蔡元培1918年发表题为《劳工神圣》的讲演，推动了近代“劳动”观念的转变和实践。蔡元培主要受严复“群学”思想和无政府主义思想影响，指出凡出劳力有益于自己和他人的都是“劳工”，自食其力的“工”（劳动）对个体人格养成、群的强盛以及理想世界具有重要价值。蔡元培还以讲演、编写教科书的方式向民众普及劳动的价值。本文重返历史的视野，以理解劳动和劳工问题何以成为“群学”意义上的社会学最初所关心的主题。

In 1918 Cai Yuanpei gave a speech entitled “Labor is Sacred”, which promoted the modern concept of labor and its practice. Mainly influenced by Yan Fu's sociology (qunxue) and anarchism, Cai pointed out that anyone who worked for himself and for others was “labor”, and self-supporting “work” (labor) carried great significancy for personality shaping, group prosperity, and universal harmony. Cai also conveyed the value of labor to the public by writing textbooks and delivering speeches. This paper adopts the historical perspective to understand how labor and labor issues became the primary topic of sociology in the sense of Yan Fu’s sociology.

本研究是在北京大学社会学系博士后流动站工作期间的科研成果，亦获得中国农业大学“人才培育发展计划”支持。

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