制度变迁与消费分层:消费不平等的一个分析视角

System Change and Consumption Hierarchy:An Analysis of Consumption Inequality

通过对制度变迁中私人消费领域和集体消费领域不平等状况的考察,可以发现,消费不平等不仅与个人在市场化中的境遇有关,而且与国家一系列集体消费模式的制度转型密切关联,由此得以重构一个更切合中国社会实际的消费分层分析框架,即消费分层不仅与经济资本、文化资本和符号资本有关,而且还与制度身份所衍生的政治资本交织在一起,并形成了不同于生产领域的分层逻辑。值得思考的是,在消费分层中,人们的阶层意识与阶层认同可能不再是源于自身的生产性地位,而在于消费利益的共同体之中。对于今后社会保障制度改革以及创建均等化公共服务体系而言,这将是一个关键议题。

In the process of market transformation, consumption inequalities in China led to significant consumption hierarchy. In light of Western consumption hierarchy theory, both private and collective consumption inequalities in the process of institutional transformation are examined. The result shows that consumption inequality is not only associated with the plight of individuals in the market but also a series of collective consumption patterns in system changes, whereupon a better analytical framework should be established to more specifically address the situation of consumption hierarchy in China; namely, the consumption hierarchy is not only concerned with economic,cultural, and symbolic capital, but also intertwined with political capital generated from the system status and a logic of hierarchy different from that in the production area. The worthwhile consideration is that in the consumption hierarchy people’s class consciousness and identity is no longer formed in the production area but stems from the sense of belonging to certain consumption group. This should be the key consideration in the reform of social security system and equalization of public service system.