传记的用途:从传记的社会学到传记社会学

The Use of Biography: Shift from Biography of Sociology to Biographical Sociology

对于社会学的传记转向,学术界依然存在不少争论,最为根本的是传记能否成为社会学的研究对象,这涉及传记在社会学学科中的意涵与定位。传记既是社会的也是历史的,它超越个体生命而关联群体和制度。传记不是既往事实的简单再现,亦非全然建构,它是一种实在的建构,体现了人们立足当下面向未来回顾过往时的意义塑造。传记与社会学联姻,并不是简单地从社会学角度来研究传记,将其作为构建知识的重要来源,更深层次上乃是强调研究者在整个研究过程中的传记式参与。无论是传记的社会学还是传记社会学,都意在把行动者带到舞台中央,它们在更晚近的发展中构成了广义的传记社会学。

There are many controversies among sociologists about the biographical turn, and the most fundamental one is whether biography can be the object for sociology. This concerns the implications and definitions of biography. Biography, both social and historical, goes beyond individual lives to relate groups and institutions. It, neither simple representations of historical facts nor complete constructions, is a social construction of reality, which reflects the meaning reinvention of people looking back the past and looking forward to the future based on the present. The alliance between biography and sociology does not mean simply exploring biography from a sociological perspective, but rather using biography as an important source of structured sociological knowledge. It emphasizes the biographical involvement of the researcher throughout the research process. The biography of sociology and biographical sociology that follows from the turn, both puts more emphasis on the significance of actors, and a shift from the former to the latter is happening recently.