한 사회의 소비문화는 문화의 한 하위영역으로 개인 소비자의 가치와 동기, 그리고 자아개념을 결정하고 궁극적으로 개인의 소비패턴과 일군의 소비자 집단 공통의 소비트렌드를 결정한다. 본고에서는 2001년부터 2010년 3월호까지 10년 동안 소비자학 연구에 게재된 관련논문 40편을 선택하여 우리나라 소비문화와 소비트렌드에 대한 연구현황을 분석하고 그 성과를 평가한 후 앞으로의 연구방향을 제안하고자 하였다.
지난 10년간의 연구동향을 분석해 보면 소비문화와 소비트렌드에 대한 연구가 전반부에 비해 후반부에 크게 증가한 것을 볼 수 있다. 또한 그 주제는 크게 시장이나 사회에서의 소비자 위상과 역할확대, 다양한 방법론의 적용, 특히 질적 연구방법론의 적용을 통한 소비가치와 소비욕구에 대한 심층적 이해, 그리고 세분화된 집단이나 영역에서의 소비패턴과 새로운 소비트렌드에 대한 탐구로 나뉜다. 분석 결과에 기초하여 소비자학 분야에서 소비문화와 소비트렌드 분야의 주요 연구성과를 소비자의 역할에 대한 새로운 해석과 평가, 소비가치와 소비욕구에 대한 심층적이해 자료의 축적, 연구방법론에서의 다양화 세 가지로 요약할 수 있다. 마지막으로 사회와 시장을 이끌어갈 바람직한 소비자성(Consumership)의 모델 제시, 소비문화나 소비트렌드의 예측과 정교화, 글로벌 사회에 적절한 글로벌문화와 소비트렌드 탐구, 질적 연구방법론의 정교화 등 네 분야에서 앞으로 더 많은 연구가 필요함을 논의하였다.
Consumer culture is a system in which consumption, a set of behaviors found in all times and places, is dominated by the consumption of commercial products. It’s a social arrangement in which the relations between the lived cultural experience of everyday life and social resources,between meaningful ways of life and the symbolic and material resources on which they depend,is mediated through markets. On the other hand, consumer trend is a general tendency over a significantly long period in the special consumption area. Consumer culture comes to the surface as a consumer trend, and the trend is affected by cultural meanings such as values,norms, and beliefs. Cultural meanings are transferred to products and services via marketing strategies, fashion systems, and other institutions.
The purpose of this study was to review the achievements and limitations of consumer culture and consumer trend studies during the last 10 years in Korea. For this purpose, 40 relevant papers were selected from the Consumer Studies Journal and reviewed based on the key words and paper themes. Most of the selected papers were written by scholars majoring in Consumer Science.
Research on the consumer culture and consumer trend was almost doubled from year 2001through 2005 to year 2006 through 2010. The themes of papers were divided into three categories: 1) the consumers’ role and consumers’ increased participation on production, 2)in-depth understanding about consumers’ value and consumer needs, 3) consumption pattern and trend analysis for more segmented consumer groups and consumption products. Today’s consumers play an important role not only as consumers but also as producers in the market and contribute to society as a leading citizen.
To investigate consumers’ values and needs throughly, several qualitative research techniques were applied besides to quantitative techniques. About more than one-third of all papers used a qualitative method like In-depth interview, FGI, Self-diary, Experience-Sampling Method, Observation, or method with quantitative method. Developed techniques in the research methods resulted in abundant investigation and examination for consumer culture and consumer trend research. Specifically new concepts such as shopping values, self-control, self-determinants,consumer satiety were introduced to explain the consumer attitudes and behaviors.
After reviewing 40 papers, some research topics were suggested. First, the development of a desired consumership model was necessary. Since consumers participate in society as they do in market with dollars, new consumership model should consider what the ideal citizenship is. Secondly, more refined consumer culture and consumer trend analysis are required. The more the society and the market develop, the more variance in consumer values and needs will exist in the future. Globalization may promote more differences among individual consumer’s tastes and preferences. Finally, qualitative research method for consumer culture and consumer trend studies should be improved. Specifically, to design research questions and to interpret collected data, reliable justification procedures are inevitably needed.
