Conspicuous Consumption And Rural Social Order

The traditional rural social order is fragmented in the process of social transformation,and the migrant workers returnning home use consumption as a tool to reconstructe the rural social order.In this paper,a case study method is used to collect the data of a village in the depths of the Dabie Mountains with interview and participant observation.The phenomenon of returning migrant workers' consumption is summarized and analyzed,and the generation of modern consumption patterns in traditional villages is abstracted.Through the deep description of conspicuous consumption activities,the paper depicts the changes of rural social order in the process of rural consumption.After confronting the plight of social identity in city,migrant workers returned home practicing conspicuous consumption in order to reintegrate into rural society and reconstructe social order.Migrant workers are influenced by the consumption culture of the city Imitating the way of consumption of urban reference groups and focused on packaging external image showing conspicuous consumption style in comparison with each other and chasing face and fashion trends in the rural society.Conspicuous consumption behavior is not only affected by the macro social environment,but also the adaptation of the migrant workers to the environment.Compared with the traditional agricultural production,migrant workers have gained considerable economic income,which provides an economic basis for conspicuous consumption.In the process of population migration,the traditional family style of production is disintegrated,and the role of production and consumption of migrant workers are separated in time and space.In the city assuming the role of producers living a frugal lifestyle,migrant workers mainly use the economic income for conspicuous consumption in rural areas.The consumption patterns of rural areas have transformated from thrift to ostentation,and the migrant workers have shown the consumption image which is not matched with the productive roles.Conspicuous consumption reconstructs the dimension of the difference order pattern,and the economic status and social identity are the important factors in the construction of the difference pattern.The pattern of difference sequence is changed from heredity to construction,and the identity and status of social members are reconstructed by conspicuous consumption to produce social attraction effect.The local social order under the guidance of consumption has hidden risks.Due to lacking forward-looking,the blind imitation of fashion of migrant workers groups in consumption easily lead to excessive spending increasing the risk of future life.Human consumption tends to be utilitarian resulting in alienation of human feelings.The local rites are embedded into the consumption logic,and the rural residents show the economic status and social status in the ceremony to confirm and consolidate the kinship relationship.