Sinus milieus

The Sinus-Milieus are a social and target group typology developed by the market and social research company Sinus-Institut for more than 40 countries, which is based on social milieus . According to the specialist journal "media & marketing" in Germany, it is one of the most important approaches in target group research.

groups

The Sinus-Milieus group people who are similar in their outlook and way of life (cf. Lebenswelt ). The milieu is divided along two dimensions: “ social situation ” (lower, middle or upper class) and “basic orientation” (“tradition”, “modernization / individualization” and “reorientation”). Fundamental value orientations are taken into account as well as everyday attitudes (to work, family, leisure, consumption, media, etc.). Sociodemographic variables (age, gender, education, income, etc.) are used to describe the milieus in more detail.

The Sinus milieu models are continuously adapted to the socio-cultural and socio-structural changes in the respective societies. The current Sinus milieu model for Germany consists of these ten groups (as of 2019):

Sinus milieu model for Germany 2019 . The Sinus-Milieus group people in groups of like-minded people along two dimensions (social situation and normative basic orientation). The higher a milieu is located in this graph, the higher the education, income and professional position; the further to the right it is positioned, the more modern value orientations and lifestyles are. The overlapping of the “potatoes” indicates that the transitions between the milieus are fluid.

Milieu groups	Sinus milieu (in Germany)	Brief description	Population share (in%) Germany 2019
Socially upscale milieus / Leading social milieus	Conservative established	The classic establishment: ethics of responsibility and success; Claims to exclusivity and leadership, sense of class; increasing desire for order and balance	10%
	Liberal intellectuals	The enlightened educated elite: critical worldview, liberal attitude and post-material roots; Desire for self-determination and self-development	7%
	Performer	The multi-optional, efficiency-oriented performance elite: global economic thinking; Self-image as consumption and style avant-garde; high technology and IT affinity; Establishment tendency, erosion of visionary vigor	8th %
	Expeditive	The ambitious creative avant-garde: Urban stylers: young, hip, non-conformist; global mobility: mental, cultural, social, geographical; Performance-oriented - but no classic career thinking, looking for new limits and solutions Elite of the future	9%
Middle milieus	Adaptive-Pragmatic	The modern young middle: pronounced pragmatism of life, realism and usefulness thinking; Willing to perform and adapt, but also desire for fun and entertainment; Determined, flexible, open-minded - at the same time a strong need for anchoring and belonging Classic family of the future	11%
	Bourgeois center	The bourgeois mainstream, ready to perform and to adapt: ​​general affirmation of the social order; Desire for professional and social establishment, for secure and harmonious relationships; growing overstrain and fear of relegation	13%
	Socio-ecological milieu	Engaged socially critical milieu with normative ideas of the “right” life: pronounced ecological and social conscience; Globalization skeptics, advocates of political correctness and diversity	7%
Lower middle milieus / Lower class	Traditional	The older generation who love security and order: stuck in the petty-bourgeois world or in traditional working-class culture; Thrift and adaptation to necessities; increasing resignation and feeling of being left behind	11%
	Precarious	The lower class striving for orientation and participation (“belong”): desire to keep up with the consumption standards of the broad middle - but accumulation of social disadvantage, experiences of exclusion, bitterness and resentment	9%
	Hedonists	The fun and adventure-oriented modern lower class or lower middle: life in the here and now, carefree and spontaneous; often adapted in the job, but breaking out of the constraints of everyday life in leisure time	15%

The current Sinus milieu models for Austria and Switzerland also consist of ten groups (as of 2019):

Milieu groups	Sinus milieu	Population share (in%)
		Austria 2018	Switzerland 2016
Socially upscale milieus / Leading social milieus	Conservatives (AT) Upper middle class (CH)	6% *	16% *
	Established (AT) Established (CH)	9% *	8th %*
	Performer (AT / CH)	10%	10%
	Digital Individualists (AT) Digital cosmopolitans (CH)	8th %*	7% *
Middle milieus	Adaptive-Pragmatic (AT / CH)	13%	6%
	Bourgeois center (AT / CH)	14%	15%
	Post material (AT / CH)	11% *	12% *
Lower middle milieus / Lower class	Traditional (AT) Frugal Traditional (CH)	13%	9% *
	Consumption-oriented basis (AT / CH)	6% *	8th %*
	Hedonists (AT) Escapists (CH)	10%	9% *
* The different designations of the environment in the respective countries into account country-specific characteristics, so are the numbers of German n , Austrian and Swiss milieu models n ur very limited comparability.

