西方消费史研究方法的反思

Rethinking the Research Methods of the History of Consumption in Western Countries

自20世纪70年代晚期西方学术界开启消费史研究第一波热潮以来,西方消费史研究经历了一个爆炸式的增长过程,但消费史的繁荣和研究的深入,却无法掩饰一个尴尬的事实,那就是虽然多个学科都关注消费史,跨学科方法也得到广泛运用,但西方消费史在研究方法上却存在着相当大的分歧、混乱和夹缠不清,因此,有必要对西方消费史的研究方法问题进行总结和反思,找出问题和原因,以求在未来的消费史研究中通过方法的突破带动研究向纵深拓展。

Since the first research wave of the history of consumption emerged in western academic circles in the late1970 s,the research of the history of consumption has experienced an explosive growth process.But the prosperity and the deepening of the research on the history of consumption cannot conceal an embarrassing fact that there are considerable differences and confusions in the research methods of the history of consumption in the western countries although many disciplines have focused on the history of consumption and interdisciplinary methods are widely used.Therefore,it is necessary to summarize and rethink the research methods of the history of consumption,to figure out the existing problems and causes,and to push the research to depth and width through methodological breakthroughs in the future research of the history of consumption.