探寻中国人的社会生命——以《金翼》的社会学研究为例

Exploring Life in Chinese Society——As Exemplified by the Sociological Research in the Golden Wings

《金翼》是探索中国人社会生命之构造的经典之作。林耀华透过生命传记法,以及内省式的民族志手法,描述了中国地方社会中的两个家庭由亲属关系、地理分布和人际网络所构成的不同的命运轨迹。就中国乡村普通人的社会生命而论,宗族、家族及其中的个人是一而三、三而一的并合逻辑关系。宗族不同于宗法制度。有了宗族组织,才会有家庭本位的社会结构。乡村社区是以家、户、支、房、族的功能单元逐层聚合而成的社会组织。家庭是社会生命之源,土地是家庭之根。家庭与宗族的生命史,是一种传续和裂变的社会历程,需要依靠仪式和信仰来升华。祖先与神明,是乡村社会真正得以凝聚和整合的象征枢纽,亦是对社会生命的护佑。面对世间的变故、命运的流转以及国家的危机,普通人在多重关系格局及其流变中所守持的平衡,才是这个文明得以延续传承的根本。

The Golden Wings is a classic work from the 1930s that explores the structure of Chinese social life.Using biographies and reflective ethnography,Lin Yaohua describes the kinship ties,geographical distribution and interpersonal relationships that make up the different trajectories of two local families.The social life of ordinary rural Chinese involves a three-in-one,one-in-three relationship between the patriarchal clan,the family and the individual situated between them.The clan is not the same as the patriarchal system.The social organization that revolves around the family is dependent on the clan.Rural communities are social organizations that are formed through the level-by-level aggregation of such functional units as jia(nuclear family),hu(household,made up of smaller jia),zhi(a small clan consisting of several hu),fang(a branch clan consisting of several zhi)and zu(a clan led by a single patriarch and consisting of several zhi with the same family name).The family is the source of life in society,and land is at its heart.The history of family and clan life is a process of social continuity and fission that depends on sublimation through rituals and beliefs.Ancestors and divinities are a symbolic axis for the true aggregation and integration of rural societies,and they are also the guardians of social life.In the face of social transformation,changing destinies and national crisis,only the balance that ordinary people preserve within changing patterns of relationships affords a foundation for the continuance of this civilization.