“预言”的终结与社会理论的危机
作者简介:闻翔,中国人民大学社会学理论与方法研究中心副教授(北京 100872)。
基金项目:
本文为中国人民大学科学研究基金项目(22XNLG09)的阶段性成果
摘要: 近二十余年来,对“元分析”意义上的社会理论的祛魅正在成为当代西方社会学知识生产的一个显著趋势,其中一个突出表现就是“预言”的终结,即对以“时代预言论”为特征的社会理论写作范式的批判和疏离。“预言”的终结主要出于两方面的原因:频繁定义新纪元的理论“翻新”给人带来的审美疲劳之感;对“预言”将过去与当下截然分开的二元论和目的论倾向的反思。但是,“预言”的终结也伴随着总体视野的式微和历史意识的弱化,由此带来一系列非预期后果,包括研究尺度的“盆景化”、认识论的“当下主义”以及问题意识的“去结构化”。这也体现了社会学家的“职业退守”困境。中国社会学的知识生产需要以西方为镜鉴,超越而非尾随,进取而非退守,以总体视野和历史意识观照中国式现代化实践,从而建构中国自身的社会理论。
The End of Prophecy and the Crisis of Social Theory
Abstract: In the last twenty years or so,the disenchantment of social theory in the sense of meta-analysis has become a notable trend in the production of contemporary Western Sociology,one of the prominent manifestations of this is the end of prophecy,i.e.the critique and alienation of the paradigm of social theory writing characterized by the prophecy of the times.The end of prophecy is mainly due to two reasons:the aesthetic fatigue brought about by the frequent renovation of theories defining the new era;and the reflection on the dualism and purposiveness of prophecy that separates the past from the present.However,the end of prophecy is also accompanied by the decline of the overall vision and the weakening of historical consciousness,which brings a series of unanticipated consequences,including the bonsaiization of the research scale,the presentism of epistemology,and the destructurization of problematic awareness.This also reflects the dilemma of sociologists’ professional regeression.The production of knowledge in Chinese sociology needs to take the West as a mirror,to transcend rather than follow,to forge ahead rather than retreat,to look at Chinese modernization practices with an overall vision and historical consciousness,and thus to construct China’s own social theory.