ABSTRACT
This chapter synthesizes the diverse concepts inherent in the study of lifestyles. Lifestyle concepts were used in other domains of the human sciences long before they were applied to marketing. In the twentieth century, it was the German sociologist Max Weber who popularized the term lifestyle. He defined it as 'a means of affirmation and differentiation of social status' following the idea of life scheme proposed by Thorstein Veblen. Alfred Adler is best known for his theories of personality and individual psychology. His views on lifestyles would focus on an individual's method of response to the environment. Paul F. Lazarsfeld tried to understand consumer behavior by studying the interaction of three groups of variables: predispositions, influences in the form of social connotations, and qualifiers attributed to products. These criteria became the forerunners to the approach based on attitudes and activities, from which one derive the better-known term AIO (activities, interests, and opinions), widely recognized in the United States.
