消费与地位追求:一个演化论的分析视角

地位是人类永恒追求的目标,是人的存在性意义之源。不过,由于社会结构的制约,不同时代、不同阶级(阶层)的人们具有不同的机遇结构,他们使用消费来追求地位的方式也大异其趣。在传统社会中,由于存在制度性的不平等,社会地位相对稳定。统治阶级更多地使用消费来确证而非追求其社会地位。在现代(工业)社会中,人们更多的是使用炫耀性消费来炫耀其经济资本,从而来追求其社会地位。在后现代社会中,以文化资本为基础的品味消费则成为人们地位争夺的新方式。

Consumption and Status-Seeking: An Evolutionary Analysis

For human beings,status is an eternal goal as well as a reason for existence.However,due to the constraints of social structure,in different times and different classes(strata),people use consumption as a way to pursue status.The means of their status-seeking is quite different.In traditional society,because of the system of inequality,social status was relatively stable.The ruling class used consumption to confirm rather than pursue their social status.In the modern(industrial) society,people are more pron...