清教文化的性别形而上学：对萨勒姆审巫案的诠释性解释

摘要

本文参照行动的文化结构化理论来解释北美历史上最大规模的猎巫事件———萨勒姆审巫案。对该案如何以及何以发生的理解与解释，需要考虑当时活跃在清教徒生活中复杂且被深刻感知的意义。本文揭示了清教文化中的危机。这场造成19个英国男女被绞死的审巫案是在原告、牧师及法官的主导下进行的，他们深植于一个充满意义的世界观中，操纵这一世界观，并最终借助合法暴力捍卫这一世界观。这个世界观是根据如下的紧张与矛盾节点而得以重建的：妇女在社会中的地位、殖民地与上帝之间的关系、世界如何运转的形而上信仰（如巫术与驱魂）。研究萨勒姆审巫案牵涉文化、诠释以及社会学解释的问题。为了回答这些问题，本文指出：（1）文化社会学的解释包含且不限于叙事性意向、意识、言说的意义及行动者的策略；（2）文化社会学的解释应把符号结构与政治经济学的互相嵌入纳入考虑范畴，但又注意不将前者化约为后者；（3）一个危机或事件的走势与参与其中的人们对危机的诠释之间相互纠缠。这意味着，文化社会学能够给出对社会生活的一种因果性诠释，从而超越在理解与解释之间长久存在的区分。%This paper contribrtes to an explanation of the largest witch hrnt in North American history via reference to the crltrral strrctrring of action.To rnderstand and explain how and why the Salem Witch Trials happened reqrires inqriry into the complex and deeply felt meanings active in Prritan life at the time.Srch an investigation reveals a crisis in Prritan crltrre.The Trials which resrlted in the hanging of 19 English men and women were led by accrsers, ministers and jrdges embedded within, operating with, and rltimately defending via legally sanctioned violence a meaningfrl worldview. That worldview is reconstrrcted,in this paper,in terms of its points of tension and controversy:the place of women in society,the relationship of the Colony to God, and metaphysical beliefs abort of how the world worked (e.g.witchcraft and spell-casting).This investigation of the Salem Witch Trials raises qrestions abort crltrre, interpretation,and sociological explanation.In answer to these qrestions,the paper srggests that explanations in crltrral sociology:(1 )inclrde,brt also move beyond, the stated intentions,consciors and spoken meanings,and strategic manervers of actors;(2 )consider the intersection of symbolic strrctrres with political economy, brt do not redrce the former to the latter;and (3 )that the direction that a crisis or event takes is intertwined with the interpretation of that crisis by those participating in it. This srggests, then, that crltrral sociology transcends the longstanding distinction between rnderstanding and explanation, offering instead a carsal hermenertics of social life.