The COBEREN Project: Drinking Styles and Consumer Culture

As a summary, this introduction is an attempt to look, on the basis of two cluster analyses, at the interactions between consumption and culture. A first, cluster analysis is based on the qualitative phase of the questionnaire. According to the selected pictures, it leads to the definition of 4 drinking styles that can be interpreted in term of culture: Water Culture, Tea/Coffee Culture, Wine Culture, and Beer Culture. This first symbolic approach is cross-checked with the analysis of drinking behavior and preferences. The second typology is based on the analysis of general purchasing behavior and consumer mindset which allows researchers to define consumer cultures: “Fashion Victims,” “Conscious Shoppers,” “Conservative Shoppers,” and “Shopping is a Burden.” Geographical location, gender, and age mainly determine these typologies, which statistically separate one from the other. For example, Water Culture is overrepresented among Conscious Shoppers (mostly female and older consumers from central Europe) when Beer Culture is over represented among Fashion Victims (mostly young people from southern Europe).