Narcissism, Counter-Culture and Lifestyle. Towards a Critical Cultural Studies

The aim of the article is to show the way in which the technologically mediated culture of consumption determines what we call lifestyle in the perspective of the critical cultural studies paradigm. Contemporary consumption, based as it is on the counter-cultural ideas which appeal to difference, creativity and lifestyle, solves the central problem of consumerism – supplying a constant stream of novelty in a situation where things are losing just this quality. Lifestyle has become a life strategy, the framework for interpreting consumer choice suggests that freely made decisions concerning symbolic and aesthetic pleasures provide a sense of fulfilment in a successful and varied lifestyle. Culture is increasingly perceived through the prism of who we should be, and what we should have, in order to achieve by means of these an illusory goal, namely that of identity