Abstract: As an important part of Marxs social critique， ideological critique， by means of critique of fetishism， could penetrate into the realities of the capitalist society. However， in the context of consumer society， things transform themselves from a substantial existence to a symbolized one， which has led to a new type of fetishism named symbol fetishism. Based on the new fetishism， a new kind of ideology has become a new way of concept control. Through a profound critique and analysis of symbol fetishism， this paper makes a critique of modern consumer society with an aim to reaching an organic unity of the critique of social reality and the ideological critique.

Key words: the consumer society, “symbolthing”, symbol fetishism, ideology