比较框架下的复杂社会历时性分析——未来的举措

Comparative Frames for the Diachronic Analysis of Complex Societies:Next Steps

从20世纪中期开始,许多研究都以以往强调社会复杂性的广泛模式的研究为基础,突出了组织复杂性的广泛层级中模式变化的重要方面。然而,本章的中心原则是:20世纪中期框架的关键部分要保留,进而还需进行审慎的再评价和修改。我们很有必要运用更系统的、跨学科的方法来检验广泛的组织模式(例如'国家')中公认的变化,并完善目前的理论框架。为了扩充现有的比较框架,我们需要关注几个来自不同学术传统的理论主张,它们并不仅仅局限于阶层复杂性的阶梯式层级。在研究社会变迁的长期序列时,一个有利于我们记录和解读组织复杂性变化以及政治经济整合模式变化的框架将会提供一个更全面有力的观点,来阐释'世界历史'及其包含的多种途径。

Since the mid-twentieth century,many researches have highlights significant aspects of patterned variation within the broad tiers of organizational complexity,basing on former researches which stressed broad modes of societal diversity.Nevertheless,it is a central tenet of this chapter that key frames that were part of that mid-twentieth-century framework remain in place and require judicious reevaluation and modification.It’s necessary to argue for more systematic and cross-disciplinary approaches to examine the recognized variation within broad organizational modes(such as'states')and modify theoretical frames.To expand existing comparative frames,we should consider several theoretical propositions drawn from different scholarly traditions,not limited in stepped tiers of hierarchical complexity.When examining long-term sequences of societal change,a framework that enables us to document and explicate both shifts in organizational complexity as well as changes in the modes of political and economic integration will yield a more holistic and explanatory perspective on'world history'and the diverse pathways that it encompasses.