中国社会变革过程中的个体主义倾向

由计划经济转向市场经济这一历史性变革伴随着深层的社会心理嬗变:传统的内缘的集体主义转向现代的外缘的个体主义。个人主义是以个体为核心的关于自我边界、社会关系和社会规则的一种社会共识或社会表征。作为婚姻准则、经济规则、人文精神和政治原则的个体主义,既存在于现实生活中,也通过法律的不断完善得以体现。与个体主义在欧洲的历史进程相类似,中国社会发展也经历了去神化、人口流动和倡导自由、平等和博爱三个阶段。

Individualism in the Course of China' s Social Transition

The ongoing social transition from a planned economy towards a market economy in China is concomitant with the change of social mentality: the transformation from the endogenous collectivism towards the exogenous individualism. It is argued that individualism is the social representation or commonsense in which each individual places himself or herself at the centre of everything, and this commonsense knowledge regulates the boundary of the individuals, social relationships and social norms in a specific socio-cultural context. Individualism as an economic, humanistic and political principle has increasingly been practiced in various aspects of the daily life in China, and instituted in the Chinese law. The rise of individualism in China is an outcome of the country's essential socio-economic change on one hand, and on the other hand the Chinese social mentality of individualism, in turn, will lead to further socio-economic change in China.