Elulaadi tüübid ja meediakasutus

Date

2004

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

Citation