吉登斯的权力观

On Giddens' Conception of Power

权力是吉登斯思想体系中一个极其重要的范畴。权力概念不仅是吉登斯借以沟通主体与客体关系的基本纽带 ,同时还是他研究社会历史的基本视角。在批判地分析主体主义与客体主义对立权力观的基础上 ,吉登斯以一种二重性的方式阐述了他关于权力的观点。一方面 ,他将权力视为行动者个人所具有的“转换能力” ,认为它是行动者自主性的表现 ,是人类行动的普遍特征和人之为人的基础。另一方面 ,他又将权力视为行动者行为互动过程中存在的支配能力 ,认为它是行动者依赖性表现 ,是资源不对称分配带来的结果。资源是沟通权力两个方面的媒介。“控制辩证法”是权力两个方面的有机统一 ,是社会关系的本质特征。吉登斯将社会历史形态划分为部落社会、阶级分化社会和阶级社会三种类型 。

Power is a very important category in Giddens' theory. It not only serves to bridge the opposite conceptions of “subject” and “object”, but also contributes to the analysis of social history. On the basis of his critical analysis of the opposite power views of subjectivism and objectivism, Giddens elucidates his power thesis from a dual perspective. On the one hand, he regards power as the agent's “transformative capability”, and deems it as the exhibition of the agent's autonomy, the general characteristics of man's act and the basis for human beings. On the other hand, he regards power as “domination” that originates from the agent's interaction, and deems it as the exhibition of the agent's interdependence and the result of the asymmetry, distribution of resources, connecting the two aspects. The “dialectics of control”, which reflects the nature of the development of social history, is the organic combination of the two aspects of power. Giddens divides human society in history into three types: tribal society, class dividing society and class society, each reflecting the dialectic unification of transformative capacity and domination.