The General Study on Relationship between Individuals and Communities in the Modern History of Europe and America

如今，在以个人独立为前提的自由竞争中出现了许多社会疾病。社会疾病在很大程度上表现在各个方面，这是普遍现象，特别是在工业化国家。它们被认为与生活基础所必需的“稳定”、“社会团结”和“共同价值观”正在动摇的现实密切相关。而个体的孤立也必然会造成个体认同的混乱。我们的共同主题是考虑到这样的当前社会环境，历史地研究在强制性国家和许多选择性（自愿的、自由裁量的）社会（协会）之间的关系下，由多种社会联系和身份组成的个人生活，这些社会联系和身份有时是敌对的，有时是互补的。换句话说，我们试图通过考察自由意志主义者所重视的“个人自由与权利”与社群主义者所提倡的“社会团结”之间的历史背景和关系，来探究身份的多元性或多重性。我们没有采用传统的二元论，这种二元论将民族国家直接由个人组成作为明确的前提。相反，我们把重点放在个人与国家之间的中间领域的各种社会群体，一般称为“市民社会”，以考察在国家一体化的历史进程中个人身份转换的多元方面。

These days, there are many social diseases emerged from free competition which is based on the premise of individual independence. Social diseases are seen at various aspects and to large extent, which are in common especially in industrialized nations. They are thought to be deeply related with the ongoing reality that "stability", "social solidarity" and "common values" necessary for the foundation of life have been shaking. And also individual isolation is bound to cause confusion of individual identity.Our common theme has been taking account of such present social circumstances, to study historically about individual's life made up of multiple social connections and identities under the relationship between the compulsory state and many selective (voluntary, discretionary) societies (associations), which were sometimes hostile and sometimes supplementary each other. In other words, we've tried to make inquires into plurality or multiplicity of identity through looking into historical context and relationship between "individual freedom and right" valued by Libertarians and "social solidarity" advocated by Communitarians.We haven't adopted the conventional dualism which makes it a clear premise that the nation state consists of individuals directly. Instead, we've had taken the focus on a variety of social groups in the intermediate sphere between individuals and the state, generally called "civil society", in order to investigate plural aspects of transformation of individual identity in the historical process of national integration.