Consumption in the Educational Sphere as an Indicator of Socialization

The article actualizes the problem of consumption in the educational sphere and its connection with the process of socialization. The purpose of the article is to analyze the motives of demonstrative consumption and the conditions and ways of its implementation in the educational system as a mechanism of socialization in the consumer society. Methodology. As a methodological basis were used: 1) the concept of accepting the role of the Other by J. Mead; 2) the concept of demonstrative consumption by T. Veblen and M. Weber as indicators of the class structure of society and guarantor of the formation of motives and goals of consumption; 3) the sociological approach, which allows building the study on the basis of the concept of similarity and distinction by P. Bourdieu. Research results: based on the definition of consumption processes in modern society, the study considers education as a variant of demonstrative consumption, reveals its motives and variants. It is shown that the subject’s choice of the trajectory of receiving education, regardless of its purpose and motives, acts as a way of socialization in the consumer society. Conclusion: it is concluded that demonstrative consumption in education is manifested in the fact that education, functioning as a social institution, performs not only the functions of education of society, organization of the learning process, but also the functions of symbolic consumption: it is a tool to maintain the existing social hierarchy, a way to move through social strata, that is, it organizes and provides social mobility, an indicator of financial opportunities, personal preferences and ambitions.