Chapter 5 CHAPTER 2 NOW COMBINING CULTURE AND INTIMATE PERIOD

It also refers to culture, and its basic feature is that all members of society take the current popular behavior pattern as their own code of conduct.In the prefigurative culture introduced in the first chapter, the behavior of the elders provided an irreversible example for the younger generation, so that people still accept the way of life left by their ancestors.If we say that there have been many records of prefigurative culture in human history, there are very few societies in which parallel metaphor is the only mode of cultural transmission. We rarely hear that this parallel metaphor can be passed on from generation to generation alone.If there were a society in which synaphorism was the only mode of behavioral transmission, both older and younger generations would take it for granted that each new generation behaved differently from its predecessors.

In all cofigurative cultures, the elders still occupy a dominant position in some aspects. They establish the proper way for the behavior of the younger generation and define various restrictions. The young people cannot learn from each other beyond the barriers of these behaviors.In many societies, it is important for people to adopt new behaviors with the approval of their elders; that is, young people's behavioral change ultimately depends not on their peers, but on the approval of their elders.However, in cofigurative cultures there is also a common desire that members of each generation should behave according to their peers, especially their adolescent companions, and that their behavior should be consistent with My own parents and grandparents behaved differently.An individual who succeeds in embodying a new style of conduct becomes a role model for his contemporaries.

Paraphrase culture started when prefigurative culture collapsed.The following reasons may cause the collapse of prefigurative culture: for example, the whole human race, especially the elderly who occupy the leadership, have suffered great disasters; with the development of new science and technology, the elders are no longer everything Proficient connoisseurs; moving to a new settlement, natives see (and always will see) older immigrants in immigrant groups as strangers; lost in war, conquered forced to learn to conquer the language and behavior of those who were born; because of the change of religious beliefs, adults educate their children with new ideas that they had not been exposed to in their adolescence; necessary means of victory.

Along with the further development and utilization of natural resources, human civilization continues to flourish, and the conditions for the transformation of cultural forms from prefigurative to cofigurative are becoming more and more mature. , Transform other members of society, and it is also possible to control and guide the behavior of the younger generation.However, metaphorical culture, as a cultural form, can only last for a very short period of time.For example, after a group belonging to a cofigurative culture has been conquered by a group belonging to a prefigurative culture, second-generation members of the conquered group (whose parents have no fixed pattern of behavior other than that of their peers) may be completely Acclimatized in another culture that is different from the conqueror but still prefigurative, as is the case with children born on Israeli kibbutz.

It is true, however, that the absorption of a large number of adults from outside a society, with different upbringing and different expectations, can bring about a great change in the culture of that society.The behavior of outsiders is not so closely related to their natural membership in that society that much more is inherited from their elders than newly acquired in their behaviour.Furthermore, even if new groups immigrating to an old community still partly maintain their own culture, one can still distinguish native native children from those of the settlers.A large number of individuals of different ages can be gradually assimilated, which allows local residents and newcomers to tolerate and accommodate their differences; but it may also intensify and strengthen mutual contradictions, for example, a hierarchical society Society will thus further prevent outsiders from gaining the equal rights of local members.

It is useful to compare different types of cultural assimilation.In a slave society, a large number of adults are often forced to leave their homes, and the slave owners do not allow them to retain their original customs, and their behavior is completely controlled by the slave owners. African primitive societies once practiced slavery on a large scale , in that society enslavement was a very common punishment, but even slaves from other groups were culturally and physically very similar to their masters.In many ways, slaves had undeniable power.After a not too long period, the families of the slaves and their descendants had the possibility of becoming free men.Ancestors who had been slaves were a disgrace to the whole family, so people often tried to hide their disgraceful past.Fortunately, the descendants of slaves were culturally and visually unremarkable, so they were easily accepted by the culture in which they lived.

Immigrants to the United States and Israel represent another type of cultural assimilation.In these places, young people are asked to behave in ways that are completely different from the cultural behavior of older generations.In Israel, immigrants from Eastern Europe have relegated the elderly (grandparents who still live with their adult children) to the sidelines.People lack respect for their elders, who no longer hold real power; more importantly, they are no longer a symbol of wisdom, nor a model of behavior for younger generations. In a prefigurative culture, young people may shudder at distance from frail old people, and they may envy the wisdom and power of old people. Therefore, the present of old people is their ideal future.However, for the descendants of those immigrants, whether the migration was voluntary or forced, whether the older generation struggled to escape poverty and oppression or still indulged in the longing for the old life, the grandparents after all represent the people who have left behind. past.Looking at the lives of their ancestors, young people think that they will not follow in the footsteps of these faithful men and women, but because their fathers maintain their connection with their ancestors, they will one day become like their ancestors, although their lives are completely different. of the elderly.

In societies where change is very slow, the slight differences in the behavior of the two generations are often expressed in changes of fashion, that is, in the insignificant changes in which the young dress, behave, and enjoy themselves differently from the old.In New Guinea, the people there are constantly exchanging new fashions with each other.All women in a tribe, regardless of age, may choose a new style of grass skirt, with a long front and short back instead of the original short front and long back; otherwise, those old women who continue to wear the old grass skirt may It is regarded as a stereotyped old antique.Small changes in dominant cultural forms do not change the whole picture.In either case, the girls will learn that what their grandmothers are going through today, they will be going through tomorrow.When they become grandmothers one day, they will be like their grandmothers, either chasing fashion, or thinking that fashion should be something for young people.This notion of continuity constantly breeds the notion of fashion, but the emphasis on fashion also fully demonstrates that all changes here are insignificant.

