Abstract: This essay, after reviewing the current sociological perspectives on consuming behavior, presents a new one——the approach of network analysis. Compared with the above perspectives, network analysis is unique in epistemology and methodology and thus manifests its peculiar superiority in analyzing consumption. Network analysis is a highly potential perspective or theoretical paradigm for analyzing such sociological issues as consuming symbols interaction, social interaction, social stratification and social identity.

Key words: consuming sociology, symbols, network analysis, consumption