当代西方政治文化的研究历程:回顾与反思

Retrospect and Reflection: The Research Process of Contemporary Western Political Culture

从二战之后兴起的当代西方政治文化研究,在半个多世纪的时间里经历了一个由兴起到衰落,再到复兴,并且在20世纪90年代的转变时期取得新进展的过程。阿尔蒙德和维巴所著的《公民文化》,英格尔哈特所著的有关后物质主义价值观转型的"三部曲",和普特南所提出的社会资本理论是当代西方政治文化研究兴起、复兴和转变这三个阶段的杰出代表。不出所料,这三者都没有跳出为西方民主制度辩护的窠臼,然而他们对文化与价值观因素的重视、在研究当中所表现的突出的问题意识,以及对民主制度之下合法性与有效性统一的不懈追求,能够为我们创设中国特色的政治文化研究范式提供有益的帮助与启发。

The period after the end of the World WarⅡhas witnessed the fluctuating development of the research on the western political culture.Within this process,Almond with his Civic Culture,Inglehart with his theory of value transformation and Putnam with his innovation of the social capital,have been the three outstanding representatives of each stage.Unsurprisingly,these scholars did not go beyond the old pattern of defending the western democracy.However,remarkable and helpful are their high attention to the mental factors,the consciousness of realistic problems and the consistent pursuit of the integration of legitimacy and efficiency for us establishing the research paradigm of political culture with Chinese characteristics.