近代乡绅基层整合功能的转换及其制度逻辑——基于绅权制衡机制演变的考察

The Transformation of the Gentry’s Grassroots Integration Function and Its Institutional Logic in Modern China: A Study Based on the Evolution of the Balance Mechanism of Gentry Power

乡绅阶层在中国乡村社会治理中曾扮演了重要角色。文章系统梳理了乡绅阶层从国家与社会之间的安全阀到逐渐劣化、武化直至消亡的功能转换过程,发现儒家意识形态的伦理机制与官吏绅民互动制衡的结构机制是乡绅基层整合功能得以有效实现的基础。但在帝国控制力弱化及传统帝国向现代民族国家转型的过程中,儒家意识形态的认同危机与基层治理结构的张力丧失使得"绅权"的生成与制约机制失衡,不能有效转化为民众认可的权威,进而造成其基层整合功能的蜕化。这一结论对探寻当今基层社会整合及治理秩序维系具有一定的启示意义。

The gentry once played an important role in the governance of Chinese rural society.This article systematically sorts out the transformation process of the gentry class from the safety valve between the state and society to gradual deterioration,militarization and disappearance,and finds that the ethical mechanism of Confucian ideology and the structural mechanism of the interaction and balance among the officials,the subordinate staff,the gentry and the common people were the basis for the effective realization of the grassroots integration function of the gentry.However,in the process of the weakening of imperial control and the transformation of China from a traditional empire to a modern nation-state,the identity crisis of Confucian ideology and the loss of the structural tension of grassroots governance led to the generation and restriction mechanism of"gentry power"out of balance,which made it unable to effectively transform into the authority recognized by the public,thus caused the degradation of its grassroots integration function.This is of certain enlightening significance to explore the integration of the grassroots society and the maintenance of its governance order nowadays.