Liu, Cheng. "Consumption Theory in Marxist Ecological Context." in Ecological Civilzation and Marxism. Ed. Huibin Li, Xiaoyuan Xue, Zhihe Wang. China: Central Compilation & Translation Press, 2007.139-145.

Abstract

In the 19th century, Marx’s ecological ideas are mainly represented in his views on the understanding of the relationship between man and nature, and the word “metabolism” is a word of the core discourse for Marx and Engels to address the natural ecological environmental problems of the time. The human concept of consumption is always closely linked with their view on nature. In their analysis of human consumption, Marx and Engels established the ideas of consumptions evolution through the prescription of quality and quantity, the interactive unification between survival and the conservation of natural resources, and ecologization-oriented circulatory consumption. These ideas provide important revelations for us to advocate consumption in view of ecological environmental protection. Therefore, in the course of building a harmonious consumption, man should go from the animal-like enchantment consumption and the symbolized disenchantment consumption to sustainable reenchantment consumption.