理性、社会与宗教:从哈贝马斯的观点反思"9.11"事件

本文有两个主要目的:一是以现代化对宗教意识、制度的影响来定位“9·11”事件;二是指出伊斯兰极端主义反对西方尤其是美国,是过去200多年来中东海湾地区实行特殊现代化道路的结果。作者以哈贝马斯的社会演进论来解释这一理论,批判左翼、右翼和中间派对“9·11”事件相互抵触的解释,说明这一事件的宗教意义,考察宗教和现代化之间的关系,指出伊斯兰原教旨主义运动的出现是实现交往理性所必需的社会政治建构迟滞发展的结果。     

宗教信仰选择：一个西方宗教经济学的文献梳理

本文在回顾归纳国外宗教经济学相关理论和经验成果的基础上,建立了“供给-需求”分析框架。笔者认为,既有宗教经济学理论主要从供给和需求两个角度来解释信仰选择的作用机制。宗教市场理论从供给出发,认为宗教市场结构是宗教信仰的重要决定因素;宗教社会资本理论、宗教家庭生产模型、宗教人力资本模型和宗教事后保障模型则从需求角度出发,分别强调社会网络的人际依恋、宗教参与的机会成本、宗教产品的生产效率和宗教组织的公共物品供给因素等在宗教信仰选择方面发挥的影响。改革开放以来中国社会宗教信仰领域发生了极大的变化,引入宗教经济学视野一方面能为考察分析当今中国宗教信仰现状及推动其理论发展带来相应的契机,另一方面应考虑中国与西方社会之间的差异以及特殊性,对该视野的运用要有所甄别。     

从理性选择到社会选择

基于“理性人”(或“经济人”)的基本 假设,经济学通过对变量的严格限制而发展 了一套解释人类行动的精致理论和数学模型,并在其学科发展的进程中将其解释范围和效力从最开始的微观行动过渡到宏观结构,从最开始的经济领域逐渐扩展到了整个社会领域,从而使自己成为“显学”,构筑起了“经济学帝国主义”的大厦。社会学作为后起之秀,虽然一开始就极力反对“经济人”的假设和以理性行动涵盖人类全部行为的处理方法,坚持自己的“社会人”假设,但由于非理性行动解释的困难影响以及个体主义方法论的推动,也逐渐把理性与理性行动作为一个十分重要的分析范畴。作为研究人类社会规律的社会科学,经济学和社会学在此解     

二维视野下的社会理论--哈贝马斯论现代性与宗教

早期的德国社会学大师韦伯将现代社会理解为一个全面趋向理性化、合理化、理智化的过程,现代社会就是一个“解魅 (Entzauberung)”的时代,是一个理性化解除宗教魔咒的时代。所谓“解魅”就是整个社会走出宗教的控制,生活在一个理性主义的世界,在生活世界实现世俗化。理性对现代社会的意义首先表现为理性的觉醒和伸张,导     

中国农村宗教复兴与“宗教”的中国命运

中国农村宗教复兴是改革开放以来最“出人意料”的现象之一。对此,学界提出了“传统的发明”、“国家-社会关系”、“宗教市场”三种解释模式。本文认为,解释中国农村宗教复兴,不能将宗教现象还原为“政治”或“经济”等其他范畴,而应将之视为一种自成一类的事实,一种人的基本条件,同时应充分理解政治精英和知识精英在中国近现代史上对 “宗教”的塑造过程。中国农村的宗教复兴在很大程度上游离于这一塑造过程之外,因此,可能存在着尚不为学界所充分认识的社会机制,有着提供本土理论的潜力。本文认为,在世俗化理论和市场理论之外,应该尝试使用“礼物模式”探索这一社会机制。     

