欧美反智主义的兴起:一个社会阶层结构嬗变的视角

Anti-intellectualism in Europe and America as a Reflection of Changes in Social Stratum Structure

近期欧美国家反智主义的兴起作为一种突出的社会意识形态现象,与西方社会阶层结构嬗变高度相关。2008年金融危机以来社会政策失衡所引发的社会阶层分化、固化和极化,导致一些国家从较为稳定的“橄榄型”阶层结构蜕化为分裂的“双钻石型”阶层结构。社会阶层结构嬗变和社会关系紧张引发的排外、仇怨等社会心理影响了人们的理性思维,中下阶层获得的教育资源和教育质量不足在一定程度上固化了阶层分化的格局,同时造成了智识水平下降的趋势,使民众更易于被精英和政客煽动与误导。反智主义是西方治理危机和制度危机的精神伴生物,在目前欧美国家资产阶级制度体系和统治方式之下,将始终存在蔓延和膨胀的空间,随着西方社会阶层分化加剧和社会矛盾的演化激化,这种精神异化可能会以更加剧烈的社会运动形态表现出来。

The recent rise in anti-intellectualism in European and American countries, as a prominent social ideological trend, is highly related to changes in social stratum structure in the West. Over the past 40 years, the evolution of economic and industrial structures has been caused by the Western pursuit of Neoliberalism. Global economics has prompted the transfer of labor-intensive enterprises in European and American countries to other parts of the world, resulting in varying degrees of an industrial “hollowing-out” effect. Meanwhile, the problem of structural unemployment has become increasingly prominent. Moreover, since the 2008 financial crisis, the equities of social policies in European and American countries have declined, the policy protections for the middle and lower classes have been continuously weakened, and thus the inequality has been intensified. The imbalances of social policies have led to the differentiation, solidification and polarization of social strata, transforming some countries from a relatively stable “olive-shaped” stratum structure to a split “double-diamond diagram”,which provides a necessary stratum foundation and social climate for the breeding of anti-intellectualism.The evolution of social stratum structure and the tension of social relations have shaped sensitive and fragile social psychology and the obvious tendency of extreme thinking. The anti-elitism,anti-system and anti-science sentiments of the middle and lower classes are growing, and the social psychology of xenophobia looms growingly large. This psychological feature and anti-intellectualism have formed the “internal consistency” and “high isomorphism” in psychological structure, in other words, they are highly skeptical of science and authority, tend to attribute their problems to the external factors, and lack the patience and courage to objectively and rationally analyze and solve the problems, which “transports” a steady stream of negative psychological energy for the germination of anti-intellectualism.Besides, in recent years, education in European and American countries has not effectively bridged the widening stratification gap. Through the supply and distribution of educational resources, it has realized the intelligence training and intellectual shaping of different classes. Insufficient educational resources and poor educational quality obtained by the middle and lower classes have solidified the pattern of stratum differentiation to a certain extent, resulting in the downward trend of intellectual level, making people become “natural” supporters of anti-intellectualism and more likely to be incited and misled by elites and politicians.Anti-intellectualism is not “spontaneous” in social culture, nor is it an “accidental” phenomenon in European and American society. The ruling mode and institutional system of bourgeoisie “creates”anti-intellectualism, the “spiritual companion” of a western governance and institutional crisis. Under the current bourgeois system and ruling mode in European and American countries, there will always be room for its continued spread and expansion. With the intensification of social stratum differentiation and the evolution and intensification of social contradictions in the West, this spiritual alienation may be manifested in a more violent form of social movement.