价值观念与社会福利政策选择——以美国公共救助政策改革为例

Values and Social Welfare Policy Choice——A Case Study of the American Reform of Public Assistant Policy

文章以美国公共救助政策改革 (从AFDC到TANF)为个案 ,阐明了价值观念对社会福利政策选择的基础作用。认为价值观影响着社会福利政策设计的各个方面。各种不同的价值观念相互并存并相互竞争地影响着政府社会政策的安排。不同的价值观念往往选择不同的信息基础 ,配以不同的社会问题视景 ,偏好不同的社会政策方案 ,形成不同的社会评价。在特定的时空范围内 ,在特定的福利“场域” ,各种价值观念的现实表达存在某种优先顺序。主流社会价值观决定着社会福利政策的基本取向 。

This paper interprets the fundamental role of values in social welfare policy choice by a case study of the American reform of public assistance policy (from AFDC to TANF). Values penetrate all factors of welfare policy design. Various kinds of values coexist and compete to influence the governmental social policy. Generally different values are based on different information backgrounds, with different perspectives of social problem, support different policy alternatives, and frame different social evaluations. In given situation, the actual expressions of various values are ranked by some kind of order. Mainstream values decide the basic orientation of social welfare policy, and lead to a relatively stable mode of welfare policy.