Theoretical background

In the social sciences , milieus are understood as groups of like-minded people with similar basic values ​​and principles of lifestyle, which are characterized by increased internal communication and demarcation from other groups.

The Sinus milieu model follows the sociological interpretation of lifestyle , as it has also been developed by academic social inequality research since the mid-1980s. This is based on the following consideration: The same socio-economic living conditions obviously produce different lifestyles and living environments. According to this, the difference in lifestyles is often more important for the everyday reality of people than the difference in socio-economic living conditions. Social affiliation is therefore largely defined on the basis of common mentalities of socio-culturally homogeneous subgroups (milieus).

However, social milieus do not make the consideration of social class superfluous. A radical “decoupling” of objective and subjective living conditions, i.e. social class and social milieus, is hardly propagated today. Rather, one assumes a connection between milieu affiliation and social situation - there are upper class, middle class and lower class milieus.

methodology

The subject of research of the Sinus-Milieus is the life world of a person, i.e. the totality of the individual subjective (everyday) reality. The living environment cannot be measured objectively, but can only be recorded through the everyday consciousness of an individual.

In a first research step, the Sinus-Milieus will be developed on the basis of qualitative interviews with everyday life, which cover the most important socio-demographic segments (according to gender, age, education, income, region, etc.). In this life-world exploration, which lasts several hours, the interviewees present all areas of life that are relevant from their point of view in their own language. On the basis of these interviews, cross-case categories with regard to basic attitude and way of life are developed and converted into a hypothetical milieu model.

This is followed by a quantitative check and a representative generalization of the model. For this purpose, a standardized questionnaire instrument for diagnosing milieu affiliation is being developed - a so-called milieu indicator . Such an indicator contains statements that represent the typical values ​​of the individual milieus and thus also make it possible to reconstruct the boundaries between the milieus. Statements that capture the basic convictions of the respondents or diagnose motives that are effective on a daily basis and thus have a maximum power of differentiation between the milieus have proven themselves best. A specific distribution of response probabilities across all indicator items is determined for each milieu group (norm profiles). The milieu classification takes place with the help of a specially adapted form of statistical cluster analysis according to the similarity of the individual response patterns with the probability model.

This iterative process is carried out until the theoretical model can be verified quantitatively to a sufficient extent.

application

The Sinus-Milieus have been used for a variety of issues by companies and agencies since the early 1980s, but also by ministries, political parties , non-governmental organizations , foundations , associations and science for strategic planning, branding and communication strategies as well as for product development and Product management used. The term "Sinus-Milieus" is a protected trademark.

Since the late 1980s, the Sinus Milieu model has been incorporated into the major market media studies and TV and consumer panels, and it has also increasingly been taken up in academic research. The measurement of the  audience rating  of television stations in Germany, Austria and Switzerland is nowadays linked to the Sinus-Milieus as standard, i. H. all test viewers have been classified accordingly and the broadcasters offer corresponding evaluations.

The Sinus milieu model has been expanded for various areas:

Sinus meta milieus

Environment models for over 40 countries, e.g. for emerging countries

Digital Sinus Milieus

Localization of Internet users in the environment, e.g. for online campaigns

Sinus-Geo-Milieus

Application of the Sinus-Milieus in the micro-geographical area, e.g. for spatial planning and direct marketing

Sinus youth milieus

Investigation of the living environment of young people, e.g. in youth studies in 2008, 2012, 2016

