Symbolic And Utilitarian: An Analysis Of College Students’ Reading Behavior In Consumer Society

With the steady and rapid economic development of our nation,we people live in a society lacking of material and spiritual products in the past to a state of relative abundance.Due to the spread of consumer culture in this changing society,a fact needs our special attention,which is affecting every member of the community.The reading behavior of contemporary university students is unconsciously influenced,showing new trends different from traditional reading status.Among them,the symbolic reading and utilitarian reading as two prominent tendencies at present reflect the fact that college students’ reading behavior is increasingly deviated from the nature of reading under the impact of consumer culture.Therefore,on account of current reading tendencies of symbolic and utilitarian reading among college students in consumer society,the paper intend to apply Sociology of Consumption and Media Ecology theories to study the symbolic and utilitarian reading status of college students.First,the concept of consumer society and its relevant influence on people’s daily life are introduced in the paper.In order to obtain first-hand information,the author conducts a field visit to libraries of 7 colleges and universities of “211 project” in Wuhan,collecting responses from college students through group interviews and personal in-depth interviews.By processing the data,the paper analyzes the assessment questionnaire and presents the result through qualitative research and quantitative research.It can be concluded that the symbolic and utilitarian reading of college students refers to the fact that book is becoming a symbol of social identity and personality in the consumer society and reading has become a pursuit of symbolic meaning in stead of deep understanding of the books.Deviating from the nature of reading,students begin to pay more attention to the importance of reading experience in consumer society.Also,the purposefulness and practicability of reading behavior are significantly enhanced.There are mainly four contributing factors leading to the changes of college students’ reading behavior,including the impact of consumer culture in the society,the changes brought about by the revolution of information media technology,the investment of publishers and booksellers and employment and academic pressure of college students.