A Study on the Culture of Modern Mass Consumption in View of Human Decent Life

인간생활의 관점에서 본 현대 대중 소비문화

The purpose of this study is to determine how the culture of modern mass consumption is understood in determining a decent lifestyle. This study examined a variety of literature on this problem. The important results are as follows. The culture of consumption has evolved through the increase of productivity in modern industry. People's desires have instigated a developing consumption culture: the concepts of advertising, fashion, over-consumption, and conspicuous consumption. The dissemination of this new consumption culture in an information-rich society, facilitated by the popularization of the Internet, has started to influence every nook and comer of our lives. This change of lifestyle has resulted not only in positive effects, but also in negative ones, such as distortion of information, and inequality. Thus the culture of modern mass consumption has created a new concept of class order and has reinforced the unbalance between opinion-leaders and opinion-followers. It has also increased the ratio of needs to wants. Consumption makes escape and sensual pleasure possible. The conclusion of this study is that the culture of modern mass consumption has not upheld its original purpose, that is, the qualitative enrichment of life through consumption. It has only caused the disintegration of individuality.