The Analysis In Peasant Workers' Consumption Patterns And Identity

The relationship between consumption patterns identity and has been the focus of sociologists'attention. Consumption is a basic attribute of human being, while different social strata and social groups have different consumption patterns widely. At present, China is in the process of transforming from a traditional rural society to a modern urban society. In this process, a special social group is divided, that is peasant workers. As a specific group arising in the process of urbanization in China, peasant workers'consumption patterns must have its unique characteristic, and this characteristic associates with the urbanization inevitably. So comprehending the change of peasant workers'consumption patterns and identity is of great significance for accelerating and improving the level of urbanization in China. This paper tries to analyze the characteristics and relation of peasant workers'consumption patterns and identity in the process of China's urbanization and point out the link between urbanization and them on a unique perspective of consumer recognition theory and the meaning of urbanization, with a plenty of detailed information that the author got from the survey on the consumption pattern of peasant workers of H town in the northern Jiangsu province.It is composed of five segments:â… .IntroductionThis segment includes the proposing of the question, theory and literature reviewing, the defining of four analysis concepts and the study methods and sources of information of this paper.â…¡.The Duality of Peasant Workers'Consumption Patterns In this segment the author analyses objectively the consumption patterns of peasant workers of H town in the northern Jiangsu province in the macroscopic social background. We can see the apparent duality of the peasant workers'consumption patterns from the analysis. On the one hand, peasant workers'movement from rural to urban induces the change of their living environment and economic income. However, to a large extent, their consumption patterns follow the traditional rural way. On the other hand, as the inevitable result of the urbanization process, peasant workers'movement from rural to urban not only transforms the lifestyle and work mode, but also transforms their role status. This change inevitably leads to the transforming of the consumption patterns of peasant workers, that is to say, their consumption patterns gradually move to urban consumption in the influence of urban lifestyle and cultural values. However, the economic income limits their consumption patterns, at this stage they are more of the rural consumption.â…¢.The Identity Dilemma Deciding the Duality of the Consumption PatternsIdentity decides consumption patterns, and people always choose their consumption patterns in consistent with their own identity; meanwhile, consumption patterns are important means of getting identity, and they build consumer'identity initiatively. From interviews we found that peasant workers group's identity has evident dilemma, that is to say, on the issue of identification and evaluation of belonging to citizen or farmer has prevailing ambiguity and uncertainty. It is this identity dilemma lead to dual nature of their consumption pattern. On one hand, the urbanization induces the transform of peasant workers'employment status. It makes peasant workers effort to achieving the status legalized in daily life through consumption patterns. On the other hand, with the restraint of community system and rural concept, peasant workers have not been completely divorced from the social status of farmers. Its manifestation in daily life is that the consumption patterns of peasant workers still have some rural consumption characteristics.â…£.The Formation and Result of Identity Dilemma1. Social mobility lead to peasant works'identity has double structures. By the promoting of "comparative advantage" rule and stimulating of the internal and external environment, the peasant workers flow from rural community to urban community spontaneously and massively. This social mobility induces professional identity and social system the two different identity structures in peasant workers'identity system.2. The rigid isolation of social system hinders the transformation of peasant worker'identity and induces the identity dilemma. On one hand, the household registration system divides the urban and the rural residents into two different groups. These two groups have different social status, rights, treatment and duties. Restricted by the household registration system, the peasant workers cannot really become into citizen. On the other hand, the lack of social security leads peasant workers to rely on their homeland increasingly. The main target of China's social security system is urban resident, and peasant workers are not eligible for social security. For them, the homeland is their roots and the land in their hometown is their ultimate protection.3. Peasant workers'identity dilemma leads to the disruption in the process of their citizenization. The peasant identity makes them be excluded from the urban community, and this leads to the disruption in the process of their citizenization. While their professional status cannot bring any rights for them, so they do not want to be a citizen, some even refuse to be citizenizated in a extremely way. â…¤.ConclusionThe duality of peasant workers'consumption pattern is determined by the their identity dilemma, while the reason of the formation of peasant workers'identity dilemma is the rigid segregation of social system. A social segregation system constituted by household registration system and social security system divides citizen and peasant workers into two different social groups with different rights and blocks the process of peasant workers'citizenization. The citizenization is not a separated process, which is closely linked with the urbanization. Urbanization is the arena and supporters of citizenization, and citizenization is the result and purpose of urbanization. Therefore, the identity dilemma of peasant workers hindered the progress of China's urbanization. On the perspective of social transformation, the duality of consumption patterns and identity dilemma of peasant workers are all coursed by incomplete urbanization, that is to say, their lifestyle and identity are in the condition of "semi- urbanization ". Fundamentally speaking, the urbanization is a natural process. In a fairly long period of time, China still has to undergo the social development that transforming from a traditional rural society to a modern urban society. This process includes a huge movement from the great state of backwardness to a modern and civilization in almost all significant respects such as the modes of production, lifestyle, place of residence, ideas and so on. That is to say, the "semi-urban" status of peasant workers'consumption pattern and identity dilemma must be solved. To address this situation we must start from the root of the problem, that is to say, changing the social isolation system of urban community and rural community and continuing to push forward the reform of the household registration system and the social security system, which is the problems that urgent solution should be given to China's urbanization.