— **** Introduction **** — Dragging your weary worker's steps home, you remember today is the last day of the shopping festival, so you force yourself to revive, open your phone, and race against time, determined to clear your shopping cart at the last moment. You're losing hair comparing products from N stores, anxious about not reaching the threshold for discounts. You've bookmarked multiple excellent guides and hop between celebrity livestreams. You silently compete with yourself, thinking, "I can buy expensive, but I absolutely cannot be overcharged." Store discounts, cross-store full reduction, shopping coupons, shopping red packets, 88VIP... You dust off your long-unused math skills, calculate the optimal discount, and place the order. You let out a long sigh, turn off your phone, lie in bed, as if the day's toil truly ends only now. Such scenes are familiar to you and me. We seem to pursue something, trying to find the optimal solution for our needs among a vast array of goods. We seem to expend effort, time and energy slipping away as fingers glide across the screen. We seem to gain rewards, ending the zero-sum game of planting and uprooting grass and emptying wallets. It feels like we're working. Yet, we're defined as consuming. Why do we feel this way? Why does consumption feel like labor? When did consumption become so cumbersome? Why does consumption often lack pleasure? If I'm not consuming but laboring, why is there no pay? With these questions, we began this research, attempting to understand the relationship between consumption and labor. During the research, we saw the alarming surplus of goods and experienced the powerful torque of transitioning from a production-oriented society to a consumption-oriented society. In the new era, within the grand business loop driving social progress, consumption has become a form of labor, and indeed crucial labor. This report adopts the following framework: the definition of labor; how consumption becomes labor under that definition; the era of commodity surplus and the consumer society; and prospects. This report is over 10,000 characters, with the beginning and end presenting key content and core viewpoints, while the middle is the detailed expansion. Please read carefully. How Labor is Defined Development of the Concept of Labor In the Modern Chinese Dictionary, labor is "human activity that creates material and spiritual wealth," generally divided into physical and mental labor. What exactly is labor? It is not only an economic and sociological question but also a complex and profound philosophical one. Ancient Society Before the birth of the bourgeoisie, labor was always belittled, and its definition was vague. Ancient thinkers did not deeply study the social value of labor from a theoretical perspective. During this period, labor was seen as an activity forced upon individuals for survival, implying lower social status, daily toil, and personal dependence. In ancient Greece, labor was hard toil, including two activities: slave labor and artisan making (work). Aristotle believed that labor serves what is necessary, and work produces useful things; neither can be independent of human needs. Those dominated by "usefulness" and "necessity" cannot become truly free people. In the Middle Ages, labor became a religious concept in Christian thought. But labor did not become sacred; instead, it was linked to humanity's "original sin." In the Bible's Genesis, ancestors Adam and Eve were expelled from the Garden of Eden for eating the fruit of the tree of knowledge, and from then on, humanity had to toil day and night to atone for their ancestors' sins. Labor in this period was synonymous with suffering, toil, and punishment. Modern Society In the late Middle Ages, the bourgeoisie gradually rose, and labor's status improved. Protestant ethics, economists, and philosophers redefined labor, making paid labor a symbol of individual freedom in economic and social transformation. In Protestant ethics, labor symbolized "worldly asceticism." Labor became a calling, a sign of God's grace and blessing. Actively engaging in secular activities and striving for professional success was the only path to salvation. English philosopher John Locke, from the perspective of property and claims, proposed that labor adds something to objects during transformation, creating added value. Thus, the fruits of labor can be legitimately owned by the laborer. German philosopher Hegel believed that labor is the process by which humans transform objective natural materials into forms that meet their needs through their own activities. This process not only changes the external world but also transforms the laborers themselves. Classical economist Adam Smith initially made two definitions of labor: on one hand, he tried to classify activities that satisfy subjective pleasure as labor because they provide the "utility" people need; on the other hand, he restricted labor to activities that make productive contributions to social welfare because they add economic value in the transformation process. Ultimately, Smith chose the second definition, only considering activities that create commodities as labor. Marx inherited and developed previous views, further linking labor to commodity production. Marx believed that labor is the process by which humans, through their physical and mental activities, transform nature to meet their needs. Labor is not only a means of producing material wealth but also the foundation of human existence and development. During this period, a consensus gradually formed on the concept of labor, generally endowing labor with the characteristic of transforming objects and linking it to production and manufacturing. Contemporary Society With socioeconomic development, people gradually recognized that many