PHENOMENON OF CONSUMER SOCIETY: VALUE AND CULTURAL DIMENSIONS

Abstract

The article is devoted to the analysis of value and cultural dimensions of the consumer society. At all stages of historical development, ostentatious (externalized) consumption is the main determinant of social status. In
modern conditions, consumption develops from material practice to socio-cultural, dominating other aspects of human life and spheres of society. The principle of organization and mechanism of functioning of the consumer society are considered. Consumption practices are the basis of socialization of a modern person. The following characteristics of the consumer society are highlighted: homogenization of the social landscape; de-collectivization and individualization of consumption, formation of a consumer lifestyle, Organization of society as an analog of the system of things; substitution of social activity by consumption. The current stage of development of the consumer society is characterized by the transition from real consumption to symbolic consumption, from industrial consumption to consumer hedonism. The phenomenon of consumer society reveals the phenomena of excessive consumption, commodification, branding, which is due to the emergence of a new type of consumer, co-optation and shopping, the emergence of a new consumer socialization. In turn, the culture of consumption is determined by the formation of value orientations that stimulate consumer practices. A special feature of the consumption culture is the focus on excessive, individualized consumption, as well as "one-time" consumption. The culture of consumption plays an important role in the overall culture of the individual and affects the development of all its components, namely, knowledge, qualities, value orientations, and general behavioral models. The article defines the importance of transforming the value foundations of consumer culture, the need to abandon consumer practices. In the consumption Society of the Twenty-First Century, the ideas of ecological, sustainable and ethical  consumption are gradually spreading. Instead of promoting inflat standards, the model of sustainable consumption forms the values of greater rationalization of needs and consumer practices, human awareness of the relationship between the surrounding world of things and spiritual values.
ed consumption