Regional Systems and the Modern Transformation of Agrarian Societies: Population and Development in France, Japan, and China

该项目采用空间分异模型分析了三个农业社会--法国、日本和中国--在可比较的“发展时期”(法国为1760年至1896年，日本为1800年至1926年，中国为1842年至1990年)的现代转型。研究小组由人类学家、地理学家、人口学家和历史学家组成，将遵循比较研究设计，以增进我们对一个重要的跨学科问题的认识：人口过程和经济发展在空间和时间上的相互作用。研究人员将使用分类的定量数据和区域系统方法，完成对每个国家的区域结构的分析，这些结构被概念化为中心地区及其内部不同的腹地的等级，并着手测试有关人口与发展的命题。然后，在三个可比较的子区域(以波尔多、名古屋和宁波为中心)，他们将在层次结构的较低级别重复分析，并进行纵向研究，追踪现代创新在空间层次结构中的向下扩散。在每个目标分区域内选定的地方系统中，他们将使用历史人种学的方法将分析扩展到村庄一级。该项目预计将展示区域系统模型的分析能力，揭示其对社会科学的广泛研究的效用。

This project employs a model of spatial differentiation to analyze the modern transformation of three agrarian societies - France, Japan, and China -- during comparable spans of "development time" (1760-1896 for France, 1800-1926 for Japan, and 1842-1990 for China). The research team, an anthropologist, a geographer, a demographer, and an historian, will follow a comparative research design to advance our knowledge of an important interdisciplinary issue: the interaction between population processes and economic development in space and time. Using disaggregated quantitative data and regional systems methodology, the researchers will complete an analysis of each country's regional structure, conceptualized as a hierarchy of central places and of their internally differentiated hinterlands, and proceed to test propositions concerning population and development. Then, in three comparable subregions (centered on Bordeaux, Nagoya, and Ningbo) they will replicate the analysis at lower levels of the hierarchy and pursue longitudinal studies, tracing the diffusion of modern innovations downward through the spatial hierarchy. In selected local systems within each of the targeted subregions, they will use the methods of historical ethnography to extend the analysis to the village level. The project is expected to demonstrate the analytical power of the regional systems model, revealing its utility for a wide range of research in the social sciences.