non-productive activities are also important for maintaining social and economic operations, so the concept of labor needed expansion to include other social activities beyond production. Weber included administrative services with contractual wages into the concept of labor. Before this, labor was always a relationship between humans and objects, subject and object; Weber saw labor within organizations. In the early 20th century, female labor gradually gained social recognition. Before the 20th century, women's work was generally considered auxiliary. Due to the significant social significance of nursing and logistics during wars, and the feminist movement demanding recognition of the social and economic value of housework, female labor gradually gained recognition. Later, modern sociology gave birth to the concept of emotional labor. Emotional labor originated in studies of flight attendants, where passive emotional management in service should be considered emotional labor. Entering the digital and intelligent era, unpaid, immaterial, value-creating internet user activities are called digital labor. During this period, service labor, female labor, etc., were successively included in the category of labor, and the boundaries of labor continue to broaden, with more socially valuable activities recognized as labor. Abstract Definition of Labor Labor has been a social concept since its inception, an activity recognized by a specific society as contributing to public welfare based on its economic conditions and values. But the line between purely personal pursuits and social value is blurred. Personal activities considered pure pastimes today may be recognized as socially valuable universal activities tomorrow. Social division of labor and cultural diversity make labor's boundaries even harder to determine. Although definitions of labor differ significantly across eras and even disciplines, and boundaries remain relatively vague even as they expand, we still strive to abstract the most basic definition of labor:
Human activities that, for survival and development, under certain social standards and norms, expend physical and mental effort, creating certain economic or social value In short, labor is a social activity with humans as the subject, having purpose, expenditure, output, and standards. How Consumption Becomes Labor Humans are clearly the subjects of consumption. Next, we will demonstrate from the four elements of labor that consumption with purpose, expenditure, output, and standards is already a form of labor. Purpose: Meeting Survival and Development In the non-monetary economy era, people directly obtained survival resources through labor forms like gathering and hunting, maintaining basic physiological and safety needs. Entering the monetary economy era, traditional production labor earns monetary rewards, and people use money for consumption to meet survival and development needs. Consumption not only satisfies material needs like clothing, food, housing, and transportation but also provides emotional value and spiritual pleasure, meeting higher-level social, respect, and self-actualization needs. In short, in modern society, meeting survival and development needs is inseparable from consumption activities. Expenditure: Expending Mental and Physical Effort Consumption often appears as pastime, leisure, and entertainment. When talking about consumption, people feel relaxed and happy, but when talking about labor, they often show a troubled face. The various laborious behaviors hidden in the consumption process are easily masked by the concept of "pleasurable consumption," but in fact, consumption is time-consuming and energy-draining. We have long been accustomed to treating consumption as recreation; separating consumption from labor actually overestimates the enjoyment of consumption. In today's mobile internet era, consumption behaviors are pervasive, penetrating everyone's daily life. Due to information asymmetry and relatively oversupplied consumption environment, consumers need to expend significant energy at every step, from clarifying personal needs, selecting products, choosing platforms, comparing prices, placing orders, to after-sales. When We Dive into Consumption We Embrace an Ever-Expanding Commodity World Rising Quantity Refined Categories Accelerated New Product Launches According to statistics from the China Article Numbering Center, in 2023, newly registered consumer goods with commodity barcodes increased by 19.64 million types, a year-on-year increase of 19.2%, bringing the total to 191.737 million types, with over 580,000 barcode enterprise users. The rise in product quantity and accelerated launches means consumers need to make decisions among more products. Refined categories force consumers to become more precise need identifiers and more professional product appraisers. The expanding commodity world does not give consumers much breathing room but demands more time and energy and sets higher requirements. When We Begin to Choose We Face Dazzling Information Bombardment The birth of the internet not only profoundly changed consumption patterns but also changed corporate marketing methods. Traffic has become a battleground for merchants and the core of channels; investing in advertising to capture user mindshare has become market consensus. Data shows that China's internet advertising market has exceeded one trillion yuan and continues to grow. In the era of interest e-commerce, compared to hard ads that directly present promoted products to consumers, soft ads and hidden ads are more likely to make users voluntarily receive information, with more covert means. Massive information makes it difficult for consumers to find effective information by distinguishing truth from falsehood; ubiquitous soft ads on social media make it