Studying Diversity and Sharing in Culture: An Example of Lifestyle in Brazil

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Abstract
The structure and distribution of cultural models within social groups have been studied in a variety of domains, using a variety of methods. In this article we examine cultural models of lifestyle in Brazil; here, lifestyle is defined as the accumulation of consumer goods and the adoption of behaviors that help to define one's social identity. Three issues are examined: (1) the structure and distribution of models of culturally appropriate lifestyles; (2) the association of these cultural models with actual behaviors, along with those factors that promote or inhibit adhering to the cultural ideal; and (3) the utility of using the Romney-Weller-Batchelder cultural consensus model for studying lifestyles. Results indicate that cultural models of lifestyle are highly structured and widely shared across socio-economic groups. Furthermore, a variety of economic, social, and psychological variables influence the individual's approximation to the cultural ideal. These results indicate that the extent to which cultural meaning systems are shared must be determined empirically and that both group-level and individual-level variability must be taken into account. The methods used here may prove useful in the investigation of a variety of cultural domains.

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