Anthropologists have spent tremendous effort developing value theory. We might generally understand value theory as a form of social theory concerned with what groups of people find important or worthwhile in life; how those groups of people, via their relationships, identify, seek, and create that which is valuable; how ideas of value and worth inhere in people and things; and how those people and things then circulate and meet other universes of value. This introduction specifically, and this special issue more generally, seeks to build on this bedrock conception of value theory to offer a series of implications and considerations one should take on board when thinking about value. We suggest that these considerations will allow social researchers to more ably understand the pressing issues that motivate their investigations.

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特刊简介：价值、价值观与人类学

人类学家花费了巨大的努力来发展价值理论。我们通常可以将价值理论理解为一种社会理论，它关注的是哪些群体认为生活中重要或有价值的东西；这些人群如何通过他们的关系来识别、寻找和创造有价值的东西；价值观念和价值观如何存在于人和事物中；以及这些人和事如何流通并满足其他价值领域。具体而言，本引言以及本期特刊旨在以价值理论的基本概念为基础，提供人们在思考价值时应考虑的一系列含义和考虑因素。我们建议，这些考虑因素将使社会研究人员能够更好地理解激发他们调查的紧迫问题。