LifeStyle - Our expertise
Our Expertise and Courses
The Lifestyle Research Center examines how cultural, technological, and environmental forces transform consumer lifestyles and markets. Combining consumer research, cultural branding, and critical perspectives on sustainability and digitalization, we contribute to understanding how markets are formed, contested, and reshaped. Our expertise informs both research and teaching, preparing students to engage with emerging consumer cultures, new branding practices, and evolving market futures.
Our expertise directly shapes course content and program design across emlyon undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral offerings. Recent developments include the forthcoming MSc in Branding & Communication and the repositioning of the MSc in Sports, Entertainment & Lifestyle around lifestyle-driven cultural and market dynamics. At the doctoral level, we coordinate the Consumer Culture course, training students in interpretive research and cultural analysis.
Across programs, our pedagogical approach emphasizes interpretive methodologies, cultural insight, visual and digital research tools, and field assignments, preparing students for emerging roles at the intersection of branding, culture, sustainability, and technology.
Cultural Branding and Lifestyle Markets
We study how brands, products, and cultural intermediaries create lifestyle-driven forms of value across fashion, luxury, food, sports, and entertainment. This expertise enables students to understand the strategic link between culture, taste, lifestyles, and branding.
Related courses include:
- Cultural Strategy (MSc Branding & Communication; MSc Sports, Entertainment & Lifestyle; across programs)
- Consumer Lifestyle (MSc Luxury Marketing & Management; across programs)
- Branding (International MBA; PGE; across programs)
- Lifestyles and Markets (PGE; variants across MSc programs)
- Product Development and Branding Strategy (PGE)
- Building Brand Communities (MSc Branding & Communication)
- Lifestyle and Body-related Markets (BBA)
Consumer Culture and Interpretive Methods
We are recognized internationally for contributions to Consumer Culture Theory (CCT) and interpretive consumer research. We develop ethnographic, visual, and qualitative methodologies that illuminate symbolic consumption, everyday practices, and cultural meaning-making processes.
Related courses include:
- Consumer Culture (PhD)
- Sociology of Markets (MSc IMBD)
- Sociocultural Transformation of Consumption and Markets (MSc Sports, Entertainment & Lifestyle)
- Advanced Perspectives on Consumption (BBA; across programs)
- Critique de la Consommation (PGE)
Sustainability, Circularity and Market Futures
We explore the cultural, social, and economic dimensions of sustainability, circular value chains, and post-growth transitions. This includes research on degrowth-oriented business models, ethical consumption, and alternative market imaginaries that challenge conventional growth paradigms.
Related courses include:
- Sustainable Futures (PGE)
- Engagement Responsable (PGE)
- Responsible Communication (MSc Branding & Communication)
- Rethinking Marketing (PGE)
Digital Consumer Culture and Platform Economies
We examine how digital platforms, social media, and AI transform consumer behavior, identity, and market relationships. This includes work on digital intimacy, algorithmic culture, and platform-mediated consumption, offering cultural insight into the evolving interface between consumers, brands, and technologies. This expertise informs specific modules across many courses.
Territories, Heritage and Institutional Policy Interfaces
We examine how territorial resources, heritage, and identity generate cultural and economic value, and how public policies shape food and textile value chains. Recent projects include AlpTextyles, which develops heritage-sensitive and circular textile practices across the Alpine region, and research on food practices and food waste in prisons, funded by the French Ministries of Agriculture and Justice. Our work engages policymakers and public institutions (e.g., the EU Strategy for the Alps, ADEME, UNESCO, WIPO) and contributes to cultural policy and sustainable territorial development.