“Doing” Agency: Introductory Remarks on Methodology

As a theory of social reproduction, agency provides an attractive framework for understanding how material culture relates to everyday social action, to long-standing cultural institutions, and to wholesale culture change. What remains under-explored in archaeology is the question of how to proceed in linking observable material patterning to the agency of ancient social reproduction and how to understand the role of material culture in this dynamic process. This introduction (to this and the next issue of JAMT (Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory)) explores why there is a need for archaeology to develop explicitly articulated “middle range interpretive methodologies” that are appropriate for agency-oriented research in the past.     

关系视角下乡村空间认知与转型路径研究

在“双循环”新发展格局下,以广域乡村为主体,形成对其空间格局、经济形态、社会关系等方面的系统认知以及转型路径的预判,对乡村全面振兴和转型发展具有重要意义。基于关系视角的理论解释及其在空间研究中的应用,梳理乡村空间认知研究,认为需要以关系串联乡村空间的复杂内涵和运行机制。文章将乡村空间划分为物质空间、经济空间、社会空间和文化空间四个维度,从各维度内部、之间的关系作用以及调节关系作用的治理手段三个方面,构建乡村空间“构成归纳—过程解析—组织优化”的认知框架。在此基础上,将乡村空间转型路径分为关联整合资源、协调参与主体、建立集体认同三个阶段,以期拓展乡村空间理论的建构视角,为我国乡村规划实践提供科学指引。     

基于西方学生化理论建构的中国本土研究进展及思考

近20年来,学生化现象呈全球化趋势,与城市空间交互密切。西方城市地理学界最早关注学生化现象,并系统建构学生化理论。约10年前,该理论被引入中国,开始了本土化研究。鉴于助推学生化理论中国本土化建构的研究仍较少,本文首先介绍了中西方学生化现象及其理论建构的时代背景,阐释了针对学生化理论本土化思考的必要性及意义。随后,通过梳理西方学生化理论建构及其本土化研究,思考了中西方共同关注的理论焦点和研究理论框架,以及对研究中国学生化可能有益的研究方法。最后,文章探讨了基于中国国情的学生化概念界定思考的重要性。     

Current Issues in Ceramic Ethnoarchaeology

The last decade has seen a surge in ceramic ethnoarchaeological studies worldwide, covering such important topics as ceramic production, technological change, ceramic use and distribution, and social boundaries. Some of the most exciting new Americanist research helps archaeologists refine models of ceramic production. Increasing numbers of non-Americanist studies use a technology and culture framework to examine manufacturing variability, the dynamics of cultural transmission between generations, and the articulation between ceramic technology and social boundaries. This review summarizes these recent trends, places current ethnoarchaeological research in its theoretical contexts, and looks to the future of research in a dynamic landscape in which ceramic production systems are undergoing rapid change. Many varieties of research currently now fall under the rubric of ceramic ethnoarchaeology, and Americanist archaeologist are encouraged to look beyond their own regionalist and theoretical paradigms to consult this wider literature.     

Controlling for Doubt and Uncertainty Through Multiple Lines of Evidence: A New Look at the Mesoamerican Nahua Migrations

Nahuatl represents a relatively recent extension of the Uto-Aztecan language family into Mesoamerica. Ethnohistorians have linked Nahuatl's arrival to the historically attested migrations of nomadic people into central Mexico in the last centuries before the Spanish Conquest. Archaeologists have tended to treat migration as an explanation for a change in material culture rather than a social question to be examined theoretically. We approach this migration through the comparison of multiple data sets and conclude that what has previously been treated as a historical event is instead part of a longer term process tying together Mesoamerica's northern periphery with its highland core. While we find that certain themes from migration theory are reflected in this preindustrial migration as well, other variables are unique and bode well for archaeology's ability to address and contribute to theoretical issues relating to migration.     

Competing imaginaries: Crypto-utopianism and the material forces of Bitcoin mining

Drawing on Marx's theory of history, this article argues that the competition and capital accumulation inherent in the production of Bitcoin (i.e. ‘mining’) are at odds with the narrative discourses that position Bitcoin as a revolutionary technology capable of subverting traditional power structures. Through an analysis of the evolution of Bitcoin mining, the article demonstrates how the material conditions of its production have shifted over time, leading to the concentration of mining power among a few large corporate entities and a concomitant erosion of the decentralized ethos that underpinned the early Bitcoin community. The article also argues that this shift is not simply a result of the ‘natural’ evolution of the technology, but also the outcome of specific social and economic forces that encourage the accumulation of capital over Bitcoin's democratic and decentralized potentialities. Overall, the article suggests that the narrative discourses surrounding Bitcoin need to be understood in relation to the material forces that shape its production and circulation, and that a more nuanced analysis of the interplay between material and discursive factors is necessary to fully grasp the dynamics of the cryptocurrency ecosystem.     

