The "Field" Path of Rural Ethics Research Rural | Village | Field
Constructing China's Autonomous Knowledge System
Authors: Wang Lulu, Wang Lu
Conducting field investigations in a certain area and obtaining first-hand research data through on-site observation, questionnaire surveys, in-depth interviews, and residential experiences has been an important academic research method in sociology, anthropology, and other disciplines for a long time. Since the reform and opening up, the development of rural areas in China has shown a unique and complex pattern. Disciplines such as political science, economics, and communication have also introduced field investigation methods in their research, producing a large number of research results around rural political systems, rural collective property rights, rural communication structures, and creating academic schools such as field politics and ethnographic communication. Compared to other studies, ethical research, especially in rural China, still lacks the application of field investigation methods. Exploring the field path of rural ethics research is an important focus in constructing an autonomous knowledge system of ethics.
The "field" path of rural ethics research reflects the basic position of historical materialism and the basic perspective of moral life history. Marxism believes that morality is historical, determined by the production and exchange methods of a certain social and historical stage, and its origin, content, and scope of action are constrained by social and economic relations, as well as the interests and interest relations expressed as economic relations. In pre modern society, adapted to the self-sufficient small-scale farming production mode and relatively closed lifestyle, Chinese rural society formed a rural ethical relationship and moral lifestyle characterized by closure, conservatism, stability, and balance, with a unique "rustic nature". With the transformation of China's rural production and lifestyle from "traditional" to "modern", especially the acceleration of this transformation process since the reform and opening up, there have been significant changes in the ethical relationships and moral concepts of Chinese rural areas. Accurately discovering and summarizing these changes cannot be achieved without empirical research on typical villages in different regions, and without careful observation of rural areas and close contact with farmers, truly perceiving the development and changes of rural economic and interest relationships in the process of modernization, and accurately grasping the internal development laws of rural ethical relationships and farmer moral concepts. In this sense, the "field" path of rural ethics research refers to describing and restoring the real picture of contemporary Chinese rural ethical relationships and the moral life of farmers through standardized field investigations, thereby providing a foundation for theoretical research on rural ethics and practical rural moral construction.
The original intention of conducting field investigations in rural ethics research is to discover and verify problems from real rural life, or to find evidence for analyzing related issues, in order to discover "real problems" facing rural areas. In fact, a large amount of questionnaire data and interview materials are both "confirmed" and "falsified"; It is not only providing some kind of evidence, but also verifying the problem itself. For example, in recent academic discussions and media reports on how to view the changes in rural moral development since the founding of New China, especially since the reform and opening up, keywords such as "rural decline", "ethical disorder", and "moral decline" have frequently appeared. However, many questionnaire data and interview records related to field surveys clearly demonstrate the overall affirmation and high recognition of farmers towards the improvement of village environment, moral progress, and harmonious interpersonal relationships. For example, regarding how to effectively strengthen rural moral construction and promote the integration and development of urban and rural spiritual civilization, researchers have found that books sent to certain villages through methods such as "sending books to the countryside" and "rural libraries" have not been opened for a long time, while in some places, rural self run mass cultural activities such as "rural Spring Festival Gala", "farmers writing golden sentences", and "mother's school" are deeply loved by villagers. The comparison between the two reflects that fully stimulating the endogenous motivation of villagers as the main body of rural ethical and cultural construction is the foundation of rural ethical and cultural construction.
How to apply the "field" path of rural ethics research? Typical villages in different regions can be selected, combined with quantitative research through questionnaire surveys and qualitative research through in-depth interviews, supplemented by direct observation and reading of village chronicles and other literature. As early as 1939, Fei Xiaotong pointed out that a village is a social unit that can provide a more complete slice of people's social life and facilitate investigators to closely observe the respondents. In rural research, "it is most appropriate to consider a village as a unit.". So far, villages remain the most basic production and living units in Chinese rural society, and are naturally the basic entry point for the field path of rural ethics research. It is particularly noteworthy that starting from the daily lives of village residents, semi-structured in-depth interviews conducted in a relaxed dialogue and communication manner can not only obtain a large amount of first-hand information about the development and changes of village morality through oral history, but also highlight the main significance and value of farmers as experienced and moral builders of rural life through "telling their own stories". The interview content may seem chaotic, but researchers can obtain the moral tradition and ethical identity of the village community through the repeated common expressions and evaluations in the discourse of different interviewees. They can also capture the tension and conflict between different ethical concepts from the abnormal "minority", and discover the ethical evolution laws of the village community.
The field path of rural ethics research can vividly present and construct local moral knowledge. The so-called local knowledge refers to a knowledge system with regional characteristics, including discourse, experience, customs, law, morality, etc. It is created and accumulated by residents of a specific place through long-term joint production and living practices, which is highly integrated with the local natural and social environment, and obtains the spiritual identity of local residents. These local knowledge, through long-term accumulation, become a symbol and meaning system for local residents to understand and explain their living world, influencing people's thinking logic, behavior patterns, and value judgments, and playing an important role in the handling of local affairs. There are significant regional differences in the natural landscape, industrial structure, and economic conditions of rural China, and there are also significant differences in the ethical and cultural traditions of villages as a component of local knowledge. In field surveys, each village presents a unique moral lifestyle, and every villager who holds local knowledge and experiences it firsthand tells different rural moral stories in their own way of speaking. Typical villages can be selected through a scientific approach that combines natural zoning, cultural zoning, and administrative zoning, reflecting differences in industrial structure, economic conditions, cultural traditions, and other aspects. Based on this, data from typical village questionnaires and interview samples can be correlated and compared using advanced technological means and analytical tools. Ethical concept tools and analytical paradigms can be used to extract and summarize, from which we can not only see the impact of changes in rural socio-economic, political, cultural, and other aspects on individuals, but also discover and understand local rural moral knowledge rooted in the natural environment and economic relationships of villages through individual narratives of villagers. This provides important field basis for grasping and understanding the moral issues and development laws of Chinese rural society, and forms an important foundation for rural moral knowledge. The Chinese paradigm and discourse of ethical research.
Guangming Daily
