无印良品与文化代理——论中国青年中产阶层的符号消费

MUJI and Cultural Agents: Symbolic Consumption of Chinese Middle Class Youths

日本品牌无印良品有着自然、低调、简约的明确产品定位,类似风格近两年来在中国被称为＂性冷淡＂,并在家具、日用品、服装等领域被奉为时尚圭臬。然而,和设计上的质朴简约相比,毫不清心寡欲的高昂溢价,引发了笔者对＂性冷淡＂热背后群体心态的文化反思。本文以文化资本理论以及符号批判思想为框架,通过对无印良品形象策略和用户行为的观察,辅证以定性访谈及无印良品＂粉丝＂聚集的网络社区交流记录,试图说明都市青年中产阶层流行用无印良品或类似品牌进行自我赠礼的行为背后,是将＂性冷淡＂风作为从容、优越的小资产阶级品质生活符号,并雇用无印良品品牌作为代理＂冒充＂这种生活的文化机制。当这一风格的符号随着炫耀成分的增加而逐渐贬值,＂性冷淡＂风的代理地位必将被新的时尚取代。

The Japanese brand MUJI has a clear positioning of natural and low-key briefness. Such style has recently become voguish in furniture,clothing and commodity fields in China as"Sexual Apathetic Style". Compared to its apathetic design,however,the high premium is by no means apathetic,which stimulates reflection on the collective cultural motivation behind its unusual popularity. Based its analysis on the Cultural Capital Theory and the Sign Critical Theory,the article studies image strategy and users’ behavior of MUJI,meanwhile adopts interviews and communication records in online communities where"MUJI Fans"flock as auxiliary proof,trying to demonstrate that middle class youths use MUJI( or similar products)for Self-gift Giving,partially because they regard the certain style as a sign of the high quality life of bourgeois,thus hire the brand as an agent to"pretend"to lead such life. While the signal meaning of the style gradually depreciates,the agency status of the Sexual Apathy will be doomed to be replaced by newfashions.