景观社会:当代旅游研究的情境主义视角

景观社会理论范式可以溯源于马克思的消费理论，如今已成为当代颇具解释力的社会研究范式之一，对旅游研究尤具启发性。本文梳理了景观社会范式的理论渊源，归纳了其本体论、认识论和方法论，说明了它为景观消费、景观空间文化、情境体验以及后现代景观生产等领域提供的理论框架与方法进路，阐释了其核心概念群和基本理念，展示了景观社会理论范式与旅游现象和研究的双向关系。该研究亦梳理了景观社会范式在国内外旅游领域中已有的实践与方法变迁，进而指出该范式日益丰富的未来领域与本土化实践，为旅游体验研究领域的拓展和深化提供新的理论视角，为分析和解决旅游发展中的社会、文化、空间、消费，以及景观建构等问题提供新的理论路径。     

Archaeology Unfolding: Diversity and the Loss of Isolation

Summary.   British historical archaeology has seen new theoretical engagement in recent years. A diverse and distinctive body of theory has developed in this increasingly vibrant and international area of study, testing disciplinary boundaries, especially with history, social anthropology and material culture studies.
This paper takes stock of three distinct processes within the new historical archaeology: the birth of material history, the loss of antiquity, and the loss of isolation. The implications of these processes for the wider discipline are explored with reference to landscape archaeology, using the example of the Ironbridge Gorge, Shropshire. In a consideration of future directions, it is argued that historical archaeology provides particular insights to the need across the discipline for archaeology to respond with self-confidence to complexity by drawing out and celebrating diversity in theory and practice.     

Voting Technology,Political Institutions,Legal Institutions and Civil Society: A Study of the Hypothesis of Cultural Lag in Reverse

The 2000 Presidential election was plagued by butterfly ballots and ‘pregnant chads’. Electronic voting systems, lacking verifiable paper trails that are subject to possible fraud, promise to wreak havoc with the 2004 Presidential election. There is a great diversity of systems of voting technology in the 50 states: from paper ballots, lever‐operated machines and punch cards to optical scanners and electronic systems. Associated with each technology is an estimated error rate. The underlying theory of this paper was set forth by William F. Ogburn in his famous book entitled Social Change, published in 1922. Dividing culture into material and non‐material elements, Ogburn argued that non‐material elements lag behind material elements. His explanation for this lag is that technology, which underlies material culture, changes at a faster rate than elements of non‐material culture. Obgurn did not contemplate the possibility of a reverse lag, viz., technology lagging behind non‐material culture. In analyzing the anomalous relationships between voting technology, political institutions and legal institutions, a striking instance of a ‘reverse cultural lag’ is discerned. To eliminate the phenomenon of the reverse cultural lag, there is a need for a federally‐funded program of a uniform, state‐of‐the‐art voting technology, plus an amended Help America Vote Act, to implement the innovations in the 3,114 counties. The complex problems reviewed in this paper point to a vexing question: how do we educate an electorate in a democratic society—such as the United States in the twenty‐first century—to be responsible for ensuring that periodically‐elected representatives implement the will of the people?     

The history of ‘Social Technology’, 1898–1930

Since the term was first coined, in the late nineteenth century, ‘social technology’ has had a mixed fate. Whereas ‘technology’ has become one of the keywords of the twentieth century, ‘social technology’ never quite seemed to settle in the vocabulary of social theory. In this article, we focus on the early history of ‘social technology’, tracing its spread from its origin in the sociology department at the University of Chicago, and describing the increasing competition from the term ‘social engineering’ starting in the 1920s. We argue that this shift in terminology is significant, because it is an index of changing ideas about the demarcation of sociology, about the application of science in the betterment of society and about the nature of technology.     

Archaeometry and materiality: materials‐based analysis in theory and practice*

Due to the diversity of contemporary archaeology, the aims and approaches of archaeological scientists and archaeological theorists are often at odds. I suggest that this position is problematic, both intellectually and methodologically, as both groups are fundamentally engaged in the same task: an understanding of past societies through the medium of material culture. This paper offers a review of the intellectual positions of both groups, with a brief discussion of the history of archaeological theory and an appraisal of its current trajectory. I will discuss how and why contemporary theoretical perspectives have fundamentally diverged from the perspectives of archaeological scientists and how the recent theoretical emphasis upon materiality offers a rapprochement between theoreticians and archaeological scientists.     

