ABSTRACT
Lifestyle studies are considered highly credible still; conceptual and practical reservations remain, particularly regarding the predictive power of these approaches. This chapter proposes several improvements or extensions of current lifestyle studies. Lifestyle studies have focused primarily on describing the changing landscape of contemporary sociology. The types identified by the Centre for Advanced Communication (CCA) have been structured around five big groups: Drivers (D) or displacers, Rigorists (R), the Egocentrics (E) or selfish, the Activists (A) and the Materialists (M). These groups are DREAM. The phenomenon of lifestyle changes is representative of sociological evolution. Semiometrics is based on the idea that human beings evolved through a universe charged by sensations. It is also used to define groups called semiotypes based on overinvested and underinvested words. The analysis of cognitive chaining is a qualitative approach that looks at the nature of relations between product attributes, consequences to the consumer, and the consumer's values. Finally, the chain's composition gives the overall means-end hierarchy.
