Social Change and Social Policy in Taiwan: New Poverty, M-shaped Society and Policy Implications

Along with radical changes in the global economy and family structure, Taiwan has experienced the re-emergence of the poverty problem that was thought disappearing after remarkable economic growth in the 1980s. This article would like to provide an updated profile of social changes in Taiwan, with special reference to the related poverty issues like new poverty and the M-shaped society, as Ohmae defines it in his well-known book. To begin with, we place some of the most recent developments in the context of unbalanced growth and increasing family crises. Ironically, people in Taiwan have widely used the terms of new poverty and M-shaped society since the end of 1990s, while the “economic miracle” the island wrought still remains a fond memory. Official statistics on poverty, unemployment, divorce, mental disease, and child abuse have all shown increases. The trend is a matter of serious concern. Unlike in Japan, the earnings of workers in Taiwan did not significantly decrease in recent years. Taiwan seems to deviate from the M-shaped society. We have developed two tentative but handy yardsticks for examining the shift of the middle class: the “balance index” and the “M-ratio”. The former provides as a relative measure among different income groups, while the latter is designed to indicate the change of the middle class relative to the overall contribution of the people. Finally, we also discuss its implications to social policy in Taiwan. ? 2009 The Japan Sociological Society.