“宗教礼物论”的可能性：礼物与宗教的内在联系

本文认为，“宗教礼物论”是一个具有潜力的理论视角，它以莫斯等人的礼物理论为基础，探讨宗教现象及其与社会的关系。本文在述评现有文献的基础上，探讨礼物与宗教的内在关系，进而分析礼物理论与宗教社会学的亲和性。文章认为：首先，礼物与宗教是双向关联的，两者相辅相成，不仅宗教现象中蕴含着礼物逻辑，而且宗教为礼物的内在价值提供了神圣性的基础；其次，礼物和宗教都与社会团结的法则直接关联，这一点体现在两者共通的自愿式义务性上，两者既融合了情感性联系和工具性联系，也融合了相互性伦理和等级性伦理；最后，“宗教礼物论”的优势最可能体现在对宗教之“非自主选择性”的分析上，而它的潜在挑战则主要在应对社会变迁与价值倾向上。     

现代社会的"宗教性"阐释--深圳民间宗教研究发微

现代社会的宗教制度、新兴宗教现象以及人的宗教倾向等问题,自古典时期以来一直受到宗教社会学家的关注。在对深圳的民间宗教信徒作了为期约一年经验研究的基础上,我想通过本文提出一些假设性的、尚不及严格论证的观点来供大家讨论和批评。本文所提出的一个中心假设是,现代人的内心深处可能普遍地存在有“宗教性”的因子。围绕这一假设,我进一步探讨了支撑现代民间宗教的社会条件,以及个体“宗教性”对现代社会的影响等问题。     

理性化官僚制救治的路径选择

“建立和维持一个顺乎民意而负责的官僚机构,是现代化和正在现代化的社会———资本主义社会或社会主义社会、发达社会或落后社会———的难题之一”①。本文立足于韦伯的“理性官僚制”理论,对官僚制的存在方式、基本特征作了一个简要的说明,阐述了理性官僚制的内涵,揭示了理性官僚制的固有悖论,并提出了在行政环境飞速变化的现代社会,对理性官僚制进行救治的相应措施。     

研究中国宗教的社会学范式杨庆堃眼中的中国社会宗教

摘要：本文通过杨庆堃教授对中国宗教极其卓越和具有开创性的研究,来审视中国宗教的社会学范式。杨氏的《中国社会中的宗教》是一部堪称现代经典的华丽巨著,是中国宗教社会学研究的典范之作,是社会学学者研究中国宗教的重要参考书,具有极高的学术价值和理论创新意义。相对于西方宗教的制度性,杨氏提出发散性宗教的概念,指出散开宗教的信仰和仪式有机会发展为有组织的社会体系,同时它是作为社会组织模式整体的一部分,在散开的形式中,宗教发挥着多样的功能,以组织的方式出现在中国社会生活中。杨氏是第一个从宽阔的社会学角度来证明中国宗教存在形式、合理性以及历史传统的华裔学者,对于其后学者的研究奠定了重要的学术基础。     

和谐发展理念与实践理性选择

现代社会是随着理性的启蒙和弘扬而发展起来的,但启蒙理性也显示了理性在现代社会的失节,现在又遇到了理性发展的难题。现代社会发展的出路在于如何建立合理理性,理性选择发展道路。马克思主义哲学的实践理性观为我们科学地理解理性提供了很好的切入方式,同时也为我们正确地理解和批判现代化进程中的片面立场提供了有力武器。     

诸神之争的再阐释:一个社会学的结构视角

世俗化及逆世俗化范式的对立其实蕴含着更大的连续性,即如何理解宗教多元主义背后的诸神之争,总的来说,韦伯之后那些解释宗教变迁的理论范式均未突破韦伯对宗教的比较研究范畴,难以在当前复杂而多元的文化环境下为个人提供总体指导,但是二者共同揭露了诸神之争条件下西方宗教工具理性和价值理性交互作用所促成的理性化的动力机制,即西方宗教维护自身价值理性的方式从中世纪教会主导的政治性垄断过渡到现代性条件下宗教多元主义的市场化竞争。     

Situational Crime Prevention and its Discontents: Rational Choice Theory versus the 'Culture of Now'

The rational choice theory of crime and its cognate field of study, situational crime prevention, have exerted a considerable influence in criminal justice policy and criminology. This article argues that, while undeniably useful as a means of reducing property or acquisitive crime, rational choice‐inspired situational crime prevention initiatives are limited when it comes to offering protection against a growing number of so‐called ‘expressive crimes’. Developing this critique, the article will criticize the sociologically hollow narrative associated with rational choice theories of crime by drawing on recent research in social theory and consumer studies. It argues that the growing tendency among many young individuals to engage in certain forms of criminal decision‐making ‘strategies’ may simply be the by‐product of a series of subjectivities and emotions that reflect the material values and cultural logic associated with late modern consumerism.     

