Marx as a sociologist
July 21, 2023 08:45 Source: "China Social Sciences", July 21, 2023, Issue 2696 Author: Xie Lizhong

In the history of modern sociology, no genre has such a wide and profound world influence like Marxist sociology,So that no matter whether it is the same time with Marx or after it, many important sociologists have to some extent to make a clarification of their own positions and exert their influence by dialogue with Marx。It can be said,Don't understand Marx's sociology,It is impossible to truly understand the development history of the entire modern sociology。

  bet365 Play online games

Marx never called himself a sociologist,I did not use the term "sociology" to call myself related theories。Reasons for the reason,First, it is because Marx's theory far exceeds the scope of the so -called "sociology" in the content; the second is that the word "sociology" used by Marx and others is implicitly related to themselves. Social doctrine is completely different or even opposed theoretical and methodological presets,Worried about the use of this word, people mix their sociological doctrine with the latter。

Despite this,Whether it is some Marxists in the same time as Marx,Rufa Ge、Labriola and others,It is still many Marxists later,Ru Ning、Buhalin, etc.,Both clearly call Marx's theory of society as "Marxist Sociology"。Lenin even thinks,Only Marx's sociological theory "improves sociology to the level of science for the first time"。

This indicates,Although Marx's concerns are unreasonable,But as long as we will keep the essence of the theory and methodology preset between Marx's sociology and sociology theory of Marx,So,Use the name "Sociology" to call Marx's sociology theory,Perseverance of Marx as a "sociologist",It is a meaningful approach。It can not only promote the contents of the so -called "sociology" corresponding to the so -called "sociology" in Marx's thoughts,To better understand the differences and opposition between Marx's sociological theory and Confucius and others,It also helps us deepen the discipline system of social science with Chinese characteristics through continuous dialogue and reflection between the two and successors in today's era、Construction of the academic system and discourse system。Because,Modern sociology in the past 200 years,It is gradually forming and developing by the dialogue between the two。

In view of this,We can say in the way of Lefefol: Although Marx is not a specialized sociologist,But there is a sociology in his thoughts,Therefore, there is a aspect of sociologist。This article describes this side of Marx as a sociologist。

  A truly thorough materialist sociology theory

Look at Marx from this side as a sociologist,It has an important value for us,This is a unique feature that allows us to see Marx's thoughts,That is, the social relations formed from people in the process of material production, that is, the production relationship, to start to understand and explain all aspects of human society (including various ideas、Political Law and other systems and its settings、Family relationship、National bet365 Play online games relations、Class Relationship、International relations, etc.),instead of in turn, as presets of non -Marxist sociologists such as Confucius, from religious beliefs、Ethical and moral "collective consciousness" or the level of political law to understand all aspects of social life。This contains two aspects:

First,Social phenomena of all ideas and social phenomena of all ideas and all institutional forms is attributed to the product or manifestation of social relations,Use the nature and status of the latter to explain the nature and status of the former,instead of regarding ideological concepts or political and legal systems as a mechanism of independent operations、Instead, it also specifies the nature of social relations、State existence。It is this kind of attempt to explain ideas with "social relations"、Features of social phenomena such as political and legal system,Makes us can not hesitate to confirm that Marx is regarded as a "sociologist" appropriateness。

Next,is to distinguish between production and other social relations from all social relations,regards it as "the basic original relationship that determines all the rest of the relationship",and the decisive factors of the nature and status of production relationships attributed to the level of productive forces.,Therefore, non -Marxist sociology doctrine that explains social life from various factors such as ideological concepts or political legal systems,Become a truly thorough materialist sociology theory。It is also because of this,Only make Marx's sociology the theory of sociology that is different from non -Marxist sociology。

In the preface of "Political Economics Criticism",Marx summarizes your sociological doctrine in a very simple text:

"People have some in their own social production、inevitable、Do not use their will as a transfer relationship,That is, the production relationship that is suitable for a certain stage of development with their material productivity。The sum of these production relations constitutes the economic structure of society,That is, a realistic basis that has a legal and political upper building erected and has a certain social conscious form。The production method of material life restricts the entire social life、The process of political life and spiritual life。Not people’s consciousness determines people’s existence,On the contrary,It is the people’s society that determines people’s consciousness。The material productive forces of society have developed to a certain stage,Conflict with them with the existing production relationship or property relationship of the existing production or property (this is only a legal term for production relations)。So these relationships change from the form of productivity to the development of productivity。The era of the social revolution was here。With the change of economic foundation,All the huge upper buildings also change slowly or quickly。When examining these changes,It must be different from the following: one is the material that occurs in the economic conditions of production、Changes that can be indicated by the accuracy of natural bet365 live casino games science,One is those laws that people realize this conflict and strive to overcome it、Politics、Religious、Art or philosophy,Brief words,A form of ideology。We judge that a person cannot use his views on his own,Similarly,We judge that this era of change cannot be based on its consciousness; opposite,This consciousness must be from the contradictions of material life,Explain from the existing conflict between social productivity and production relations。No matter which social form,Before the entire productivity it can accommodate,It will never perish; and the new and higher production relationship,Conditions in its material existence before mature in the nipples of the old society,It will never appear。So humans always propose only the task that they can solve,Because you only need to check it carefully, you can find it,will be generated,Only when the material conditions of solving its material already exist or at least during the generation process,will be generated。”

These thoughts of Marx,It was later further summarized as "productive forces determining production relations" (or "production relationship must be compatible with the level of productivity"、"Economic foundation determines the upper building" (or "upper buildings must be compatible with the economic foundation")、"Social Existence to Determine Social Consciousness" and other propositions,It is regarded as the most basic principle of Marx's sociology。

  Both materialismis a dialectical and historical sociology

The opposition between the above -mentioned materialism and idealism,It is the primary difference between Marx's sociology and non -Marxist sociology such as Confucius,But it is not the only difference between them。Another important difference between the sociology of Marx and the non -Marxist sociology such as Confucius,reflected in the historical nature of the two of the two。

Marx's sociology is both materialism and dialectics and history。This dialectical、The most important feature of historical materialism,It is a way of thinking that opposes the way of thinking like Entyrr who is in Confucius and other empiricalists.、Action、Society、Suicide、Crime、Moral、Law、Thoughts and concepts, etc.) See it as some of the specific historical context (social relations) that can be located,It is considered a comparison that can be compared historically、Summary homogeneous things,Abstraction from it to some concepts that can be applied to the universal nature of the historical era (such as "society", "property", "capital", etc.) Will surpass the growth of living materials ", etc.),Think of all social phenomena,Whether it is politics、Law、Concept and other upper -level buildings,and specific individuals、Things、Incidents, etc. are all in specific social relations (such as capitalist social relations, etc.)、The nature and status of the existence change with the changes in social relations、Therefore, there is a special historical phenomenon,Therefore, they can only be placed in the specific historical situation they are in order to obtain the most authentic understanding bet365 best casino games of their nature and status。For example,Black is black,Only in a specific social form will become a slave or employee; sugar is sugar,It will become a commodity only in a specific social form; the tool is the tool,It will only become "capital" only under a specific social form。Similarly,Popular population in the capitalist society,It is not due to the general laws of the so -called "population growth exceeding the growth of living materials" such as Malzas,but due to the special rules of the capitalist economic movement,As long as the capitalist society is eliminated,This special population excess will disappear。

Based on this,Marx has severely criticized the empiricalists such as Confede,The social and historical nature of the latter does not understand social phenomena at all,Therefore, it is completely unable to understand the historical transition nature of various social reality including the capitalist system,"Can't understand why workers need to deny this system","Because in their opinion,The current class form of their property -a transitional historical form -that is the property itself,Therefore, the form of property is to eliminate property ",Therefore, it has a strong conservativeness。On the contrary,Marx advocated a kind of "critical and revolutionary" sociological theory,The task it proposed for itself is not to "observe for various social phenomena that is isolated and abstracted from a specific historical situation、Experiment and comparison "then summarizes some" eternal "or" universal "causality laws,Instead, "expose all forms of confrontation and exploitation in modern society,Examine their evolution,Prove that their temporary and transforms into another form of inevitability "。