harder to find genuine experiences. When We Prepare to Decide We Face a Lengthening Consumption Cycle Multiple online and offline platforms and channels make consumers laborious. Online, consumers can choose brand self-operated stores, e-commerce platforms, short-video platforms, and private domains for purchases; offline, consumers can shop at physical stores, wholesale markets, or second-hand markets. In recent years, mainstream social platforms have also actively expanded into e-commerce. Due to differences in channel costs, product categories and prices vary across channels, increasing consumers' choice costs. Shopping festivals and new e-commerce marketing tactics catch consumers off guard. Various e-commerce shopping festivals fill the calendar, and various coupons are hidden in the dark corners of platforms; being a savvy consumer has become a lesson. Shopping festivals have become math problems consumers can't score full marks on; the fancy guides on social media invisibly increase consumer anxiety, and FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) makes consumers pay more frequent attention to online information because they worry about missing out. The many micro-decisions in shopping cause consumer fatigue. Data shows adults make at least 35,000 decisions daily on average, and a single consumption behavior involves hundreds of micro-decisions. Rational consumers shuttle between shopping platforms for comparison and linger on social platforms for reviews. Survey data shows that over half of consumers compare prices across multiple stores and check platform discount information, and nearly 40% search for product information and reviews on non-shopping platforms, with over 90% of those searching on two or more non-shopping platforms. Consumers must research product raw materials and ingredients, learn professional terms, guard against potential pitfalls, worry about being taken advantage of by missing events, continuously monitor activity cycles on various platforms, and check for affordable equivalents on different platforms—a painstaking effort comparable to value investing to find a good company at the right price. Output: Creating Economic/Social Value Consumption is often associated with "expenditure" and "waste," while labor is linked to "production" and "creation." Traditionally, there is an insurmountable gap between consumption and labor; people often value economic value over social value, and the power of production over consumption. With rapid productivity development and abundant material production, human participation in production activities is decreasing, and the value of consumption should be recognized. Consumption Creates Economic Value From the economic cycle, consumption is both the starting point and the endpoint. Consumption is the purpose and driving force of production; distribution and exchange are bridges connecting production and consumption. Because market demand exists, producers are willing to purchase raw materials and invest resources in processing and production. Only when goods are successfully sold can they obtain production rewards and reproduction capital, allowing production to continue indefinitely. If consumption stops, the entire economic cycle stagnates. From the stage of economic development, we have entered a period where the marginal returns on investment decline, and consumption's positive effect on the economy is more evident. In different periods, people's understanding of consumption differs. Classical economists emphasized the importance of thrift and saving, agreeing that saving is a virtue. This matched the economic stage of the time; in early economic development, excessive consumption would crowd out investment, hindering production expansion and economic growth. The Great Depression gave rise to Keynesianism, which proposed that economic crises are caused by insufficient effective demand, opposed austerity, and emphasized expansionary fiscal policies to stimulate consumption and investment. In early China, transitioning from a planned economy to a market economy, commodity supply was short, and economic growth was mainly driven by investment; with rapid economic growth, the situation of supply falling short of demand changed, marginal returns on investment declined, and the importance of consumption gradually emerged. Research shows that consumption can simultaneously promote investment and improve the total factor productivity of investment, and this promotion effect is more significant when consumption reaches a certain threshold. Currently, China's consumption share is far from optimal, and the economic significance of expanding consumption is clear. Consumption Creates Data Value Data is the core element of the digital economy. "Data" as the "new oil" of the digital era is both a production factor and a commodity. As of 2023, China's online payment users reached 954 million, accounting for 87.3% of netizens. Online shopping users reached 915 million, accounting for 83.8% of netizens. Online shopping and payment generate massive data. According to statistics, a single milk tea order can generate 87 data points, and a milk tea shop can have tens of billions of data points. Specifically, data generated during consumption can be divided into the following categories. First, customer data: platforms or enterprises hold a large amount of consumer profile data, including gender, age, and spending power. Second, transaction data: including consumers' shopping platforms, frequency, amounts, and payment methods. Third, behavioral data: including pre-purchase browsing, search, and cart data, post-purchase feedback data, social media interactions, and user-generated content. Various data may seem insignificant, but when aggregated, they can weave into a data network, analyzed and