Title: Consumer Society, Lifestyle and Taste “Pursuit”: The Change of Cultural Ideas in English Literature in the First Half of the 20th Century

Abstract: The consumer society has brought about a rich and prosperous standard of living, and it has also brought about tremendous changes in human nature. At the conceptual level, the essence of change is a way of life centered on the logic of desire. The investigation of the changes in cultural ideas in English literature in the first half of the 20th century, relies heavily on the medium that the ideas are attached to. New art forms, new media innovations and communication revolutions have emerged, conveying the the message of material prosperity and the encouragement of consumption. They have also promoted the formation of a new “taste pursuit” at the level of cultural ideas.

Keywords: social change, lifestyle, taste, cultural idea

Author: Qiang Hu, Professor, School of Foreign Languages, Xiangtan University, Xiangtan, Hunan, China.