反思老龄社会——以中国香港与内地老年人退休保障政策为例

Reflections on the Aging Society:Retirement Protection for Older People in Hong Kong and Chinese Mainland

在人口老龄化时代,一些国家将其视作负担或威胁。如果仅从人口学、病理学及福利依赖话语角度分析老龄社会特征,难免过于悲观。从老龄化的社会过程分析,以批判视角解读传统文化、劳动力市场政策和退休保护政策。研究发现:(1)人口老龄化危机是社会建构的,是劳动力市场上老年人被社会排斥的结果;(2)老年人的边缘地位是在不同的社会、政治、经济和文化背景下构建的。通过比较中国香港与内地的老年人退休政策,重新思考和解构有关退休保护、就业、工作的论述,以期助益制定应对老龄社会挑战的有效政策。

In some countries,population aging is regarded as a burden or a threat.It is inevitably be too pessimistic if we see characteristics of the aging society only from perspectives of demography,pathology and welfare dependency.By analyzing the social process of population aging,this paper elaborated on the traditional culture,labour market policies and retirement protection policies critically.Results show that the crisis of population aging is socially constructed and is a result of social exclusion of older adults in the labour market.Besides,the marginal status of the elderly is constructed in various social,political,economic and cultural contexts.Through comparing retirement policies in Hong Kong and Chinese mainland,rethinking and deconstructing literature on retirement protection and employment,we hope to provide new alternatives for developing effective policies to address challenges of the aging society.