Sinus migrant milieus

Investigation of the living environment of migrants

literature

• Florian Allgayer, Jochen Kalka (ed.): The customer in focus. The most important target groups at a glance - milieus, living environments, consumers. Redline Wirtschaftsverlag, Heidelberg 2007, ISBN 978-3-86881-521-4 .
• Bertram Barth, Berthold Bodo Flaig, Norbert Schäuble, Manfred Tautscher (eds.): Practice of the Sinus Milieus - Present and Future of a Modern Society and Target Group Model. Springer Fachmedien, Wiesbaden 2018, ISBN 978-3-658-19334-8 .
• Heiner Barz , Katrin Barth, Meral, Zeynep Dereköy, Mareike Först, Thi Thao Le, Igor Mitchnik: Great diversity, fewer opportunities: a study of the educational experiences and educational goals of people with a migration background in Germany. Mercator Foundation, Vodafone Foundation Germany (publisher), Düsseldorf 2015.
• Silke Borgstedt, Erik Flügge: Chilling - Chatting - Adding: Young worlds in a milieu comparison. In: Chances and challenges of child and youth work. emwe-Verlag, Nuremberg 2011.
• Silke Borgstedt, Tamina Christ: The worlds and realities of life for single parents. Federal Ministry for Family, Seniors, Women and Youth (Ed.), Berlin 2011.
• Marc Calmbach, Silke Borgstedt, Inga Borchard, Peter Martin Thomas, Bodo Flaig: What makes young people tick in 2016? Living environments of young people aged 14 to 17 in Germany. Springer, Wiesbaden 2016, ISBN 978-3-658-12532-5 .
• Marc Calmbach, Silke Borgstedt: 'Invisible' Political Program? Thematic worlds and political interest of 'uneducated' young people. In: Wiebke Kohl, Anne Seibring (Ed.): 'Invisible' Political Program? Thematic worlds and political interest of 'uneducated' young people. Federal Agency for Civic Education, Volume 1138, Bonn 2012, pp. 41–80.
• Marc Calmbach, Christoph Schleer: Recruiting employees through corporate social responsibility . Ecological economy, No. 3, 2015, doi: 10.14512 / OEW300312 , pp. 12-13.
• Marc Calmbach, Berthold B. Flaig, Ingrid Eilers: MDG Milieu Handbuch 2013. Religious and Church Orientations in the Sinus Milieus , Heidelberg / Munich 2013, online .
• Helmut Degen: Performance Model for Market-Oriented Design of Software Products . International Journal of Human-Computer Interactions, Vol. 12, No. 3-4, 2000, doi: 10.1080 / 10447318.2000.9669060 , pp. 285-307.
• Rainer Diaz-Bone: Milieu models and milieu instruments in market research . In: Sozialwissenschaften und Berufspraxis , Volume 26, No. 4, 2003, pp. 365-380 online .
• Ersa Erdem: Community and Democratic Citizenship: A Critique of the Sinus Study on Immigrant Milieus in Germany . German Politics and Society, Volume 31, No. 2, 2013, pp. 93-107, JSTOR 43917443 .
• Jonna Küchler-Krischun, Mira Nürnberg, Christiane Schell, Karl-Heinz Erdmann (Eds.): Nature Awareness Study 2015: Population Survey on Nature and Biological Diversity . Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety, Berlin 2015.
• Berthold Bodo Flaig, Thomas Meyer, Jörg Ueltzhoffer: Everyday aesthetics and political culture. On the aesthetic dimension of political education and political communication. Dietz, Bonn 1993.
• Rolf Frankenberger, Siegfried Frech (ed.): Social milieus: Lebenswelten in Deutschland . 1st edition. Wochenschau Verlag, Schwalbach 2017, ISBN 978-3-7344-0501-3 .
• Alexandra Glöckner, Ingo Balderjahn, Mathias Peyer: LOHAS in the context of the Sinus-Milieus . Marketing Review St. Gallen, Volume 26, No. 5, 2010, doi: 10.1007 / s11621-010-0076-8 , pp. 36-41.
• Bernd Hallenberg: Our life in Germany: The new migrant milieus. Findings from the qualitative part of the 2017/2018 vhw migrant milieu study . vhw werkSTADT, No. 14, Berlin 2017, ISSN  2367-0819 , pp. 1–15.
• Stefan Hradil: Social milieus and lifestyles: an offer to explain media work and media effects . In: Klaus-Dieter Altmeppen, Thomas Hanitzsch, Carsten Schlüter (eds.): Theory of journalism: Next Generation . VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften, Wiesbaden 2007, doi: 10.1007 / 978-3-531-90401-6 , pp. 165-212.
• Stefan Hradil: Social Milieus: A Practice-Oriented Research Perspective . From Politics and Contemporary History, No. 44–45, 2006, pp. 3–10. online .
• Stefan Hradil: Social structure analysis in an advanced society: from classes and strata to locations and milieus . Leske and Budrich, Opladen 1987, ISBN 3-8100-0581-9 .
• Nico Hribernik: Birds of a Feather Flock Together: More Future-Orientation with Values-Based Segmentation . Research & Results, International Issue (2016/2017), 2016, pp. 44–45.
• Heide Möller-Slawinski, Marc Calmbach. Youth in Kyrgyzstan. Bridging Tradition and Modernity. German Society for International Cooperation (GIZ) GmbH (publisher), Bonn / Eschborn / Bischkek, 2015.
• Heide Möller-Slawinski, Christina Scheffler, Carsten Wippermann: Sexuality and Migration: Milieu-specific access routes for youth sex education. Results of a representative study of the living environment of 14 to 17 year old young people with a migration background . 1st edition of the Federal Center for Health Education, Cologne 2010, ISBN 978-3-937707-76-1 , doi: 10.4126 / 38m-004215536 .
• H.-Peter Nietzke, Marc Calmbach, Dieter Behrendt, Silke Kleinhückelkotten, Elisabeth Wegner, Carsten Wippermann: Risks of Ubiquitous Information and Communication Technologies . Gaia-Ecological Perpectives for Science and Society, Volume 17, No. 4, 12/2008, doi: 10.14512 / gaia.17.4.11 , pp. 362-369.
• Gerhard Schulze: The adventure society. Contemporary cultural sociology . Campus Verlag, Frankfurt / New York 1992, ISBN 3-593-34615-X .
• Robert Vehrkamp, ​​Klaudia Wegschaider: Popular elections: Mobilization and counter-mobilization of social milieus in the 2017 federal election . Bertelsmann Stiftung, Gütersloh 2017, online .
• Robert Vehrkamp: All-German conflict line or new east-west divide? Bertelsmann Stiftung, Gütersloh 2019, online .
• Michael Vester: Social milieus and social politics . From politics and contemporary history, No. 44–45, 2006, pp. 10–17, online .
• Michael Vester: Class and Culture in Germany . Centro de Investigação e Estudos de Sociologia, Volume 42, 05.2003, ISSN  0873-6529 , pp. 25-64.
• Michael Vester: Environment-specific lifestyle and health . Health Inequalities: Yearbook for Critical Medicine and Health Sciences, Volume 45, 2009, ISBN 978-3-88619-824-5 , pp. 36–56.
• Board of the SPD (ed.): Planning data for the majority ability of the SPD : A research project of the board of the SPD . Bonn 1984.

