Identity And Meaning Construction:a Study On The Body Consumption Of Young Female Teachers In Universities

The transformation of consumption society influences the transformation of the whole society. Invasion of consumerism and consumption culture has a profound impact on the consumption behavior for individuals and groups.It leads to the increasingly consumption patterns and the body consumption has become the main force in the structure of female consumption. Women always are the focus of consumer groups, the young female teachers in the university which have higher education and higher income levels is a part of the female group,their consumer demand is upgrading gradually and have higher degree of recognition on the body consumption, so they have high practice enthusiasm on body consumption.This paper discusses the body consumption behavior of young female teachers in universities based on the mutual relationship between consumption and identity. The body consumption behavior of young female teachers in universities can be divided into "female body", "beautiful body" and "healthy body".They realize their identity including the gender, occupation and age identity through the physical body and the identity has the restriction on the body consumption.The process of body consumption and identity is promoted or restricted by various factors from macro to micro. First of all, the practice of their body consumption is affected by the macro consumerism, consumption culture, economic development level and the development of mass media, these factors make them has high enthusiasm on body consumption which provide the possibility of identity; secondly, the unique work environment, work property as well as the specific cultural purport makes this group’s body consumption behavior has obvious group characteristics which help them get self and social recognition; in addition, in different income level, consumption concept, family structure and so on have limited the individual consumption behavior within the group.In addition to the identity, the body consumption has brought more social consequences. On the one hand, the body consumption help the group acquire image of capital and achieve the artistic effect, on the other hand, it also help them gain social respect and achieve social isolation, also changes the stereotype of female teachers and play a good role to the students. But the excessive consumption has brought inner anxiety to them, and they need to seek a balanced state.