期望地位理论视角中的赖比尔现象

La Piere's Phenomenon in the View of Theory of Expected Status

20世纪30年代,著名社会学家赖比尔发现美国人在回答有关华人的调查问卷和实际对待华人的行为上存在很大的差异。他以态度与行为之间不存在必然联系加以解释。本文指出,赖比尔的解释忽略了“态度”的重要社会意义;更重要的是,他忽略了“态度”在人们的行为中起到的重要作用。本文运用期望地位理论的主要概念和假设,对赖比尔现象予以重新解释,并对在美华人的身份特征,美国主流社会的种族歧视等问题提出了自己的看法。

In 1930s, Sociologist Richard La Piere found out the discrepancy between what people said and what people did among American Chinese. He explained this social phenomenon with his famous assertion ＂Attitudes vs. Actions. ＂ This paper points out La Piere failed to see the social meanings of ＂attitudes＂. More importantly, he failed to see the roie played by ＂attitudes＂ in people＇s action. Therefore, his explanation of the case is invalid. By applying the key concepts and major assumptions of Theory of Expected Status, this paper tries to reinterpret La Piere＇s phenonmenon and provide more applicable understanding.