社會投資改革的局限：生命歷程觀點

The Limitation of Social Investment Welfare Reform: A Life Course Perspective

如何協助人們因應生命歷程的收入管理與時間重組及其社會制度的再制度化，依舊是關照人民「從搖籃到墳墓」的福利國家在當代還沒克服的重大挑戰。對於這項新世紀的古典課題，作為新福利典範的社會投資結合生命歷程觀點提出它的改革洞見，企圖在擴大公共照顧的同時創造廣泛就業機會，以解決當代社會收入與照顧的雙重赤字。本文藉由理論討論，試圖指出社會投資改革所追求的「全員就業」的社會，恐窄化生命歷程發展的多元和自主，並讓整體社會的時間資源分配再製了收入的不平等。這使得社會投資儘管納入生命歷程的改革視野，但對收入和時間的協調仍有所局限，並潛藏社會不平等的隱憂。藉由對社會投資的省思，指向當代關切生命歷程的制度改革，將有必要修正就業的制度性優先地位，進而開創更多得以容納個別化生命歷程發展的自主空間，以及關於培養人際互賴和世代照顧的後生產主義社會的制度想像。

Addressing income and time management throughout the life course remains a significant hurdle for contemporary welfare states. To tackle this classical challenge in the new century, social investment proposes reform strategies grounded in a life-course perspective. Expanding public care services aims to generate employment opportunities and mitigate modern society’s deficiencies in both income and caregiving. This paper highlights the limitations of social investment reforms that emphasize“full employment for everyone.”Such an approach narrows the diversity and autonomy of life-course choices and reproduces income inequality through the distribution of societal time resources. Despite incorporating a life-course perspective, social investment reforms remain constrained and carry latent risks such as perpetuating social inequality. Through a critical analysis of social investment, this paper argues that contemporary institutional reforms concerned with the life course must reconsider the prioritization of employment within social systems. Only by so doing can we create more space for individualized life development, interpersonal relationships, and intergenerational care within a post-productivism social framework.