In the culture of New Guinea, there is no difference between those changes that are closely related to the core of its culture and those changes that occur in daily life and do not touch the cultural core.Throughout New Guinea there are many homogeneous features conducive to assimilating and sublating things old and new, and many things are passed from one tribe to another following the same process as before.Analysis of New Guinea culture amply demonstrates that the continuum of subtle superficial changes actually produced a deep cultural continuity and stability. In contrast, in the cultural contexts in which cofigurative learning occurs, younger generations experience things that are completely different from their parents, grandparents, and other older members of society.Whether these young people were the first native-born children of immigrants, the first converts to a new religious faith, or the first generation raised by a group of successful revolutionaries, their ancestors could not They provide a brand new living model that meets the requirements of the times.They must create a new model of life based on their own personal experience and make it a model for their peers to aspire to.The change brought about by the descendants of the pioneers (who pioneered a new continent or first settled another society) has a strong adaptive character, which makes the elders aware of their lack of experience in the new society, in the new religious world or after the revolution. The old experience has become obsolete after the storm of the storm, which may lead them to see the changes of future generations as the continuation of their own established and vigorous enterprises.What the elders actually did was migrate outwards, they felled forests, cleared wastelands, and established new settlements.Children who grow up in new settlements will have opportunities for further development.And adults who haven't fully acclimatized to their new surroundings, although they can't correctly tell the season from bird calls, may be relieved that their children have better living conditions.

In this case, intergenerational conflict is not caused by adults.Intergenerational conflict arises from the inability of children to grow up in the new ways of parenting that the first generation, the pioneers of a new life, wanted their offspring to follow. Those pioneers and immigrants who went to the United States, Canada, Australia, and Israel had no ready-made experience to learn from, nor could they innovate new methods on how to raise their offspring.For example, how much leeway should parents give their children?How far should they allow their children to leave home and explore new worlds?How should they control their children? Should they threaten their offspring by disinheriting them like their predecessors did, in order to control them?And those younger generations who have grown up in the new environment, although they can unite to fight against various new environments in the outside world and against the increasingly outdated concepts in the minds of their parents, their mutual imitation of behavior may still be chaotic and disorderly. of.In many families in the United States, the children abandoned their homes due to disagreements with their parents. They either went to the Western world or to other cities in the United States.This type of conflict within the family is so common that it turns out to be quite normal in the relationship between father and son.

The fierce confrontation between generations may be manifested in the issue of father and son's insistence on separate livelihoods, or in the long-term conflict between the two generations to control the changing hands of power; in these societies, huge Changes in the environment may generate intergenerational conflict.Once these conflicts are integrated into the culture and taken for granted, they become part of the prefigurative culture.The great-grandfather abandoned the family and ran away, the grandfather also abandoned the family and ran away, and the same is true in the father's generation.The grandfather resented the school his father sent him to, the father resented the school, and when it was his turn to send his son to school, he wished his son would resent the same.The interruption of intergenerational continuity leaves young people without the guidance of experienced elders, who can only learn from each other.This phenomenon has long existed in human history, and it is an inevitable process that may occur in any society when human experience is interrupted.This short-term co-figurative culture that appeared in the development of prefigurative culture is a small episode in the whole history, and it will be assimilated by prefigurative culture itself.The age hierarchy or rebellion of young people at certain stages