金融工具、信用能力分化与社会不平等

本文试图沿着齐美尔开创的社会分化与不平等的研究路经，通过剖析金融工具的社会属性，来看随着金融工具的一般发展引起的信用能力的分化、人际交换结构的调整，以及社会不平等体系的改变。文章从社会交换的分解出发，引入了“承诺标识物”这个概念，并用“群体承诺标识物”来把握金融工具的社会属性，通过思考承诺标识物向群体承诺标识物的过渡，以及货币的非金属化如何影响人们作出有效承诺标识物的能力（也就是信用能力），得出了一种社会信用分化、社会不平等自我维持和自我强化的机制。作者认为当货币作为一种基本的群体承诺标识物出现之后，社会成员在既有社会结构中所处的位置、他的符号化能力和关于符号化及其运作的知识就变得非常重要，不同的群体承诺标识物会被社会上层创造出来并通过与货币相沟通，实现对社会不平等性的再塑造。文章从借贷的角度分析了转型过程中信用能力与社会结构之间的相互影响，以及由此带来的社会分化问题。

Financial Instruments, Credibility Differentiation and Social Injustice

Following the research on social differentiation and inequality initiated by Georg Simmel， this paper attempts to examine via financial instruments’ social properties the systematic changes in credibility differentiation， interpersonal exchange adjustment， and social injustice as a result of the general development of financial instruments. From the analysis of social exchange， the paper introduces the concept of “marks of promise” and utilizes “marks of group promise” to handle financial instruments’ social properties. Thinking of the transition from marks of promise to marks of group promise and the impact of money’s non metal aspect on people’s ability to make valid marks of promise （i.e.， credibility） has led to the discovery of the self sustaining and self intensifying mechanisms for social credibility differentiation and social injustice. The author contends that the emergence of money as a basic mark of group promise has made the following very important： a social member’s position in the social structure， his/her ability to symbolize， and his/her knowledge of symbolization and its operations. Marks of different group promises are created by the supreme in the societal structure and get connected to money， thus recreating social injustice. From the angle of loans， the paper analyzes the mutual influences between credibility and social structure， and the problem of social differentiation henceforth.