德国社会保障制度的文化背景——价值理念与法律在社会保障中的影响

Cultural Background of Social Security in Germany:The Influence of Value and of the Consititution on Social Security

经济全球化导致社会保障国家责任的改变,但社会保障制度的发展道路未必与全球化过程相类似,依据不同国家的特质,可以有不同的社会保障模式,或者至少在世界不同的地区有不同的社会保障模式。其中,文化价值理念是影响不同社会保障模式的重要因素之一。然而,社会保障并不直接与文化的基本要素相联系,社会保障的改革不会成为引发文化改变的因素,而是与文化自身的发展变化保持一致。文化隐含的基础不仅是政府行动正当性的理论基础之一,还是特定的一系列价值观,包括宗教与法律,最重要的是平等和个人自由的观念。欧盟国家仍然存在着不同的平等理念,同时也存在着不同的国家责任,不同的平等理念与不同的国家责任需要通过各种方式得到平衡,文化的多样性在某种程度上决定了社会保障制度的多样性。

The ongoing process of globalisation leads to change about national responsibility for social security, but the evolvement of social security is not similar the path of steady and linear development worldwide. The different national peculiarities will lead to different forms of social security in different state, at least, in different regions of the world. Yet, It is quite clear that social security is not directly related to the basic elements of culture. And it is in line with the general observation that social security reforms do not trigger culture changes but rather endorse these changes. The implicit basis of culture is not only one of a theoretical justification of government action, but it consists of a specific set of value, include religion and constitution, of utmost important in this context are the concept of equality and individual freedom. There still exist different concepts of equality and also of state responsibility in Europe. But their weight can be balanced in various ways. If we call this culture, then we can observe a cultural diversity within Europe that, until today, also applies to social security.