of maturity exhibited in each culture is the result of cofigurative cultures. Although this is a very special time, parents must face the changes in the behavior of their children and grandchildren, because this change has already been seen in members of other groups: in those societies that dominate, in those that dominate In the religious and political groups of different status, among the immigrants and rural people who lived in other countries or flooded into the cities in the early years, the behavior of the younger generation has changed dramatically.Under such circumstances, the elders have to encourage the younger generation to work hard to become a member of the new society due to external pressure and inner drive—let the children leave themselves to learn new languages, new living habits, new The customs and etiquette of the parents, and all these may form a whole set of new value norms in the eyes of the parents. The younger generation will receive a new cultural heritage gifted by elders who are neither their parents, grandparents, nor even other older members of their community.People expect the younger generation to be able to adapt to all the characteristics of family life in the culture, but in fact they have little access to it, and even their parents may not have this opportunity.However, after children grow up and go to school, work, or enlist in the army, they have extensive contact with their peers and have the opportunity to compare with each other.Their peers provide them with a more practical standard of conduct than that offered by their elders, officials, and teachers, whose past the young cannot comprehend, while their future is in the eyes of the young and theirs. His own future is as unpredictable. In this case, newcomers quickly discover that their peers are their best mentors and friends.This phenomenon is notable in institutions such as prisons and psychiatric hospitals, where inmates and patients are separated from the dignified administrators and institutional representatives.The staff of these institutions (doctors, nurses, guards, and wardens) are definitely different from the sick and prisoners.Therefore, those new patients or prisoners can only use the original patients and prisoners as a model for their actions. In India's traditional caste system, although members of different castes live next to each other and live together in a prefigurative culture, social mobility only occurs within the same caste, and there is no social mobility between different castes.It is impossible to transcend caste boundaries, that is, people cannot obtain the status, privileges and codes of conduct of other castes, which enables the younger generation to have a clear concept of their self-identity and understand which groups they belong to and which groups they do not belong to.The same can be said for the education of boys and girls in most societies.Children of both sexes view behavior of the opposite sex as undesirable and reject it in concrete actions.In this context, any transgression of gender boundaries—for example, a man choosing a traditionally feminine occupation (which is too feminine for him), or a woman choosing a male occupation—can create intergenerational conflict. confusion. However, class society is different from caste society, people have high expectations for social mobility, and the problem of intergenerational conflict is only partial.A young man who desires to separate himself from the social class of his parents, whether he is a farmer, a member of the middle class in upper class, or a member of a national or racial minority, must openly and consciously renounce the idols of his parents and grandparents. Find new norms of behavior.This can be achieved in a variety of ways. For example, in some societies a small group of villagers or peasants who take it as normal to go to the city and learn about city life can adapt to the behavior of urban people and the behavior of rural people at the same time. They don't think there is any contradiction between the two, so they never cut off the connection with the old place of life.After several years of living in the city, this petty official, who had earned a half-job, retired and returned to his hometown. He ate the food of his hometown again, lived the same life as his parents in the past, and spent the rest of his life with abstinence. In most class societies, however, changes in occupation and status require changes in behavior as well as changes in people's temperamental structures.Generally speaking, when parents choose a new type of education system and new career goals for their children, the children will initially break with the two-parent system because of education.Of course, the outcome depends on the situation.However, when the number of such young people increases, they