Elulaadi tüübid ja meediakasutus
Date
2004
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Tartu Ülikool
Abstract
Description
From the previous analysis it could be seen how different the types of way of life of
Estonian population are by socio-demographic indicators, living conditions and attitudes.
The basis of preparing typology of way of life was the questionnaire conducted by the
department of journalism and communication of Tartu University in December 2002
„Me. World. Media.“ In formation of types data analysis package SPSS was used and
frequency in doing different things was originated from. In order to explain leisure time
orientations of Estonian population, factor analysis was conducted first and then cluster
analysis was conducted by means of K-average method. By twenty-nine traits, eight
groups were differentiated, which can be handled as typology of way of life of Estonian
population.
Based on activeness of different activities in different fields of activity, the first five types
can be classified types of active way of life but last three types of passive way of life.
Types of active way of life can be generally divided into two by their variety of interests.
The first group is formed by people whose circle of interests is very wide: diversely
active and work oriented, cultural way of life. The second group is formed by people of
particular interests and hobbies: hazardous, entertaining; technical amateur and way of
life of new media and oriented to social life.
The first group is characterised by optimistic attitude, they value self-assurance and
personal and social balance. They have moved around Estonia and also abroad very
much, they are open to other cultures, interested in the news of other countries, they can
and use actively foreign languages. Diversely active and work oriented cultural way of
life is oriented to improving the environment. More than one third of them live in new or houses that have been renovated during the last decade, 60% own the car. They have a
strong or very strong consumerist attitude and they are not indifferent concerning
consumption. Compared to other ways of life, they have significantly more
communicational technology than cultural properties at home. If there are more or less
equal number of men and women in active way of life, then women make up two-thirds
of work-oriented cultural. The latter way of life is also more characteristic of middle-aged
people with higher education who are wealthier than active way of life.
Relatively less optimistic attitude is characteristic of way of life with certain specific
interests compared to aforementioned active ways of life but it cannot be said either that
they have pessimistic attitude towards life. They can rather not foresee the future or they
think that nothing will change. All the individuals belonging here value self-assurance,
for hazardous, entertaining and new media way of life oriented to social life, being
materially insured is very important. Active ways of life observed are relatively mobile
but if hazardous, entertaining type of way of life prefers to move around in foreign
countries more than in Estonia, then in case of new media, way of life with social
orientation has the opposite case.
Among the given active ways of life, there are relatively indifferent people concerning
consumption but also relatively many of those who are not indifferent to any product or
service. For them, having communicational technology is much more important than
furnishing home in one’s own way or having domestic appliances and cultural properties.
If hazardous, entertaining way of life with technical hobbies is mostly formed by male
persons, then for new media way of life with social orientation, percentage of men and
women is more or less equal. The last type is foremost characteristic of younger persons
aged under 20 years, hazardous, entertaining way of life is characteristic of 20-30-aged
persons and technically recreational way of life is characteristic of middle-aged persons.
Technically recreational way of life is the wealthiest compared to all the other ways of
life and owns significantly more immovable property, there is also majority of car owners
among them (76%). The types of passive way of life are characterised by relatively pessimistic attitude
towards life, for them, the most important value is emotional balance opposing to self-
assurance. The range of interests of passive types is also passive and the most important
form of entertainment is watching TV. Their life is mostly centered around their home
environment. If domesticated traditional type of way of life is mostly characterised by
certain practical activeness in domestic household, then literally bound, traditional and
passive way of life is characteristic of homely passive activities. Their mobility within
Estonia and outside it is less than average, skills in foreign languages and extent of their
use is very low.
Types of passive way of life are not financially very wealthy, their income mostly
remains under 2500 kroons per member in family. Most of them also do not have
consumerist attitude towards life and they are relatively indifferent to consumption. For
them spending money on different products, services and leisure time activities and
purchasing domestic and communicational technology is not that relevant. Individuals
belonging to this group are not indifferent to owning cultural properties. All the types of
passive way of life are more characteristic of older females, literal, traditional way of life
is also characteristic of more Russian speaking population.
While observing the use of media by Estonian population, it turned out that within last
12-13 years, use of printed media has decreased and use of electronic media has
increased. Reading newspapers is most differentiated by nationality, education and
income – Estonians, people with higher education and income are more active newspaper
readers. Reading magazines, listening to the radio and watching TV are most
differentiated by nationality and age. If Estonians are more actively following the printed
media compared to non-Estonians and they are characteristic of stronger traditions of
listening to the radio, then non-Estonians watch TV more often than Estonians. Following
electronic media is more characteristic of older people while printed media is more
actively followed by young people. While observing the use of media among the types of way of life, it turned out that
activeness in the use of media is also related to activeness in different fields of activity.
The range of interests and activities of active users of media is wider, they are more
mobile, open to other cultures and developments, more enterprising and active in
consumption. The representatives of more active way of life use significantly more
Internet and read Internet publications but none of types of way of life is clearly oriented
to consuming new media only, it is rather supplement to the use of traditional media. At
the same time, listening to the radio and watching TV is equal in all the types of way of
life (excl. work-oriented cultural way of life). It seems that traditional electronic media
forms the environment where all the people meet, irrespective of their interests or socio-
demographic indicators.
To sum up, change in Estonian society has also brought along changes in way of life. Fast
development of media environment, especially new media and spreading of western
consumption culture are the basis for a new way of life to emerge. Besides new types of
way of life specific to new society, some types of way of life common in Soviet times
have remained but their content has changed. The dominant feature in traditional way of
life is not relationships between people, even-temperedness, material wealth, satisfaction
with one’s life and environment, but relatively pessimistic attitude, passivity, home
orientation and little financial wealth. The relationship between working activity and
cultural consumption has also changed significantly as the dominant of way of life.
As the purpose of this Master’s thesis was to study way of life of people – relationships,
attitudes and behaviour common in society – leaving behind lifestyle – studying
subjective individuality of individuals, then the type of way of life and the factors
forming the type of personality could also be studied in the future and also their
interconnections. Typological analysis could be complemented by qualitative research
methods and analysis of single cases – long-term observations, in-depth interviews and
other should be arranged. It should be definitely exciting to study the lifestyle by definition of Bourdieu lifestyle
and habitus. While analysing taste preferences and behaviour of individuals in
relationships with others and through that relationship it would definitely help to get
closer to the real behaviour of people, formation of their attitudes and values.
As this paper has focused primarily on the analysis of ways of life of Estonian population
and in case of typology of way of life of Estonians, only features forming the types and
socio-demographic indicators have been observed, in-depth analysis of way of life of
Estonians should be analysed in the future. This approach would more clearly enable to
bring out changes in way of life and make more certain and more causal conclusions.
Also, problems of way of life should be one direction of research in modern research
companies. Being aware of the nature of way of life, its changing speed and factors,
changing tendencies of way of life can also be foreseen, subjective needs and
consumption orientations of individuals can be predicted and social policy and economic
policy and other can be planned.
Keywords
H Social Sciences (General), magistritööd, elulaad, vaba aeg, ajajuhtimine, väärtusorientatsioon, sotsiaalkultuurilised mõjud, tarbimisvalik, meediakasutus, Eesti