【作者简介】赵启琛  田 耕，北京大学

【文章来源】《社会学评论》2026年第3期

【内容提要】本文以芝加哥大学人类学家槐南在二战前后开展的小城镇社区研究为例，考察芝加哥学派学术路径的演变。槐南的研究不仅将该学派此前所忽视的小城镇重新带回研究视野，更分别观照了新英格兰、南方腹地和中西部新边疆三个代表美国历史进程的区域，揭示了当时美国社会中精英秩序、种姓隔离和直接民主并存的特征。他的研究突破了第一代芝加哥学派对地方社会的偏重，直接回应了美国性这一问题。而同时期的燕京学派也以小城镇视角推动社区研究走向了更为宏阔的国族建设。两个学派的探索共同展示了社区研究如何成为文明自我理解的镜鉴。

【关键词】槐南 / 社区研究 / 小城镇 / 芝加哥学派 / 燕京学派

【全文链接】https://src.ruc.edu.cn/CN/Y2026/V14/I3/70

Small Towns and Community Studies: W. Lloyd Warner and the Community Studies of theChicago School around World War II

Abstract: Taking the community studies of small towns carried out by W. Lloyd Warner around World War II as examples,this paper describes the academic shifts within the Chicago School of Sociology. Warner’s community studies not only reintroduced small towns into the scope of community research,but also focused on three vast regions that epitomized the course of American history: New England,Deep South,and the new frontier of the Midwest,and explored three key characteristics of American society: the elite order,caste segregation,and direct democracy. His studies transcended the first-generation Chicago School’s inclination toward local societies and constituted a direct inquiry into the question of “Americanism”. During the same period,the Yenching School was also advancing community studies toward the broader goal of national construction from the perspective of small towns. The explorations of the two schools demonstrate how community studies could serve as a base for mutual learning among civilizations.