“让”在华人社会中是一种受提倡的行为和道德规范。本文通过在中原地区一个小型村落——西村的一系列试验和访谈，对中国乡村社会“让”的行为进行了细致的观察和分析。“让”的行为有两种，即作为稀缺资源分配方式的“让”和在此基础上产生的作为一种礼仪行为的“让”。“让”的行为具有“为他人着想”的性质，这种行为能减低人与人之间的竞争从而使社会保持稳定。“让”遵循相对性原理，即是否应该“让”以及如何“让”依据的是行为者的年龄、性别、辈分及情境等。“让”的意识和行为的培养是中国儿童社会化的一项重要内容。当今中国乡村社会在发生急剧变化，传统的“让”德受到一定的冲击，但“让”的行为和规范还在维持乡村人际关系和社会稳定中发挥着作用。
The concept of Rang（让） is an advocated behavior and moral code in Chinese society. Through a series of experiments and interviews in Xicun，a small village in the Central Plains，this paper carefully observes and analyzes the behavior of Rang in Chinese rural society. There are two kinds of Rang behaviors，namely，as a way of allocating scarce resources and as a kind of ritual behavior based on this. The behavior of Rang has the nature of “being for the sake of others”. This behavior can reduce the competition between people and keep society stable. Rang follows the principle of relativity，that is，whether or not to Rang and how to Rang are based on the age，gender，generation and situation of the actor. The cultivation of Rang consciousness and behavior is an important part of socialization of Chinese children. Nowadays，China’s rural society is undergoing rapid changes. The traditional Rang morality has been affected to a certain extent，but the behavior and norms of Rang still play a role in maintaining rural interpersonal relations and social stability.
