香港的貧窮青年遇上新社會風險 : 理論與制度的檢視

In the past decades, the theories of social risk have been applied to the analysis of the consequences induced by globalization and new capitalism, and even the transformational strategies of I he welfare state. These theories mainly focus on the emerging social divisions in responding to the new social risks, such as class, gender and age, yet they pay inadequate attention to a particular social group, namely, youth in poverty. Local literature tends to explore the impact of new social risks on the whole society, while only limited research examines the impact of policies dealing with the social risks of youth in poverty. This article articulates the relations among new social risks, social policy and youth in poverty within the A”amework of Risk Society. It argues that the existing social policies on youth cannot catch up with the new social risks, so reform is vital in future policy development. The article is divided into three parts: first, it reviews the theories of Risk Society at different levels and their policy implications; second, the risks confronted by youth in poverty are scrutinized, and how the existing social policies can tackle these risks is considered; third, the direction of policy and institutional reform in adapting to the new social risks for youth in poverty is then presented.