科举考试的功能与科举社会的形成

科举制在长久实行的过程中,逐渐形成教育、文化、政治等多项功能,并渗透到社会各个层面。宋代以后,科举在政治上的重要地位及其重大影响,使中国逐渐成为一个以"凭才取人"的人才选拔标准和能力本位主义的价值取向为表征的科举社会。中国封建社会所以从门第社会走向科举社会,其背后有着深刻的社会文化根源———摆脱人情困扰,追求社会公平。受此影响,中国社会至今仍有解不开的"考试情结"。

Functions of the Imperial Examination System and the Formation of the Imperial Examination Oriented Society

In the long history, the imperial examination (IE) system had formed its multiple functions in education, culture and politics. It also infiltrated into all aspects of Chinese society. Since the Song Dynasty, the important influence of this system and its position in politics turned ancient China into an IE oriented society, featured by criterions of evaluating and choosing the talents according to their intelligence and ability. In federal China, the social transition from family status orientation to IE orientation indicated urgent social and cultural needs: to shake off personal interference and to pursue social equity. Influenced by it, people in China still have an examination complex today.