A term coined by anarchist
Murray Bookchin in his essay "Social
Anarchism or Lifestyle Anarchism: An Unbridgeable Chasm"
Lifestyle anarchism is the attitude of an individual that calls himself an anarchist by being heavily individualistic without giving any thought to class struggle and an end to oppression.
A lifestyle anarchist does not concern himself with anarchist goals such as the destruction of hierarchical
society, but instead focuses on changes to his own behavior - these can range from a though out (but still not really anarchist) desire to remove oneself from societal norms in the name of one's will, to a mere stereotypical attempt to look like a tough bloke intent on creating disorder.
The word "lifestylist" can be occasionally seen in
punk circles, as a form of insult, due to the pervasiveness of 'punks' that spend their time trying to look radical and pogoing to leftist lyrics while
never really caring about
politics.
HOWEVER, lifestylism has become an all too common insult among anarchists nowadays that promotes sectarianism, by each different anarchist school of thought claiming others are merely lifestylists rather than
real anarchists.
A justified use of ' lifestyle
anarchy ' -
Calling a group of crust punks that squat an abandoned building and fuck it up with grafitti and broken bottles when they could have just as easily made it an inclusive social center or a shelter.
An unjustified use of ' lifestyle
anarchy ' -
Anarchocommunist site Libcom slandering the collective of CrimethInc. as lifestylists because they concern themselves with dropping from
society rather than attacking society.