G·J·帕特森所著《论“新民族性”》一文既武断又肤浅,有必要加以扼要评论。帕特森的一个主要观点是,近来美国人类学家对美国民族的关注原因有三:1.研究“祖国”文化的机会日益减少;2.由于不熟悉祖国文化和不熟悉当前国民对提供资金的效力和关心“根”等目前的国民情绪,而把“移民民族性的表面残余”曲解为民族性的“富有活力的形式”;3.把对美国民族的研究过多地集中在民族特征的“空洞的象征”上面,而不是放在那些说明同化日益增多以及民族性 The article by GJ Paterson on the theory of “new nationality” is both arbitrary and superficial and needs to be briefly commented. One of Patterson’s main points is that recent American anthropologists’ attention to the American nation has been attributed to three reasons: 1. There has been a diminishing opportunity to study the “motherland” culture; 2. there has been a decrease in the chances of a “motherland” culture being denied due to unfamiliarity with the motherland’s culture and unfamiliarity with current nationals Effectiveness and care of the “root” and other current national emotions, and “immigrants remnants of the surface remnants of” misinterpreted as a national “dynamic form”; 3. the study of the American nation too much focus on ethnic characteristics “Symbol of emptiness” above, not on those that illustrate the increasing assimilation and nationality