“反贫困何为”:西方贫困治理话语变迁及其镜鉴

“How to Fight Poverty”:The Evolution of Western Poverty Governance Discourse and Its Reflections

西方社会对贫困问题的关注由来已久,提出的贫困治理策略也是纷繁复杂、多种多样。在前现代时期,贫困治理手段经历了从古希腊—古罗马时期的训诫、驱逐方式,到中世纪的教会和政府济贫,再到启蒙运动后的强迫劳动、发展经济;进入现代社会,学界基于资源要素论、能力权利论、文化心理论等不同视角开出了各种贫困治理药方。纵观西方贫困治理话语的历时性演变可以发现,消减贫困,若良医疗病。病万变,药亦万变,皆因时度势而变。中国在以往反贫困实践中参考吸收了西方贫困治理话语中的有益成果,后小康时代这种学习借鉴也仍将继续。

Western societies have long been concerned with the issue of poverty,proposing a variety of complex and diverse strategies for poverty governance.In the pre-modern era,poverty governance methods evolved from admonishment and expulsion in ancient Greece and Rome,to charitable relief by the church and government in the Middle Ages,and then to forced labor and economic development following the Enlightenment.Upon entering modern society,scholars have offered various prescriptions for poverty governance from different perspectives,such as resource-based theories,capability and rights theories and cultural psychology theories.Through observing the diachronic evolution of Western poverty governance discourse,it reveals that alleviating poverty is akin to treating an illness:as the illness changes,so too must the medicine,adapting to the circumstances of the time.China has historically referenced and absorbed beneficial elements from Western poverty governance discourse in its anti-poverty practices,and this process of learning and adaptation will continue in the post well-off era.