Beyond Apocalyptic Demography: Towards a Moral Economy of Interdependence
Beyond Apocalyptic Demography: Towards a Moral Economy of Interdependence
复制标题
超越世界末日的人口统计学：迈向相互依存的道德经济
DOI：
10.1017/s0144686x97006521
复制
发表时间：
1997
影响因子：
2.5
通讯作者：
A. Robertson
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
A. Robertson
Employing a political economy analysis of need as it relates to the ageing of the population in the context of the postmodern welfare state, this paper attempts to go beyond the narrow confines of the apocalyptic demography argument that an increasing dependent older population represents social and fiscal catastrophe. Older people are caught between a social ethic which values independence on the one hand, and, on the other, a service ethic which constructs them as dependent. This paper argues that this dichotomy between dependence and independence results from a depoliticisation of need, in part the legacy of a radical individualism combined with a postmodern therapeutic ethic. The deeper issues which lie at the heart of the apocalyptic demography argument have to do with issues of need, reciprocity, and community. This paper argues further that a moral economy of interdependence, based on the notion of reciprocity, transcends the dependency/independency dichotomy, repoliticises need, and thereby creates the possibility of a revitalisation of civil society.