Religion, Meaning, and Prejudice

Links between religion and prejudice have been interpreted to suggest that religion can both reduce and exacerbate prejudice. Here, the analysis of religion as a meaning system illuminates how religion can affect intergroup attitudes. Traditional psychological perspectives on religion and prejudice are summarized, followed by a discussion of religion and prejudice in cross-cultural and cross-religious contexts, involving varying target groups. Next, we explore possible explanatory mechanisms by proposing how four levels of meaning associated with religion—cognitive, motivational, societal, and intergroup—may both promote and attenuate prejudice. Finally, additional factors that might facilitate the paradoxical coexistence of religious egalitarian intentions with prejudiced attitudes are considered, and we speculate about the potential for religious groups to reduce prejudice within their adherents.     

A Theory of Rational Choice under Ignorance

This paper contributes to a theory of rational choice for decision-makers with incomplete preferences due to partial ignorance, whose beliefs are representable as sets of acceptable priors. We focus on the limiting case of `Complete Ignorance' which can be viewed as reduced form of the general case of partial ignorance. Rationality is conceptualized in terms of a `Principle of Preference-Basedness', according to which rational choice should be isomorphic to asserted preference. The main result characterizes axiomatically a new choice-rule called `Simultaneous Expected Utility Maximization'. It can be interpreted as agreement in a bargaining game (Kalai-Smorodinsky solution) whose players correspond to the (extremal) `acceptable priors' among which the decision maker has suspended judgment. An essential but non-standard feature of Simultaneous Expected Utility choices is their dependence on the entire choice set. This is justified by the conception of optimality as compromise rather than as superiority in pairwise comparisons.     

Religion and relief: the role of religion in mobilizing civil society against global poverty

Abstract

Although global poverty is one of the world's most pressing contemporary problems, there is a lack of political will to address it, and much of the work is left to non-governmental organizations (NGOs)-many of which have religious connections. However, religion's role in this area is surprisingly understudied. In attempting to fill the gap, this study explores what makes religion effective in mobilizing civil society actors to engage in transnational poverty relief and development. The paper examines the salience of religious actors in the field, before developing a theoretical framework to explain this prevalence, employing sociologically based theories of religious social capital, content, and cultural power. Finally, these issues are investigated practically through case studies of two religious NGOs, World Vision New Zealand (WVNZ) and TEAR Fund New Zealand. The findings corroborate the theoretical framework, demonstrating the considerable potential of religion to mobilize civil society in the fight against global poverty.     

宗教世俗化及其未来

随着人类自我意识的发展,宗教世俗化问题被提上日程,尤其是近代以来,片面强调科学理性,忽视价值理性。使现代人价值失落,信仰危机,新兴宗教、膜拜团体出现。变革传统宗教,加快世俗化步伐,宗教才能不断适应现代社会人们的精神需求。     

Religion and Giving in Australia

This article draws on a household survey of giving and volunteering undertaken as part of the Giving Australia project to explore the relationship between religion and the giving behaviour of adult Australians. We find that people who identify themselves as having a religion are more likely to give and to give more on average than people who do not but that this relationship is produced by a subset of this group; namely, people who regularly attend religious services. Indeed, the likelihood of giving and average amounts given by givers over a year increase with levels of attendance at religious services. The relationship holds even after allowing for other factors that affect the likelihood of a person giving and the amount given. It also holds for giving to nonreligious causes (ie when giving to religion is omitted). However, when we also omit giving to charities and look at giving to civic causes alone we find that the frequency of attendance at religious services has an ambiguous relationship with giving. A suggestion in overseas literature that it is participation in religious groups, rather than attendance at religious services that is associated with giving is not supported.