"The study explores the social diversity of Europe from the perspective of life-spaces with high profile configurations of states of mind. “Social worlds” as groups with standardised modes of acting, thinking and evaluation are identified beyond formal borders. This study tested the hypothesis of the existence of similarities in states of mind (measured in terms of satisfaction with life, optimism, perception of labour market in the country and institutional trust) as a function of age category (young adult, middle-aged adult and aged), residential environment (rural, urban) and the sociocultural macroregion. The testing of research hypotheses is performed by means of a multilevel analysis of the Eurobarometer 70 data collected at an EU level in the autumn of 2008. The approach is in line with quantitative grounded theory (Glaser 2008)."

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