美国劳工史研究中“阶级”的概念重构与范式更新

在20世纪美国劳工史研究中,“阶级”概念的内涵被多次重构。旧劳工史家们依据马克思主义的社会分析理论,把“阶级”视为在生产力基础之上形成的一种社会结构。60到80年代美国的新劳工史家在社会史的广阔视野中重新研究阶级。他们反对“阶级”的结构化定义,重视工人自身在“阶级”形成中的能动性,但是,这种“社会转向”也让阶级研究变得碎片化。90年代以后,受后现代主义思潮影响的学者们把种族、性别等分析范畴嵌入劳工史研究,从而解构了“阶级”概念的确定性,将其变为一个不稳定的、模糊不清的“社会和话语构造物”。随着“阶级”概念被多次重构,其作为一个分析范畴在劳工史中的重要性也呈现出弱化的趋势。

The Concept Reconstructions and Paradigm Shifts of the Class in the Studies of Labor History of the U.S.

The concept of‘class’was reconstructed several times in the studies of American labor history in the 20 th century.Influenced by the social analysis of the Marxist theory,the‘old’labor historians considered‘class’a social structure formed on the basis of the economic development.The‘new’labor historians during the 1960s and the 1970s redefined‘class’in a broad social context.They opposed the structural definition of‘class’and underlined the agency of workers themselves in the formation of‘class’.However,the social turn of labor history resulted in the fragmentation of the studies of‘class’.After the 1990s,the labor historians influenced by postmodernism integrated perspectives of race and gender into their framework.They deconstructed the certainty of the concept of‘class’,turning it into an unstable and ambiguous‘social and discourse construct’.With the reconstructions of the concept,the significance of‘class’as a category of analysis in the studies of labor history has been weakened.