A Study On The Theory Of Western Marxism Alienation Consumption

The economic crisis in1929which broke out in the western developed capitalist countriestriggered off a new era in the world, Consumption Times. Followed by serious of problems,which aroused concern of the nascent theorists of Western Marxism. We can find somerelative discussions about consumption in the works of The Frankfurt School theorists in the1930s, while the formal foundation of alienated consumption theory of Western Marxism wasin the late1940s and early1950. Among the theorists who had made outstandingcontributions, there are the French “critical theory of everyday life giant “Henri Lefebvre,the Frankfurt School theorists Herbert Marcuse and E·Fromm, who committed to thecombination of Marxism and Freud”Psychoanalysis”. They believe that “the aim ofconsumption is no longer to meet human’s basic survival needs, but to satisfy their desire forgoods, was caused by their own alienation of labor, by committing to acquiring goods; andtheir aim of consumption is also controlled by the rulers.” Undoubtedly, they had made agreat contribution to the inheritance and innovation of the Marxist theory of alienation underthe new capitalist situation. However their totally different paths to overcome the alienationof consumption reflected the utopian fantasy, the pessimism and subjective tendencies oftheory. At the same time, they predicted: Socialism is not the end of alienation, which gave analarm to the rapidly developing China. Are we going to repeat the same mistakes, take the oldpaths of capitalist development, and cave in the trap of alienated consumption? The answer inthis paper would be negative.This paper consists of three parts: Part one dealt with the evolution process of“alienation” concept from the point of view of etymological: From "transfer, assignation” inSocial Contract to the spirit of Hegel’s alienation until the born of Marx’s theory of alienatedproduction. Part two, taking the theory of Marxism as a guide, based on the critical traditionof Western Marxist, explored the similarities and differences in the interpretations of threecontemporary theorists Lefebvre, Marcuse and Fromm of the basic content of the alienatedconsumption theory and its influence on the contemporary development. The third partassessed both positive and negative aspects of the critical tradition of Western Marxismalienated consumption, analyzed consumption status in the system of contemporary China’ssocialist market economy and explored to build a healthy, civilized, sustainable consumptionpatterns, to realize the grand goal of constructing the socialism harmonious society.