Page 9 - 《社会》2024年第4期

社会·2024·4

Simmel’s writings constitutes one of the most important foundations in Western
sociological thoughts. The concept of “marginal man”， crafted by Chicago School
sociologists and built on Simmel’s theoretical insights， becomes the prototype of
the modern personality in western context. Equally importantly， the“marginal
man” also becomes the image of an ideal modern man projected by early Chinese
sociologists trained and influenced by western sociological thoughts. One prominent
sociologist in Republican period， Chingchao Wu understands migration in China as
a journey of marginal man， and envisions a personality freed from rural village life
and enriched by diversified cultures in urban society. Wu further prescribes
nationalism as a cure to the inner turmoil of the marginal man caused by conflicts
between cultures， a typical challenge in American urban life. The writings of
another prominent sociologist， Quentin Pan， presents a different understanding of
special relationship between man and society. He identifies the unit of migration as
the “bloodline” instead of an individual. By migrating， “the migrant ancestor”
avoids adverse selection caused by extreme familism and rigid class structure，
consequently cultivates a wholesome bloodline， which produces descendants with a
keen sense of empathy and social justice， as carriers of the Confucian ideal
personality who changed the local mores for the better. The migrant ancestor’s
withdrawal from society presents a striking contrast to the marginal man’s invasion
into space. The paper concludes that “the migrant ancestor” constitutes another
prototype of personality parallel to “the marginal man” in understanding social
processes including but not limited to urbanization， and deeply rooted in Chinese
sociological thoughts.
Keywords： marginal man， migrant ancestor， migration， bloodline， Chingchao
Wu， Quentin Pan

一、 引言：边缘人与始迁祖

吴景超与潘光旦几乎同一时期进入清华大学学习（1916 年与 1913
年），又先后回归清华园任教（1931 年与 1934 年），二人的学术讨论偶有
交集，但绝非彼此忠实的辩论对手。 他们曾就民族自信力的先天基础展
开讨论，也曾就一夫一妻制婚姻的长久性进行过论辩（吕文浩，2009），
但这两场辩论在各自的学术体系中并不占据核心位置。 有趣的是，在对
民族自信力的讨论中， 虽然吴景超的解释偏向文化而潘光旦的解释偏

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