PREMENY ŽIVOTNÉHO ŠTÝLU – SOCIOLOGICKÉ VÝCHODISKÁ A PREDPOKLADY

A lifestyle is complicated and ambivalent concept that can be used as a tool for reflecting social change. The operationalization of this concept is rather difficult, and if it is done, the lifestyle is mostly reduced to the spheres of leisure and material consumption. In this article, it is argued that nowadays, when previously solid institutions have become optional, the lifestyle has also been influenced by individual choices in the spheres of paid work and private life. Therefore, the article focuses on a description of changes in four main areas of everyday life that influence individual and group lifestyles in a decisive way: paid work, leisure, consumption, and family and intimate life. These changes indicate that people's lives have become more differentiated, not only through a manifestation of traditional social distinctions (such as income and social status), but to a large extent also through spheres that previously were able to provide people with feelings of stability and certainty.