Leisure and Life-Styles: Towards a Research Agenda

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Abstract
This article is an attempt to develop the life-style concept into an agenda for leisure research since to date, according to the authors, neither leisure researchers nor sociologists with other main interests have successfully operationalised the concept. This research agenda should generate the information required to allow entire ways of living to be measured quantitatively. Once accomplished, life-style analysis should «fill the gap» between social structural trends and positions on the one hand, and individuals' leisure experiences, preferences and choices on the other. To do so, they construct the conceptual apparatus of life-style around three patterns: time structures of groups and individuals (structures being of greater help than budgets); social relations surrounding different roles and individuals; and consumption. The term «life-style» describes the sum of these three patterns. This conceptual scheme leads to a research agenda built around five key propositions: life-style research will not stick loyally to any one best research method; it need not be empirical; leisure theory will be better-served if future empirical research focuses upon types of individuals, groups and/or societies, rather than types of activities; empirical leisure research should aim for depth rather than breadth; all leisure research should benefit from a longitudinal perspective. These conceptual efforts should aim at better-understanding secular trends and real people's real-life problems.

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