以结构单元为起点的社会结构分析方法

The Method of Analysing the Social Structure With Structural Unit as Starting Point

社会结构分析应立足于结构的基本形态和结构中要素间关系的规则;为摆脱传统的等级制结构观,社会结构分析可以具有独立性的结构单元以及构成结构单元的结构变量为起点;这两者在情境中的灵活转换,使得对于个体而言,结构同时具有制约性和使动性。

Focused on the theme of “how to analyze social structure on a background of modernity”, the paper discusses three basic topics： the conception, the extension, and the characters of social structure, with the intention of expanding structural-functionalism research method. The author holds such an opinion as follows： social structure contains two aspects, “the form of basic relationship within the structure” and “the rule of how elements in the structure contact with each other”.The paper argues that social relationship in real life is, instead of structure itself, the material transformation of structure. It also suggests that the study of structure in the field of sociology should somewhat shake off former hierarchical understandings. Accordingly, independent structural units and “structural variables” which constitute the units may be treated as a starting point of the study. The flexible transformation of structural units and “structural variables” makes social structure have both conditionality and motility.