试论食物在社会支配结构中的等级区分功能——以18世纪之前的香辛料胡椒为例

The Hierarchical Ranking Function Food Plays in Social Dominance Structure——Taking Spices before 18^(th) Century as an Example

中世纪人们对世界的思想认识中有着对等级背景的强烈依赖。作为一种社会地位的象征,来自东方的胡椒等香料履行着政治符号的等级区分功能,在13至17世纪风靡欧洲。在对香料的探寻过程中,欧洲人发现了新大陆,找到了通往东方的坦途,由此兴起的东西方贸易以及引发的战争和掠夺,使得香料的消费人群发生改变、总量激增,并最终引起人们香料观念的变迁。香料消费的普遍化虽然使其最终失去区分等级的功能,但各国统治阶层通过获得远途贸易和种植园经济带来的巨大利润,创造出对殖民地的掠夺实力。香料的祛魅过程,是欧洲社会主流观念摆脱中世纪封建等级特征、发展为商业利益主导的现代权力支配观念的过程,也是塑造资本主义社会结构的过程。

In the Middle Ages, people had a strong dependence on the background of hierarchy in their understanding of the world. As luxury food, spices from the Orient performed a hierarchical ranking function as political symbols and were used widely from the 13^th to 17^th Century throughout Europe. In quest for them, Europeans discovered the new continent, found the way to the East Road and caused the trade, wars and plunder between the East and the West, changing the consumer groups of spices, increasing the amount of spice consumption and finally resulting in the changes in people＇ s views on spices. Although the popular spice consumption made it lose this function, the huge profits brought by long-distance trade and plantation economy around the world gave the ruling class strength to plunder the colonies. The disenchantment pro- cess of spices is also a process in which the European mainstream got away from the medieval feudal hierar- chy and evolved into a modem power dominance conception oriented to commercial interests.