Why participatory research? Guest editors’ introduction
Why participatory research? Guest editors’ introduction
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为什么要进行参与式研究？
DOI：
10.1007/bf02691927
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发表时间：
1992
期刊：
影响因子：
--
通讯作者：
E. Bonacich
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
R. Stoecker;E. Bonacich
作为学生，我们中的许多人决定学习社会学，因为我们认为它会给我们提供分析工具来改善我们的社会。我们对周围的不平等、种族主义、性别歧视、军国主义、环境恶化、个人主义和消费主义感到震惊。我们希望能够研究社会，并利用社会学作为工具来实现社会变革和社会正义。相反，在进入研究生课程后，我们中有太多人发现美国社会学与社会变革几乎没有关系。我们发现我们正在社会化以实践一门社会“科学”——我们必须专注于学习最新技术，以便分析其他人开发的、脱离真实社区的数据集。通常，我们被要求做的研究让我们被锁在电脑上，关在象牙塔里，远离“现实世界”。我们不鼓励与人进行任何接触，包括那些我们希望改善生活的人。除此之外，当我们临近毕业并准备从事社会学“职业”时，我们发现我们必须在高度等级制度中争夺地位，才能找到工作并确保自己的生存和中产阶级的生活方式。换句话说，我们作为参与者而不仅仅是观察者，陷入了不平等的社会体系之中。我们必须玩阿谀奉承权威人物的游戏，并遵守行业内有权势人士的指令。很多时候，为了在系统中“成功”，我们不得不妥协我们最初的动机。这在我们的研究中得到了体现，虽然它可能涉及不平等等主题，但它是从抽象的、脱离的角度出发的。该学科的资助方式加剧了这个问题。即使公立大学也越来越依赖私人资金，我们的工资和研究经费也越来越与维持而不是挑战现有的权力关系联系在一起。有理由担心这种情况可能会变得更糟而不是更好。与 20 世纪 70 年代至 80 年代的萧条一样，当前的经济低迷也提供了
Many of us, as students, decided to study sociology because we thought it would give us the tools of analysis with which to improve our society. We were appalled by the inequality, racism, sexism, militarism, environmental degrada tion, individualism, and consumerism that surrounded us on all sides. We hoped to be able to study society and use sociology as a tool to bring about social change and social justice. Instead, upon entering graduate programs, too many of us discovered that American sociology had very little to do with social change. We discovered that we were being socialized to practice a "science" of society?that we must focus on learning the latest techniques in order to analyze data sets developed by others and separated from real communities. Often the research we were re quired to do kept us chained to our computers, in the ivory tower, and away from the "real world." We were discouraged from having any contact with people, including those whose lives we hoped to better. On top of this, when we approached graduation and geared ourselves up to pursue a "career" in sociology, we found that we must compete for status within a highly hierarchical system in order to get a job and ensure our own survival and middle-class lifestyle. In other words, we became caught up in the unequal social system as participants, and not just observers. We had to play games of flattering authority figures, and conforming to the dictates of those with power in the profession. All too often, we had to compromise our original motivations in order to "make it" in the system. This became reflected in our research which, while it may bear on such topics as inequality, does so from an abstract, disengaged vantage point. This problem is exacerbated by the way in which the discipline is financed. As even public universities become increasingly depen dent on private money, our salaries and our research grants are more and more tied to maintaining, rather than challenging, the existing power relations. There is reason to fear this situation may get worse rather than better. Like the depression of the 1970s-1980s, the current economic downturn provides