The Power Of Consumption: A Study On Consumer Education In Japanese Primary And Secondary Schools

The prevalence of consumerism has brought a huge impact on people's way of lifestyle,especially on the consumption behavior and values of young people,affecting the personality development and value identification of young people.There are too many phenomena such as luxury consumption,vanity consumption,impulsive consumption among students,which means that consumer education in primary and secondary schools in China has been tortured and criticized by the practice of students' consumption behavior time and time again.In addition,with the rapid development of China,a series of "butterfly effect" chain problems such as excess capacity,shortage of resources,and deterioration of the ecological environment brought about by the enrichment of the consumer market are the key to my country's efforts to build a sustainable society and achieve sustainable development.The profound social problems must be faced directly on the road to the realization of a beautiful China.In the process of democratization started after the war,Japan also faced students with bad consumption behavior and serious consumption problems.Japan has carried out in-depth thinking and active practice on this,and currently pays more attention to the "power" of consumers in the solution of consumption problems and social problems,and actively promotes consumer education as a national policy in the name of "consumer citizenship education".Therefore,the idea of this paper is based on the retrospect and sorting out of the historical development and theoretical basis of consumer education in Japan.This paper presents the past and present of consumer education in primary and secondary schools in Japan on the dimension of curriculum structure,textbook design,and teaching implementation,to provide useful inspiration for the practice of consumer education in primary and secondary schools in China.Based on this research idea,this paper mainly discusses the following core issues:First,what kind of historical development has Japanese primary and secondary consumer education experienced? How did it come up and how did it develop into "consumer citizenship education" ? What are the expectations of the Japanese government for consumers or citizens? Second,what is the theoretical premise and basis of consumer education in Japan? Third,how does Japan's education scene implement consumer education? Fourth,what effect has been brought about by consumer education in Japan,and what challenges and controversies have been faced?Fifth,what enlightenment does the experience of Japanese primary and secondary consumer education have on the practical innovation of Chinese primary and secondary consumer education?Aiming at the first issue,this paper found that consumer education in primary and secondary schools in Japan presents such a development pattern: borrowing and transplantation—stagnation and regression—continuity and recovery—new and transformation.The curriculum has undergone changes from relying mainly on social studies,supplemented by home economics and moral education,and then home economics have become the core subjects.The content of the school curriculum presents such changes: the early emphasis on consumer protection content,the integration of contract education and environmental education,and the integration of sustainable consumption education.The Japanese consumer education theory has changed from the early “smart consumer theory” aiming at cultivating purchasing technology and consumption decision-making ability,to “theory of formation of consumer subject” that focuses on consumer judgment skills,and then to " theory of consumer as subject of rights " that emphasizes consumer rights,eventually developed into "consumer citizenship theory" which emphasizes social influence through every consumer.Aiming at the second issue,this paper found that various disciplines provide theoretical basis for consumer education in Japan from different perspectives.Economics focuses on the mastery of decision-making ability and the realization of consumer sovereignty,with the goal of cultivating rational economic entities and pursuing the maximization of economic utility.Ethics provides a more profound ideological and moral scale for consumer education theory from the deep ethical perspective of human and other life and environmental concerns.Consumer education from an environmental perspective focuses on the awareness of the direct or indirect impact of consumption on the environment.Consumer education from the perspective of home economics focuses on the important understanding of consumption in family life and the mastery of certain family consumption skills,to improve the quality of life of the family and realize the value of life.Sociology focuses more on interpretation from the dimensions of consumer needs and identity,and focuses on consumer behavior,consumer culture,and the relationship between consumer issues and social control.Political science's theoretical interpretation of consumer education promotes the orientation of consumer education theory towards civic practice,focusing on consumers' civic participation in daily life.Pedagogy theory focuses on the cultivation of consumer relational thinking and critical thinking and focuses on consumer education in courses such as home economics,social studies,and moral education.Aiming at the third issue,the paper found that Japanese consumer education curriculum design presents a unified curriculum structure,relying on formal subject courses such as home economics,social studies,and moral education,as well as informal subject courses such as “special activities” and “comprehensive study time”.Japan's consumer education courses focus on the goal of cultivating consumer citizenship and building a consumer citizenship society.It not only emphasizes the integration of knowledge among various disciplines,but also focuses on discussion topics that are closely related to students' real life.To achieve experience integration,the goal is to make students internalize their own values and expose them to concrete practical actions to build a consumer citizenship society.In terms of textbook design,textbooks highly integrate interdisciplinary knowledge in content,emphasize the connection with life,attach importance to the learning of consumption-related concepts,and present a cascade-style integrated content.In terms of activity design,the textbook sets thinking questions,discussion questions,exploration activities and social problem investigation activities,focusing on the cultivation of students' decision-making ability,critical thinking,problem-solving ability,and methods and skills for understanding society.In terms of the relationship between textbook content and society,textbooks focus on pressing domestic issues in Japan,advocating sustainable lifestyles,and paying attention to common international issues.In terms of teaching practice,Japanese primary and secondary consumer education takes active learning as its teaching concept and advocates a participatory-experiential teaching method.This paper presents various ways of subject teaching,activity courses,and home-school-community collaborative implementation of consumer education through specific cases.Aiming at the fourth issue,this paper found that the implementation of consumer education in primary and secondary schools in Japan had a positive impact on students,teachers,and the Japanese society,but at the same time faced with insufficient class hours,duplication of teaching content,and different consumer education at school and social levels.What cannot be ignored is that in the process of promoting consumer education in Japan,various controversies have arisen about the nature of consumer citizenship,the relationship between consumer citizenship education and consumer education,and consumer education courses.Based on the discussion of the above issues,this study summarizes the lessons of consumer education in Japanese primary and secondary schools and puts forward some improvement suggestions based on the actual situation of consumer education in primary and secondary schools in China.In addition,based on the "citizenship education" turn of Japanese consumer education,the paper attempts to explore the nature of consumer citizenship and the power of consumption.