ABSTRACT The paper presents a theoretical frame to approach life style as a means that actively contributes to the structuration of social inequality. Life style is viewed as a totality of symbols that do not reflect, but rather construct the social identity of the actors in social interaction and that can create a sense of community between them. The meaning of life styles is realized through an interaction between symbols and verification mechanisms and is constituted during social interaction. Verification mechanisms can be defined as means that appear to control the distribution of social resources through the diffusion of binding (more or less general) conceptions of the important and the valuable. On the one hand, the mechanisms thus induce an interpretation of life styles. On the other hand, the interpretation of certain life styles can itself change the conceptions that the verification mechanisms diffuse. This capacity to influence the verification mechanisms can be conceived of as the power of l...