議題與趨勢：經濟之外：不平等的文化成因

Issues and Trends: Beyond Economic Factors: The Cultural Forces of Inequality

關於不平等現象的討論，傳統上，類從經濟的角度著眼，認為物質結構面的財富或資源分配不均，影響不同人群之總體生活質量，因而造成社會區隔、對立或分裂。此一觀點的解釋力及影響力，至今未見衰微；只不過，最近有些學者試從制度文化面入手，以闡釋不平等的現象。本文搜尋過去20年間美國社會學協會會長的就職演說，至少有五位會長以「不平等的文化脈絡」作為講演內容，可見這類話題甚具熱度。本文歸納她們的論點，分為「他者歸類系統」和「家庭教養效應」兩部分呈現探索心得。其中，「他者歸類系統」是影響整個社會不平等的主要機制；而「家庭教養效應」，則是構成大半教育不平等的潛在因素。行文時，將前者分成文化基礎、制度運作兩面向，後者分成文化知識、文化嚮導兩小節，做一介紹與說明。

Discussions on inequality have traditionally focused on an economic perspective, centering around how the unequal distribution of wealth or resources impacts the life chances of different groups of people, and how it leads to social segregation, polarization or fragmentation. The explanatory power and influences as such remain to this day. Recently, however, some scholars have tried to investigate inequality from an angle of institutional culture. The author examined the presidential addresses of the American Sociological Association over the past 20 years, and found that at least five of them dealt with inequality through culturalist lens, which indicated the relevance of cultural forces to inequality. This paper synthesized their arguments into ‘categorization and classification systems of otherness’ and ‘effects of childrearing/parenting’. The preliminary finding shows that ‘categorization and classification systems of otherness’ are the main mechanism of social inequality, while ‘effects of childrearing/parenting’ act as latent factors behind most educational inequality. In this study, the former are explicated from two dimensions, namely, cultural foundation and institutional operation, and the latter from cultural knowledge and cultural guides.