applied from different dimensions. For enterprises: first, consumption data can be used to identify market trends, understand consumer behavior and preference changes, forecast market demand, adjust production plans in time, and manage inventory; second, enterprises can conduct precise advertising and personalized marketing based on target users' consumption behavior; third, they can optimize products and services based on consumer feedback. For consumers, big data allows them to receive more personalized and customized recommendations, saving shopping time and improving shopping experience. For academic and research institutions, consumer data provides rich material for consumer psychology research and consumption industry analysis. Standards: Pursuing Quality and Low Price General labor typically has socially recognized value norms and standards, just as housework pursues comfort and cleanliness, physical labor pursues efficiency, technical labor requires professionalism, and service labor requires care and enthusiasm. If consumption is a form of labor, it should also have socially recognized standards. When we praise someone for being good at shopping, what standard are we using? This scale has always been in everyone's heart. From an economic perspective, consumers are rational economic agents pursuing utility maximization in consumption activities. Consumers face numerous indifference curves, representing different combinations of goods that yield the same utility. At the same time, consumers face budget constraints, representing the funds available for purchasing goods. Ideally, consumers choose the tangency point between the budget constraint line and an indifference curve, where they maximize utility with their budget. In the real world of consumption, during consumption downgrading, people are more inclined to pursue cost-effective products, i.e., optimizing cost while meeting basic needs; during consumption upgrading, people are more inclined to pursue quality-price or product-price ratio, i.e., pursuing the best quality at a given price, requiring that the product's performance, brand, and quality match or exceed the price. In layman's terms, it's "good quality and low price" or "worth the price." According to iResearch consumer survey data, over half of consumers agree that money should be spent on the right things to maximize quality of life, and over half actively learn product knowledge and buy as needed. The Era of Surplus and Consumer Society From an abstract definition, consumption has purpose, output, expenditure, and standards, and it can already be proven to be a form of labor. The reason consumption labor has gone from being ignored by society to deserving recognition is that we have arrived at a consumer society with massive commodity surplus. Highly developed production is multiplying the commodity world exponentially, and the new productivity revolution brought by artificial intelligence makes this trend irreversible. The demand side is flooded with surplus goods, while the supply side's humans are gradually forgotten by production. Consumption has undoubtedly become the main driving force for personal value realization, economic growth, and social progress. Highly Developed Production Technological progress has acceleration, exponential on a time scale: 15,000 years ago we had no agriculture, 1,500 years ago no industrial machines, 150 years ago no household electricity, 15 years ago no smartphones. Technological progress will accelerate productivity growth and reduce product costs. Take semiconductors and Moore's Law: for decades, chip performance has roughly doubled every two years at the same price. Moore's Law is not a mathematical or physical law but more an analytical prediction of development trends. That is, exponential technological progress will multiply productivity and rapidly grow social wealth. To date, humanity has experienced three production revolutions: the machine revolution represented by the steam engine shifted manual production to mechanized production; the electrical revolution represented by electricity further promoted large-scale modern production; the information revolution represented by computers deeply integrated technology with production. Now, we are in the fourth production revolution, where a new generation of technological change represented by artificial intelligence is restructuring production, taking human society to places we cannot imagine. Production automation and large-scale robot application will gradually replace human roles in manufacturing, leading to even larger commodity surpluses. In 2022, global industrial robot installations exceeded 550,000 units, nearly three times the installations a decade ago. Global manufacturing robot density reached 151, doubling in the past decade. Technological progress is changing the traditional view that manufacturing is labor-intensive, greatly improving manufacturing productivity. The deep development of AI will penetrate all industries, and functional jobs will gradually be replaced. McKinsey predicts generative AI may automate 60%-70% of employees' work. Between 2030 and 2060 (midpoint 2045), 50% of occupations will gradually be replaced by AI, a full 10 years earlier than previous research. By industry, in 2023, AI had higher usage in technology, media, and telecommunications; by occupation, AI penetration is higher in product development, marketing, and service operations, averaging over 20%. According to survey data, AI significantly reduces costs in manufacturing, service operations, risk, and marketing. AI can be used to improve customer experience and customer service productivity, enhance personalization and sales efficiency, and improve product simulation and testing. Future applications in more scenarios will further reduce costs. From