經過漢初諸家爭鋒,儒家思想脫穎而出成為漢帝國的主導意識形態,其移風易俗理論也隨之進入實踐層面。通過對漢代社會種種惡風惡俗的批判,儒家士人希望以禮正俗,從而達成強干弱枝、崇本節末等目的,使風俗淳美。而其關鍵則在于國君需以身作則,各級官吏當不兼二業、直言強諫。換言之,儒家的風俗理論不僅是要引導百姓,也要藉此諷諫君主。當然,在此過程中風俗概念及其理論也產生了一些轉變:首先,先秦時人多以"樂"移風易俗,風俗意近,而漢人則以風為本,以俗為末,強調以禮正俗;其次,漢人對"俗"多有微詞,視其為"禮"的對立面;再次,因對"俗"的否定,漢人進而對原生性風俗的正當性與合理性產生質疑;最后,對地域性風俗的否定源于儒家"大一統"的理論需要與"中國"崇拜。

After the struggle in the early Han Dynasty,Confucianism became the ideology of the Han Empire and its custom theory was also put into practice.Through critiquing some undesirable social customs and habits,the Confucians strived to change the customs with etiquette and wished to form new nice customs in the end.It needed the emperor to make himself as a model,and then his subordinates also should do only one kind occupation and expostulate straightforwardly.In other words,the aim of Confucian custom theory was not only to guide common people,but also to persuade the emperor.Meanwhile,the theory was also changed unavoidably.Firstly,people in the Pre-Qin Dynasty always wanted to change the customs by music(yue),and the meanings of fengand su were similar,but people in the Han Dynasty sawfengas basis and suas minor details,and they wanted to change the customs with etiquette.Secondly,people in the Han Dynasty treated the customs as the opposite of etiquette.Thirdly,people in the Han Dynasty doubted the legitimacy and rationality of proto-somatic customs.Lastly,people in the Han Dynasty negated regional customs because they wanted to construct a unifying theory,so they adored"central plains"at the same time.