边缘人与始迁祖:吴景超与潘光旦论迁移

The Marginal Man and the Migrant Ancestor:Chingchao Wu and Quentin Pan on Migration

本文从空间视角入手,讨论中西方社会学思想传统中对于人与社会关系的两种想象。齐美尔勾勒的空间与个体人格之间的内在关联是西方社会学理论的重要基础,芝加哥学派在此基础上构造的“边缘人”概念构成了社会科学对于西方现代人人格的基本设想,也构成了以吴景超为代表的中国早期社会科学学者对于迁徙与城市化的理解。本文通过对潘光旦移民研究的梳理呈现了一种不同于“边缘人”的人与社会的空间关系:“始迁祖”的迁徙使其血系脱离了过度狭隘的家族制度与僵化的阶级制度的反选择作用,培育出符合儒家社会理想的成员,最终改变了一地的社会风气。本文认为,“始迁祖”构成了与“边缘人”相对应的理解城市化等重要社会过程的基本理论概念,二者之“退”与“进”的空间观念差异体现了中西方社会学思想对于人—社会—空间关系的不同理解和特异的精神气质。

The paper presents two distinct theoretical imaginations of relationships between man and society from the perspective of space,rooted in the western and Chinese sociological thoughts.The connection between space and personality in Simmel’s writings constitutes one of the most important foundations in Western sociological thoughts.The concept of“marginal man”,crafted by Chicago School sociologists and built on Simmel’s theoretical insights,becomes the prototype of the modern personality in western context.Equally importantly,the“marginal man”also becomes the image of an ideal modern man projected by early Chinese sociologists trained and influenced by western sociological thoughts.One prominent sociologist in Republican period,Chingchao Wu understands migration in China as a journey of marginal man,and envisions a personality freed from rural village life and enriched by diversified cultures in urban society.Wu further prescribes nationalism as a cure to the inner turmoil of the marginal man caused by conflicts between cultures,a typical challenge in American urban life.The writings of another prominent sociologist,Quentin Pan,presents a different understanding of special relationship between man and society.He identifies the unit of migration as the“bloodline”instead of an individual.By migrating,“the migrant ancestor”avoids adverse selection caused by extreme familism and rigid class structure,consequently cultivates a wholesome bloodline,which produces descendants with a keen sense of empathy and social justice,as carriers of the Confucian ideal personality who changed the local mores for the better.The migrant ancestor’s withdrawal from society presents a striking contrast to the marginal man’s invasion into space.The paper concludes that“the migrant ancestor”constitutes another prototype of personality parallel to“the marginal man”in understanding social processes including but not limited to urbanization,and deeply rooted in Chinese sociological thoughts.