现代社区整合的内在机制--兼论中西文化伦理及社会联结方式之差异

在“团体格局”文化背景的西方社会中,现代社区整合是以社群性社会资本及其自发性社群组织为内在基础的。良好的职业伦理实践及以其为基础自发产生的职业团体分别构成了社群性社会资本与社群组织的核心,进而成为现代社区整合的根本核心。然而在中国社会,以“五伦”为核心的差序伦理导致了以职业伦理为核心的社群性社会资本的匮乏,由此“团体格局”之现代社区整合也就难以形成。相反,儒家“五伦”实践造成了个体关系性资本的相对发达,从而使社会联结趋向于“差序格局”的人情化关系主义模式。     

传统的留守——泰国空道教(真空教)考察

本文结合历史文献和田野考察,首次介绍了创立于江西赣州的空道教(空中大道)在泰国的传播史略及当前的存在状态.1912～1960年间,泰国华人创建了15间空道道堂,集中在泰南的客家人、潮汕人和福建人的社区.空道已经成为在地华人"方言社群"宗教传统一部分,以及在地化的文化认同构建的一大载体.作为一个"早熟而不成熟"的教门,包括泰国在内的空道在东南亚华人社会中面临着严峻的生存和发展困境,但也出现了再出发的一些转机.     

阴阳之间——新加坡华人祖先崇拜的田野调查

本文根据笔者在新加坡多年访问、调查与深度访谈所得的田野资料，并结合相关的金石、文献与档案，从先人的埋葬形态与先人的分类、先人牌位、祭祀先人等方面，讨论源自中国传统农业社会的祖先崇拜，如何在新加坡的社会脉络下发展出新的形态与功能以及其它特征。与传统研究相异的是，本文不是从农业社会宗族组织的架构，而是在一个由移民社会发展而来、具有多元种族文化特征的商业社会的环境中讨论汉人(华人)的祖先崇拜。     

社群主义对个人主义的批评及其限度

社群主义之于个人主义的批评是其批评自由主义的重点指向。对于这一批评的理解是把握社群主义基本立场的关键环节。本文以社群主义的代表性人物查尔斯·泰勒关于本体论题与辩护论题的界分为切入点,一方面揭示社群主义对于原子个人主义及其促成的西方社会现代性隐忧的批判,另一方面分析社群主义对于作为道德理想的个人主义以及追求个人权利的伦理正当性的态度,并进而指出,社群主义与自由主义之争生成和立足于西方社会,唯有在西方社会的具体背景下来考究这一论争,它的历史出场价值及其限度才能被很好地揭示。     

麦金太尔社群主义的思想资源

作为社群主义思潮的代表人物之一,麦金太尔的哲学运思是以解决当代西方社会个人主义危机为出发点的。在历史主义的理念关照下,他追溯了西方社会发展过程中社群、自我与美德关系演变的历史,这种对于社群与美德传统关系演变的分析为麦氏的社群主义理论奠定了牢固的历史基础——社群是实现自我的前提,美德正是在社群生活中获得存在意义的。     

基督宗教对海外华人移民活动的影响——近代福建地区的三次集体移民活动述评

近代福建,天主教区、华人基督徒、新教传教士分别参与、发动和组织了当地天主教徒、基督教徒移民非洲、东南亚地区的集体移民活动.本文尝试结合基督教研究与华侨华人史研究,对这三次集体移民做一述评,分析比较移民活动参与者、组织者及其社会角色的异同.文章认为,近代基督宗教在华人移民海外运动中扮演的角色多元,性质复杂,不仅影响着华侨华人移民运动的发展,亦为华人信徒提供了一个普世性的社会流动网络,使基督宗教成为海外华人宗教的重要组成部分.     

世界宗教研究所“东南亚华人宗教文化学术考察团”访问新马泰三国

2008年9月13日-23日,卓新平所长率领中国社会科学院世界宗教研究所"东南亚华人宗教文化学术考察团"一行6人,应"东南亚空中大道联谊会"的邀请,赴新加坡、马来西亚、泰国三国,实地考察华人(华族)及华社的宗教信仰及文化生态,进行华人社会之多元宗教及文化之间的交流与对话,以期加深对于华人社会的宗教文化形态的"心性之体认"与"同情之理解".     

美国华人基督教会研究:以大波士顿地区为例

美国华人基督教的历史与华人移民美国的历史几乎一样长。大波士顿地区的华人基督徒出现较早,但华人基督教会直到1946年才出现。该地区现有华人基督教会近30家,信徒5000多人,约占当地华人总人口的5%。华人新移民加入基督教会的主要原因有:近代以来中国社会和文化变迁;寻求族群归属和文化认同;寻求物质与精神帮助;华人教会的主动宣传。华人基督教会的特点有:组织独立,神学保守;华人新移民是华人基督教会的生力军;普通话、英语和粤语三种语言并存;尽量少谈或不谈政治。华人基督教会的功能有:解决华人信仰问题;团结华人;服务华人,教育华人,帮助华人新移民融入美国社会,同时保持中国传统文化。华人基督教会是华人社团的重要组成部分,与华文报刊和中文学校一起构成美国华人文化社区的核心内容。     