  Different methodological claims from empiricalism

As Marx itself said,After getting the above point of view, he,It is used in the research of the realistic reality of the capitalist society at that time。From the perspective of content,Like many non -Marxist sociologists,Marx's research on social reality includes both experience research,It also includes theoretical research,Not only research on social reality that has become history,It also includes research on social reality that is still in progress。In the "French Class Struggle", "Louis Popa's Fog Moon", "French Civil War", "Political Economics Criticism", "Capital", "Personal Suicide" and other related manuscripts、Note、In the letter,We can all have a glimpse of the specific results of Marx's social research。but but,What needs to be specifically explained is,Dialectics of social reality based on the above、The understanding of historical and materialism,In terms of specific research procedures and methods,Marx also proposed a set of claims that are very different from the empiricalist positions of Kong De and others。

First,As a manifestation of the above -mentioned materialist perspective,Marx always insists that the material production process of the basis of the existence of various social phenomena (including the status of material productivity、Social relationships formed by people in the process of material production, that is, the status of bet365 Play online games production relations,and the relationship between the two) conducts investigations as the most substantial and fundamental link of social research,Adhere to the mystery of the existence and change of various social phenomena from the inspection of the material production process and its internal contradictions。It is based on the claim of such a methodology,When inspecting the former capitalist society or the capitalist society,Marx is the analysis of the "economic foundation" of a specific society as its primary task。This is also the basic reason why Marx has exhausted his life to investigate the capitalist economy process,"Capital Theory" This masterpiece is the most important crystallization of the methodology of Marx。So,Simply regarding "Capital" as a book of Marxist political economy,Not appropriate。To be precise,"Capital Theory" is just the primary logic link completed by Marx's social form of capitalism with its materialist sociological views。From Marx's view,Scientific research on other aspects of social forms of capitalism should be based on the scientific analysis of the economic process of capitalist society。Lack of such a logical link,Studies in any other aspects of social reality will stay on the surface of the phenomenon。Research on capitalist society is so,Research on other social forms is the same。

Next,As a reflection of dialectics and historical perspectives,On the one hand,Marx insists on using various specific social forms as its own research object,A general "society" as a general "society" as a sociological research object from various specific social forms。Marx does not oppose the use of induction and interpretation in social research,But against a certain social phenomenon that is similar to the surface but in different social forms like an empiricalist (person、object、Event, etc.) Abstract from the specific social situations it is located,The phenomenon deemed to be induced to summarize it,Active concepts and propositions about this phenomenon。Marx claims that social phenomena are placed in the specific social forms they are located for inspection,Discover the specific social attributes and special social laws that they have (of course, it will be used for induction and interpretation when doing this,But just limit the induction objects within a specific social form range),to reveal it in nature and operating mechanism、The historicity of the law。

On the other hand,Inspiration of the methodological principles such as "Logic and History" by Hegel's philosophy "consistent logic and history" and "rising from abstraction to specific",Marx also advocates analysis (using abstract thinking methods to decompose a certain social form in theory,To get some internal structures that can be used to describe and understand this social form、The category of simple and abstraction of the operating mechanism and its regularity) and the synthesis (for the all kinds of simple、Different levels of abstraction are re -integrated according to dialectical logic,Make it a complete description and interpretation of the internal structure of this social form、The theoretical system of operating mechanism and Bet365 lotto review laws) is combined to inspect a historical process and mechanism of the formation and change of specific social forms。Analysis and comprehensive composition of two stages of research on any specific social form。"Analysis" is a process from rising from specific experience to abstract concepts and propositions,Of course, this upsurge in process must be achieved with the help of the induction or refining of experience materials。"Comprehensive" is the process from the theoretical level from abstract concepts and propositions to the specific reality process,It presented the structure of this social form and its formation and operating mechanism by narrative.。So,Research on the experience of social reality in the analysis stage must be integrated into a structure that can be used for the social form through a comprehensive link、The theoretical system of explaining the mechanism and its operation rules,Only to achieve your own scientific value。

