The Reflection And Transcendence On Western Consumer Society Based On Historical Materialism

Consumer society is an evitable result that the development of human socialproductivity promoted the mode of production and changed both the conception ofconsumption and the mode of consumption, which also derived from producer society.Western consumer society is the earliest sample of consumer society and it’s also adominant phenomenon in the vicissitude of western countries during the20thcentury.By producing mass products, western consumer society greatly improved people’sconsumer level on both material and culture and promoted comprehensive qualities ofpeople greatly. However, as western consumer society follows the capital logic, itmakes the people and the society signified, which finally leads the people into aconsumerism trap. Therefore, in the point of people’s overall development and theessence of human beings, western consumer society is not suited for people’s longliving and it should be replaced by a more advanced consumer society.Based on the historical materialism, the thesis discussed the characteristic, theforming reason, the essence, and the surmounting of the western consumer societyand so on. The thesis consists five parts: the first part introduces the background, themeaning, the research idea and the overseas and domestic research status; the secondpart mainly discusses the development history of western consumer society and itscharacteristics; the third part mainly discusses the forming reasons of consumersociety and its crisis; the forth part mainly discusses the essence of western consumersociety and its historical influence; the five part, based on the fact that modern Chinais in an important transition, mainly discusses the building of socialist consumersociety with modern Chinese characteristics.The socialist consumer society with modern Chinese characteristics is based onthe socialist mode of production, and insists the scientific view of development andthe scientific concept of consumption, which make it surmount the western consumersociety well. The building of socialist consumer society with modern Chinesecharacteristics will be beneficial to realize the important function of consumption topromote the overall development of human beings better, to release and develop thelevel of social production in modern China better, and to overcome the expansion ofwestern consumer society better.