中国社会变迁与人的发展:多元建构观点和相关研究

Social change and human development in Chinese context:A pluralist-constructivist perspective

当代全球化背景下的社会变迁导致了不同价值观和生活方式共存和整合,构成了人的发展的新的环境。在中国的社会变迁过程中,与市场化相匹配的价值观(如竞争性、独立性、自我表现)和传统价值观(如社会关系,服从集体,自我控制)在人的社会和心理适应中具有不同的功能。不同文化的碰撞和整合也可能促进新的行为品质的产生,有利于增强人们应对各种情境的能力。根据多元建构观点,群体水平上的社会互动过程,如同伴团体活动中的社会评价和反应及其对个体行为的调节,在社会变迁和文化整合对人的发展的影响中起着关键作用。群体中的行为规范与评价标准的变化通过社会互动过程不仅会影响个体认知、行为和情绪的展现水平,而且也影响它们的功能性意义。本文首先回顾这一领域里的主要理论框架及其在中国情境中应用的问题,并在此基础上着重讨论社会变迁与人的发展的多元建构观点。接着,在对中国儿童独特的气质特征和基于传统文化的社会化方式考察后,进一步从多元建构角度讨论中国当代社会变迁对人的发展的影响的相关研究,包括专刊论文中报告的研究。最后,本文对这一领域的发展方向提出一些建议。

The ongoing social change in China may promote co-existence and integration of traditional and new values,which likely has a significant impact on individual socialization experiences and development.Different values may serve different functions in human development,helping individuals achieve personal goals and develop social connectedness.From the pluralist-constructivist perspective,the exposure to and integration of diverse values and lifestyles during social change may provide opportunities for young people to develop new qualities and competencies that allow them to function flexibly and effectively in different circumstances.Social interactions at the group level,particularly the evaluation and regulation processes based on changing cultural norms and values,are an important context that shapes the display of specific behaviors and their functional meanings or significance and are a main mechanism for the impact of social change on human development.This article elaborates on the pluralist-constructivist perspective and discusses issues involved in the study of social change and human development in China.Research has indicated that children show initial biases in reactivity,self-regulation or-control,and other temperamental characteristics,providing a foundation for how they interact with their environments in specific manners.Chinese children display distinct characteristics in the early years that are associated with later behaviors,such as compliance and shyness.At the same time,traditional Chinese group-oriented culture,particularly Confucian principles such as the doctrine of filial piety,play a major role in determining the socialization goals and practices,such as care-based power-assertive parenting.Social change has influenced and will continue to influence the patterns,processes,and outcomes of human development in various domains from these two starting points.The article concludes with suggestions for future research directions.