This methodology proposition also led to Marx's sociology and empiricalist sociology in the theoretical logical structure.。Scientific theory of empiricalists,Following the structure is also inductive -deductive logic,That is, the entire theoretical system is manifested as a static logic overall composed of various propositions that are different.,Among them, the propositions with a higher level of generalization are based on a lower generalized proposition as your own logical basis,The propositions with a lower degree of generalization can be performed from a highly general proposition。Marx's scientific theory,Structurally follows the logic that rises from abstraction to specific,The entire theoretical system is performed as the simplest、The most abstract category and the category of different levels of specificization and the dynamic logic of the dynamic logic composed of propositions,Among them, the easiest、The most abstract category constitutes the starting point of the entire theoretical system,The rest of the category forms a historical/logical process that has gradually evolved or expanded by the internal contradictions to the more abstract category to a more specific category。The logical structure of the book "Capital" is a model in this area。

 Persist in and develop Marxist sociology

Look at Marx from the side as a sociologist,We can see,Marx provides a very different sociological research idea that is very different from the basic theory and methodology presets.。This idea,Both the developed capitalist countries in the West and in the oriental socialist countries constitute a traditional social research tradition different from non -Marxism。From this,It is recognized that Marx is one of the most important founders of modern sociology。Although,When we review Marx's sociological thought,I will find that Marx's theory of the basic concepts and propositions in the sociology theory at the time is still worth perfect,But this does not prevent us from treating Marx's sociology as one of the greatest achievements in modern sociology,It does not prevent us from adhering to the use of this great achievement to guide our social research and social development practice。Marx and Engels once repeatedly emphasized,Bet365 lotto review Their doctrine is scientific rather than dogma。At any specific stage of development, it will inevitably exist in its own historical limitations,Under the new historical conditions, it is continuously improved through further research by further research,It is the fundamental feature of science,Marx's sociology is naturally no exception。,Marx provided us with a set of social research ideas that are very different from non -Marxist sociology,A new set of basic concepts and principles in the theory of sociological theory and methodology,and also used these basic concepts and principles to start some specific research on the capitalist society at that time,But due to the limitations of the times,Marx's various theoretical or practical problems that may encounter in their own works in specific social and historical situations in their own works in their own works cannot do nothing.、Foresignment and instructions in the face。So,Marxist after Marx is used to deal with some new problems when using Marx's doctrine,Under the premise of adhering to the basic principles of Marxism,Develop Marxism creatively to solve these problems。After Marx's death,Marxists from various countries have tried a lot in this regard,I have accumulated rich experience and lessons,It is worthy of our summary and reflection。In a specific situation in China,Combining the basic principles of Marxism with the specific practical of China、Combined with Chinese excellent traditional culture,Through a solid research,On the one hand, promote Sinicization of Marxist sociology,On the other hand, promote the continuous development of Marxist sociology with the times,It is undoubtedly an important mission of Chinese Marxist sociologists。

(The author is a professor at the Department of Sociology at Peking University)

Editor in charge: Changchang
QR code icons 2.jpg
Key recommendation
The latest article
Graphics
bet365 live casino games

Friendship link:

Website filing number: Jinggong.com Anmi 11010502030146 Ministry of Industry and Information Technology:

All rights reserved by China Social Sciences Magazine shall not be reprinted and used without permission

General Editor Email: zzszbj@126.com This website contact information: 010-85886809 Address: Building 1, Building, No. 15, Guanghua Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing: 100026