What question did this study set out to answer?

This paper aims to introduce the concept of the Lifestyle State and explore its implications for governmental legitimacy and public trust.

June 26, 2026Open Access

The Lifestyle State : "Needs become luxuries. Welfare becomes lifestyle."

Key Points

This paper aims to introduce the concept of the Lifestyle State and explore its implications for governmental legitimacy and public trust.
Develops three testable propositions related to the framework.
Proposes indicators for future empirical operationalization.
Illustrates the framework through four real-world case studies.
Argues that institutional legitimacy is shifting from welfare provision to lifestyle branding.
Indicates potential consequences for taxation and professional ethics.
Explores the impact on public trust relying on aesthetic and curated identities.

Abstract

A Theoretical Framework on the Succession of Legitimacy from Welfare Provision to Lifestyle Branding One possible implication of this paper is that governments may benefit from acknowledging, honestly and in their own budgets and future plans, a more accurate name for what is already underway: not only the Welfare State, but the Lifestyle State. This paper introduces the Lifestyle State, a theoretical framework proposing a succession in the grounds of institutional and governmental legitimacy. Welfare provision — health, education, housing, and social security — continues to function as the operational substrate of modern states, but this paper argues that it may be losing ground as the primary basis on which institutions earn public trust, reputation, and competitive standing, with that basis shifting toward branded aesthetic presentation and curated lifestyle identity. Drawing on the sociology of aesthetic capitalism, cultural capital, and platform-based political economy, this paper develops three testable propositions, proposes a set of indicators for future empirical operationalization, and illustrates the framework's plausibility through four real-world cases spanning national branding strategy, healthcare policy communication, and professional self-presentation in medicine. This paper offers a conceptual and theoretical framework for future empirical testing rather than a completed empirical demonstration, and concludes that the Lifestyle State should be understood neither as the abolition of welfare nor as its simple expansion, but as a proposed structural transfer of legitimacy from service delivery to lifestyle branding, with possible consequences for taxation, professional ethics, and the future basis of public trust. Keywords: Lifestyle State; Welfare State; Legitimacy; Aesthetic Capitalism; Branding; Political Economy; Institutional Trust; Platform Capitalism Publications & DOI 1) The Diella Doctrine — Zenodo — https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.20289985 2) Architect Generation — Zenodo — https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.20312472 3) The Ethical Passport Theory (EPT) — Zenodo — https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.20106107 4) The Jameel Doctrine: Humanity by Ethics — Domination by Power — Zenodo — https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.20097490 5) Jameel Binary Philosophy — Zenodo — https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.20475982 6) The Economic Law of Autonomous Needs — Zenodo — https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.20504593 7) Spiritual harmony and marital loyalty: A proposed conceptual framework —Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.20584532 8) Economic Law of Competitive Transition — Zenodo —https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.20645620

Read Full Paperexternally

KI fragen

Bookmark

View Full Paper