从社会组织到礼制实践:汉人宗族研究的新转向

From Social Organization to the Practice of the Institution about Ceremony and Propriety:the New Orientation about Chinese Lineage Research

1930年代以来,主流的中国宗族研究把宗族视为一种社会组织,从而偏离其作为一种文化制度暨礼制设计的本来意义。这与西方世系学的影响和本土社会关怀有关。我们应该告别以组织为先导的宗族研究视角,转向文化制度及其实践的层面重新理解汉人宗族。组织是西方社会学的一个外来概念,用于中国社会分析并不贴切。必须把中国宗族放置在本土礼制概念下理解才可能有所新的洞察。而既有的、零星的作为制度研究的视角又缺乏实践关怀。故本文设置了实践人类学立足点,但又广泛结合历史学,提出了三重实践研究思路,希望激发两学科对中国宗族的共同兴趣和学术想象力。

Chinese lineage has been viewed as a kind of social organization by most of scholars since the 1930 s, so the study drifted off its original meaning because it is designed as a kind of institution about ceremony and propriety. This is related to western lineage theory and Chinese social care.The view as a kind of social organize is should be abandoned, which is given priority to the reference in the Chinese society study, we ought to study it from cultural institution and its practice. The organize is a concept from western social science,and it is not complete suitable when it is used into the research of Chinese society. It would be best if we want to have some new understanding, when Chinese lineage is studied under the analysis framework from the institution about ceremony and propriety to the cultural practice. But the view that Chinese lineage is a kind of system in the past, is shot of practice theory. So, from the cultural anthropology standpoint, and broadly combining with the history, the paper put forwards to an academic thought which includes three path of culture practice-research, so maybe can inspire the common interests and academic imagination of history and anthropology.