will serve as role models for each other, refuse to accept the behavior patterns of adults in the new environment, and resist teachers and administrators as hostile forces to deceive them.But if the number of newcomers (students or soldiers) involved in change is too small, the behavior of the majority remains a model for young people to emulate.Sometimes a boy or girl who feels lonely may cling to a teacher who can help him in some way and guide him on the road to adulthood. This overly amorous attachment to an adult teacher, while beneficial to the young man, may also alienate him from his peers.Not only does this deprive him of access to his newfound companions, but it also deprives him of the cultural behavior appropriate to his class and age group.He can't fully adapt to the new environment, but he can't return to his original position.Conversely, young people who are fully committed to their new life at school or college and who can get along with their peers can bring that same rapport to their families when they go home for a short vacation.A withdrawn, adult-fixated student may not get along with peers at home; however, most self-developed students will emulate their younger siblings - they take learning from older siblings as "natural" . In the army, in the school, or in the monastery, whatever age group the outsiders enter (all with their own past experience), inevitably brings about certain changes; Teachers, teachers, and masters have very different goals.Newcomers often bring behaviors that are out of step with those expected and approved of by the original members.They may change the inherent way of life by introducing new ideas and introducing new techniques, and make themselves role models for the original members.In any case, this kind of co-figurative behavior with peers as a model can not only know the past, but also gain insight into the future.Therefore, the behavior of young people is subject to the small group they belong to. Although group behavior does not coincide with the experience they received through prefigurative means in childhood, it is easy for young people to accept because it is very simple and vulgar.In order to sever their connection with their parents and local groups, young people leave their families, which has gradually become a standardized preparation procedure for their future employment, and this separation from their elders has gradually become an institutionalized behavior.A child who attends an English boarding school finds that his father cannot fully understand what he is going through at school, even if he has exactly the same experience as himself.Therefore, even if there is a completely consistent experience, it will also create an intergenerational gap between father and son. Young students place particular emphasis on behavioral traits appropriate to their age.But such congruent behavior can be produced separately by two cultural formations—one that has been modeled over generations by the cofigurative behavior of its peers, for example, a society that institutionalizes age stratification: The other is the opposite. In this culture, most young people feel that their parents' experience is completely different from theirs. Therefore, their parents' behavior is no longer a model for them to follow. Gain a new sense of group membership. In the simplest synfigurative society, there are no grandparents.Young adults move from one place to another, leaving their parents behind: they even leave them across the oceans.In a modern, socially mobile society like the United States, where grandparents are almost forgotten, people of all ages move frequently; Placed in a specific residential area. In the process of transitioning from an old way of life to a new way of life, it is easier for people to acquire new technologies and behaviors without the presence of grandparents, because grandparents are always too much indulging in the past, they It instills past experiences into children, and indistinctly strengthens the ineffable values ​​of ancient cultures.Therefore, the absence of ancestral ancestors usually also means that the community does not have a closed and narrow conception of race.Conversely, if there were grandparents living among the immigrant group who moved to another country, the close ties within the original rural community would be enough to keep the immigrant area intact in the ancient way. When the young people in full swing seek their own way to make a living and establish a connection with the new way of life, the relationship between cousins ​​gradually becomes indifferent.This is a kind of blood relationship obtained from the ancestors and maintaining the contact between the younger generation.In the United States, if uncles, uncles, uncles, and aunts are alive and maintain a good relationship with