从眼光向下回到历史现场——社会学人类学对近代中国史学的影响

Return to Historical Reality from a Top-down Perspective: The Impact of Sociology and Anthropology on Studies of China's Early Modern History

自梁启超倡导“新史学”以来,西方社会科学对中国史学的影响逐渐加强,其中社会学和人类学的作用尤其值得关注。而这方面引起的主要变动,便是民史概念的提出以及努力使民众成为历史表现的中心和主体。经过民国学人的探索,史学的“眼光向下”和社会学人类学的重心下移合流,民史的重建渐具雏形。但要避免中国历史研究的初民化,充分发挥社会学人类学影响史学的潜力,如何回到历史现场,应当引起足够的重视。

Western social sciences, particularly sociology and anthropology, have had an increasing impact on China's historical studies ever since Liang Qichao proposed “New Historiography.” The main change brought about by this development was the concept of people's history and the efforts to make the people the subject and focus of historical expression. Researchers during the Republican regime managed a convergence of the “top-down” perspective and the downward shift of focus in sociology and anthropology. This was the embryonic stage of the reconstruction of people's history. However, we need to focus on returning to actual historical reality to avoid the primitivization of Chinese society in historical studies and fully realize the potential influence of sociology and anthropology on historiography.