叙事、时间与事件:阿伯特的过程社会学

Narratives,Time,and Events:Abbott's Processual Sociology

作为当代西方社会学的领军人物,安德鲁·阿伯特在多个领域做出了开创性贡献。但是,由于其系统性理论著作迟迟未能面世,阿伯特作为杰出社会理论家的身份未能得到应有的承认。对因果性、时间性与过程本体论的阐发构成了阿伯特的社会学理论的主轴。在因果性方面,面对标准实证主义的“变量分析”,阿伯特提倡叙事以呈现出行动者实际的因果性活动,但他后来也意识到叙事不可避免地具有目的论色彩,因而走向抒情社会学。在时间性方面,阿伯特关注多元时间性之间的相互缠绕,这不同于布罗代尔的层级性多元时间。最后,在过程本体论方面,受怀特海启发,阿伯特强调事物的永久流变性,从而拓展了社会理论的更多可能性。

As a leading figure in contemporary sociology,Andrew Abbott has made ground-breaking contributions in multiple areas.However,because his systematic theoretical treatise has long been overdue,Abbott's status as a distinguished social theorist has not been widely acknowledged.We sort out the main axes of Abbott's social theory,namely causality,temporality and process ontology.In terms of causality,in the face of the standard positivist“analysis of variables”,Abbott advocated narratives to present the actual causal activities of actors,but he later realized that narratives were inevitably teleological and thus moved towards lyrical sociology.In terms of temporality,Abbott was concerned with the intertwining of multiple temporalities,which differs from Brodeur's hierarchical multiple temporalities.Finally,in terms of processual ontology,inspired by Whitehead,Abbott emphasized the perpetual flux of things,thus expanding more possibilities for social theory.