The mainstream has outlived its usefulness

 
Trend Classic milieu thinking has had its day, says the Zukunftsinstitut and presents the target groups of tomorrow. 
Individualization is the megatrend of the coming years. The German Zukunftsinstitut with its figurehead Matthias Horx paints a picture of a new society. The result is the study "Lifestyles 2020". In it, the authors call for a new typology of society. The classic models, above all the sinus milieus, which previously divided society into ten large social clusters, are too narrow and static. Age, income and gender say little about people today, because in the age of the knowledge society, the normal biography is increasingly becoming a thing of the past, according to the study. The Zukunftsinstitut's lifestyle typology reorganizes society. The trend researchers have identified eleven life models. The result: target groups are becoming blurred, once tried and tested biographies and life cycles are being turned upside down. Disruptions are becoming the norm. The message from futurologists: people must say goodbye to consistency. And the economy from target groups. Eleven lifestyles that will change our society by 2020: CommuniTeens are collectivists and individualists at the same time. They maintain their network via cell phone and the Internet. Career thinking is less pronounced. For them, the desire for an intact private life and to develop their own identity prevails. Inbetweens are in a state of permanent mobility and reorientation, which puts a lot of strain on their relationships. They frequently switch between life situations at a young age. Their career entry is often bumpy (internships, projects, freelance work). Young Globalists face the uncertainties and imponderables of modern life with professional "life management". For them, jobs and careers are the central components of finding their identity. The world is their workplace. Latte macchiato families are characterized by the fact that they transfer their urban lifestyle - latte macchiato in the street café - into family life. They are starter families with young children. They deliberately live in the city because they want to be mobile. They are looking for entertainment and consumption. Super-Grannys are self-confident women over the age of 55 who want to actively and independently shape the so-called third stage of life. Even if the Super-Grannys' late start is aimed at self-realization, they do not completely distance themselves from traditional role requirements. Super daddies are pragmatic idealists. They put the project of gender equality into practice. Super daddies demand the big picture: professional success, happiness, togetherness with their children, an intact family life, personal self-improvement - even if this pushes them to their limits on a daily basis. VIB families (Very-Important-Baby-Families) are living proof that family planning is not finished by the end of the 30s. VIB parents are socially and professionally established. What they still need to perfect their private happiness is a child. The VIB parents see a "late" child as a logical extension of a successful professional career. Network families Reason and security, pragmatism and love - Family 2.0 goes beyond the framework of the normal middle-class family. Network families are models of care and relationships that show that the family as a form of cohabitation is by no means at an end. However, they represent a form of cohabitation that goes far beyond the sacred triad of father, mother and child. Silverpreneurs look back on a long and successful professional life. Their motto "lifelong learning for a long life" is not relegated to the retirement age. Quite the opposite. For silverpreneurs, there is no discussion about retirement at 67: they carry on as before anyway. For silverpreneurs, the end of gainful employment and working life is not in sight because they do not experience work as a daily chore. Tiger ladies react to the pitfalls that their mothers stumbled over: They remain responsive and feisty, even when a relationship falls apart or a career crashes. Tiger ladies have one big goal in mind: independence and self-realization. They are penetrating male reserves: the media, universities, politics and the boardroom. Greyhoppers are proof that age and physical and intellectual adventure need not be opposites. In contrast to silverpreneurs, the Greyhopper lifestyle is preceded by radical breaks: Greyhoppers consciously break away from long-lived continuities and certainties. Their second departure is once again a key existential moment. The Greyhoppers want to start a new life once again, but only have a limited amount of time to do so. Christian Lüscher
 
 
 
Lifestyles 2020 - A typology for society, consumption and marketing. Future Institute, 2007.