论差异性与共同性作为社会融合的方式

Difference and Sameness as Modes of Integration

多样性--换句话说,沿着族群、宗教以及其他线路集体身份认同上的差异--正日益成为我们生活世界中的普遍特征。为躲避压迫和暴力的迫不得已的移民,是加剧多样性情形的原因之一。解释社会融合的各种理论俯拾皆是,但是又往往互相抵牾。在一些人看来,融合即同化;另外一些人则视差异和互补为复杂社会中社会融合的先决条件。由此一来,同一性和差异性都能成为融合的基础;差异性的存在,能够避免竞争,形成不同生活领域,哪怕这可能不符合诸如正义、平等这些现代观念。作者强调,理解这些进程的关键在于要深度了解当地体系、社会关系,尤其是在日常政治中人们对各自定位的磋商,而获取这些知识正是人类学/民族学得天独厚的优势。作者及其人类学/民族学同事们利用独有的知识,同时从大型社会构成以及个体选择的视角出发,破除了身份认同讨论中的固有迷思;挑战在社会融合、同一性和差异性之角色等问题上某些被普遍接受然而却是错误的假设。

Diversity,or difference along ethnic,religious or other lines of collective identification,is an increasingly common feature of our life worlds.Among the causes of this development is forced migration due to oppression and violence.Theories which explain societal integration abound,but they contradict each other.Some equate integration with assimilation;others regard difference and complementarity as prerequisites for integration of a complex society.Thus both sameness and difference can be the basis of integration,the latter by avoiding competition and defining separate spheres of life,which may match or not match modern ideas of justice and equality.The author stresses that the key to understanding these processes is the intimate knowledge of the authors of the local systems,social relationships and especially the negotiation of people's positions in the everyday politics.Using such intimate knowledge and unique perspectives both from a large scale society and from below,the author and his colleagues of anthropology/ethnology demystifies the discourse on identity and challenges some widespread,but false assumptions on integration and the role of sameness and difference for it.