their nephews (nephews), cousins ​​(cousins) will also communicate with each other.But after the previous generation passed away, the relationship between cousin (cousin) siblings naturally became weaker day by day. The sudden death of grandparents not only weakens the connection between the younger generation and the past, but also advances their experience of the future by a whole generation.The basic signs of prefigurative culture disappear.Once the past is embodied by living people, it becomes confusing, and in people's recollection of the past, it is more common to forget something or tamper with something. The nuclear family, consisting of only two generations of parents and children, is actually the most malleable of all social groups.In this scenario, most people, or even an entire generation, must learn a new way of life.Those far away from their fathers and old folks, immigrants to other countries and pioneers of new worlds live among groups of their own age, so it is easy to adapt to the way of life in the host country.Individuals from different cultures are accepted and assimilated as immigrants by an inclusive society as newly arrived outsiders learn new languages ​​and technologies and mutually reinforce their commitment to new ways of life among. In large organizations, change is necessary, and change is very rapid, and retirement is a social change to accommodate the need for institutional flexibility.The senior bureaucrats and senior clerks, their memories of the past, their intertwined relationships with their subordinates all reinforce the obsolete red tape, and their withdrawal from their posts and Withdrawal from the family sphere is very similar among grandparents. Where grandparents die young or lose their control, younger generations may disregard the norms set by the adults, or even treat them with contempt.The roles of teenagers are limited and calibrated by themselves, and the younger generation is their loyal audience.In this way, the younger generation has established a parallel cultural model that completely regards its slightly older peers as the standard of behavior. This is the case today in the Manu villages of the Admiraltes in New Guinea. In 1928, young people there went out to work as unskilled indentured labor, and when they returned home they could still live freely in their own communities; young children wanted to follow their example and hoped to return home day.However, there have been great changes today. The male and female students returning from school are dressed in uniforms, holding semiconductor radios, guitars and textbooks in their hands, showing a brand new scene of life.Although there are rural schools now, those students who come back from boarding schools for vacation have become role models for their younger siblings.However, despite the consent of the parents, they can not give much concrete help for the younger siblings to establish a fundamentally new way of life. Take the Atmo village in the Tabunan region of New Guinea, where I worked briefly in 1938 and 1967, for example. Young people there often work away from home for more than 15 years as laborers for Europeans.In the past, on the one hand, "recruiters" often "buy" ten or eight young people from the self-willed elders and take them away;Some of them work on farms, some in mines, and some on sea ships, and they are taught skills by another group of peers who are in the same situation but came out earlier.Here, during the 8 years of their employment, the young offspring lived completely in a pure synaphorical society, and all the rules of life were governed by a new language—Pidgin (now called "New Mela"). Nicene") to express.The world of child labor and the hometown in the countryside are two completely different environments in which they lived.However, when they returned home a few years later, they were still able to adapt to the slow-changing life in their hometown, although they added some troubles out of thin air.The experiences of young people endow them with two incompatible experiences.During the three years of employment, their clothing, behavior, and behavior fully met the standards of a child worker, and their basic life characteristics can be summed up in a few words.And when they set foot on the land of their hometown, the memories of all the details about their hometown and way of life, including their memories of the fleeting past (when their parents were still participating in the barbaric "head hunting team"), and Scene after scene will replay in their minds. Over the years, the small settlement of the Atmos had grown into a rather large town.Now, some people even go to work with their families.Young people no longer leave their hometowns just to work as laborers or sell their clay sculptures, but often to travel as well.Abroad, they