犯罪地理学的理论研究

目前,国内外学术界还没有建立起真正意义上的犯罪地理学,因此,犯罪地理学的理论研究就显得特别重要。为此,本文系统地探讨了犯罪地理学的理论体系,认为犯罪地理学的理论体系含有:①地理环境决定论;②环境论(月相说、星相说、地域说、犯罪地形说、折衷主义学派环境论);③犯罪时日论;④芝加哥学派的犯罪同心圆论;⑤犯罪区位论。通过犯罪地理学理论体系的研究,希望有益于犯罪地理学的创建和发展。     

Nature and Technology in History

This essay sketches an expanded theoretical conception of the roles of nature and technology in history, one that is based on a social ontology that does not separate nature and society. History has long been viewed as the realm of past human action. On this conception, nature is treated largely as an Other of history, and technology is construed chiefly as a means for human fulfillment. There is no history of nature, and the history of technology becomes the history of useful products. The essay discusses the changes wrought in these understandings by a social ontology that depicts social existence as inherently transpiring in nexuses of practices and material arrangements. The first implication is that the domain of history should be expanded from the realm and course of past human activity to the realm and course of past practice‐arrangement nexuses. In turn, this wider conception transforms the significance of nature and technology in history. Until recently, most accounts of the relationship between society/history and nature have presumed that society and history are separate from nature. On my account, by contrast, nature is part of society: a component of the practice—arrangement nexuses through which social life progresses. Human history, consequently, is a social—natural history that encompasses the varying presence and roles of nature in human coexistence. Technology, meanwhile, is not just useful products, and not just a mediator of society/history and nature. It also is (1) something through which humans manage social life and the nature that is part of it, largely by drawing nature into this site and thereby conjointly transforming society, technology, and nature in history; and (2) something that, over time, plays an increasingly central role in the nexuses where social life transpires. Through technology, in short, social—natural history takes form and advances.     

Modernity and life politics: conceptualizing the biodiversity crisis

The article examines the implicit boundary narratives of both modernization theory and of its counter-discourses (neo-Malthusianism) and successors (globalism and reflexive modernization). Among the successors, special attention is given to the paradigm of reflexive modernization and its empirical corollary, the hypothesis of an emerging global agenda of “life politics”. After offering a matrix of basic theoretical responses to modernization theory, the paper locates the biodiversity crisis within current controversies about how to overcome the flaws of traditional modernization theory. It is suggested to trace the development of this policy area back to the early twentieth century and to reread it in the light of different societal and theoretical approaches toward modernization. In conclusion, it is argued that in order to enhance our analytical capabilities, the concept of life politics needs some critical injection from literatures more sensitive to notions such as spatiality, locatedness and the lived contexts of social groups.     

Architecture as material culture: Building form and materiality in the Pre-Pottery Neolithic of Anatolia and Levant

Mudbrick technology and permanent architecture are Neolithic hallmarks but their origins are not well understood. By adopting a symmetrical approach to the examination of building materials, and contextualizing these materials within a cultural knowledge of resources and other concurrent social practices, this paper challenges environmentally determined approaches to explain the adoption of mudbrick technology during the PPNA in Anatolia, Upper Euphrates and the Levant. This research illustrates the weak correlation between architectural form and building material, suggesting that although nature provides resources, it is culture that dictates architectural form and material use. It is argued that the human-constructed environment became normalized throughout the PPNA and the social complexities of village life created a conceptual shift towards an artificial environment, supported by other changes in symbolic behavior. If building materials, such as mudbricks, were considered objects reflexive of human behavior, then we can access the complex and entangled relationship between people and things. Furthermore, the choice of building materials and their use in architecture can be considered codes of social practice and even ideology. As material culture, architecture becomes a metaphor for human engagement and symbolic communication.     

霸权,文化政治和葛兰西的地理思想

20世纪90年代以来,以英语为主的地理学术界出现了所谓的新文化地理学,着重关注基于社会差异的文化政治或文化战争。葛兰西的霸权理论对于分析文化政治作出了很重要的贡献。葛兰西认为,霸权是一种关于权力平衡的概念,这种平衡包含了武力压制和意见一致。也就是说,霸权不能仅仅来源于恐怖统治和武力镇压大众,尤其是受压迫的团体,同时也得依靠被统治者的认可和来自心底的拥护。葛兰西强调地方的重要性,探讨了城市和乡村不同类型的生活方式,以及建成环境的设计和布置如何塑造共识、流行文化,以及日常生活。葛兰西的理论能够揭示中国过去三十年快速的社会空间转型。将这种转型放在更广泛的时间和空间尺度下来思考,人文地理学就可能做出独特的知识贡献。     

