Typology of Household Strategies of Action in Four Countries of Southeastern Europe in a Period of Economic Crisis

Abstract In this paper, we explore whether the myriad production and consumption household practices in four societies of Southeastern Europe (Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Serbia and Slovenia) can empirically be reduced to a relatively small number of coherent and socially meaningful combinations, which we have labelled household strategies of action. Approaching the same data from two different angles, namely, using Multiple Correspondence Analysis (MCA) and Two-Step Cluster Analysis (TCA), we have identified five general household strategies and eleven more detailed and specific sub-strategies. More importantly, by projecting these strategies and sub-strategies onto the social space, we have shown that these household practices are linked to the class position of households. On a more general level, it is indicated that the study of household strategies can be viewed as a way of rendering relatively static structural approaches, in this case the Bourdieusian approach to social space, more dynamic.