本文修正參考團體與現實互動(R&R)理論,認為經濟成長導致階級意識趨中,但經濟衰退或階級結構轉型會強化階級認同與意識形態分化。在分析2000-2010年的臺灣社會變遷調查後發現:首先,臺灣民眾每月所得持平但各階級間貧富差距惡化,自營作業者與非技術工人所得下降,導致其主觀階級地位下滑。其次,臺灣民眾相對剝奪感增強,多數認為貧富差距惡化、自己越來越追不上有錢人。第三,臺灣民眾功績主義信仰弱化,相信吃苦一定會成功的人數減少;總之,本世紀初臺灣民眾經歷了「失落的年代」。上述研究結果挑戰全球化理論中階級政治消解之觀點。
The article reviews the theories of subjective class consciousness and ideology and revises the ”reference group and reality (R&R) interaction model”. During the last two decades, it is argued that the proletarian class consciousness, left-wing ideology, and class voting behavior may decline in the post-industrial societies during the globalization era. However, the revised R&R model implies that, in the global depression era, through the reference group and more complete information, the influence of objective class structure on subjective class consciousness can be stronger, and the ideology may turn back from the right to the left. The empirical evidence from Taiwan, a young democratic industrial country, shows that Taiwanese people's objective class location has more greatly influenced their subjective identity, their cognition of income inequality has become more serious, their meritocratic ideology has been declining, and class voting behavior has become more obvious in the last decade. The anomaly changes of class formation in a new-comer among advanced capitalist economies may challenge the understanding of class politics in the globalization era.