Research On Marx’s Consumption Thought

Consumption is not only a category of economics,but also a theme of human activity explored in philosophy and sociology.Marx’s critical thinking on capitalist consumption reflects his comprehensive reflection on the consumption phenomena of his era,cutting in from the perspective of economics,revealing the deep meaning of capitalist consumption phenomena,and also showing a deep concern for the social existence of people.Marx explored the reasons of the formation of the mode of consumption in capitalist society from the aspects of the logic of capital accumulation,the alienation of labor and the alienation of needs,and revealed that this mode of consumption would lead to adverse consequences such as excessive consumption gap,human enslavement by things and overconsumption destroying nature.Marx envisioned and constructed the mode of production and consumption in the future ideal society in his criticism of the capitalist consumption mode,took the free and all-round development of people as the ultimate goal,proposed to overthrow the private ownership of production and consumption materials,and to achieve the realistic purpose of consumption satisfying the essential needs of people with the rational distribution mode of "from each according to his ability,to each according to his needs".Marx put forward the profound thoughts of "labor alienation" and "commodity fetishism" in the process of criticizing capitalist consumption,which provided a theoretical basis for the study of consumption alienation by Marxist scholars in China and the West.Marx’s consumption thought includes rich ideas such as paying attention to the essential needs of human beings,revealing the essence of the logic of capital accumulation and the damage of excessive consumption to the ecological field.Western Marxism,based on his thought,put forward multi-perspective criticism on the phenomenon of consumption alienation.In addition,Marx’s criticism of the irrational mode of consumption of capitalist society that hinders human free development provides a theoretical basis for China’s society to adhere to people-oriented consumption and promote harmonious development of human,nature and society.Marx’s consumption thought involves the issues of human essential needs,human free and conscious activity,as well as human and nature in the consumption activities,showing the humanistic implications in his consumption thought.These thoughts also become important theoretical starting points for the in-depth understanding of modern social consumption problems by Chinese and Western scholars.Therefore,a thorough interpretation of Marx’s consumption thought has profound theoretical value and practical significance for criticizing modern consumerism and exerting the positive role of consumption in satisfying human essential needs and promoting production development.