炒股票是臺灣最普遍的投資活動，但卻少有文獻討論此市場的社會空間和結構。本文認為股市的社會空間由資訊所啟動，投資者透過它瞭解市場、買賣股票或相互溝通，它是一個訊號快速流動並脫離原有社會鑲嵌的空間。另一方面也會依行動者的社會位置差異，將生活世界的實質資源投入此空間。本研究採用深入訪談與螢幕為基礎的訪談，分析散戶、中實戶、大戶、基金經理人、記者與交易員的訊號認識過程。我們認為此市場結構有三項重要特徵，第一，資訊認識是一種存在狀態，當行動者接收訊號時，涉入知識體系的動用過程，就開啟這個訊號構成的空間。第二，此空間的訊號判斷奠基在行動者的市場和產業知識上，運用知識的能力決定行動者所見之市場視野；第三，行動者的資訊取用能力和社會網絡穿透共構一個環狀的層級結構。一旦投資者不再涉足股票時，流動空間也即被關閉，退回原來的實質世界。與傳統經濟社會學相比，本研究提供臺灣金融社會學認識論的新架構，也彌補Knorr Cetina在投資者知識基礎的理論不足之處。

Share trading is a common investment activity in Taiwan, yet little is known about stock market social space or structure. In this paper I show how such a social space is made possible by information through which investors analyze market-related buying, selling, and communication, with signals rapidly flowing in a space that is disembodied from all other aspects of daily life. The actors that occupy various social positions inject substantial resources into this space. Data from in-depth and screen-based interviews with investors, fund managers, traders, and journalists are used to clarify the processes through which investors recognize signals. Results indicate that market structure has three important characteristics: (a) information recognition is an ontological situation in which actors receive signals, mobilize a knowledge system, and open a signal space; (b) actor interpretations of signals are based on market and industrial knowledge, with market scope contingent on the ability to use that knowledge; and (c) the ringlike and hierarchical structure is constructed by information access skills and social networks. The flow space closes when investors return to their nonmarket worlds. This research represents a new ontological research frame, and adds to Knorr Cetina's (2002) investor knowledge base theory.