The Usefulness of the Political Economy Perspective to the Analysis of Social Welfare in Hong Kong-A Case Study of the Retirement Protection Measures

政治經濟學觀點於香港社會福利制度分析上的應用－退休保障措施個案研究

周翠雯(Ruby Chui-Man Chau) ； 余偉錦(Sam Wai-Kam Yu) ； 羅秀芳(Clementine Sau-Fong Law)

《聯合勸募論壇》 4期 (2014/02) Pp. 101-117

摘要

本文旨在說明政治經濟學觀點於香港社會福利制度分析上的應用。政治經濟學觀點強調，資本主義社會的社會福利發展，受社會福利與資本主義間的矛盾關係支配：一方面，社會福利能達成勞動力再生產、維持社會安定，從而鞏固資本主義；另一方面，社會福利拖垮政府財政負擔，使政府必須加重對資本家課稅，因此削弱資本主義。為達本文目的，我們執行兩個分析任務：首先檢視資本主義政府用以因應社會福利與資本主義間矛盾關係的兩個策略，即殘補（residual）策略與合作（collaborative）策略；再以退休保障措施（即綜合社會保障援助計劃與強制性公積金計劃）為例，探討香港政府如何兼採殘補與合作兩種策略，減低社會福利制度對於資本主義的負面效果，以及哪些困難可能使這些策略無法有效施行。

關鍵字

政治經濟學觀點 ； 社會福利 ； 殘補策略 ； 合作策略

並列摘要

This article is intended to demonstrate the usefulness of the political economy perspective to the analysis of the development of social welfare in Hong Kong. This perspective stresses that the development of social welfare in capitalists societies are dominated by the contradictory relationship between social welfare and capitalism - that is that social welfare strengthens capitalism by carrying out functions such as facilitating the reproduction of labour and promoting social stability on the one hand; it weakens capitalism by financially overburdening the government and as a result requiring the government to tax capitalists heavily on the other hand. To meet the objective of this article, two analytical tasks are carried out. The first is to identify two tactics adopted by capitalist governments to respond to the contradictory relationship between social welfare and capitalism - the residual and collaborative. The second is to discuss the retirement protection measuress (note 1) (the Comprehensive Social Security Assistance Scheme and the Mandatory Provident Scheme) as the cases for showing how the Hong Kong government attempts to use the residual and collaborative tactics to reduce the negative effects of social welfare on capitalism, and its difficulties in carrying out these tactics.

並列關鍵字

Political Economy Perspective ； Social Welfare ； Residual Tactics ； Collaborative Tactics