public awareness, most people already know about AI and believe it will change their work. Globally, about 63% of people know about ChatGPT. Among those familiar with ChatGPT, 17% use it daily, 36% weekly, and 16% monthly. Survey data shows that over half believe AI will profoundly change their work in the next five years, and 36% believe AI will replace their current jobs in the next five years. The continued development of AI will greatly increase productivity and rapidly grow social wealth. Goldman Sachs reports that AI could increase global productivity growth by 1.0% to 1.5% within 10 years. McKinsey predicts that applying generative AI across industries could add $2.6 trillion to $4.4 trillion annually to the global economy. In 2023, the UK's GDP was $3.34 trillion, meaning generative AI could contribute "one UK GDP" to the global economy. Technological progress brings continuous changes in production methods, compensating for obstacles like labor shortages and resource constraints. On one hand, production will become more efficient and low-cost, making massive commodity surplus irreversible. On the other hand, human production roles will be gradually replaced, traditional labor space will be continuously squeezed, and the definition of labor will be refreshed again. Massive Commodity Surplus On one side is exponential technological progress and production development; on the other, globally slowing population growth and consumer demand. The balance between production and consumption has long been severely tilted. We already live in a society of mass production, mass consumption, and mass disposal. Unconsumed commodities fill every corner of the world, and any new demand is met immediately. Do you also feel that "there is too much of everything"? Production development and technological progress bring simultaneous improvements in product quality and quantity, intensifying the contradiction between more durable products and surplus goods. Producers are orderly manufacturing dissatisfaction, implanting the concept of obsolescence in consumers, advocating replacement and updating products on schedule. Planned obsolescence and artificial elimination have become the norm in the surplus era. Globally, about 20 billion towels are produced annually. But with alternatives like facial towels, cleansing wipes, drying caps, and bath towels, how many towels do you actually need daily? Global TV shipments are about 200 million units per year. But with smartphones, tablets, and laptops, how long has it been since you turned on your TV? Endless products become surplus as substitutes divert demand. Global annual production of plastic cups is about 39 billion, paper cups about 280 billion, insulated cups about 1.2 billion, plus hundreds of millions of glass cups, ceramic cups, etc... 「Take a Little Test」 Count how many cups you currently have. Think about how many cups you actually need. How many cups have you not used for over a month? Do you also have various "cup tragedies"? Production speed has far exceeded people's consumption speed. Any small demand is met in large quantities, and any small track has producers swarming in. From ordinary consumables to fleeting novelties, endless products come off assembly lines to become surplus goods on shelves and in warehouses, eager but hard to reach consumers. Growth Driven by Production Shifts to Consumption Sustained production capacity and relatively limited consumer demand create massive surplus goods, pushing humanity into a consumer society. Production-side development will be constrained by insufficient demand; continuously creating new consumption scenarios and demands has become the main logic for growth. If the production society continuously manufactures goods, then the consumer society should continuously create demand. In other words, in a production society, capable producers are scarce resources for social development, but in a consumer society, consumers with demand become scarce resources. Social growth has shifted from production logic to consumption logic. From production context to consumption context, social culture also changes accordingly. In a production society, people mainly participate as producers, and social culture is driven by work ethics; in a consumer society, people participate as consumers, and social culture is governed by consumption aesthetics. From work ethics to consumption aesthetics, social positioning is quietly changing. In a society governed by work ethics, work is the primary tool for social positioning. Once work type and career plans are determined, other arrangements fall into place, and social status and relationships naturally form. In a society governed by consumption aesthetics, consumption becomes an important tool for social positioning. The higher the freedom of choice in consumption, the closer one is to the vision of a "good life," and the higher the corresponding social respect and recognition. From advocating efficiency and order to pursuing individuality and freedom, value orientation is quietly changing. Production activities are collective undertakings requiring communication, division of labor, and cooperation, pursuing efficiency and order in the process; orderly and synchronized producers better meet social expectations. Production is lively, but consumption is lonely. Consumption activities are private, requiring constant awakening, stimulation, and satisfaction of new desires, pursuing freedom and difference in the process; consumers who express individuality and pursue self are more favored. From a solid society to a liquid society, social cohesion is also changing. In a production society, stable career development and social relationships will be shaken. Consumers endowed with social expectations should have continuously stimulated new needs and