营造传统———新加坡国庆庆典

文章分析了涂尔干和韦伯的经典社会学思想对新加坡国庆庆典的解释力。作者提出,新加坡国庆庆典是一种与民族-国家有关的有预谋、有意识的表象建构。它被发明成传统,需要科层的、理性的组织。它在有机团结的社会中,创造了机械团结,并且必须通过对国家机构的操控来实现。简言之,新加坡的国庆庆典说明了,涂尔干的功能要通过韦伯的方法实现。

Making and Managing Tradition in Singapore :the National Day Parade

This essay is concerned with what certain strands of classical sociological thought, associated with Durkheim and Weber, may have to offer in the interpretation of the Singapore National Day Parade (NDP). The author argues that the NDP is a deliberate, conscious construction of representations associated with the nation-state. By being invented as a tradition, it requires bureaucratic, rational organization. It creates a mechanical solidarity out of a society of organic solidarity. This is done by harnessing the institutions of the state. In short, from the Singapore NDP we can see that Durkheimian functions are achieved through Weberian methods.