就现代化的理论和实践而言，英国是原生型和内生型国家。但是历史又是复杂的，英国现代化的启动既有其内部独特的优势和发生机理，也有外部因素的刺激和推动，最终一切历史的合力促成了第一个工业化国家的诞生。同样，在工业革命前后，英国社会发生了一场持久的“消费革命”，社会各阶层在消费观念、消费行为上发生了重大变化，人们普遍热衷于消费，这种消费之风的盛行以及体现在对国内外各种奢侈品、新潮产品的消费行为和消费活动，对于推动18世纪后期英国经济腾飞和社会变迁具有重大影响，成为近代以来消费活动对国家经济与社会的转型影响最广泛、持续时间最长、最成功的国家。18世纪英国社会消费和需求的日益扩张不仅丰富和改善了人们的生活水平和消费方式，而且消费需求刺激了消费品工艺的不断改进和技术革新，成为引发工业革命的一个重要因素，也促成了以伦敦为核心的全国性消费市场的形成，成为英国经济增长新的动力。在消费革命中，我们看到了全球化和全球贸易对英国经济与社会转型的重要影响，消费品特别是来自海外的棉纺织品、茶叶、瓷器、咖啡、蔗糖和烟草等奢侈品对英国消费革命影响巨大。客观而言，整个18世纪见证了英国经济与社会的顺利转型，从光荣革命带来的现代政府和政党制度的建立，到财政革命带来的金融制度创新和现代资本市场的确立与完善，再到消费需求和技术变革引发的工业革命和消费革命，所有这些都预示着一个现代英国的诞生。本文着眼点在于客观论述光荣革命以来英国在消费领域所发生的一系列重要变化，包括人们消费意识、消费观念、消费嗜好以及消费行为上的重要变化，以及社会对待财富的态度和奢侈观念的现代转向，展示了社会各阶层前所未有的消费热潮和消费主义的兴起，尤其是贵族和中产阶层，生活日益被各种商品和消费活动所包围。而这种消费上的“革命”或者重大转向主要体现在人们的消费欲望和需求日益从满足物质享受到追求精神愉悦感上，体现在人们所消费产品的种类和数量上，体现在消费品的时尚和奢侈性上，以及消费的手段和场所上，在18世纪晚期都达到了一个前所未有的规模。以消费革命发生的背景和动因为切入点，全面考察和分析英国发生如此深远影响的消费革命和迈向第一个现代消费社会的深层原因。以18世纪英国社会三大阶层具体消费行为和消费能力状况为主线，分别考察处于社会上层的贵族阶层、中间阶层的中产阶级和社会下层的工人阶层具体生活消费状况，反映不同阶层的消费文化和生活方式的差异，揭示他们在消费革命中的地位，尤其突出作为消费革命的主力消费人群中产阶级力量的崛起对于消费革命和消费社会的积极推动作用。18世纪英国经济发展的成功逐渐惠及社会各阶层，经济的繁荣带来社会民众收入水平的不断提高，发达的海外贸易让英国社会各阶层享有更多消费海外食物和其它产品的机会和便利。消费革命中所引发的巨大社会消费需求，成为刺激工业革命发生和走向深入的强大动力。同样工业革命所带来的产品丰裕社会给英国人消费各种工业产品和新潮产品提供了最大可能，奠定了消费革命和消费社会坚实的根基。尽管工业革命后社会贫富差距日益加剧，两极化趋势明显，工人阶级日益陷入贫困的人文灾难，但是从长远看，工业革命和工业社会是迈向现代大众消费社会的坚实物质基础。透过消费的窗口管窥一个世纪以来英国社会所发生的剧烈社会变迁，也为当今中国经济与社会结构的优化转型提供借鉴。

As far as the modernization theory and practice were concerned , Britain is native and endogenous state,but history is complex, the British Modernization’s start had both advantages of its internal unique and mechanism, but also external factors’s stimulation and promotion, eventually all historical compositive forces contributed to the birth of the first industrialized countries. Similarly, in the before and after the industrial revolution, there was a persistent "consumer revolution" phenomenon in British society, There were some great changes in Peoples’ conception of consumption, behaviour of consumption, including peoples’ attitude for wealth and luxury. People would like to consume all kinds of commodities,including the peers , middle class and the lower orders .Their daily life was more and more surrounded by rich commodities , from the satisfaction of material pleasure to the one of spirits, the quantities and styles of products , fashionable and luxious goods were manufactured and imported in ever-increasing size . Consumption for all kinds of the luxious consumer goods was very popular , the fashionable productions had a great impact on the British economic and social transformation. British consumer revolution played a more and more crucial role in Britain’s take-off. its impact was the most extensive, the longest, the most successful , compared with the Netherland and Franch. The expansion of Consumption and demand not only enriched the British life-styles ,but also became the key stimulation for British technical innovation, and was one of the important impetus economic growth. In consumer revolution, we found the globalization and world trade’s important role in the economic and social progress,especially for floushining the Atlantic trades and Asian trades. Overseas consumer goods, especially cotton textiles, tea and porcelain, Coffee, sugar , tobacco and other luxury goods, made a great contribution to British consumer revolution . Objectively speaking, in the long eighteenth Century we witnessed the smooth transformation of British economy and society, Form the establishment of the modern government and the political party system by the glorious revolution, to the establishment and perfection of financial system , the innovation of financial revolution and the modern capital market, and then to the the industrial revolution by consumer demand and technological innovation , all of which indicates that the birth of a modern Britain. This paper focuses on the objective description of Britain since late seventeenth Century for significant changes in the field of consumption of peoples’ daily life , with the changes for a series of consumption consciousness, consumption behavior and consumer preference incluing the attitudes for wealth and the luxury . Society showed us a various unprecedented consumer boom and the rise of consumerism, especially for the aristocracy and the middle class, their life was becoming surrounded by a variety of consumer activities. The “revolution” or a major shift on consumption was mainly reflected in people’s consumption desires and satisfaction by growing demand from the pursuit of material to the pleasure of consumer goods, on the type and quantity of products consumed by people, even the means and the places of fashionable consumer goods , All of these reached an unprecedented scale in the late 18th century in Britain , it was so-called “consumer revolution” phenomenon. We can take the consumption revolution’s historical background and dynamics as the starting point, and will give a comprehensive investigation and analysis of far-reaching impact by the consumer revolution and its deeper reasons of modern consumer society. In Eighteenth Century there was three social ranks ,consumption behavior ,consumption capacity status as the main line, respectively investigated in the role and status of the upper nobility, middle class and working class in the lower order, As the main consumer group , middle class played a important role in consumer revolution. In order to fully demonstrate the changes of consumption field from the end of seventeenth Century to early nineteenth Century because of the British political stability, economic prosperity and overseas expansion .All social strata gradually benefited from British economic success, flourishing overseas trade provided more opportunity and convenience on more consumption of overseas food and other products by import. The huge social consumer needs by Consumer revolution increasingly became to be a powerful stimulus for the start of the industrial revolution and the strong driving force for deeper development of industrial revolution .The affluent society by industrial revolution brought about the maximum of production as possible . Although after the industrial revolution, social injustice and growing gap between the rich and the poor widened , working class increasingly was in an impoverished human disaster, from the long run, the industrial revolution and the industrial society is the solid material foundation for modern mass consumption . Profound changes in times of social transition and industrialization ,through the window of consumer revolution for about a century , also provides good references for today's Chinese transition of economy and social structure.