中国人贫穷救助观念的转变与思考

China's Poverty Conceptions in Transition

一个国家的贫穷救助观念与该国的社会救助制度安排直接相关。从救助观念上看,当下中国人更倾向于将贫穷归因于不可抗拒的个人命运和努力不够,而较少抱怨社会制度不公平;他们更倾向于依靠自己的勤劳努力和增长才干来摆脱贫穷,而较少仰仗国家救助。然而随着社会转型的深入,中国城乡居民对公平制度和国家责任的期望有所提高。文章认为,贫穷救助观念既受传统天命思想和救助实践的影响,更是国家教化的结果。

This study attempts to understand how the Chinese people perceive poverty and why. Based on a nationwide survey in China and the World Value Survey, this paper finds that Chinese people tend to attribute poverty more to inescapable individual fate and laziness, rather than the unjust social system or the social fate. They tend to rely more on their own hard-working and increased talents to rise up from poverty rather than yearning for the state assistance. Nevertheless, they do want more from the government and demand a more just system than they did 9 years ago. This paper streamlines the historical and the current background of this unique poverty perception and discusses its implications for the improvement of the social assistance system.