文化与效用极大化的方向——20世纪30年代一个内地村庄的生活方式及其经济学意义

Culture and the Directions of Utility Maximization

人类效用极大化的方向至少有两个:一个方向是欲望满足的最大化,对应于西方文化里的生活态度与人生目标;另一个方向是身心痛苦的最小化,对应于中国传统文化里的生活态度与人生目标。在费孝通早年研究的云南禄村,小地主们过着一种整天闲混的生活,他们依靠雇工种田,自己尽可能不工作。这是一条追求身心痛苦最小化的人生道路,与资本主义精神格格不入。因此,解释人类行为及社会现象的经济学理论,需要与当事人的生活态度及文化传统相契合,故具有本土特征。

Human actions have two characteristics. One is to seek utility maximization. The other is to seek utility maximization in a specific direction. The first characteristic is the general character of human beings while the second is the result nurtured by a specific culture. There are at least two directions of utility maximization： One is the satisfaction of desire maximization, corresponding to the Western philosophy of life; the other is suffering minimization, corresponding to the traditional Chinese philosophy of life. This paper discusses the suffering minimization which was the direction of the utility maximization of the peasants in a traditional Chinese village before 1940. The village is ＂Lucun＂in Yunnan Province, where Fei Xiao-tong made his famous anthropological investigations between 1938 and 1940. In the village of Lucun, small landlords idled away their time in recreational activities. Their farms were cultivated by tenants while they enjoyed their spare time as much as possible This was their way of life to seek the suffering minimization, which is in an opposite direction to the capitalist spirit. The economic theory of a specific society needs to be integrated with the culture of the society.