06-吕大乐-金融风暴后的香港中产阶级.doc

1、1文章标题：金融风暴后的香港中产阶级姓名：吕大乐单位：香港中文大学社会系职称：教授通讯地址：香港新界沙田香港中文大学社会系电邮：tailokluicuhk.edu.hk2金融风暴后的香港中产阶级中文摘要：本文以 2006 年香港社会流动与机会调查的资料为基础，分析当前香港社会的机会结构、社会流动及阶级结构的变化。初步观察所得，香港社会的阶级结构、社会流动机会并未如一些评论所预言般，因为经济衰退及转型以至中产阶级消失或社会流动逆转。经过亚洲金融风暴之后，香港社会仍有上向社会流动的机会。不过，随着阶级结构制度化，社会流动愈来愈由教育所决定，大部分人都挤在教育渠道之内进行竞争，气氛日趋紧张。香港社会

2、所面对的挑战，并不是中产阶级消失，或出现大规模下流的情况，而是在中港经济融合，香港经济转型的过程中，中产阶级的内部按其经济功能而分裂为在地的和流动的中产，他们于这个社会经济转变中各有不同遭遇。HONG KONGS MIDDLE CLASS: POST-ASIAN FINANCIAL CRISIS OBSERVATIONSTai-lok LuiSociology DepartmentChinese University of Hong KongAbstract: This paper reports on the preliminary findings of the Survey on Soc

3、ial Mobility and Life Chances in Hong Kong 2006 (thereafter the 2006 Survey) and discusses the profile of Hong Kongs middle class. We shall start with a brief discussion of the impacts of the Asian Financial Crisis and the resultant labour market changes on the middle class. Because of such a change

4、 in the economic environment, there are discussions of a major transformation of the social structure of East Asian industrialized economies and its implications for social mobility in these societies. Doubts have been raised in many parts of this region about the prospects of maintaining economic g

5、rowth and thus the possibility of further creating room at the top for upward social mobility. Based upon descriptive statistics on social mobility, we shall discuss whether the middle class has disappeared. Where possible, comparison will be made with reference to findings of earlier social mobilit

6、y studies. We shall also analyze how various social background factors are contributive to the attainment of middle class positions. It will be suggested that people from humble background are still able to climb up to middle class positions via the channel of education. The source of growing anxiet

7、y concerning a dim prospect of social mobility seems less of a drastic decline in mobility opportunity but more of a psychology shaped by an intensification of competition resulting from an emphasis on credentialism (i.e. education qualification is becoming the key determinant of social advancement

8、to the middle class).3HONG KONGS MIDDLE CLASS: POST-CRISIS OBSERVATIONS*Tai-lok LuiIntroductionThis paper reports on the preliminary findings of the Survey on Social Mobility and Life Chances in Hong Kong 2006 (thereafter the 2006 Survey) and discusses the profile of Hong Kongs middle class. We shal

9、l start with a brief discussion of the impacts of the Asian Financial Crisis and the resultant labour market changes on the middle class. Because of such a change in the economic environment, there are discussions of a major transformation of the social structure of East Asian industrialized economi

10、es and its implications for social mobility in these societies. Doubts have been raised in many parts of this region about the prospects of maintaining economic growth and thus the possibility of further creating room at the top for upward social mobility. Based upon descriptive statistics on social

11、 mobility, we shall discuss whether the middle class has disappeared. Where possible, comparison will be made with reference to findings of earlier social mobility studies. We shall also analyze how various social background factors are contributive to the attainment of middle class positions. It wi

12、ll be suggested that people from humble background are still able to climb up to middle class positions via the channel of education. The source of growing anxiety concerning a dim prospect of social mobility seems less of a drastic decline in mobility opportunity but more of a psychology shaped by

13、an intensification of competition resulting from an emphasis on credentialism (i.e. education qualification is becoming the key determinant of social advancement to the middle class).That the middle class has not disappeared is largely an outcome of the continuous growth and development of the Hong

14、Kong economy. And nowadays Hong Kongs economic prospect is increasingly tied to the rapidly changing economy of Mainland China (Lui and Chiu forthcoming; Chiu and Lui forthcoming). However, * An earlier version of this paper was presented at Paper prepared for the 2nd Meeting on “Comparing Middle Cl

