中国城市贫困问题的国际研究新进展

Progress in China's Urban Poverty Studies

近来,诸多海外学者对中国的城市贫困问题日益关注。基于一系列全国范围内的大型城市家庭户调查数据,学者们对城市贫困的发生率、分布和区域差异进行了详尽研究。研究表明,社会底层的人口很少从市场经济改革中获益。反之,福利制度的改革和社会服务的商品化使得这些人口承受更高的经济压力,因而更容易陷入贫困危机。目前,下岗失业人员和进城农民工已成为中国城市新贫困的两个主要群体。同时,中国城市出现了三种类型的贫困邻里:老城区衰败邻里、表落的单位大院、城中村。一些国外学者基于小型的社会调查和个案研究分别对这些贫困群体和贫困邻里进行了具体研究,对深入了解和探讨中国城市贫困的现状、成因、后果及对策作出了重要贡献。本文将对这些研究按照不同的主题进行评述,具体包括家庭户调查和贫困研究、下岗失业人员贫困研究、农民工贫困研究、贫困人口住房研究、制度变迁与贫困成因探讨等。最后,本文对这些研究进行总结,并探讨其未来的主要研究方向。

Recently, the rising problem of China＇ s poverty attracts much research interests. Based on a series of large-scale urban household survey data, researchers are now able to provide better understanding of the incidence and distribution pattern of urban poverty, and regional income inequalities. Research findings show that the dividends of rapid economic growth rarely filter down to the bottom group of the society. Quite the contrary, the retreat of the state from social welfare and the commodification of social services impose further economic burdens on the less advantaged, and make them more vulnerable to urban poverty. By now, laid-off workers and rural migrant workers have become two major poverty groups in Chinese cities. Three types of poverty neighbourhood are emerging： old and dilapidated inner city neighbourhood, declining workers＇ village and urban village. Some overseas scholars have conducted studies on these poverty groups and poverty neighbourhoods based on urban household survey data and individual case studies, which contribute to our understanding of the status quo, the causation, socio-spatial consequences and countermeasures of China＇s urban poverty. This paper reviews these studies focusing on different themes： household survey and poverty study, studies on the laid-off and the unemployed, studies on rural migrant workers, housing the poor, institutional change and the emergence of urban poverty. The concluding part of the paper syntbesises and discusses the directions for further research.