中观层面的社会权威理论——对科尔曼权威理论的阐释与借鉴

The Middle-Range Social Theory of Authority:An Interpretation and Reference to Coleman's Theory of Authority

科尔曼是社会学中层理论研究的集大成者,形成了中观层面的社会权威理论。社会权威理论是将政治、经济、文化等领域中各类权威现象作为社会权威现象来解释的理论,也是以解释宏观层面的权威系统为主要任务的社会学理论。该理论是科尔曼将权威系统统一于整个社会行为系统,从理性人的假设出发,以权利交换为核心,围绕社会权威从微观到宏观、宏观到微观的转变而建构的理论,具有辩证性、理性化和普适性的特征。运用这一理论来分析当前中国现实社会和网络社会中的权威现象,可以形成用以解释个人水平之上的正式权威系统、日常权威系统和网络权威系统等具有本土化特点的社会权威理论。

Coleman epitomizes the middle-range theory of sociology, forming the middle-range social theory a- bout authority, which regards all kinds of authoritative phenomena in the political, economic and cultural fields as the social phenomena of authority and also takes the explanation of macro level of authoritative system as the main task. Unifying the authoritative system into the entire system of social behavior, Coleman starts from the hy- pothesis of rational man, focuses on exchange of rights, and centers around transformation of social authority from the micro to the macro and from the macro to the micro to construct his middle-range social theory of author- ity which has the dialectical, ideal and universal characteristics. Analyzing the phenomena of authority in the current social reality and network society in China, this theory is of significance to explain such social theories of authority as the formal, daily and network system of authority with localized features that are beyond the level of individual.