A Research On The Consumption Style Of Urban Resident And Status Identity

The aim of this thesis is to explain the link between consumption style and status identity, and then prove it in theory and practice, accordingly, the thesis is arranged in the following way: 1) social status can be expressed by consumption style. Consumption style is the main tool to construct and maintain social status. At the same time, social status has the function of restricting consumption style. People always choose the consumption style that matches with his social status. 2) Consumption style and its status identity function is an evolving process. The status identity of consumption style includes two antiprocesses: the first is Collective—Seeking emotion. This emotion is to try to enter into some class or collective by consumption style in the orientation of social status,Collective—Seeking emotion expresses collective difference.The second is Self—Seeking emotion.The core of Self—Seeking emotion is Collective—departing emotion. The emotion is to emphasize the collective excluding by consumption style in the orientation of social status. Self—Seeking emotion expresses individual difference.Based on the above research needs, this thesis will be mainly divided into four parts: theoretical perspective, the study design, result analysis, discussions and conclusions. The first part is theoretical perspective, that is, Chapter I. From sociology, psychology, anthropology angles, the writer expounds the connotation of the social significance of things, mentioning its implications for the role of theoretical construct. And then the writer proposes there are two perspectives when using consumption patterns to analyse identity. First, the individual level, second,the collective level.The second part is research design, that is, Chapter II. The writer puts forward the study scheme, and based on this, the main concepts of this study are defined, the methods of case studies and case analysis are presented. The third part is result analysis, that is, Chapter III. From the perspective of social stratification, the writer examines the characteristics of the mode of consumption of various social groups, and examines how consumer groups maintain and construct their modes of consumption. In this chapter, the economic capital, the cultural capital and professional groups are used as criteria to classify classes and strata.Groups with different income, different education and different occupations are significantly different in consumption patterns. At the same time, income, education and occupation are factors that affect people's consumption patterns to maintain and build their identity.The fourth part is discussion and conclusion, that is, Chapter IV. In this chapter, the writer sums up the conclusion of the study, and point out some issues still needed to further explore.