Our studies about safety in society lead us to the most popular book by Karl Mannheim: Ideology and Utopia. This work envisages the discrepancies between social knowledge and the material world itself. The crucial co...Our studies about safety in society lead us to the most popular book by Karl Mannheim: Ideology and Utopia. This work envisages the discrepancies between social knowledge and the material world itself. The crucial conclusion reads as follows: Our image of reality is mostly based on our interests and desires and does not rely on thorough research. There are two types of such representations: utopia and ideology. The first of them, less interesting for us, is the type of ideas which can revolutionize a social being. The second one is a particular set of visions which can never be realized but on the other hand they act as common knowledge (general knowledge of the world)--stabilizing the social structure by presenting it with a holistic image of the world. Taking the above into consideration, how is it possible that representations, being so distant from reality (creating a completely separate "world"), basically enable efficient functioning in it? Ideology, being the foundation of the society's functioning space, should always be tautological, in the sense that for the participants of the given world's image (creation as it is), it should define the being in a comprehensive and adequate way (in Thomas Aquinas spirit). What is more, it would always be true. We should also mention that the main tools of ideology, understood this way, are specific definitions and the extrapolation of sense. The purpose of this lecture is to prove that it is possible for ideology to come to life, only when the individuals who acknowledge it will consider their image of reality proper. The above ideological system should be understood as the obviousness of description of the surrounding world which in return makes unreflective functioning in reality possible. This obviousness of the presented world will be referred to as social safety.展开更多
在60年以前,也就是1946年,美国极有影响的《美国社会学学刊》(American Journal of Sociology)曾经登载了当时在云南大学任社会学教授的费孝通先生题为《农民与士绅:中国社会结构及其变迁的一种解释》的长达17页的论文。这应该算...在60年以前,也就是1946年,美国极有影响的《美国社会学学刊》(American Journal of Sociology)曾经登载了当时在云南大学任社会学教授的费孝通先生题为《农民与士绅:中国社会结构及其变迁的一种解释》的长达17页的论文。这应该算是晚出的英文版《中国士绅》(China’s Gentry)的节缩本,而后者又可以说是费先生基于长期田野工作凝缩而成的对于中国社会整体结构与功能运作机制的总结性论断。尽管此文通篇没有一个注释和文献征引,但读过之后,你不会觉得这里是云里雾里调侃,你会觉得文章而是实实在在的思考,思考那时中国社会所面临的危机以及转型时期可能的道路选择。展开更多
文摘Our studies about safety in society lead us to the most popular book by Karl Mannheim: Ideology and Utopia. This work envisages the discrepancies between social knowledge and the material world itself. The crucial conclusion reads as follows: Our image of reality is mostly based on our interests and desires and does not rely on thorough research. There are two types of such representations: utopia and ideology. The first of them, less interesting for us, is the type of ideas which can revolutionize a social being. The second one is a particular set of visions which can never be realized but on the other hand they act as common knowledge (general knowledge of the world)--stabilizing the social structure by presenting it with a holistic image of the world. Taking the above into consideration, how is it possible that representations, being so distant from reality (creating a completely separate "world"), basically enable efficient functioning in it? Ideology, being the foundation of the society's functioning space, should always be tautological, in the sense that for the participants of the given world's image (creation as it is), it should define the being in a comprehensive and adequate way (in Thomas Aquinas spirit). What is more, it would always be true. We should also mention that the main tools of ideology, understood this way, are specific definitions and the extrapolation of sense. The purpose of this lecture is to prove that it is possible for ideology to come to life, only when the individuals who acknowledge it will consider their image of reality proper. The above ideological system should be understood as the obviousness of description of the surrounding world which in return makes unreflective functioning in reality possible. This obviousness of the presented world will be referred to as social safety.
文摘在60年以前,也就是1946年,美国极有影响的《美国社会学学刊》(American Journal of Sociology)曾经登载了当时在云南大学任社会学教授的费孝通先生题为《农民与士绅:中国社会结构及其变迁的一种解释》的长达17页的论文。这应该算是晚出的英文版《中国士绅》(China’s Gentry)的节缩本,而后者又可以说是费先生基于长期田野工作凝缩而成的对于中国社会整体结构与功能运作机制的总结性论断。尽管此文通篇没有一个注释和文献征引,但读过之后,你不会觉得这里是云里雾里调侃,你会觉得文章而是实实在在的思考,思考那时中国社会所面临的危机以及转型时期可能的道路选择。