文人階層，是中國社會最特殊的部份。這個部份，使中國傳統社會迥異於西方。文人階層既非貴族，亦非紳士，也不是中產階級，更不是勞動階級，與知識階層則並不完全相等。對這個階層的研究，起於利瑪竇；但二十世紀之相關探索異常沉寂，令這個特殊的階層成為一個在研究領域中幾乎消失了的階層，以致對傳統中國社會的性質與演變狀況多所誤解。本文分析文人階層的性質、二十世紀研究之概況、文人階層的歷史發展及其與其他社會階層互動的情況，並藉研究史的回顧，說明未來應循之路向，希望能為中國社會之研究，打開一個新視野。

　　　　　The literary class is the most unique part of Chinese society. It makes traditional Chinese society different from the West. The litterateur's class does not refer to the nobility or the gentility, neither does it refer to the middle class or the laboring class, and it is not entirely equivalent to the educated class. Research on this particular class began with Matteo Ricci. However, related studies in the 20th century are uncommonly rare, so much so that this class has almost disappeared from the realm of active research, resulting in much misunderstanding regarding the nature and evolution of Chinese society. This essay analyzes the nature of the literary class, general state of research in the 20th century, historical development of the literary class and its interaction with other social classes. Through a review of historical facts, an attempt is made to indicate the direction of future research and to propose a whole new view for the study of the litterateur in traditional Chinese society.