吉登斯对历史唯物主义的反思与"重建"

在吉登斯看来,历史唯物主义存在“化约论”、“进化论”和“功能论”三大缺陷。“化约论”表现在历史唯物主义把复杂的人类历史和社会关系化约为生产力、经济关系和阶级斗争等方面,作为对它的重建,吉登斯提出以“时空伸延水平”作为划分社会类型的新标准;“进化论”表现在历史唯物主义把人类历史看作是一个由低级阶段向高级阶段不断进化的过程,作为对它的重建,吉登斯提出从“片断”和“时空边缘”的角度分析世界历史的演化轮廓;“功能论”表现在历史唯物主义从“需要”和“功能”的角度解释社会再生产和社会变迁的过程,作为对它的重建,吉登斯提出了“随机性社会变迁”模式的新观点。吉登斯对历史唯物主义的反思和“重建”具有一定的启发意义,但也存在明显的缺陷。

Giddens' Reflection and "Reconstruction" of the Historical Materialism

According to the viewpoint of Anthony Giddens, Historical Materialism has three main deficiencies: "Reductionism", "Evolutionism" and "Functionalism". "Reductionism" exhibits on the Historical Materialism's reducing the complicated human history and social relationships into the forces of production, economic relationships, class struggles, etc. As an alternation of it, Giddens advances the notion of "level of time - space distanciation", which serves as the new standard for dividing the societal types. Evolutionism exhibits on the Historical Materialism's regarding the human history as a process which continuously evolutes from the lower stages to the upper ones. As a reconstruction of it, Giddens brings forward two concepts of "episode" and "time - space edge", which serves as the new criteria for identifying the general outline of the human history. " Functionalism" exhibits on the Historical Materialism's describing the societal reproduction and social change from the viewpoints of "need" and "function". As a revision of it, Giddens puts forward the new model of "contingent social change . Giddens' endeavors have certain significance in understanding Historical Materialism, but his limitations are also obvious.