信息传播视域下的《叫魂》解读——兼论对当下群体性事件的反思

An Interpretation of Soulstealers:The Chinese Sorcery Scare of 1768 from Information Dissemination Perspective——Reflection on current mass incidents

《叫魂》[1]一书中,孔飞力教授旁征博引的揭示出乾隆"盛世"下大清帝国的政治与社会生活被一股名为"叫魂"的妖术之风搅得天昏地暗,不禁让人反思"叫魂"背后的深层原因。通过信息传播的视角对《叫魂》进行解读,可以看出,从平民百姓(信息生产者)到官僚阶级(信息消费者)直至封建君主(信息接收者),三个主体在驾驭信息上表现的不对称性使"叫魂"案得以上演,进而揭示信息传播失调对群体性事件的影响。以此为鉴,反思现代社会频发的群体性事件,以求其解困之道。

Professor Philip Alden Kuhn revealed that the politics and social life of the Qing Empire was disturbed by the popularsorcery called ＂ Soulstealers＂ even though under the Qianlong Prosperity in his book Soulstealers：The Chinese Sorcery Scare of 1768.This thesis interprets this book from the perspective of information dissemination. It is the information asymmetry among civilians （in鄄formation producers）, bureaucracy （information consumers） and feudal monarch （ information receiver） that leads to the ＂ Soulsteal鄄ers＂ phenomenon, which reflects the influence of information asymmetry on mass incidents. We can take this as a lesson, reflect on thefrequent mass incidents in modern society and find a solution.