15、asses in Ethnic Chinese Societies in Modern Asia-Pacific”, Academia Sinica, Taiwan, June 13-14, 2008. The project is supported by a grant from the Public Policy Research Funding Scheme #CUHK4016-PPR20051. Its support is gratefully acknowledged. This is most evident in the response to two best-sellin

16、g Japanese social commentaries, Karyu Shakai by Atsushi Miura (2006) and Lower-Middle No Shougeki by Kenichi Ohmae (2006). Responses to the depiction of Japan (vis-vis the earlier description of the emergence of a middle-class society) becoming a downwardly mobile society and a trend toward polariza

17、tion with the fall of the lower-middle-income group were evidence less of an interest in social development in Japan but more of an awareness of the relevance of the Japanese experience to their own economies. In Hong Kong and Taiwan, discussions and debates about the arrival of the so-called M-form

18、 society or a downwardly mobile society were triggered by worries about economic maturation, and thus a slower rate of growth than the previous decades and the resultant “social congestion” (i.e., a decrease in openings for upward social mobility and the intensification of competition for mobility),

19、 growing anxiety about rising inequalities, and the fear of a disappearance of the middle classthe symbol of openness and opportunity. 4as we shall see in the following discussion, the pertinence of the China factor to personal career development is selective, primarily favourable to those middle cl

20、ass professionals and managers working in industries which are directly servicing Chinas economic needs. A division within the middle class along the line of whether their career prospects are tied to the China factor is emerging. The question, therefore, is not really about the disappearance of the

21、 middle class. It is about an emerging cleavage of the middle class from within those middle class professionals and managers who occupy the key functional roles in producer services delivered by Hong Kong as a global city (Sassen 2001) not only fare well during Hong Kongs transition to a postindust

22、rial economy, but are also likely to develop interests and outlooks different from those whose careers remain firmly buttressed in the local economy. Changing FortuneOne of the key observations of the EAMC project is that the East Asian new middle class is a first-generation middle class (Hsiao and

23、So 1999). In this regard, Hong Kongs middle class is no exception. Rapid economic development, both in terms of pace of change and the increase in new positions in the social structure as a result of industrial take-off and Hong Kongs emergence as a regional financial centre, has been the major driv

24、ing force of an increase in opportunity of upward social mobility. Wong and Lui (1992), based upon their social mobility study in 1989, noted that: “there has been a significant expansion of professional, managerial and administrative positions between the two generations note: referring to the resp

25、ondents and their fathers. The increased room at the top (twice as many sons as fathers in Classes I and II) is evident; this structural change probably accounted for much of the upward mobility. Rapid economic development in the post-war decades has created new room at the top and opportunities for

26、 people coming from different backgrounds to move into service class positions. Our data suggest 75% and 79.8% of those in Classes I and II respectively are newcomers from non-service-class background. Though there are difficulties in long-range upward mobility, especially crossing the manual/non-ma

27、nual barrier, still there are 9.2% of those of working class origin (Class VII) being able to reach Class I.” (Lui and Wong 1995:118)Hong Kongs socio-economic structure has undergone significant changes since the mid-1980s. Industrial relocation (mainly to the Pearl River Delta of Mainland China) ha

28、s been galloping since then, bringing about a drastic reduction in manufacturing employment. In the midst of Hong Kongs transition to post-industrialism, there came the Asian Financial Crisis of 1997. It was not simply a slight hiccup of cyclical economic adjustments. Its impacts are best felt in a

29、major labour market restructuring process, cutting employment in the short run and changing the Chan worked on the same data set and made his critical remarks of the narratives developed by Wong and Lui. He suggested that “one of the most intriguing features of Hong Kongs fluidity pattern is that we

30、ak inheritance effects co-exist with strong hierarchy barriers, particularly those against long-range mobility. This means that while it is relatively easy for Hong Kong people to leave their class origin, those who are mobile in this minimal sense will find it difficult to travel very far up or dow

31、n the class hierarchy.” (Chan 1995: 31) 5practice of hiring and deployment of labour in the longer term. Not only have flexible employment practices widely adopted in business as well as public bodies, organizations have also been de-layered and streamlined. Whether the class structure of Hong Kong

32、society will be reshaped correspondingly is a question that deserves our attention.Indeed, observations of macro changes in the occupational structure in the last decade do alert us to the fact that recent changes are different from those experiences in the early post-war decades. * Table 1 about he

33、re *Unlike the earlier stage of socio-economic development wherein we witness sweeping changes and expansion across all sectors of the economy (with the rural sector being an exception), changes in the last two decades were characterized by de-industrialization (occupations related to manufacturing

