Consumer Society In Ragtime

Along with the improvement of social productive forces, products become significantly richer than before and there emerge waves of consumption in Western capitalistic societies. Production has already given way to consumption and a society dominated by consumption gradually comes into being. The trend of consumerism has become rather widespread values and cultural ideology, infiltrating into all levels and fields of society and affecting people's existence, lifestyle and survival fundamentally.Edgar Lawrence Doctorow's novel Ragtime depicts a panorama of consumer society. The novel embodies the strong influence brought about by consumption, media and technological advancement, which adequately shows the spirit of consumer society.This thesis attempts to analyze Ragtime using the theories of Jean Baudrillard and Mike Featherstone.This thesis comprises five parts.The Introduction briefly introduces Edgar Lawrence Doctorow, his work Ragtime, the domestic and foreign research status of Ragtime and then further proposes the central argument and originality of this thesis.Chapter one focuses on the relevant theories and characteristics of consumer society. Chapter two introduces the characteristics of consumer society embodied within Ragtime. Chapter three explores the impact of consumer society on people's values and spiritual world.The Conclusion summarizes the theme of this thesis. Ragtime comprehensively embodies the characteristics of consumer society, particularly involving the impact of consumer society and consumer culture on people's values and spiritual world. Therefore, Ragtime has become a microcosm of consumer society. At the same time, the author of this thesis finds that although the novel is set in America in the late 19th and early 20th century which belongs to modern period, there are a great many features of postmodern consumer society embodied within the novel. Thus the author of this thesis concludes that Doctorow foretells the inevitable tendency of the turn towards postmodern society.