出刊年月/Date of Publishing

1986.09

所屬卷期/Vol. & No.   第16卷第3期 Vol. 16, No. 3

類型/Type                 研究論文 Research Article

篇名/Title
美國社會學中的托克維爾
Tocqueville in American Sociology

作者/Author
張震東 Chen Tung Chang

頁碼/Pagination
pp. 85-142

摘要
當代許多社會學者似乎未能賞識十九世紀法國思想家托克維爾在社會學史上的貢獻，不過卻也有少數學者抱持不同的見解。本論文將詳細檢視托氏學說以期改正普遍存在的錯誤看法，並展示美國社會學界在戰後這段期間對於托氏思想的發展與接受情形，諸如據以發展形成的民主多元論、大眾社會理論、以及革命與集體暴力理論等。

本論文更將進一步闡述托氏運用理念型做比較分析的技巧，以及他如何運用此項特點論證其歷史社會學的觀點。托氏的方法論現已被廣泛接受，由於比較歷史社會學的重新受到重視，他的學說更是得到正面的肯定。

文中最後將提及托氏學說如何影響美國的民德與國民性，並指出他對平等主義與個人主義兩者可能產生的衝突所提出的真知灼見如何被忽略，以及此項學說又如何在最近討論美國社會所面臨的基本問題時再度被提起。

本文以悲觀口吻結束，因為人類一朝解不開由平等與自由交織而成的死結，人類也將一朝無法忘懷托氏的真知灼見。

Abstract
The status of Tocqueville in the history of sociological thought has been widely underestimated among contemporary sociologists, although there are admittedly some important exceptions. This essay aims at rectifying this general misjudgment by demonstrating, in some detail, the centrality of Tocqueville’s ideas in recent, mostly postwar, development of certain sociological theories, such as the pluralist theory of liberal democracy, the theory of mass society, and the various attempts at theorization in the area of revolution and collective political violence.

The essay further shows Tocqueville’s adeptness in the use of ideal types and in applying the logic of comparison to his historical-sociological analyses. Such methodological achievements of Tocqueville’s have become more widely recognized recently and are certainly to be better appreciated in view of the recent revival of comparative historical sociology.

It, finally, points to. Tocqueville’s contributions to the study of the mores and national character of the Americans and underscores particularly the bearings of his profound insights into the tension between egalitarianism and individualism upon recent discussions of some fundamental issues in American society.

The essay concludes with the conviction—a sad note—that some of us are bound to return, from time to time, to engaging in dialogue with Tocqueville as long as mankind continues to be entangled in the dialectic of freedom and equality.

關鍵字/Key Word
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DOI
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學門分類/Subject
社會學 Sociology