消费社会视域中的贫困问题

The Poverty Problem in the Perspective of Consumer Society

以消费为核心,鲍德里亚和鲍曼指出现代社会的重心从生产转向消费,进而指认了消费社会的特征与内涵。二者通过对消费社会中贫困问题的反思,分别从主客体的角度批判了现代资本主义:从文化符号批判出发,鲍德里亚提出"返璞归真"以消解贫困;从消费主体的境遇出发,鲍曼呼吁人道主义以关照"新穷人";二者同源异流、互相补充,具有极强的批判性。然而,从唯物史观来看,双方依然站在主体与客体、生产与消费对立的立场来提出问题和解决问题,因而只能够提供"批判的武器"。为此,我们依然需要回到马克思,运用唯物史观的分析方法,揭示符号意识形态、贫困与新穷人等问题的根源,辩证理性地看待消费,为解决贫困问题提供合理可行的中国方案。

Focusing on consumption, Baudrillard and Bauman point out that the focus of modern society shifts from production to consumption, and identifies the characteristics and connotations of consumer society. Through the reflection on the poverty problem in the consumer society, they criticized modern capitalism from the perspective of subject and object: from the critique of cultural symbols, Baudrillard proposed "returning to original nature";from the situation of consumer subjects, Bauman calling on humanitarianism for new poor;they have the same origin and are highly critical. However, from the perspective of historical materialism, they still stand on the standpoint of the opposition between the subject and the object, the contradiction between production and consumption to raise questions and solve problems, and thus can only provide "critical weapons." To this end, we still need to return to Marx, adhere to the analytical methods of historical materialism, reveal the roots of problems, and provide a reasonable and feasible Chinese solution to the poverty problem.