文化與商業的雙重邏輯：台灣圖書出版產業的發展與變遷

The Dialectic logics of culture and commerce:The Development and changes of Book Publishing Industry in Taiwan

李令儀(Ling-Yee Lee)

指導教授 ： 曾嬿芬

國立臺灣大學/社會科學院/社會學研究所/博士(2015年)

https://doi.org/10.6342/NTU.2015.02097

摘要

本研究透過台灣出版產業的發展與變遷，探究圖書做為一種文化商品，如何被組織起來的市場過程、變遷與後果。圖書出版產業產製出產品的過程，受許多市場供需與利潤原則之外的條件與考量影響，出版人和編輯人對出版品的信念、社會賦予圖書這種知識產物的特殊價值，以及整個產業根據這些信念、價值所形成特殊的規範，並透過國家政策的制約和促進，都形塑著出版市場的內涵與樣貌。
因此，以這樣市場行動的多重觀點研究出版產業，就會產生與一般經濟學角度相當不一樣的研究視野。兩個提問軸線貫穿本研究各個章節：第一，出版做為文化產業，在面對商業的獲利要求時，是否發展出有別於其他產業的特殊運作邏輯？出版人又如何調和傳遞知識（文化，主導品味）和追求利潤（商業，迎合品味）這兩大目標間的緊張關係？第二則是解經驗現象之謎：為何出版界普遍抱怨台灣市場太小且近年來閱讀風氣並未提升，書卻還是越出越多？甚至在經濟不景氣時期，消費力變弱、需求降低時，出版商不控制出書量，反而出更多書？尤其2008年全球金融風暴之後，台灣經濟成長明顯衰退，但每年新書書種仍維持在四萬種以上，更凸顯出經濟學供需模型的觀點解釋力有所不足。
本研究以台灣二次戰後的出版產業發展為研究重心，除了討論出版一般圖書（trade books）的出版社或出版公司外，也將研究範圍涵蓋至這一產業較少被注意的配銷與銷售等環節。相較於先前對出版產業的研究將焦點集中在圖書的生產（production）階段，出版場域的發行或配送的環節相對不受重視的研究局限，我的研究不但涵蓋出版組織內部的運作，也同時關注位於出版組織形成介面的業務、書店業者、經銷商等能動者的角色。
歷經日本殖民統治達五十年的台灣，本土的出版產業在二次戰後才開始建立雛形；之後又在國民政府的政治戒嚴令之下，受到嚴苛的言論管控及出版管制。解嚴後，台灣出版市場呈現出長期壓抑受到解放後對知識的渴求，形成一種「壓縮成長」的模式。出版業不管是在從業業者的數量及出書量方面都急遽成長，展現出十足的活力。不過，近十年來台灣每年出版約四萬種的新書書種，也造成過度供給的隱憂：新書下架率越來越快、退書率高達近四成，顯見出版市場效率不彰。弔詭地是，台灣出版市場從受管制的封閉走向開放後，為因應日趨激烈的市場競爭，多數出版公司都在提升效率的經濟學思考模式下，開始調整組織結構及生產模式。然而，從市場後果來看，新的組織型態（例如上櫃公司、跨國上市公司）、新的生產模式（從家庭手工業式轉變為量產的生產線）卻未必能如出版業者所期望而提升效率。例如，台灣出版商常被詬病的「以書養書」策略，及大量出書造成上述過度供給的情況，對整體書市而言，反而是讓運作效率更加低落。
本研究援引文化社會學、組織研究和經濟社會學做為理論奧援，並以Bourdieu的場域（field）、Thompson的出版鏈（publishing chain）和Zelizer的商業迴圈（circuits of commerce）等概念為基礎，建構出「出版商業迴圈」做為分析架構。研究發現，上中下游各環節關鍵能動者的場域邏輯，雖然各自有其不同的策略考量，但透過彼此環環相扣的商業連結，卻助長了出版商的超額生產，並造成出版市場嚴重的供需失衡。尤其台灣出版商業迴圈中，透過保留款、月結制等制度形成財務鑲嵌的關係，這種過度鑲嵌的型態使得上、中、下游之間的商業往來僵固化，更鞏固了整個商業迴圈的效率不彰。
本研究的貢獻在於以下幾點：第一，過去有關鑲嵌、網絡的研究，較少處理權力問題；但我的研究和分析指出不同能動者和組織之間的權力互動，以及彼此間權力關係的移轉。第二，在「效率」議題的討論方面，我指出經銷商和大通路提升效率的做法，只是追求個別組織的成本降低和利潤成長，不但無法提升整體產業的效率，反而可能危及其他環節行動者的生存。第三，研究也指出，對具有高度不確定性的出版場域而言，讓組織得以存續的有效性（effectiveness）應是較重要的生存邏輯；由於出版場域的獲利和成長難以預測，場域中的能動者和組織通常是以降低風險、保留彈性空間的模糊邏輯加以因應，然而一味追求效率的理性化原則，卻和有效性的邏輯彼此衝突。

