On The Consumption Ethics Of Symbols

In the 20 th century, especially since the 60 s, western society began to enter into the post-industrial era, showing its inevitable trend of economic globalization, the consumption has been pervasive to infiltrate into people’s daily life. "Consumption" is the process of consuming production factors and means of livelihood in the production of material goods and labor service. "Symbolic consumption" is the post modernity consumption appears in the consumer society in pursuit of product’s symbolic culture value instead of the value in use. Symbolic consumption has significant difference concrete manifestation in involved, symbolic, differential and systemic characteristics compared with the traditional consumption. Consumption ethics is the ethical principles, value judgment and the ethical evaluation of consumer behavior generated in the economic activity. The motif of consumption ethics is the economic rationality and moral legitimacy in consumption. Symbolic consumption ethics is the sum of values, moral principles and norms to guide people in the symbolic consumption activities. And the general consumption ethics often concentrates more on economic, social and ecological dimension, but symbol consumption ethics focuses more on person’s subjective aspect such as values which is the key driver, emphasizing on cultural factors’ shaping of individual values.Symbolic consumption ethics is the moral evaluation and ethical adjustment of symbolic consumption behavior, so the production and development of symbol consumption has its objectivity and necessity influenced by multi-factor such as symbolic logic, mass media, individual identity construction and consumerism culture. First of all, the symbolic logic is fundamental for the symbolic consumption, providing a logical justification of establishing a perfect symbolic political and economic order. Second, the mass media have a systemic influence on symbolic consumption, it finishes the encoding and decoding of symbolic cultural value through the spread of advertising and individual media. Third, symbolic consumption is the basic way of individual identity construction in consumption society. Finally, the symbolic consumption is connected with consumerism culture which has basic influence of creating symbolic cultural value in symbolic commodity. So we should follow the ethical principles in symbolic consumption such as the subjective principle, the rational principle, the principle of responsibility and man’s all-round development principle. And we put forward some paths based on the influence factors of symbol consumption ethics: firstly, leading symbolic consumption to disenchantment and calling for the return of the subject and the functional commodity; Secondly, building advertising ethics and strengthening the social responsibility of mass media; Again, reshaping the identity construction and advocating the life style of self realization; Finally, cultivating the rational consumption especially the moderate consumption and the sustainable consumption.