从文化层面分析中美消费观的差异毕业论文.doc

从文化层面分析中美消费观的差异毕业论文ContentsAbstract I摘要 II1 Introduction 11.1 Significance and Aim of the Paper 11.2 Organization of the Paper 12 Literature Review 22.1 The Definition of Consumption Conception 22.2 Related Researches Abroad and at Home 23 The Comparison of Chinese and American Consumption Conception 33.1 Conservatism and Adventurism 33.2 Future Consumption and Excessive Consumption 43.3 Frugality and Enjoyment 53.4 Practicability and Form 53.5 Collectivity and Individuality 64 The Influences of Chinese and American Cultures on Consumption Conception 64.1 The Influences of Geography on Consumption Conception 74.2 The Influences of Social Development on Consumption Conception 74.3 The Influences of Values on Consumption Conception 84.4 The Influences of Traditional Family Education on Consumption Conception 94.5 The Influences of Entertainments on Consumption Conception 105 Some Inspirations for Establishing a Correct Concept of Consumption 105.1 Living within Our Means and Moderate Consumption 105.2 Avoiding Blind Obedience and Rational Consumption 105.3 Protecting the Environment and Green Consumption 116 Conclusion 12References 131 Introduction We create cultures which also create ourselves. Each nation creates different cultures in their different ways; in turn, different cultures also create various nations. Culture is the complex whole that includes knowledge, belief, art, law, morals, customs, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by humans as members of society. It includes almost everything that influences an individuals thought processes and behaviors (Hawkins, Best, Coney, 2003:42). As we all know, different countries have different cultures, which influence human life in various aspects. Due to the different cultural background, there exist big differences in customers behaviors or consumption concepts, so it is impossible to dissociate consumption conception from culture. This paper is to make a study on the differences of Chinese-American consumption conceptions from the perspective of culture.1.1 Significance and Aim of the Paper Consumption, as a means for humans to meet individual needs, is determined by consumers subjective factors in certain societies, but generally branded with the cultural imprint. Under the background of globalization, great changes have taken place in peoples consumption with the development of the market economy. The levels of consumption also have different degrees of increase with the improvement of material and cultural life. With the cultural communication between China and America, a growing number of foreign cultures have been introduced to each country, and peoples consumption conceptions have been affected in this environment. There exist big differences in customers behaviors or consumption conceptions because of the different cultural background. The evolution of consumption conceptions is in line with times and reflects the different national cultures. In other words, different cultures produce different consumption concepts. Both of Chinese and American consumption concepts have their own advantages and disadvantages. The paper focuses on the different consumption concepts between China and America, and the influences of culture on the consumption concept, which makes people further realize the different consumption concepts in different cultural background and treat their own culture and consumption concepts correctly and rationally. We should break our prejudices against others consumption concepts, understand and respect peoples consumption concepts under different cultural background. This study mainly analyzes the different consumption concepts from the perspective of culture, which helps us to understand the differences deeply and establish a correct concept of consumption.1.2 Organization of the PaperThe first part is an introduction. It shows readers some essential information about the relationship between culture and consumption conception and the significance and aim of this paper. The second part is about the consumption conception. The third part aims to compare Chinese and American consumption conceptions from five aspects: conservatism and adventurism, future consumption and excessive consumption, frugality and enjoyment, practicability and form, collectivity and individuality from the perspective of culture. The fourth part concerns the influences of Chinese and American cultures on consumption conception, which include five factors: geography, social development, values, traditional family education, and entertainments. The final part is about some inspirations for establishing a correct concept of consumption. 2 Literature ReviewSo far, there has been no uniform definition of consumption conception in the academic community. Researchers defined the consumption conception from different perspectives based on different theoretical perspectives and research methods.2.1 The Definition of Consumption ConceptionConsumption is the process of choosing, purchasing, maintaining that people do in the modern economic and social conditions, to meet their needs and demands (Wang, 2001:6). A Consumer EconomicsDictionarydefines it as: “people through their usingof variouslabor products to meet their own needsand processes.” Consumption conception is extended out from the value. It is one of the components of the value and is the ruler that people use to measure consumption and related things (Luo, 2002:137). Consumption conception means peoples ideology and attitude towards consumption activities, consumption level, and pattern of consumption and so on. It is the thinking standard that guides peoples consumption behaviors and the embodiment of social economic reality in peoples minds. Consumption conception is controlled by a persons lifestyle, values, morality and aesthetic effect and provides the essential nature and orientation of peoples consumption behaviors (Yang, 2002:2). 