Livres, Pouvoir et Théorie

This article tries to understand what kind of theories is produced in books and only in books, without any institutional or scientific guarantee. Two cases are successively studied: a method for accountants and a treatise on nobility. Both contain theoretical proposals, although neither accounting nor knowledge of genealogies or aristocratic habits was considered more than mere practical competence at the time (the end of the xvii ^th century in France). The aim of this inquiry is to suggest that identifying material and social conditions of some evolution of thought (context of composition of an important book, circulation of printed materials or of information, literary market, relationships of the authors with powerful patrons) does not differ that much from a « Zeitgeist » analysis, as long as a book is viewed as a result or a product and its own action is not taken into account. This action consists here in an elevation of accounting and genealogical techniques to theory or even to quasi-political philosophy. Both case-studies then try to show that the adaptation of a book to political action is not an available explanation for historians; rather, it is nothing other than the fact of an interpretation of theoretical needs aroused by this action.     

解说:源起、概念、研究内容和方法

解说是旅游休闲研究中相当重要的一个概念,但关于解说的研究却只是近50年以来的事情。从20世纪60年代至今,解说研究经历了形成期、寻找最佳媒介期、探求正当性阶段,到1990年代初期初步走向成熟。目前,国际上的解说研究借助更多社会学和心理学理论,以及应用社会科学如营销、消费行为、应用行为分析及教育分析方法等,通过理性行为理论、计划行为理论、规范焦点理论、阐述可能性模式、基模理论、防御动机理论以及其他认知和社会认知理论得到理论架构,并逐渐走向成熟。与此相应,解说的理论研究在国内大陆尚未得到应有的重视,研究水平也与国际上存在较大的差距。本文从文献综述的角度,梳理了国际解说研究的最新进展,对解说的源起、概念、研究内容和方法等问题进行了探讨,并针对我国解说研究的现状分析了我国解说研究发展的前景,通过研究发现,我国的解说研究主要集中在台湾地区,研究的案例地选择较单一,对解说效果的评估缺乏定量的评估等等,另外也看到中国大陆地区,有关解说研究的论文曾逐年增多的态势,解说研究在中国也会越来越得到重视,解说也会被用到旅游的各个方面。     

Liberation from the Weberian Iron Cage: Pierre Manent on Max Weber

Abstract

In this article I contend that conventional social contract theory is self-referentially incoherent. Conventional contractarianism therefore fails to provide an adequate foundation for the authority of the state and for the obligation of citizens to obey. The insistence on consent for legitimate political authority has usually been rendered in contractarian terms. Thus, the fall of conventional social contract theory seemingly entails that we should reject the principle of consent as well. Yet, the necessity of consent for the authority of the state and, concomitantly, for the obligation of citizens to obey seems to be an entailment of human equality. Thus, insofar as human persons are equal, the legitimacy of the state seems to require a foundation logically precluded to it. We are therefore confronted with a theoretical crisis. Even so, I will argue that we need not reject the principle of consent. The self-referential incoherency of conventional contractarianism results from its conventionalism. We can begin the work of salvaging the principle of consent from the demise of conventional social contract theory by erecting it upon the foundation of moral and ontological realism.     

Landscaping for a manufacturer: Humphry Repton's commission for Benjamin Gott at Armley in 1809-10

Humphry Repton's design for Benjamin Gott's park at Armley near Leeds is an extraordinary but little known work, featuring woollen mills in its vistas. This paper discusses the complexity and historical significance of this commission and suggests why it is unique. Repton's design is examined in relation to the general structure and temper of English society, to the local social and economic environment and to the values of Repton and Gott. Repton's theory and practice are placed in the context of the debate on beauty and use in an increasingly industrial society. Benjamin Gott's career and outlook as a cloth merchant and manufacturer are considered in the light of the development of the Leeds woollen industry. At Armley, Repton organized pictorially a landscape that included a steam-powered factory, a water-powered scribbling and fulling mill and clothier homesteads. At the rear of the house he composed a vignette of a ruined abbey. Repton's treatment of these features is reflected in comments by local people and by tourists. These comments also express changing attitudes towards beauty and utility. Having compromised many of his aesthetic and moral principles to satisfy Gott, Repton said nothing about the commission in his published works. The subsequent decline of landscape gardening is examined in relation to the changing temper of English society. A discussion of the theoretical implications of this study concludes that more attention should be paid to the material constitution of landscape images.