About Consumer Society

From material consumption to sign consumption. When buying products, people pay the first attention to its brand, which means the symbols, rather than its shelf life, its efficacy and performance. The symbols is increasing leading the consumer direction of people, and becoming a landmark of dividing the ranks of each class. Symbols are closely related to the symbolism of materials, which is a game helps some capitalists to obtain more benefits.

The essence of symbol consumption is cultural consumption. What people pay is not a product but the symbol and the culture significance it represent engraved on the goods. People’s hope towards material is not only the pure pursuit of goods, but also using the symbol value to satisfy their desire. What’s more, social class distinguish themselves through the symbolic signs and people’s self-identity is approved by symbolic value ultimately.

As a consumer society is coming, consumers themselves have become the most important consuming target. Everyone becomes the substitute of symbol and are endowed with a variety of adjectives. But in its essence, it is a falling trend, a tortuosity of worship of materials.

Baudrillard makes a conclusion of the characteristics of consumer society, that the truth is denies on the basis of understanding numerous symbols in a hollow voice. In other words, we are living a society whose truth is denied and hidden by symbols. In Baudrillard’s point of view, consumer society is a society which controlled by symbols. It is the false society that make people gain the sense of security because he keep a distance with the outside world and begin the worship towards symbols.