Abstract
To investigate cultural lifestyle preferences in different cultural contexts,
a forced-choice questionnaire was constructed, based on Thurstone's Law of
Comparative Judgement, an almost forgotten statistical method of 1927,
which is a useful tool for assessing groups. This study's questionnaire items
targeted job and living conditions in the spectrum from traditional to globalised
lifestyles. Subjects were indigenous representatives at the UNO in Geneva,
and students in Nigeria, Cameroon, South Africa and Germany. The preferences
ascertained reflect attitudes on a scale ranging from very traditional
to very globalised lifestyles. Although being an uncommon assessment tool,
Thurstone's Comparative Judgement indicates to yield highly valid outcomes,
as the results of the African university students, though from three different
countries, resembled each other, but were complementary to the results of the
indigenous representatives, which, in turn, mirrored the Berlin controls' profiles,
according to expectations. Findings are discussed in light of the Symbolic
Self-Completion Theory.