The disappearance of class discourse

Abstract

本文考察了中国阶级政治和阶级话语中的一些历史性悖论,特别是上世纪八十年代和九十年代中国大陆新工人阶级结构性地形成时阶级话语的消逝,阶级概念被限制在小范围的学术界,并被后来流行的社会分层概念完全取代,导致当今中国不可避免的去政治化过程。中国知识分子的当代实践和他们关于社会分层与社会不平等的研究进一步扼杀了阶级话语,抵消了在快速变迁的中国社会中形成的对阶级冲突的新理解。现在对阶级分析的重现,除了一小部分之外,同样延续了去政治化的话语,消解了对中国向全球资本主义转型的可能的批评。 The authors studied some historical paradoxes in China’s class politics and class discourse. In the 1980s and 1990s, class discourse in China disappeared with the formation of a new working class structure. The concept of class became restricted to a small academic group, and was completely replaced by the newly fashionable concept of social stratification. Consequently, a process of depoliticization occurred in contemporary China. The behavior of Chinese intellectuals and their focus on social stratification and social inequalities further silenced the class discourse, and cancelled out the emerging understanding of class conflicts resulting from China’s rapid societal change. The reemergence of class analysis, except in certain instances, continues the discourse of depoliticization, preempting possible criticism of China’s transition to global capitalism.