在现代社会学与后现代社会理论之间——米尔斯的《社会学的想像力》再解读

在《社会学的想像力》一书中，米尔斯对美国传统社会学理论和研究方法上的抽象和僵化进行了全面的批判，在批判的过程中，提出了许多带有后现代色彩的新的理论取向和方法论取向。在对人类历史和当代的看法上，在对宏大理论的批判上，在对实证主义的态度上，在对学科分化的理解上，以及对价值倾向的偏好上，米尔斯都表现出很强的后现代转向。然而他对现代社会学的批判是立足于古典社会学传统之上的，并没有完全放弃现代性，这使他的思想有别于纯粹的后现代主义，处于现代社会学与后现代社会理论之间。这样，通过对《社会学的想像力》进行再解读，似乎可以把后现代社会理论和现代社会学在逻辑上连接起来，表明两者之间没有不可逾越的鸿沟。

Between Modern Sociology and Postmodern Theory——Rereading Mills' "The Sociological Imagination"

In his book “The Sociological Imagination，” Mills comprehensively criticizes the abstractness and stiffness in the theories and methodology of traditional sociology in America. In the process， he has advocated new theoretical and methodological paradigms that are characteristic of postmodernism. His transition to postmodernism is obvious in his views of human history and contemporary times， criticisms of grand theories， attitudes toward positivism， comprehension of discipline divisions， and value preferences. However， his criticisms of modern sociology are based on classic sociological theories without completely abandoning modernism， which separates his thought from pure postmodernism and thus posits his in between modernism and postmodernism. Therefore， it seems that， by rereading “The sociological Imagination，” we are able to logically connect postmodern theories with modern sociology， suggesting that there is no unsurpassable gap between the two.