“工厂的阴影”——兼论质性研究的实践与应用

"In the Shadow of the Mills":The Practice and Application of Qualitative Research

全球化条件下急剧变化的经济结构给不同的社会群体带来冲击，一项关于一群生活在美国后工业化城镇中的中学生的前后跨度为１５年的民族志追踪研究，揭示了如何从日常生活实践的角度理解阶级变迁过程，以及在去工业化时期，失去原有工作的白人工人群体如何在特定的社会结构与历史条件下，将自身重塑为一个独特的阶层。全球化时代的阶级重构过程与性别关系以及族群身份认同等因素之间存在极其错综复杂的关联。只有将社会群体置于具体的历史条件以及相邻群体关系中考察，才能深刻理解这些过程，这就是构图式分析法(compositional study)。这一研究思路应当适用于不同国家与背景下的社会人群研究，而在全球化过程中受益的新兴国家如印度和中国开展类似研究，尤为重要。

The rapid changing social and economic conditions in the globalization era have impacted the lives of multiple social groups.Based on the data collected over a timespan of fifteen years for a longitudinal ethnographic research on a group of high school students in a de-industrialized American town,it is demonstrated how to understand the class transitional process from a perspective of daily living experiences;and how the identity of this particular class sector consisting of a group of white people who lost their former jobs is produced within changing social structure and historic conditions.The complexity in the relationships between class,gender,and ethnic identities in an era of rapid globalization is manifested through the close examination of the daily living experiences of the group.The analytic approach of"compositional study"is employed in the research,which enables a deep understanding of these processes by examining social groups in specific historical conditions and related groups.It is suggested that similar studies on different social groups within diverse social and national settings should be conducted;and such studies are especially necessary in the emerging nations such as India and China,which benefit from the globalization process.