倫敦政經學院中國比較研究網(China in Comparative Perspective Network, LSE)常向群博士(Dr. Xiangqun Chang)承繼費孝通的研究,通過探討自1979 年以來中國農民日常生活的社會支持安排,研究了江村村民們個人之間的和個人與體制之間的關係。試圖將禮尚往來這個深植於中國文化中的短語發展為一個稱為「禮尚—往來」的概念工具,進而貢獻於世界人類學和社會學這兩個學科,從而使這兩個學科的教科書中,首次增添來自對中國的相關內容的研究。此概念工具亦有助於理解社會人類學家華生(James L. Watson, 又譯屈佑天)在研究中國的喪葬習俗時所提出的問題:「是什麼使中國社會聚合在一起?」(What holds Chinese society together?)
常向群
祖籍中國瀋陽,長於南昌,現為英籍並定居於倫敦。政治學學士、社會學碩士、社會人類學博士。現為倫敦政經學院中國比較研究網研究員、中國比較網負責人、《中國比較研究》責任主編。發表過近百萬字的中文著述,代表作為《馬克思主義社會學論稿》。英文著作包括:Social Support in Rural China (1979-1991): A Statistical Report on Ten Villages (Co-author with Stephan Feuchtwang, London: City University, 1996); Socio-economic Transformation in China and Chinese Woman (Co-editor with West, Zhao and Cheng, Basingstoke, London: Macmillan Press Ltd., 1999)。
Dr Xiangqun Chang is a Visiting Fellow in the Department of Anthropology and coordinator of the China in Comparative Perspective Network (CCPN). She is also special-term professor at the Centre for Social and Cultural Anthropology, Fudan University, and visiting professor at the School of Humanities and Law, Northeastern University. Before coming to the UK, as a university lecturer in sociology, she was extensively published (amounting to one million Chinese characters). Since working and studying in the UK she has developed extensive skills in both quantitative and qualitative analysis and applied them to many projects. Based on a thorough and detailed ethnography of a Chinese village with longitudinal comparisons, she has been developing a general analytical concept—lishang-wanglai (禮尚─往來)—a Chinese model of reciprocity, relatedness and social networks. Currently she is testing the lishang-wanglai model in the area of Chinese entrepreneur relationships inside and outside China with both inter-disciplinary and comparative approaches.