2.2 Related Researches Abroad and at HomeIn the consumption field, many foreign researches study the impact of values on consumer behavior. Sheth et al. established a theory from the perspective of consumption value to explain how consumers make purchase decisions and summarized five kinds of consumption values that would affect consumer behaviors (Sheth et al, 1991:159). Gutman discussed the essence of the association between product properties, consumption results and personal values and studied the association between the individual decision behavior and values (Gutman, 1982:60). German Metro Group once investigated 7000 peoples consumption concepts in seven EU countries, and the survey report shows that European consumption varies greatly. In some countries, people like overrun consumption; on the contrary, people in some other countries tend to be more prepared for the unexpected suddenness. Chinese scholars thought that discussion on the factors influencing the consumption could be divided into two broad categories: macro-social environment factors and individual background factors. With the comparison of Chinese and western consumption concepts, scholars have done some researches. From the point of view of residents consumption, Huang Yuting explained the issue of the imbalance between Chinese and American trade. She thought that two different consumption concepts lead to the two different trade conditions, i.e., frugal Chinese consumption concept was the important reason for Chinas trade surplus, while the advanced consumption concept put America into the trade deficit situation (Huang, 2007:31). Many scholars have analyzed the ideological origins of the three kind of consumption concepts in Chinese and foreign history; they thought the frugal and luxury consumptions have their own advantages and disadvantages, while moderate consumption concept represents an entirely new consumption ethics and values. Both the personal consumption and overall sense of community consumption are changing with the times and development. From the perspective of Sociology, Wei Xinming analyzed the historical changes and roles of different consumption concepts as well as their advantages and disadvantages (Wei, 2005:22).3 The Comparison of Chinese and American Consumption Conception Chinese people are much more frugal and conservative on consumption. The main representations of Chinese characteristic are conservatism, forbearance, filial piety and collectivism, with high saving rate; but to most Americans, their spirit contains independence, freedom and adventure, with low saving rate. Because of the different culture, Chinese and Americans have different consumption conceptions. The main differences are as follows:3.1 Conservatism and Adventurism Conservative consumption is the conservative thought in the process of consumption. In order to avoid risk, people couldnt keep up with the development of the situation and try to maintain the original state. People who are conservative may refuse to give up the traditional objects of consumption and have negative attitudes to new products. Conservatism is one important characteristic of Chinese cultural spirit. To most Chinese people, they do not want to be different from the others and become too conspicuous. On consumption, people tend to pay more attention to experience and stick to brand. They are unwilling to accept the new product rapidly; especially the just developed new products whose effects are not stable. At the time of purchase, people often seek the views of others, hoping others can help them to make decisions, because they have no idea whether to buy or not (Sun, 1995:47). Chinese people attach importance to the experience but do not like to change and adventure, so they are rare to buy new and different things. The value of conservatism has a deep impact on Chinese consumption conception. Different from Chinese peoples conservatism, Americans prefer to adventurism. Americans like having things which are new and different, because they like change and adventure. Americans generally despise mediocrity, cowardice, like to be the blockbuster. They have the spirit of adventure and trust their own judgment. For a new thing, they rarely consider whether it is consistent with the experience of their predecessors. So they pay more attention to consumption utility, advocating pre-expenditure, trying new consumption patterns and sites, and chasing the new consumption goods actively (Sun, 1995:48). They fervently believe that human beings are developing, the world is developing, everything has to be updated, the new is better than the old. Therefore, they are willing to accept new ideas, new technologies and new products; the more novel and risky products are, the more they are willing to accept and try. At the time of purchase, they generally make decisions by themselves, rarely let others help them; they think it is purely a personal thing.3.2 Future Consumption and Excessive Consumption Future consumption means consumers will choose a more pragmatic and long-term consumption pattern in order to prevent the difficulties caused by the uncertainty in the future. They restrain consumption desire, focus on savings to ensure future consumption needs, advocate thrifty and accumulation before consumption. Chinese people are inclined to this consumption. They advocate frugality and purchase houses by pinching and saving. Chinese people like depositing money, so using tomorrows money to achieve todays dream is not accepted by them generally. If they currently do not have enough money to buy a house, they prefer to live in their old houses rather than secure loans. They think that the future is unknowable, life is impermanent and natural and man-made calamities would happen in future. Only when they have a certain amount of savings, can