面子、羞耻与权威的运作

Mien-tzu,Shame and Authority Functioning

日常生活的有序交往取决于某类形式化的控制机制的有效运行,而面子机制与作为印象管理基础的羞耻机制属于两类日常交往的控制机制。本文从权威运作的视角出发,构建了羞耻机制和面子机制两个理想类型。通过对已有理论的梳理,文章指出,羞耻机制是一般社会规范的权威透过他人之眼实现的自我约束和自我控制,以羞耻为主导的社会是文明化进程的结果。以羞耻机制为参照,作者指出,面子机制依赖于日常交往的参与者间所形成的等级秩序和支配者控制,以羞辱作为主要的惩罚手段,是以威势构型为特征的社会权威结构在日常交往中的表达和实现。作者认为,一个得体的社会是以羞耻心为基础的社会,也许要通过改变以威势构型为特征的社会权威结构,中国社会才有希望走上自己的文明化旅程。

In social life,formal control mechanisms enable orderly daily contacts. There are two types of control mechanisms of everyday contacts. One is the shame mechanism,also referred to as'impression management'by Erving Goffman. The other is the mientzu mechanism. Both types of control mechanisms function on the base of their own social authority structures. From the perspective of authority,the author constructs two ideal types of the shame mechanism and the mien-tzu mechanism. In this paper,by drawing upon relevant theories,the author explains that the shame mechanism is a type of selfregulation and self-control through others' eyes,which represent the authority of general social norms. Societies building on people's feeling of shame are the result of the civilizing process. Compared with the shame mechanism,mien-tzu mechanism depends on how people form order in their contacts and apply humiliation as punishment,through which the authority influence configurations express and realize themselves in everyday contacts. The author believes that people in a decent society should learn self-constraint and self-control through the mechanism of shame. The Chinese society can only begin its civilizing process by changing the authority influence configuration.