“关系”社会的重塑:数字时代的强弱关系及其影响

Reshaping the“Relational”Society:Strong andWeak Ties in the Digital Age and Their Influence

在数字时代,格兰诺维特的“弱关系优势”命题亟需反思和更新。通过确立关系象征的联系性,立足数字技术发展的时代背景,本文提出“关系影响”以弥补传统研究中的全面性和时代性不足。研究表明,数字时代的“关系影响”主要表现在支持性、限制性、辅助性、破坏性等维度,这些表征来源于关系特征的演化,即关系建立对象的衍生、关系凝聚程度的变化、关系认同功能的弱化、关系影响范围的拓展。以上表现促进了“关系”社会形态的重塑,特别是数字技术发挥了中介作用,带来“世界即地方”“虚实纠缠”的环境改造,以及个体的赋能、解放,最终促成个体性关系的生成,并在其联结中重新发现社会。

In the digital age,Granovetter’s“strength of weak ties”thesis needs revisiting and updating.By establishing the connectivity of relationship and situating them in the context of digital technological development,this paper introduces the concept of“relational influence”to address the comprehensiveness and contemporaneity lacking in traditional research.The study shows that in the digital age,“relational influence”manifests itself primarily as supportive,restrictive,auxiliary and destructive.These manifestations result from changes in relational characteristics such as the derivation of relational formation objects,the variation of relational cohesion,the weakening of relational identity functions,and the expansion of relational scope of influence.The emergence of these manifestations and their sources results from reshaping of“relational”society,in which digital technology plays a mediating role.This mediation leads to the environmental transformation of“the world as a place”and the“intertwining of the virtual and the real”,as well as the empowerment and liberation of individuals,ultimately fostering the generation of individual relationships and the discovery of society in its connections.