Representação da Qualidade de Vida na Revista Vida Simples

Abstract

It is in big cities that the issue of quality of life has been brought into vogue in the last decade, especially, as cited by Freitas, through the searching for better living conditions, face the range of "failure symptoms of the project of city tried since the nineteenth century; violence, pollution, stress distresses the man and obliges him to create tribes, even under the guise of space, their everyday lives "(1996, p.4). To understand how the media deals with this issue, especially the magazine segment, it was traced a study on the representation of the quality of life in Simple Life magazine, published by Abril publishing house, produced in the field of Eating section. This publication was elected by a plurality of information that includes guidelines on health, emotional well-being, affection, sense, sociability and emphasizes the symbolic character of a harmonious life, affecting the behavior of the townspeople in the context of the turbulent life of the metropolis. To compose the reference it was considered theoretical experts of the field of Social Representation, Communication and Consumption. In addition to provide subsidies to reflect on the products of cultural industry, the set of representations that constructs the urban imagination and the consumption of concepts and products, the ideas presented in the universe of quality of life also collaborate to compose elaborate categories for content analysis of the selected issues. To understand how the magazine covers this type of consumption and also what are the representations produced on the quality of life, it was analyzed six editions of the Simple Life Magazine, from January to June 2010.