福利國家鉅變下的市場解放與社區復興：英國「大社會」引發的福利政策爭論

Market Liberalization and Community Revival under the Great Transformation of Welfare State：the Big Society and the Welfare Policy Controversy in the UK

20世紀以來，英國經歷了三次大規模社會福利政策的制度性變革，其背後除了政治意識形態光譜上的左右之爭外，還有著經濟社會變遷所引發的諸多原因。本文嘗試研究英國2010年卡梅倫聯合政府執政後推行的以「大社會」為理念的一系列政策，特別是重點討論了「大社會」政策對於英國社會企業發展的影響。本文認為，1980年代以來的歷屆英國政府都延續了柴契爾主義，希望用市場邏輯矯治傳統福利國家帶來的問題，卻引發了一系列的新風險，造成在經濟全球化時代的風險社會中，每個人成為原子式的存在，形成了人與人之間的疏離和冷漠。「大社會」政策失敗在於將國家與社會聯結的切割，造成市場邏輯入侵公共服務領域，帶來了社會與社區二者之間內在的複雜關係。保守黨政府希望社會企業在政府培力之下參與解決社區問題，卻反而造成社會企業更加依賴政府的資金來運作。

 

This essay examines a series of policies change under the concept of “big society”, especially its impact on the development of social enterprises in UK. This study believes that British government has continued the path of Thatcherism since the 1980s, and persistently appropriate the market logic to solve the problems brought about by the traditional welfare state. The failure of policy derived from the idea of “big society” lies in the illusory binary division between the state and society, leading to the misuse of market logic in the field of public services. It also misconstrues the inherent complex relationship between society and the community. The Conservative government insists that social enterprises can take the lead in solving the problems of the divided community, but social enterprises are increasingly living up on government funds to operate.