quickly dissolved satisfaction. Everything happens quickly and dissipates quickly. The pursuit of "speed" and "instantaneity," and the questioning of "certainty," replace expectations of continuity and permanence. The social foundation changes from stable solid to quicksand, with ubiquitous fluidity making structural unemployment, alienated social relationships, and habitual loneliness the norm. Prospects The train of the times never stops roaring, and change always comes quietly. How should individuals and organizations in the consumer society adapt and change? Macroscopically, we must shift from the production and investment perspective of the shortage era to the consumption perspective of the surplus era, value the power and value of consumption, and guide high-quality consumption to promote high-quality development. China's manufacturing value-added accounts for about 30% of the global total, ranking first for 14 consecutive years, making it a worthy world factory. The demand advantages of a super-large market, the supply chain advantages of a complete industrial system, and the supply advantages of a large number of high-quality laborers allow China to continuously supply a large number of goods to the world, improving global welfare. But we should also recognize that relative to manufacturing's 30% share, China's GDP accounts for only 18%. Exports have long offset this imbalance. With global massive commodity surplus, geopolitical tensions, and rising trade protectionism, accusations of China's overcapacity will only become louder. As the world's factory, China should have a global vision and world responsibility. On one hand, China should lead by example in promoting global industrial and supply chain upgrades, eliminating outdated production capacity, developing advanced production capacity, providing quality goods, and guiding consumption upgrades. On the other hand, it should face the problem of insufficient domestic consumption, and become not only a manufacturing power but also a consumption power. Data shows that final consumption expenditure in Western developed countries like the UK and US accounts for over 80%, Japan and South Korea over 70%, while China has been around 50% in recent years, relatively low. Further analysis shows that consumption expenditure includes household consumption and government consumption; China's household consumption as a share of GDP is significantly lower than other countries. There is still much room for improvement in household consumption, and China should provide a new engine for the world economy through consumption growth in the future. Removing consumption shame is an urgent task for Chinese society today. Since reform and opening up, China has achieved unprecedented economic miracles in just a few decades. In just one generation, we have gone from poverty to a well-off life, from planned supply in the ticket era to today's material abundance and massive commodity surplus. But mainstream thought cannot keep up with economic development; mainstream consumption concepts still largely remain in the era when consumption was equated with waste, and consumption shame still exists in the memories of a large portion of people. Consumption is freedom; consumption should not be criticized. This should become a common consensus. High-quality consumption should become a new pursuit. Consumers should view consumption as a form of labor and regard consumption quality as a goal. High-quality consumption is an important indicator of differences between people in a consumer society, and consumption freedom and quality will become important components of personal value. Under massive commodity surplus, more consumption has shifted from mandatory to optional, making choices particularly important. High-quality consumption requires consumers to actively reject inferior products, pay for high-quality goods and services, spend money on enterprises that seriously make products and brands, and leave no room for shoddy products in the market. Consumers with voice should bear higher social expectations. Consumption is responsibility; consumption should not be casual but should have higher pursuits. High-quality consumption will bring high-quality economic and social development. The balance between production and consumption has tilted; a buyer's market gives consumption more initiative. High-quality consumption can promote high-quality output and become a new engine for high-quality economic development. High-quality consumption by downstream consumers will form a virtuous cycle of good money driving out bad money in the midstream and upstream markets. Upstream production and R&D will pay more attention to product quality, design, and aesthetics, and low-quality and inefficient capacity will be gradually eliminated. Midstream platforms and channel distributors will focus more on high-quality product circulation, and mixed channels will lose consumer trust. Ultimately, high-quality consumption will ensure that every market clearing selects the highest-quality supply, pushing the economy and society onto the fast track of high-quality circulation. Consumption is an engine; consumption should not be passive but key to a high-quality economic cycle. Epilogue In the consumer society, you and I are already surrounded by massive commodities. Too many choices make decisions heavy; too much information makes the environment noisy. When you feel shopping is time-consuming, choices are tangled, guides are exhausting, and discounts are troublesome. When you begin to tire of endless comparisons, changing prices, and fancy tricks. When you find your shopping enthusiasm leaving and consumption fatigue approaching, don't doubt yourself, because you are also laboring. Consumption is far more than pastime; consumption is labor in the new era.