The Cumulativity of Activities

“The sociology of lifestyles is dominated – especially in France – by a theoretical modelknown as The Distinction model (Bourdieu, 1979) that establishes a systematiccorrespondence between the space of practices and consumptions on the one hand and thespace of social positions on the other. This theoretical model particularly thrived with theanalysis of the social differentiation of cultural practices.In this paper, we intend to empirically analyse the structuring of the space of the practicesanalyzed in the survey on cultural and sports activities among the French populationconducted in May 2003 by the INSEE, and to confront our results with the models proposedby Bourdieu or his recent critics. 25 years after The Distinction, the survey provides a goodoccasion to revisit the future of a theoretical model that has been deeply disturbed by the riseof eclecticism in practices and tastes.”