begin to find, with discomfiture, that in the small societies of their distant homeland they are still being taught life lessons by elders and peers who share the prefigurative experiences of childhood.The Tabunans still live in a prefigurative culture, people who are proud of their past, who set high standards for themselves and for the children at their schools, convinced that their children will be educated by white teachers. Will live the life of a white man.Every generation accepts and adapts to change, but no one loses the sense of cultural continuity. Maban, an elder in the village of the Atmos, had also worked as a child laborer before World War I.To this day, he still maintains a complete set of traditions. He is an expert in the old way of life, but he is also fluent in New Melanesian. He is sure he said that when his generation After a person dies, everything in the past will also disappear. Tommy, who was the political leader of the village 30 years ago, has an extraordinary experience.He also went out to work, but not as a child laborer on a farm, but with Mrs. Parkinson, who is half Samoan.Richard Parkinson is the author of Thirty Years in the South Seas.Mrs. Parkinson helped her husband establish a pattern of transition from the old German colonial way of life to the new one.Based on Tommy's life experience in Mrs. Parkinson's family, it is completely possible to make him stay away from home, marry and live outside.However, he returned to Tabnan and assumed political power there.He was staunchly opposed to churches and mission schools, but took the lead in establishing good relations with the government.Not only can he speak New Melanesian fluently, but also with his unique experience, he can easily deal with white people and help them deal with various affairs happily. In 1938, when we conducted a short-term survey in Tabnan Village, he served as our main administrator. In 1967, Kami Ashaway took over Tommy's role on our investigation team, and in 1938, he was the youngest assistant on our investigation team.In the immediate aftermath of World War II, he took on a very important role as a local policeman in charge of arresting Japanese prisoners.Tommy had always raised him as one of his younger relatives, and like Tommy he had struggled to learn how to conduct himself among white people, but still felt a deep connection to his own society.He was Tommy's chosen heir.After Tommy died, he took over the leadership of the village, and he made the children line up and march to school.Just as he belonged to the past, so, in his view, children should belong to the future.Although school is not a model that the younger generation creates for themselves, it is a gateway to the future.Tabnan is slowly making progress in the change, but so far, those stubborn elders still don't realize that they should support this transformation. We may wish to compare the process of social change of the Manu on the Admiraldes with that of the Atmos.The Manu people are a nation accustomed to wandering on the sea. They have long been accustomed to using force to obtain what they want from neighboring nations, and use this to change their culture. When I studied them in 1928, I expected them to be inspired by the far-reaching low-brow culture of New Guinea child labourers.However, in 1946, after the Japanese and Allied occupation in World War II, the Manu people began to redesign their own culture. Three generations of grandparents and grandchildren lived in a variant of European and American culture that they transformed. The new Manu culture is remarkable, transformed according to a set of rules made by the members of the society, so that it can adapt to the whole society even though it leaps through the course of thousands of years.However, this is not what we call a prefigurative culture, as the Manu people believed, it was created by interviewing the existing culture.There, every little change is seen as a further Europeanization, especially Americanization.However, after all, the whole society changed suddenly in an instant.Unlike the elders in other societies who refused, opposed, and ignored the changes, the Manu completed unprecedented changes in human history.In just 12 years from the opening of the first school, they trained themselves a large number of teachers, staff, translators and nurses, and sent the first students to the new university in Papua New Guinea.Since the ancestors participated in the brewing of the change, they can preserve a part of the prefigurative cultural power that can adapt to the change. The lack of grandparents in the nuclear family and the lack of close relations among relatives are typical family forms in immigrant settings.Most of the immigrants have migrated for a long distance, and they have to adapt to a new and very different way of