The Basis Of Individual Identification Of College Students' Culture Consumption

In the 21 century, as a matter of fact that the pace of the commercialization, the marketization and industrialization of culture has been speeded up, the culture consumption is increasingly becoming the mainstream consumption in the knowledge-based society. College students are the representatives of the youth. Their consumption style on culture has a unique form with distinctive characters, so has attracted attention from the whole society. College life is an important phase before one step in the society. The contemporary college students are building up an individualized symbol in the multivariate of culture consumption, placing themselves on a position in the school field, and are expressing as well as constructing their own values and identity. A healthy way of culture consumption is crucial to make college students into full development, and to improve their cultural and humanity qualities. So, to establish healthy, rational and multivariate culture consumption has a far-reaching social significance.There are many perspectives on studying culture consumption. This paper discuss the problem on the relationship between"consumption and identification"from the perspective of the sociology of consumption. As consumption is a self-determined choice, it will be better understand the motivation and structure of college students'culture consumption if we study this matter on the micro level of individual identification. Based on the analytic framework of culture consumption and individual identification, this paper tries to interpret couture consumption of college students on a qualitative analysis by discussing the basis and significance of individual identification of college students on culture consumption. During the preparation stage of this paper, the author made a survey on college students'culture consumption through questionnaires in S University in north China, consulted on past statistics and the results of the literature, and meanwhile did some personal interviews to deep explore the contemporary college students'view towards different kinds of consumptions based on varied identification.Based on the analytic framework of culture consumption and individual identification, this study is conducted in three parts as follows:The first part gives a general introduction to the college students'culture consumption. The contemporary college students'culture consumption is divided into two types, namely culture consumption on intellectual education and culture consumption on recreational entertainment. Through the survey we can conclude that though the dominant culture consumption is for self-development, the proportion of consumption on recreational entertainment is constantly rising, and the demand for culture consumption is getting more and more urgent. The culture consumption of contemporary college students has distinctive characteristics, for example, they call for the practicability on the content, the representativeness on performance and changeability on demand, they pursue the culture for its intangible characteristic and pursue the symbols that express cultural meanings or inherit value systems. All these show that college students are seeking to their individual identification in constant comparison of consumption differences. The author sums up that the college students'culture consumption is a kind of consumption culture in the field of school. The college students are looking for their self-identity in the school relationship network according to the accumulated capital on culture consumption.The second part, on which this paper focuses, different consumption significances are analyzed on different consumption identifications basis. Every kind of consumption is based on a certain identification framework, and only by accepting such identification framework can generate corresponding consumption actions, and generate all kinds of consumption significances. According to the characteristics of the contemporary college students'culture consumption, this paper sums up three types of identification basis and the consumption significance based on which.The first type is role consumption based on model identification. College students consume in an"ideal- self"way, which is determined by their identification on their roles, and the consumption based on the expecting-role after graduation is the key cause of why that the high school intelligence education consumption is always the dominant consumption. This kind of role significance is rather rooted in the group's"identity effect", that is to say, when the college students identify a certain ideal group, they will be affected by the model framework which is transferred by such ideal group. Model identification is an importing identification basis. Nowadays, with the expansion of the scope of this identification group, especially with the influences from the elites of the new social class, this identification basis has constantly been enhancing. It is by identifying the model group (class) that the contemporary college students are choosing their way of culture consumption, and are expressing and constructing their own role significance, and their individual qualifications also have been improved in view of the positive model effect of the identification group.The second type is identity consumption based on resources identification. The differences on culture consumption between different college students have already existed. Students from different family backgrounds must be different on the volume of economic capital, so will cause the difference between the volume of cultural capital, as a result culture consumption becomes a label in distinguishing levels campus consumptions, and this is the consumption action based on the resources identification. Though all kinds of consumption are related to economic capital, culture consumption has its nature of interesting in the study of sociology of consumption. The development of one's interest is acquired from the good education which is relied on the economic capital one has owned, or on the cultural capital that is transformed from economic capital. The college students develop their cultural ability in the process of culture socialization, they define their identification and group belonging through the means of culture consumption, and they construct their identity on campus by whether showing deference or not in consuming goods or services. At present, the effect of this resources identification basis of which that capital determines consumption takes more and more attention from the college students, identity culture consumption takes on a powerful strength. As a type of restricted identification, resources identification to some degree resulted in segregation of the college students'culture consumption. Many students try to alter their original identity, to pursue identity significance and to acquire an appropriate and legal sign for themselves by choosing their way of culture consumption The third type is symbolic consumption based on persuasive identification. In sociology consumption is a kind of expressing consumption related to the culture symbols and their symbolic significances. The consumption made by the contemporary college students in pursue of symbolic significances are taking up a lager number in the culture consumption. It is mainly reflected in the fashion and popular culture consumption. Fashion has become a kind of self-identification. Consumption fashion is the consumption of the sensation of membership represented by fashion symbols. According to the survey by the author, the contemporary students'symbolic consumption is a much more individual and emotional than display. The pursuit of the symbolic significance is based on the fact of globalization and informationization, and is getting more and more forceful. With the all-round propagating of the electronic media, the diversified identification frameworks of different consumption groups are introduced to the college students. As a result, the contents of culture consumption are constantly expanding. At the same time, the mass media and their propagandists are always guiding the young students'individual culture consumption, and classify them into different groups according to their way of consuming goods and services. The culture consumption which reflects the symbolic significance is built up on the basis of guidance identification, and to meet the need of college students'individual consumption in one's own way.The third part is about suggestions and countermeasures. There are three kinds of alienation phenomenon: firstly, the excessive pursuit of culture sings in model identification will cause unpractical blind consumption. Secondly, the excessive pursuit of identity in the resources identification will cause the segregation of students, and premature consumption, catching up with the Joneses consumption and even in debt consumption on campus, and the individual will be mostly likely fall in to the"identification crisis". Thirdly, the excessive pursuit of popular symbols in the guidance identification will cause hedonism, extreme individual symbol consumption, and will confuse the real need and the fictitious need.Taken above-mentioned reasons into consideration, the author suggest actively advocating healthy culture consumption on the model identification basis, correctly treating the multivariate culture consumption on the resources identification basis, and appropriately guiding the rational culture consumption on the guidance identification basis. In short, we should try to solve the identification crisis, to set up good identification strategies and to promote college students from self-identification to self-realization by means of culture consumption.