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1、 A Study of the Differences between Chinese and American Consumption Conceptions from the Perspective of CultureAbstract: With the sustainable and rapid development of Chinese economy, more and more people pay attention to the issue of consumption. Consumption, as a means for humans to meet individu
2、al needs, is determined by the subjective element of consumers, so it has the brand of culture more or less. Culture is an important factor which influences the consumption in customers behaviors or concepts. The paper aims to compare Chinese and American consumption conceptions from five aspects: c
3、onservatism and adventurism, future consumption and excessive consumption, frugality and enjoyment, practicability and form, collectivity and individuality from the perspective of culture. It reveals that the influences of geographic elements, social development, values and traditional family educat
4、ion as well as entertainments play a very important role in the formation of Chinese and American consumption conceptions. The study in this paper will help people further realize the different consumption conceptions in different cultural background, treat their own culture and consumption concepti
5、ons correctly and rationally and establish a correct concept of consumption.Key Words: Chinese-American culture; consumption conception; differences; reasons从文化层面分析中美消费观的差异摘要：随着中国经济持续、快速的发展，越来越多的人开始关注消费这一话题。消费，作为人类借以满足个体需要的手段，主要是由消费者个体主观因素决定，但多少都烙有文化的印记。文化是影响消费者行为和消费观的一个重要因素。本文从文化层面比较了中美两国人们在消费观上五个方
6、面的差异：保守主义与冒险主义，未来消费与超前消费，节俭与享受，重实用与重形式，从众与个性。本文揭示了地理因素、社会发展、价值观和传统家庭教育以及娱乐因素的影响在中美消费观念的形成中起到了非常重要的作用，使人们进一步认识到不同文化背景下会产生不同的消费观念。我们应该正确、理性地看待本国文化与本国人们的消费观念，并能树立正确的消费观。关键词：中美文化；消费观；差异；原因ContentsAbstract I摘要 II1 Introduction 11.1 Significance and Aim of the Paper 11.2 Organization of the Paper 12 Liter
7、ature 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
8、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 Concep
9、tion 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 Obedi
10、ence 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. C
11、ulture 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
12、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 pape
13、r 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 bra
14、nded 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 cult
15、ural 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
16、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.
17、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 cor
18、rectly 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 underst
19、and 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 seco
20、nd 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 fro
21、m 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 establi
22、shing 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
23、 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 variouslabo
24、r 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 tow
25、ards 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 an
26、d 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
27、 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 persona
28、l 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 li
29、ke 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 individ
30、ual 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 consumpti
31、on 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 origin
32、s 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 over
33、all 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 Amer
34、ican 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
35、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 av
36、oid 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
37、 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
38、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
39、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
40、. 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
41、, 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
42、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 C
43、onsumption 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,
44、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
45、 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 li
46、ve 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 a
47、re 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. America
48、n 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,
