A Study On Aesthetic Preference From The Perspective Of Aesthetic Anthropology

From the perspective of aesthetic anthropology,research on aesthetic preference starts from the investigation of “taste” and “fashion” and explores on the object of social life,especially the perceptual experience of ethnic minorities and small societies.In addition,through deep investigation and analysis of aesthetic activities and phenomenon,the expression,formation,and evolution process of aesthetic preference in certain regional context are explored,interpreted,and integrated into society,economy,and culture to reveal its internal mechanism and aesthetic significance.The formative factors of aesthetic preference include aesthetic customs,local aesthetic experience,aesthetic capital,and aesthetic system.Aesthetic customs refer to the religious customs,rituals and related music,paintings,and dances of all ethnic groups,which contain rich aesthetic content.Daily life customs composed of common production and living style,historical and cultural tradition,language and writing,religious belief,celebrations and festivals,local customs and similar ways of thinking represent the similar aesthetic preference of members within the culture.From the perspective of local aesthetic experience,artistic and aesthetic style and preference are deeply affected by different perception ways and expression habits determined by local culture and geography;from the perspective of aesthetic capital,aesthetic taste in the era of consumption has become a kind of “non-material capital” as the collusive cooperation between aesthetics and commerce plays an important role in educating,attracting and inducing consumers’ aesthetic preference;in terms of aesthetic system,aesthetics and art are existences that can be defined and constructed,and aesthetic system has a strong restricting,disciplinary and guiding effect on aesthetic preference.While the biological research of human aesthetics lays the biological foundation of individual aesthetic preference,philosophy of individualism provides the fundamental basis for its existence.The analysis of representative creators in the history of art and literature reveals the importance of aesthetic autonomy based on personal feelings and experience to artistic creation.In real life,aesthetic preference expresses the features of “driving”,“diversity” and “mobility”,all directly acting on daily behavior directivity.The specific form of Aesthetic preference in contemporary society can be expressed as taste and fashion,homesickness and nostalgia,avant-garde and novelty,and extravagance and minimalism.The aesthetic preference for ancient towns reflects the current expression of“homesick Utopia” while the charm of nostalgia is released in Hou Hsiao-hsien’s films;the pursuit of novelty and avant-garde reveals the curiosity-oriented taste in an over-developing society;luxury and minimalism,as two special consumption and life concepts,show the diversities of fashion in modern society.In the context of multi-cultural integration of pre-modern,modern and post-modern,the“modernity” of aesthetics displays the features of diversity,mobility,and superposition.Contemporary aesthetic research ignores the study of perceptual aesthetic experience as they are excessively involved in the question of “essence of beauty” and focusing on the abstract analysis of critical standards and aesthetic judgment.To some extent,isolation from the vivid and real aesthetic activities results in the lack of attention to the aesthetic phenomena and aesthetic preference.It is necessary that the study of aesthetic preference return to the perceptual dimension,the original meaning of aesthetics,reconstruct and explore the sensibility,and strive to construct the contemporary aesthetic research paradigm and research approach based on diversity,difference,and criticalness.