them into the ongoing 'story' about the self. (Giddens 1991: 54)
In late modern Western society, the construction of this ongoing story of the self is closely related to lifestyle development and consumerism. Through the process of symbolic democratization a wide variety of symbols and signs have been made available to common people. As Willis expresses it: 'Commercial cultural forms have helped to produce an historical present from which we cannot now escape and in which there are many more materials - no matter what we think of them - available for necessary symbolic work
than ever there were in the past' (Willis 1990: 19). These symbols and signs are constantly being reinterpreted and used to create more or less durable identities and lifestyles.
