學習成為理性：湘西貧農對扶貧政策的回應

Becoming Rational: Poverty Narratives in Western Hunan

石之瑜(Chih-Yu Shih)

《遠景基金會季刊》 7卷1期 (2006/01) Pp. 53-73

https://doi.org/10.7063/PQ.200601.0053

摘要

關於農民是否理性的辯論，在湘西地區出現的各種扶貧敘事中遭到解構，因為問題不僅在於農民行為動機是市場效益、社會倫理或是公平正義，而更在於農民是在既有社會倫理脈絡之中學習市場理性，不是靠脫離倫理脈絡來學習市場理性。國家扶貧單位怪罪農民缺乏市場理性，視此為文化落後的敘事方式，等於是把學者心目中具有普遍地位的理性，相對化成為一種貧困農民必須脫離既有脈絡，經由學習之後，才會萌生的自我意識。以下的幾個現象－領導人對於與自己有社會關係的村莊特別關照、凡事皆歸因於市場意識不彰的扶貧邏輯、扶貧政策的推動強烈依賴幹部示範的作風、由上而下規畫的扶貧開發項目、充滿集體性與紀律要求的產銷合作組織、移民工所依附的鄉親網絡、與對領導者素質的絕對強調－在在反映出，農民是在某種外於市場的倫理關係中生活，使得關於農民理性的問題在實踐中有些不相干。本文的目的是透過湘西地區扶貧幹部與鳳凰縣貧困村民的詮釋，重新介入農民行為性質的辯論，主張農民行為之性質並無固定之律則在左右，農民行為之意義受到農民對特定行為規範之實踐所制約，因此行為情境成為關鍵之所在，必須掌握農民對自身所處情境之界定，才能判斷特定農民會進入那一種規範體系。

關鍵字

農民 ； 貧窮 ； 理性農民 ； 道德農民 ； 湘西

並列摘要

The debate concerning the rational vs. the moral peasant is not applicable to Western Hunan's poor villagers, whose social experiences produce a different kind knowledge about the market competition. Peasants in this paper do not directly respond to either market opportunities or social justice however defined. For peasants, market is an imported knowledge, which they must learn consciously in order to appreciate its rules of operation. This gives the outsiders an impression that peasant are culturally backward. In this paper, numerous signs suggest that peasant do not simply learn market rationality. They make sense of market rationality in the context of existing social relationships, rendering the debate about the rational and the moral peasant irrelevant. This paper reports on the field interview s in ethnic Fenghuang County. It argues that peasants' market behavior is often embedded in a particular type of social relationship. Which social relationship provides the peasant with the meaning of market is contingent upon the peasant's own choice in each specific situation. No a priori rule governs how the peasant makes the normative decision in the market.

並列關鍵字

Peasantry ； Poverty ； Rational Peasant ； Moral Peasant ； Western Hunan

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