社会—文化现象的过程分析研究——有关巴特的“策略与过程研究”方法的理解

An Interpretation of Fredrik Barth's Strategy and Process Research

挪威著名人类学家弗雷德里克.巴特的"个人行为选择思想及过程分析"方法为现代背景下的文化分析提供了另一种社会文化人类学的视角。巴特认为"很多社会事实不是某种自然的(或命定的)因果关系造成的,而是人们有意识、有策略的行为选择的结果",要理解社会事实的本质,需要从人的行为选择策略及其过程的分析入手,看其在选择行为的时候受到了哪些激励或限制。尽管有人批评巴特"以资本主义式的眼光"来看待社会生活,"把人都看成了只考虑自己利益的动物",但巴特的研究方法在一定条件下还是很有启发意义的,有助于研究和理解一个群体(或者族群或者社区)内部的生活现实。

Fredrik Barth is a famous Norwegian anthropology and his ＂choice of personal behaviors and process analysis＂ offers a new perspective of socio - cultural anthropology for the cultural analysis in modem times. He believes that many social facts are the results of the conscious and strategic choices of men rather than the results of some natural or fixed causal relationship. The understanding of the nature of social facts relies on the analysis of the strategies of personal choice and the relevant process as well as the stimulation or restraint in the process of making a choice. Though some scholars have criticized Barth because they think that Barth studies social life in the capitalist perspective and regards man as a selfish animal, Barth＇s approach has much significance under certain conditions because it can shed some light on the understanding and study of the life and reality in an ethnic group or community.