Feminism in the context of Western later scholars

Author: Su Hongjun, Bo Di
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-06-01
Features: We live in an era where even the air is filled with the scent of consumerism. Although, apart from major cities like New York, American society—its small towns and rural areas—does not experience the almost inescapable advertising that constantly stimulates desires, as seen in China, the 20th century was the world's center of consumerism. Since the mid-19th century, the global center of consumption has shifted from Europe to the United States, and by the early 20th century, the U.S. had become the most developed consumer culture in the world. Today, consumer culture continues to evolve. Meanwhile, many countries around the world have entered consumer societies. China's entry into a consumer society began only in the last two decades, and its consumer culture is still in its early stages, but its momentum is like a giant wave, with inescapable advertisements celebrating the arrival of a consumer society every moment. The mature consumer society and culture in the U.S., as well as research on them, particularly on female consumption, are the focus of this paper. Additionally, since cultural studies emphasize specificity and international feminist theory is increasingly becoming more concrete, research that combines feminism with specific cultural practices may be more targeted and meaningful. Therefore, the final section of this paper will introduce and discuss British and American studies on Chinese consumer culture and women. Thus, this paper is composed of the following parts: , What is consumer culture and consumer society? The purpose of this section is to discuss the social, historical, cultural, and theoretical backgrounds of the theories and research. Many theories were not proposed by feminist scholars, so the perspectives introduced here cover a broader range. Second, the significance of women in consumer society. This section examines the historical relationship between women and consumer society. Third, a critique of consumer culture, summarizing the main viewpoints and positions of Western critiques of consumer culture. Fourth, the stance and perspectives of contemporary feminism on consumer culture. Fifth, the development of consumer culture studies and other major theorists. Sixth, an introduction to recent studies by British and American scholars on Chinese consumer culture and gender, as well as major publications. It should be noted that due to language limitations, I can only access materials in Chinese and English, and I cannot include those published in French, German, or other languages. Therefore, I will use the term "British and American" to refer to the ideas and academic theories I discuss, avoiding the term "Western" as much as possible. My principle is that theories written and published in English are only part of the discourse of Western intellectuals and do not represent the entirety of the West. Additionally, I have included consumer culture and Chinese women in this introduction to British and American studies on consumer culture and women's consumption because I believe that China's consumer culture is a fundamental issue we must ultimately consider. I aim to integrate research on China into the international feminist theory and practice at the global level.