34、production craft and related workers and plant and machine operators and assemblers have not only declined in their relative shares of overall employment but also dropped in absolute numbers) and signs of social polarization (evident in the increase in people engaging in elementary occupations in 19

35、91-2001) (Chiu and Lui 2004). More relevant to our discussion here is a decrease in the number of managers and administrators in 1996-2001. Of course, it is still early to conclude that there has already emerged a trend towards a shrinking managerial stratum. However, it does show the effects of org

36、anizational de-layering and the practice of outsourcing on reshaping corporate as well as government agencies organizational structure and the resultant demand for managerial staff. Whether this would bring about the disappearance of the middle class is an issue that is becoming popular concern. Equ

37、ally pertinent here is the impact of socio-economic restructuring on the terms of employment. In the 2006 Survey, respondents were asked if they have experienced changes in employment and/or the terms of employment since 1997. Table 2 is a summary of our findings, showing that the middle class (i.e.

38、 Classes I and II) remains relatively well protected from business closure and redundancy. However, as a result of changes in employment practice triggered by the economic downturn, middle class professionals, managers and administrators have seen their salaries reduced, benefits cut and workload in

39、creased (also see Lui and Wong 2003). Though the middle class is still in a relatively secure position, nowadays they are likely to find their job-related privileges gradually eroded as a result of changing employment practice. * Table 2 about here *In summary, there are signs of significant changes

40、 in the labour market and the broader socio-economic environment. One of the purposes of the 2006 Survey is to take a look at the impacts of such changes on the class structure and see if there have been major changes in the formation of the middle class in Hong Kong. But as we shall see in the foll

41、owing discussion, it is one thing to say that the middle class is beginning to feel the impacts of economic restructuring, it is quite another to suggest that this social class will soon reduce its size considerably and concomitantly its social significance. 6Hong Kongs Middle Class in the New Centu

42、ryAs stated above, one of the objectives of this study is to develop an updated class map of Hong Kong. Table 3 summarizes the class maps of Hong Kong based upon three surveys carried out in 1989, 1992 and 2006 respectively. All the three surveys adopted a classification informed by the Nuffield sch

43、eme (Goldthorpe 1987) and thus they can inform us of the changing class structure of Hong Kong. However, a note of caution is in order here. First, it is important to note that the 1989 Survey did not include women respondents. Its data were primarily those of fathers and sons. In this regard, it wo

44、uld be sensible to compare the findings of the surveys of 1992 and 2006 as both of them covered men and women. That said, the 1992 Survey only contained 590 cases, a sample size significantly smaller than the other two studies.Table 3: Class Maps of Hong Kong, 1989, 1992 and 20061989* 1992# 20067-fl

45、oded ClassBrief Description N % N % N %3-folded ClassI Upper Service Class81 8.6 59 10.0 87 7.5II Lower Service Class107 11.3 62 10.5 155 13.4 ServiceClassIII Routine Non-manual Employees 90 9.5 147 24.9 196 16.9IVa Small Employers36 3.1IVb Petty Bourgeoisie132 14.0 68 11.5 95 8.2V Technicians and S

46、upervisors 150 15.9 43 7.3 236 20.4IntermediateClassVI+VII Manual Workers 383 40.6 211 35.7 352 30.4WorkingClassTotal 943 99.9 590 99.9 1157 99.9Sources: *Wong and Lui (1992); #Lui and Wong (1994); 2006 Survey Basically, changes in the class structure are slow and perhaps slower than most peoples ex

47、pectation. The proportion of the service class remains roughly one fifth of the sample.* The most significant expansion took place in Class V: technicians and manual or non-manual workers with supervisory role. Meanwhile, the size of Class The Survey was carried out by means of door-to-door question

48、naire interviews. Its sample covered randomly selected respondents, except full-time students, who were between 18 and 64 years old. Fieldwork was carried out in May 2006 January 2007. Altogether 1,779 questionnaires were collected. The response rate was 40.88%.* The service class and the middle cla

49、ss are used interchangeably here. On the meaning of the service class, see Goldthorpe (1982). They are the new middle class in the EAMC usage. Primarily, they refer to professionals, managers and administrators. Class V in the Nuffield scheme includes technicians and employees performing supervisory role. The drastic expansion of the size of Class V may well be a result of economic and labour market restructuring because when corporations and public organizations cut down m