life from the previous ones.At this time, the advocacy of the nuclear family was in harmony with the new culture, and even if the grandparents reappeared, their influence was extremely weak.Grandparents can no longer be role models for grandchildren, and parents can no longer continue to influence their children's marriage and life path.It's now part of the culture to expect kids to fly away or be better than their parents -- just as their parents did. When those who migrate to the cities and overseas colonies belong to the same culture, power will not belong to the neglected elders, but to the younger generation.The first generation of offspring with strong adaptability created a cultural system that perpetuated an ancient culture that was about to disappear.In this parallel metaphor culture, the loss of ancestors is irreparable.When those adults who are committed to change one day also enter the rare years, they will no longer try to rebuild the extinct three-generation organization, except in religious groups and aristocratic society.The new culture lacks depth and variety, and compared with the old prefigurative culture, it does have a certain degree of lack of plasticity and is unable to accept some appropriate changes. This situation is not uncommon in many ethnic settlements in the United States and Argentina.This can be seen in the obstinate and narrow fantasies of the colonial peoples, in the retention of archaic ways of speaking, in their efforts to restore kinship based on seniority, and in their rejection of outsiders. . In an old and complex society, those religious groups or sectarian organizations characterized by prefigurative methods can still survive despite drastic social changes.The most typical example is the masquerade ball played by horses in the UK. Participants wear masks, remember the primitive and ancient culture, and do those movements that have been passed down for countless generations and prevailed for hundreds of years.In Britain and elsewhere, this ancient legacy runs side by side with mid-20th-century customs. History repeats itself several times, and the means of stabilizing culture in new circumstances are constantly being discovered.It is true that even in the future there will always be grandparents, but in the new way of life, elders will be ignored by people.For example, technology and etiquette in Eskimo culture do not require the knowledge and wisdom of elders.Eskimo-style excursions, with door-to-door visits, allow hunters to be directed quickly and efficiently to new hunting areas.澳大利亚上著与爱斯基摩人不同，他们的学习完全依赖终生对一地的了解，依赖这具有巨大的超自然意义的土地的馈赠；而爱斯基摩人则发展了一种迅速沟通信息的方法，这使他们能够自由地迁居，自如地生活干新的地区之中。人们不再需要老人作为知识的宝库。爱斯基摩人的社会奠基于两代人组成的群体之上。一旦老人们成了年轻一代生存的负担和威胁时，他们宁可选择死亡。能够与其相比的是美国和大不列颠的矿工，那里的矿工一旦度过了自己的壮年，无法继续在限制重重、控制很严的矿山社区中担任积极的角色时，便会受其他矿工排挤，迁出这一社区。 一次大战以前，波兰的农民往往在儿子结婚以后，将土地传继给儿子，以换取由儿子赡养老迈双亲的允诺，但事实说明，这些允诺往往没有约束力，老两口常常落到流浪街头、行乞为生的地步。 许多第2代、第3代美国人心安理得地拒不承担赡养长辈的责任，这或许归咎于道德约束的丧失。使那些死守着财产控制权的老人们焦灼不安的是人心不古、道德习俗的每况愈下，这预示着老年人的地位将永远无法得以恢复。而老人们由于有了较好的医疗保健，实际生存的寿命往往超过其期望寿命，这使他们被下一代剥夺的权力比预想的还要多。这类适应性的转变往往依变革的可能性而定，依前喻文化的内在特质的衰减而定。 新的国度或新的环境的急剧变革使得无论男女都可能以各种截然不同的方式参与其中。新的求生方式，强烈地影响着一位男人的地位，他脱离了完全共享的农业社区，或脱离了狭隘、受人控制的佃农生活，投身于都市壮工大军的单调一律的生活之中。但是，这种变革可能不会给妇女的生活带来多少改变，她继续沿着母亲的足迹，为丈夫准备饭莱，哺育后代。鉴于这一状况，在孩子早年品格的形成过程中，由母亲传喻的那部分文化可被长久保存下来，而和父亲急剧变动的工作条件有关的那部分文化却可能发生彻底的改变，并因此而改变孩子的品格特征。 文化，不仅可由祖辈或其他亲戚所扮演的角色的重要与否来划分，也可由文化是否具有连续性来划分，由祖传父，再由父传子即是一种连续。比如，在手工业生产方式中断时，便出现了由男方人赘女家的生活方式向女方嫁到男家的生活方式的转变。但是，如果论及性质非常守旧的歌唱方式时，从艾伦·洛马克斯对世界歌曲体制的比较研究中可以发现，无论人们的生活方式发生了多么巨大的改变，做母亲的却世代不变地向襁褓中的孩子唱着相同的摇篮曲。 在那由年轻的孩子照看婴儿，养育者寸步不离地照料孩子的社会中，保守的育儿方式是该社会的特征。养育者对孩子的要求很松，也无法教给他们更多的东西，她往往只是看管而已，或者带着孩子乱跑，而不知道如何教育孩子养成独立生活的能力。在那更为复杂的文化中，从农村来的保姆们牢牢地看管着孩子，很少给他们应有的社会刺激。她们对孩子成长的影响自然也是十分消极的。 当依赖年长的兄姐看管年幼的弟妹的社会中首次建立学校教育制度时，古老的文化可能因此而分崩离析。年长的儿童们不再整日去学习传统的技艺，学校的教师们传授给孩子们的知识从内容到形式都可能是全新的。年长的孩子们上学去了，母亲们不得不重新担负起照顾婴儿的责任。当然，这一原因也部分归咎于那些文化水平低陋的农妇们已无能力照顾富家子弟。应该说这两方面的原因都有。父母双亲都承担着家庭的重任，现在孩子们又更加需要他们，而他们却似乎既无耐心又不希望孩子们总是过于幼稚、依赖性太强：此外，父母们向孩子们昭示的生活模式也比以前更具技术性和复杂性。 在孩子们的成长过程中，等级制度的存在将造成群体间复杂的相互关系。以美国东南部为例，在那里上流阶层白人的孩子由黑人保姆抚养，这些孩子和黑人较为接近，黑人保姆也学会了以和抚养自己的孩子不同的方式抚养主人的孩子。这两类相互交往的不同人种的群体间存在的亲密关系在其它地方是见不到的，在其它地方，白人往往不雇黑人为仆，而黑人也不肯受白人使唤。目今，这种隔离加深了种族间的距离和彼此间的仇视，雇佣黑人为仆的家庭越来越少，黑人也很少与白人社区相接触，他们既不再去为白人做保姆、当门卫，也很少能得到白人护士、医生或其它行业人士的帮助。 在美国，由原有的阶层之间和阶级之间的关系产生的保守、僵化的影响正在消失殆尽。二次大战以后，由于教育的改变，对卑贱职业的轻蔑，人人有权获得理想的职业（包括专业性工作），以及新的居家模式等诸多因素，使得原有的社会关系土崩瓦解。在原有的关系中，人们被分为两类：一类是那些维护核心文化标准的上层人物，一类是那些由于肤色、教育、社会隔离、个人的自我选择而拒绝接受文化标准的下等人。 在孩子们的成长和成熟过程中，每一种文化都往往较为重视抚养孩子的某些阶段，在一复杂的社会中，这些阶段可能迥然相异。通过人们重视的是哪一阶段，能够反映出代际之间关系的本质，以及同代内部的年龄和阶级关系的本质。而人们对哪一阶段予以重视，往往依占优势的那代人的生活模式而转移。在那种把儿童的早期训练重心置于炒菜烧饭等家务之上的社会中，母亲和祖母的角色都十分重要。而在另一很早就训练孩子控制身体、发展手工技能的社会中，由于这种训练和获得男性的生存技能密切相关，故父亲和祖父的作用在孩子们呀呀学语之日就十分重要了。从某种程度上说，男性和女性的人格发展方向是颇为不同的，因此，在儿童恋母情绪的形成时期，应该根据男女儿童的不同性别给予教育上的区别对待。 当移民们建立起新的文化体系，当原始人和农民被置于国家的直接控制之下，或当人们接受新知识和新技术之时，那具有适合新的学习方法的内在压力的发展阶段可能和以往的发展阶段完全不同。