新加坡的道教与民间教派、“信仰群”——以黄老仙师信仰为例

从实地调查的情况来看,新加坡的道教是一个非常宽泛的概念。凡是多神信仰,以神明、祖先、鬼为祭祀对象,以华人传统伦理道德为宗教义理,以道教斋醮科仪和扶乩降神为与神鬼界沟通手段者,都可以称之为道教信仰者。因为道教本身的包容性、宽泛性,易于出现分化的教派或教团。比如德教、一贯道等等,他们制定出自己的宗教制度、神明体系、信仰方式,是一种制度化的民间教团,也有学者称之为秘密教派。另有一些庙宇组织有着共同的神明崇拜体系、宗教仪式、道德理念,虽然制度化的形态尚不完整也不稳定,但已具备基本要素和雏形,此种信仰形态可称之为信仰群,如黄老仙师信仰、九皇大帝信仰等等。本文以新加坡的黄老仙师信仰为例,分析新加坡华人社会这一处于道教和民间教团之间的信仰群特色,并以此来探讨新加坡华人道教的发展问题。     

当代东南亚华人基督教浅析

本文尝试概述当代东南亚华人基督教的形成背景,归纳其主要特点,分析其发展趋势。文章认为,东南亚华人基督教曾是西方对华传教工作的副产品,也是华侨华人在海外落地生根,社会现代化、价值多元化的结果。东南亚地区种族复杂,宗教多元。在多元异质文化的冲击交荡中,东南亚华人基督教呈现出与其它地区华人基督教相异的特点。当前,基督教在东南亚华人社会影响日增,但难以成为华人社会的主流文化,华文文化、华人佛教和伊斯兰教复兴力量则是影响东南亚华人基督教未来发展的重要因素。     

Humphreys's attenuated test of Spearman's hypothesis

Humphreys's test of Spearman's hypothesis (viz., that the size of the standardized black-white differences on various psychometric tests is positively related to the tests' loadings on g, the general intelligence factor) is methodologically weak. It is based on comparison of a fairly representative sample of the black population of U.S. school children with a highly selected sample of the white school population, representing the lowest 15 to 20% of whites in socio-economic status (SES). A fair test of the hypothesis requires that the black and white samples should not be selected on any g-correlated variable, such as SES. Selection attenuates and distorts the relationship between tests' g loadings and the magnitude of the standardized mean black-white differences on the tests. Other unorthodox conditions in Humphreys's study, such as performing factor analysis on the test-score means of various arbitrary demographic groups instead of on individual test scores inflates tests' g loadings and biases the test of Spearman's hypothesis by restriction of reliable variance in g loadings. Humphreys's study cannot be considered a proper replication of Jensen's examination of Spearman's hypothesis in 11 different studies comprising 74 different tests, which consistently bears out Spearman's hypothesis.     

Parents' and preschool children's choices of disciplinary childrearing methods

Forty preschoolers individually were shown a videotape containing six 30-second scenes depicting common parent/child conflicts. The children were asked to tell the experimenter what they would do if they were the parent on the tape, and what their own parents would do if this happened at home. In addition, 15 mothers of these children were selected randomly to view the same scenes and to indicate their choice of conflict resolution methods. Taped responses of parents and children were then coded as verbal/physical coercion or no coercion. Results indicated that preschoolers tended to choose disciplinary actions in accordance with their perceptions of their parents' manner of dealing with the same situation, and also revealed a high congruence between parent and child on consequences for discipline. The implications of these findings are discussed in relation to the development of childrearing methods at an early age and the intergenerational transmission of family violence.     

Teachers' and mothers' academic achievement expectations for learning disabled children

The present study investigated teachers and mothers academic achievement expectations for learning disabled and normally achieving grade 3 children. Both groups had similar WISC-R mean Full Scale IQ scores, ages and socioeconomic backgrounds. It was found that teachers and mothers had significantly lower academic expectations for learning disabled children. The results are discussed in terms of the importance of positive affective development for learning disabled children and the need for more encouraging attitudes on the part of teachers and parents.     

Sorting out what's in a word from what's not: Evaluating Clark's Semantic Features Acquisition theory

The Semantic Features Acquisition theory of semantic development which is due to E. Clark (e.g., 1973b) is reviewed and evaluated against the recent experimental literature, with special reference to the acquisition of English antonyms. The review critically examines the three major ontogenetic principles of Clark's theory in light of numerous recent findings, many of which are at variance in some major way with predictions from the theory. In many instances, new data are available which call into question previous findings. A recurrent problem has been that children's comprehension task performance is confounded with their response biases which are specific to the linguistic and nonlinguistic contexts in which the lexical terms are presented. Methodological implications are discussed, with recommendations for employing the logic of converging operations.     

Children's visual descriptions

The aim of the experiments described below was to elucidate aspects of children's mental representations of what they see, through studying their drawings of simple geometric forms when copying from standard models. Two specific questions were studied: (a) Do children produce symbolic representations based, as in machine perception, on decomposition of the visual object into features or properties, subsequently reaggregated to a greater or lesser degree, rather than attempts to copy the visual appearance of the model? The answer was affirmative, though the phenomenon is relatively rare, (b) Does a child's drawings of simple geometric drawings improve if he can watch an adult do the same drawings first? This has been asserted in the literature and bears on the question of static versus procedural representation. In a sample of 499 drawings made by children aged from 2½ to 5 years we showed that such an effect is absent or very small.