(精品)06-吕大乐-金融风暴后的香港中产阶级.doc

文章标题：金融风暴后的香港中产阶级姓名：吕大乐单位：香港中文大学社会系职称：教授通讯地址：香港新界沙田香港中文大学社会系电邮：tailoklui@cuhk.edu.hk金融风暴后的香港中产阶级中文摘要：本文以2006年「香港社会流动与机会」调查的资料为基础，分析当前香港社会的机会结构、社会流动及阶级结构的变化初步观察所得，香港社会的阶级结构、社会流动机会并未如一些评论所预言般，因为经济衰退及转型以至中产阶级消失或社会流动逆转经过亚洲金融风暴之后，香港社会仍有上向社会流动的机会不过，随着阶级结构制度化，社会流动愈来愈由教育所决定，大部分人都挤在教育渠道之内进行竞争，气氛日趋紧张香港社会所面对的挑战，并不是中产阶级消失，或出现大规模「下流」的情况，而是在中港经济融合，香港经济转型的过程中，中产阶级的内部按其经济功能而分裂为「在地的」和「流动的」中产，他们于这个社会经济转变中各有不同遭遇HONG KONG’S MIDDLE CLASS: POST-ASIAN FINANCIAL CRISIS OBSERVATIONSTai-lok LuiSociology DepartmentChinese University of Hong KongAbstract: This paper reports on the preliminary findings of the ‘Survey on Social Mobility and Life Chances in Hong Kong 2006’ (thereafter the 2006 Survey) and discusses the profile of Hong Kong’s middle class. We shall start with a brief discussion of the impacts of the Asian Financial Crisis and the resultant labour market changes on the middle class. Because of such a change in the economic environment, there are discussions of a major transformation of the social structure of East Asian industrialized economies and its implications for social mobility in these societies. Doubts have been raised in many parts of this region about the prospects of maintaining economic growth and thus the possibility of further creating ‘room at the top’ for upward social mobility. Based upon descriptive statistics on social mobility, we shall discuss whether the middle class has disappeared. Where possible, comparison will be made with reference to findings of earlier social mobility studies. We shall also analyze how various social background factors are contributive to the attainment of middle class positions. It will be suggested that people from humble background are still able to climb up to middle class positions via the channel of education. The source of growing anxiety concerning a dim prospect of social mobility seems less of a drastic decline in mobility opportunity but more of a psychology shaped by an intensification of competition resulting from an emphasis on credentialism (i.e. education qualification is becoming the key determinant of social advancement to the middle class).HONG KONG’S MIDDLE CLASS: POST-CRISIS OBSERVATIONS An earlier version of this paper was presented at Paper prepared for the 2nd Meeting on “Comparing Middle Classes in Ethnic Chinese Societies in Modern Asia-Pacific”, Academia Sinica, Taiwan, June 13-14, 2008. The project is supported by a grant from the Public Policy Research Funding Scheme #CUHK4016-PPR20051. Its support is gratefully acknowledged.Tai-lok LuiIntroduction This paper reports on the preliminary findings of the ‘Survey on Social Mobility and Life Chances in Hong Kong 2006’ (thereafter the 2006 Survey) and discusses the profile of Hong Kong’s middle class. We shall start with a brief discussion of the impacts of the Asian Financial Crisis and the resultant labour market changes on the middle class. Because of such a change in the economic environment, there are discussions of a major transformation of the social structure of East Asian industrialized economies and its implications for social mobility in these societies. Doubts have been raised in many parts of this region about the prospects of maintaining economic growth and thus the possibility of further creating ‘room at the top’ for upward social mobility. This is most evident in the response to two best-selling Japanese social commentaries, Karyu Shakai by Atsushi Miura (2006) and Lower-Middle No Shougeki by Kenichi Ohmae (2006). Responses to the depiction of Japan (vis-à-vis the earlier description of the emergence of a middle-class society) becoming a downwardly mobile society and a trend toward polarization with the fall of the lower-middle-income group were evidence less of an interest in social development in Japan but more of an awareness of the relevance of the Japanese experience to their own economies. In Hong Kong and Taiwan, discussions and debates about the arrival of the so-called M-form society or a downwardly mobile society were triggered by worries about economic maturation, and thus a slower rate of growth than the previous decades and the resultant “social congestion” (i.e., a decrease in openings for upward social mobility and the intensification of competition for mobility), growing anxiety about rising inequalities, and the fear of a disappearance of the middle class—the symbol of openness and opportunity. Based upon descriptive statistics on social mobility, we shall discuss whether the middle class has disappeared. Where possible, comparison will be made with reference to findings of earlier social mobility studies. We shall also analyze how various social background factors are contributive to the attainment of middle class positions. It will be suggested that people from humble background are still able to climb up to middle class positions via the channel of education. The source of growing anxie。