Web links

• Homepage of the Sinus Institute
• Sinus youth research website

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Florian Allgayer, Jochen Kalka: The customer in focus. The most important target groups at a glance - milieus, living environments, consumers . Redline Wirtschaftsverlag, Heidelberg 2007, ISBN 978-3-636-01501-3 , p. 7.
2. ↑ Berthold Bodo Flaig, Bertram Barth: The Sinus-Milieus® 3.0 - Background and facts on the current Sinus-Milieu model . In: Target groups in consumer marketing . Springer Gabler, Wiesbaden, 2014, p. 105–120 , doi : 10.1007 / 978-3-658-00625-9_8 ( springer.com [accessed July 31, 2017]).
3. ^ SINUS Milieus Germany. Retrieved March 15, 2018 . 
4. ↑ The sinus milieus in TELETEST - der.ORF.at . In: der.ORF.at . ( orf.at [accessed on July 6, 2017]).
5. ↑ Study target groups according to basic orientation and social situation - Sinus-Milieus Switzerland 2016. Accessed on July 6, 2017 . 
6. ↑ Barth Bertram, Bodo Flaig Berthold: What are Sinus-Milieus®? In: Adolescent living environments . Springer Spectrum, Berlin, Heidelberg, 2012, p. 11–35 , doi : 10.1007 / 978-3-8274-2971-1_2 ( springer.com [accessed July 31, 2017]).
7. ↑ Federal Agency for Civic Education: Social Milieus - A Practice-Oriented Research Perspective | bpb. Retrieved July 31, 2017 . 
8. ↑ Barth Bertram, Bodo Flaig Berthold: What are Sinus-Milieus®? In: Adolescent living environments . Springer Spectrum, Berlin, Heidelberg, 2012, p. 11–35 , doi : 10.1007 / 978-3-8274-2971-1_2 ( springer.com [accessed July 31, 2017]).
9. ↑ Robert Vehrkamp, Klaudia Wegschaider: Popular choices. Mobilization and counter-mobilization of the social milieus in the 2017 federal election. Bertelsmann Stiftung , accessed on October 16, 2017 . 
10. ↑ References. Retrieved July 31, 2017 . 
11. ↑ honest family - honest family: systems: Sinus-Milieus: AS&S. Retrieved July 31, 2017 . 
12. ↑ SINUS solutions. Retrieved July 31, 2017 . 
13. ↑ Young worlds - Springer . doi : 10.1007 / 978-3-8274-2971-1 ( springer.com [accessed July 31, 2017]).
14. ↑ Marc Calmbach, Silke Borgstedt, Inga Borchard, Peter Martin Thomas, Berthold Bodo Flaig: What makes young people tick in 2016? - Springer . doi : 10.1007 / 978-3-658-12533-2 ( springer.com [accessed July 31, 2017]).
15. ↑ Federal Agency for Civic Education: The Living Worlds of Migrants | bpb. Retrieved July 31, 2017 .