they live at ease. Americans advocate excessive consumption. In the United States, loan consumption is a very common phenomenon; from houses to cars, from credit cards to the telephone consumption bills, the loan is ubiquity. In American peoples mind, they are able to realize their wishes as long as they are working hard, so they have no hesitation in asking banks for loans to buy houses to improve their standards of living. If they have extra money, they choose consumption, to realize their own needs, to pursue the improvement in their standard of living instead of depositing money in banks. American people think that they would like to enjoy their lives even by loaning money from bank or making an installment.3.3 Frugality and Enjoyment With frugal consumption conception people make maximum savings in consumption, reduce or even eliminate waste consumption. The economy has been the traditional virtue of Chinese nation since ancient times. Thrift is Chinese traditional consumption conception, also is the experience of Chinese traditional family. In China, many family disciplines emphasize that “frugality is the basic rule to manage a home” (Sun, 1995:48). For Chinese people, frugality is not only a consumption conception, but also a moral value. The characteristic can be reflected in Chinese daily life. For example, if things cant work, most people usually go to repair and reuse them until those things cannot be mended. Today, online shopping is very popular; not only is it convenient, but also it is cheap. We think we should save as much as we can. Americans like to catch new things in order to be different. They get rid of old things quickly and without any considerations, because they think that it just wastes time to mend them. Americans who believe in individualism advocate that people should have a happy life, so they attach importance to the existing consumption and enjoy life in time. Of course, this is highly maintained through self-striving. So many people work hard and earn earnestly, and then chase consumption and enjoyment (Sun, 1995:48).Americans like travelling; tourism has become a major industry in America. Even if they have not enough money, they will borrow money to travel. For most people in China it is an unacceptable thing. Chinese think travelling costs a lot, especially travelling aboard is a luxurious expense, which is not accord with our frugal consumption conception.3.4 Practicability and Form Chinese pay more attention to the practical value of commodities because of the influence of frugal consumption conception. They do not care the form and package of goods, but emphasize the intrinsic and practical value of commodities. For example, when we want to buy something, we will consider not only the price, but also its practicability. We always think that bottled stuff is not economical, because we have to spend money on its packaging. Americans attach importance to form, lay stress on the aesthetic value of commodities; good packaging is important to them. Sometimes, the cost of packaging is much more than the quality. They think that if one thing has no good form or packaging, it may have no good quality, so the packaging has also become one of the factors that affect their consumption behavior. 3.5 Collectivity and Individuality Triandis (1995) defines collectivism as a social pattern that consists of individuals who see themselves as an integral part of one or more collectives, such as family and friends, and individualism as a social pattern that consists of individuals who see themselves as autonomous and independent of collectives (Lee, Kacen, 2008:266). China and America are the representative countries of collectivism and individualism. People from more collectivist societies are more likely to be motivated by norms and duties imposed by the collective, to give priority to the goals of the collective and to try to emphasize their connectedness to the collective. People from more individualist cultures are more likely to be motivated by their own preferences, needs, and rights, to give priority to their personal goals and to emphasize their uniqueness and distinction from others (Lee, Kacen, 2008:266). Chinese people put the collective interest first; the groups benefit is more important than personal benefit. When the individual comes into conflict with the collective, people must neglect the individual. So people tend to follow the collectivity, and form a habit of seeking conformity. With the value of conformity, people almost consider the customs and social norms in their variety of consumption behaviors, such as eating, wearing and using, and strive to be consistent with the corresponding social class. For example, if many people buy one product, and then one will buy this kind of product without considering whether it is fit for him or not. We think we should have the things which others have. Besides, capper is a common phenomenon in Chinese markets, exactly because the conformity of the group interferes with the judgment of individual consumers (Wen, Shi, 2004:109). Individualism is a typical capitalist political culture and social philosophy, believing that individual value is the most important and emphasizing self control widely. The United States is a typical representative of individualism. The value of individualism is also reflected in consumption. Individual preferences are unique. Americans do not stick to one pattern, which fully emerge on their wearings. Most people want to be different from the rest, in order to achieve the desired result; they even choose fancy dress. In the United States, everyone is an independent individual, so they do not like what others like, such as family decoration, unlike Chinese, who always follow the same pattern (Sun, 1995:47). Consequently, if they have a chance, they will be fully showing their distinctive self.4 The Influences of