这种新的压力可能产生于年轻人离家从军或从乡村学校进入都市学校之际，也可能产生于6岁的冥顽孩童进入使他倍感新奇的乡村小学之时。即使当公共卫生人员来到那些变化甚微的落后乡村，通过向年轻的父母们介绍新的育儿方法，也能使人们感受到变革的初步影响。 当年轻人学做一名公民，学童接受新的教育，整队进入乡村小学，人们告诫他们应遵守由遥远的其它社会所制定的行为准则时，即当并喻文化产生之日，无论在哪里，新人们的年龄和状况，以及其所属的群体在古老的前喻文化中的地位和状况都有举足轻重的意义。如果这一群体已经通过对孩子的哺育适应了人们的变革愿望，那么它就可以面对动荡的世界，以其不变应付万变。或者象美国境内的欧洲犹太人那样，完成其自身的彻底改变。按欧洲人的习惯，父亲为女儿物色有前途的丈夫；而按美国人的习惯，则是有前途的年轻人自己寻找富翁的千金。人们对变革寄于的期望愈大，他们接受并喻文化的阻力便愈小。 要使自己适应于当代美国文化，来自非英语语系的民族的每一个成员，都必须放弃自己的语言和独特的文化。让孩子接受美国教育是使他们适应美国文化的基本途径。父母们无法控制孩子们的新的学习，事实上，过去在自己的家乡他们也很少过问孩子们的教育。现在，他们不得不把孩子送到学校里，并且接受孩子所作的什么是标准的美国行为的解释。孩子们仅能从老师的训诲和同龄伙伴的言行中获得对自己行为的引导。移民儿童的经历很快会成为美国所有儿童的经历，现在，他们成为新时代里具有蓬勃生机的新文化的代表。如此，他们所具有的巨大权威和所代表的行为风范已经达到了能够与其父辈相抗衡的地步。 单一文化条件下的迅速变迁也能够产生相似的结果。在诸如印度、巴基斯但和非洲的新兴国家里，晚辈们也通过新的途径获得了权威，而父母们则失去了批评和控制子女行为的权力。但是，如果这一变迁发韧于传统文化根深蒂固、深受历史的影响、而且祖辈也健康在世的国家中，由晚辈所代表的新的权威便会遭受顽强的抵抗。而在那些多民族的移民混杂而居的国家里，并喻文化的影响却极为显著。那些无论在时间上还是在空间上都已为子女所取代的父辈发现，不要说继续控制自己的子女已变得十分困难，即使是保留那种应该、也能够对孩子们加以训导的信念也已十分不易。 当同龄伙伴中的并喻学习成为整个文化中的制度化行为以后，人们发现所谓“青年文化”（youth culture）或“青少年文化”（teen-age culture）应运而生；由学校体制所颂扬的年龄分层变得日益重要。在20世纪初的美国，人们已经开始感受到并喻文化的广泛影响。核心家庭取代了传统的大家庭，人们不再指望孙辈能够和祖辈保持亲密的关系，而伴随着统治地位的丧失，父辈也开始把确立个人行为准则的权力交到年轻人手上。到了本世纪20年代，那确立行为准则的工作开始由大众传播承担起来，各类传播工具以现实生活中成功的青年群体的名义进行宣传，父辈的训导被交由日益变得冷酷和森严的社会来完成。在60年代中，这种变迁的影响之一，是将新一代中产阶级中的部分年轻人引入了种族帮派之中，而这类帮派在其形成的早期常常相互之间以及和大城市的警察之间发生冲突。并喻型学习在文化方面开始成为流行的、占主导地位的模式。而老一辈则很少希望和当代文化发生任何联系。同时，无可奈何的父母们也开始敏悟，由于大众传播的发展，子女们的教育已经可以不再通过学校，不再通过比他们更为晓事的伙伴了。 那类能够充分利用并喻文化，使青壮年们投身于他们从未涉足的新型群体的社会：在适应斩的文化方面往往具有高度的可塑性。在某种程度上，正规的入门教育（诸如在军队中的入伍训练中或其它工作中的职业训练中对各类新手所进行的培训）被作为一种压缩式的儿童学习形式，或被当成一种全面的前喻文化经验的灌输方式，这种短期教育无论对于教还是对于学都是一种最为成功的方法。 从仅有两代人组成的核心家庭中成长起来的个人，能够懂得自己的父母有别于祖父母和外祖父母，而自己的孩子也将有别于他们自己。在当代社会中，人们还怀着这样一种期望，希望儿童期的一切训练对于孩子们跨入家庭以外的群体来说，最好能够是一种有的放矢的准备。总得看来，生活在一个不断变化的核心家庭中，同时有着来自其他新的群体不断影响的经历，将赋予个人一种生活在不断变动、万古恒新的世界中的感觉。人们在家庭中所经历的世代间的变化愈加剧烈，在新的群体中所承受的社会变迁的影响愈加沉重，整个社会系统就愈加脆弱，而个人也似乎愈加缺乏保障。幸而社会进步的观念为动荡不定的局势奠定了理论基石，而使人们能够承受一切冲击。那些迁居美国的移民，在与社会变迁中的种种困难奋力抗争之时，作为他们全部精神砥柱的是这样一种信念：和他们相比，他们的后代们将能受到更好的教育，在成功的道路上将能得到机遇更多的垂青。 我已经说明，在第1代人的并喻文化因素的形成过程中，成年人必须共同学习，以应付种种变幻莫测的新的环境；而在第2代人的并喻文化因素的形成过程中，那些迁居者的子女们（他们是新环境中的第1代土生土长者），却必须创造出一种从父辈的生活中无以借鉴的新的行为模式，我也已经彰明，该如何使正在开拓中的新的环境日臻安定，以使不同的年龄分层、青年人的反叛、代际间的冲突、以及孩子理应和父母的生活轨迹有所不同的观念融合于文化之中，成为人们所创造的文化的组成部分。我还设想过，在一个欲图永远弃绝新的准则的封闭的宗派群体中，或在那由于具有单一的宗教或民族而得以高度整合的国家中，该如何重建前喻文化。某种新的文化或新的宗教的本土化形式也许具有极强的并喻因素，并且能够实现人们期待中的世代更替；但是，与此同时却也可能因为目空一切的文化自负或宗教信仰而使一切无法改变。 在我为前喻文化所下的定义中，前喻文化是一种缺乏变动的文化，同时又是一种必须借诸密切接触的老少三代方能予以说明的文化，该文化中的大部分内容至今仍然无人加以精深邃密的分析，在我们这个社会流动日趋频繁的社会中，在教育和生活方式上，代际之间不可避免地会产生这样或那样的冲突。但是，尽管如此，在年轻人的成长过程中毕竟面临着由先前的两辈人所作出的贡献，而且分享着它们的巨大价值。每一成人所具有的一切毋容置疑的信念都和他们所赖以生存的前喻文化一样令人难以理解。在一个封闭孤立的社会中，重建一种严格、统一并具有舆论一律的秩序较为容易。但是，在当今这个盘根错节的社会中，即便凭借政治的铁幕也只能建立表面的一致。前喻文化的早期形态的消失，是当代世界最为显著的特征。同时，由于反复不断的尝试，重新萌生了统一的信念和坚定的忠诚；排外主义和革命的追随者们，乌托邦的信徒们，企图建立起封闭的社会，以作为他们通向渴慕已久的生活方式的坦阔通途。 现代世界的特征，就是接受代际之间的冲突，接受由于不断的技术化，新的一代的生活经历都将与他们的上一代有所不同的信念。但是，从这一信念之中，并不能够得出代际之间的变化将产生新秩序的结论。许多世代以来，犹太人和亚美尼亚人，这两个文化群体在哺育孩子的时候，都希望他们长大以后外出谋生，学习新的语言，但又不失他们本身的文化自认感。在我们的文化以及其它许多文化中，哺育孩子的方式，也和上述民族极其相似，父母总希望孩子能够“以其不变应世界之万变。”单单承认年轻一代的价值观和他们的长辈有所不同，就足以被人们看成是对他们父辈所具有的道德观念、爱国热情和宗教意识的威胁和挑战，而这些父辈或是怀着前喻文化中的盲目的热情，或是怀着现代的、但仍以前喻方式建立的防御性忠诚。 年长的一代认为，有关真、善、美的标准是既定的，而通过理解、思考、感受、行动健全人类本性的方式也是无法变更的。但是，这种愚顽的信念却被人类学的研究彻底地推翻了。人类学充分地证实，由于科学技术的革新和社会制度的更迭，不可避免地导致了文化特质的改变。即使是那些通晓历史，深知历史所包括的不仅是那些尽如人意的结构，还包括能够予以证明的事实的文化成员，在亲眼目睹了急剧变化的信念和亘古不变的信念的相互融合之后，也不能不为之震惊。 在当代有关人类困境，或者换句话说，有关人类前景的表述中，都没有做出与我们所熟识的前喻文化与并喻文化机制全然不同的文化变迁和文化传递的新机制即将出现的预测。但我深信，一种全新的文化模式正初露端倪；我将其称之为“后喻文化”。正如我们所看到的那样，伴随着我们刻意求新的努力，伴随着因并喻文化而出现的代际变化（这一变化产生于那些稳固的、受长辈控制的、以父辈为楷模的文化中，在这种文化中吸收了许多前喻文化的成份），今天，年轻的一代正面对着一个因其深不可测而无从把握的未来。 第一代移民中的先驱者在开发蛮荒而杳无人烟的新大陆时，形成了一整套生活模式。我深信，如果将前辈开拓者们的方法应用于我们今天的生活，我们不仅能够而且定会做得更为出色。但是，如果说先驱者只是空间迁徙的象征（地理迁徙），我认为我们所建立的应该是一种新的象征，一种跨越时间的迁徙。 从40年代到60年代，短短的20年间所发生的翻天覆地的变化，使人与人之间、人与自然之间的关系发生了不可逆转的改变，电子计算机的出现，原子分裂的成功，原子弹、氢弹的发明，活细胞生化机理的发现，月球表面的探险，人口的急剧膨胀（人们开始意识到如不加以控制将会造成巨大的灾难），城市组织的解体，自然环境的破坏，凭借着喷气式飞机和电视建立起的畅通无阻的世界性联系，人类已开始步入太空。为空间站的建立进行着准备，人们已开始意识到能量和合成原料的应用具有着无限的可能性，此外，在那些相对发达的国家中，人类由来已久的生产问题已为分配和消费问题所取代——所有这一切纷繁复杂、不胜枚举的变化，都造成了代际之间彻底的无法挽救的决裂。 即使在不久以前，老一代仍然可以毫无愧色地训斥年轻一代：“你应该明白，在这个世界上我曾年轻过，而你却未老过。”但是，现在的年轻一代却能够理直气壮地回答：在今天这个世界上，我是年轻的，而你却从未年轻过，并且永远不可能再年轻。”这就全为那些开拓者和他们的子孙们的不同经验所做的注脚。在这个意义上，所有在40年代以前出生、成长的人象那些新大陆的开拓者一样都是时间上的移民。我们在被养育的过程中所掌握的技能和价值观只有一部分适应新的时代，但是我们老一代却仍旧掌握着政府和诸多的权力。和当年那些来自殖民国家的移民开拓者一样，我们也执拗地深信，孩子们终归有一天会和我们一样。但是，令人担忧的现实却和我们的希望相抵牾。在我们的眼中年轻一代变得越来越陌生，十七八岁的孩子们会聚在街头巷尾，使人感到象四处滋扰的侵略军的士兵一样可怕。 我们一次次地告慰自己：“孩子毕竟是孩子。”我们十分自信地告诉别人：“都因为这是个动荡不安的时代”，“核心家庭太不稳定了，”“孩子们都是看了电视才学坏的。”我们将自己的孩子比作那刚刚成立就要求在世界各国的首都设立使馆、开辟航线的新的国家：“他们还年轻幼稚，他们需要学习，他们会长大的。” 过去，尽管存在着互相间的并喻学习，能够广泛地接受迅速变化的数代人，在各个国家的不同阶级、地区和特殊群体之间，在世界不同地方的人民的经验之间，仍然存在着人所周知的极端差异。变化仍然显得较为缓慢，而且极不协调，某些国家中属于某些阶级群体的青年人可能比另外一些国家中属于另外一些阶级的成年人知道得还要多，但是，仅就经验而论，成年人仍然比青年人更为丰富。 今天，却几乎在顷刻间发生了骤然的变化，因为世界上所有的人都置身于电子化的互相沟通的网络之中，任何一个地方的年轻人都能够共同分享长辈以往所没有的、今后也不会有的经验。与年轻人的经历相对应，年长的一代将无法再度目睹年轻人的生活中出现的对一系列相继而来的变化的深刻体验，这种体验在老一辈的经历中是史无前例的。因此，代际之间的这次决裂是全新的、跨时代的：它是全球性的、普遍性的。 今天的年轻一代生长在一个他们的长辈完全未知的世界中，但成年人中却很少有人意识到这一现象是历史的必然。即使那些预感到后喻文化即将来临的人，对后喻文化的具体内容亦同样一无所知。