權力與自白：分析婚外情的道歉行為

本研究從2000年至2016年，分析15個因婚外情曝光而公開道歉的案例。我們希望從婚外情的道歉，探究權力如何使人們自白，如何在其間懺悔。我們以權力觀點，指出當今社會的權力管治，已經下放至婚姻和家庭。道歉是讓人們開口言性，一種自白的策略，道歉者自白，是一種把性納入話語之中的計劃，是一種敘說自己性事的運動。以往的自白，祈求的是上帝的原諒，當今的自白，祈求的則是人的原諒，自白場景已然從教堂，轉換至廣大的群眾面前。本研究把道歉視為自白，一種權力關係的呈現，我們的用意在指明，道歉是自白、自我懺悔以及自我界定的過程，也是一個自我規範以及自我管治的過程。 This study explores how public figures struggling with the complications of infidelity confess and remorse. The research texts, fifteen open extramarital affair apology letters, are collected from the news media during the period of 2000 to 2016. The preliminary results indicate, in the past, these figures confess in the church and ask for the forgiveness of God; In the present, they confess in the media and ask for the forgiveness of the public. A further analysis from the viewpoint of power shows that apology letters not only symbolize the ritual of purification, it is also a strategy of image restoration, a rebuilding of subjectivity, and the reach of working consensus. To apologize for having an affair to the public, the confession thus becomes a selfredefining, self-regulating, and self-governing process.