“前台”与“背景”的制度性分离——论南希·弗雷泽对资本主义危机的结构性阐释

Institutional Divisions of“Foregrounds”and“Backgrounds”:On Nancy Fraser’s Structural Interpretation of the Crisis of Capitalism

南希·弗雷泽立足于对资本主义的“经济前台”与“非经济背景”关系的全面分析,挖掘出资本主义在结构上存在着生产与再生产、人类与自然、经济与政治、剥削与征用的四重分离。这些分离形成了一种被制度化的社会秩序,构成了资本主义危机的根源。同时,“前台”与“背景”的分离关系不是偶然的、给定的,而是伴随着资本主义积累体制的变化而历史性地生成的,这使得经济与非经济要素间的边界愈发难以界定,因而对边界的捍卫或挑战成为当代社会斗争的主要内容。为此,弗雷泽使用“边界斗争”的概念,提出有关边界划分的规范性标准,并在此基础上对21世纪社会主义的图景进行扩大的想象。弗雷泽兼顾阶级与地位、再分配与承认、文化批判与政治经济学批判的危机批判方法,是对传统批判理论宏大叙事的复兴。

Based on a general analysis of the relationships between the“economic foregrounds”and the“non-economic backgrounds”of capitalism,Nancy Fraser excavates the structural quadruple divisions of production and reproduction,human and nature,economy and politics,exploitation and expropriation in capitalist society.These divisions inherently form an institutionalized social order and constitutes the sources of its inherent crisis.Meanwhile,the institutional divisions of“foregrounds”and“backgrounds”are not accidental or given,but have been historically generated along with changes of capitalism’s regimes of accumulation,which makes it more difficult to define the boundaries between the economic and the non-economic conditions.Thus,the defense or challenge of boundaries constitutes the main content of contemporary social struggles.For this reason,Fraser uses the concept of“boundary struggles”to propose normative criteria for border demarcation,on the basis of which she imagines the future of socialism in the 21st century.Fraser’s way to criticizecapitalism,which takes into account class and status,redistribution and recognition,culture and political economy,is a revival of the grand narratives of traditional critical theory.