關鍵字

出版場域 ； 商業迴圈 ； 場域邏輯 ； 有效性 ； 不確定性

並列摘要

Being cultural commodities, Books are carriers and disseminators of ideas, by which knowledge is passed from authors to readers, from one generation to the next. Because books played a pivotal and crucial role in the intellectual, cultural, and educational sphere, the process of production of book industry is influenced by the conditions beyond the principles of supply-demand model and profit-making. All the belief of publishers and editors, the culture value about books in the society, and the policy of the state would shape the configuration of publishing market. My dissertation explores the market process, changes and consequence of the development and transformation of book publishing industry of Taiwan.

Due to the distinct historical and social context, Taiwan’s book publishing industry developed a distinguished model, which some local publishers named “compressed growth”. For one thing, the freedom of speech and publishing was severely monitored and purged until the KMT government lifted the martial law on 1987. From the late 1980s, Taiwan’s publishing industry grew at a rapid and striking rate. There were as many as 10,000 book publishing firms in this country, according to a recent figure, issuing more than 40,000 new titles annually. Given the population and book market are relatively small in Taiwan, the surprising publishing energy in Taiwan is relatively high.

Thus, there are two chief problematics of this research. The first one is more general: what are the distinctive logics of the book publishing industry? How does the belief and value of the publishers and other agents influence their commercial operation? How do publishers and other agents in this industry moderate the tension between the goals of culture and commerce? The second one tries to solve an empirical puzzle of publishing industry in Taiwan: why do the publishers publish so much books during the decline of the numbers of reading publics and the period of economic distress? The problem of overproduction and inefficiency of this industry was obvious since the book return rate was more than 40% in recent years.

Based on the concepts of the “field” of Pierre Bourdieu, the “publishing chain” of John B. Thompson, and the “circuits of commerce” of Vivianna Zelizer, I construct a conception of “publishing circuits of commerce” as an analyzing framework in my study. The findings suggested that the institutions and logics of the publishing field reinforce the overproduction and the unbalance of supply and demand through the tightly embedded commercial ties. The financial embeddedness through the institutions such as preservation account, the monthly checkout and payment system constitutes a kind of overembededdness, which ossifies the commercial linkages of the production, distribution and sales sectors of the publishing circuits of commerce, and intensifies the inefficiency of the publishing chain.

The contributions of this study are as follows. First, as the existed researches about embeddedness and netwok analysis say little about power, my research analyze the power relationship of different agents and organizations; second, I indicate that the effort trying to enhance the efficiency of the distributors and major retail channels does not elevate the efficiency of the whole industry either, but to threaten the survival of other agents in the other sectors. Third, as the great uncertainties of the publishing field, the vital strategy is effectiveness which keeps organizations surviving; as the unpredictability of profit and growth in publishing field, the better strategy is fuzzy logic which try to lower the risk and to be flexible, and the rationalization principle of efficiency would conflict with the logics of effectiveness.

並列關鍵字

publishing field ； circuits of commerce ； logic of field ； effectiveness ； uncertainty

參考文獻

林芳玫(1994a)雅俗之分與象徵性權力鬥爭。台灣社會研究季刊，16: 55-78。

陳穎青(2007)老貓學出版。台北：時報。

Greco, Albert N. (2005) The Book Publishing Industry. Mass.: Allyn & Bacon.

楊玲(2009)臺灣文學出版行銷策略。台北：台北教育大學語文與創作學系碩士論文。

朱玉昌(2009)台灣圖書出版產業供應鏈特性分析即未來發展策略探討。交通大學高階主管管理學成碩士論文。