The Double Inequality of Generation and Class
世代與階級的雙重不平等
Author: Ping Xu 徐萍
Language: Multilingual (English + Traditional Chinese)
Audience: Adult / General
English Description
A new generation is falling-not just behind, but beneath.
Around the world, young people are entering adulthood only to find the ladder of opportunity shattered. Housing costs have soared out of reach, wages have stagnated, and public systems built for another era no longer protect them. At the same time, wealth has become increasingly concentrated in the hands of older and already affluent groups. This is not just an economic gap - it is a historic rupture.
In The Double Inequality of Generation and Class, reform strategist and policy thinker Ping Xu uncovers how two powerful forces - age-based inequality and class-based inequality - have fused into a single trap. She shows how older, wealthier cohorts capture the majority of policy benefits while younger, working generations shoulder shrinking wages, ballooning debts, and unaffordable housing. The system quietly rewards the security of the few while draining the vitality of the many.
Xu reveals how governments have ignored this shift for decades, relying on outdated assumptions of lifelong stable employment and upward mobility that no longer exist. Through cross-national comparisons - from collapsing birth rates in East Asia to widening generational wealth gaps in the United States and Europe - she shows that the generational bargain underpinning modern society has broken down. Young people are no longer simply "starting lower" on the ladder; many are being locked out entirely.
But this book is not just a warning - it is a blueprint for repair. Xu outlines bold structural reforms to reset the social contract: universal basic income to rebuild the floor, tax shifts to rebalance wealth, housing policy to reclaim affordability, and intergenerational compacts to align long-term care, pensions, and education. She argues that restoring balance between generations is not charity - it is survival. Without it, nations will face shrinking workforces, collapsing demand, and political disintegration.
The Double Inequality of Generation and Class shines a clear light on the hidden architecture of decline. It calls on policymakers, educators, and citizens to stop treating inequality as natural - and start seeing it as a design flaw that can, and must, be fixed.
中文簡介
一整個世代,正同時輸給「時間」與「階級」。
全球青年步入社會時,迎接他們的不再是希望,而是破碎的階梯:房價飆漲、工資停滯、負債纏身、制度失靈。這已不只是世代落差,而是歷史性斷裂。
徐萍在《世代與階級的雙重不平等》中揭示了兩股力量--世代不平等與階級不平等--如何交織成一座無形牢籠。她指出,多數政策紅利集中在既得利益者與高齡族群,而年輕與工薪階層則承擔低薪、高租金與龐大債務,制度默默地奪走多數人的未來,只為保障少數人的安穩。
然而,這並非天命,而是制度設計的錯誤。本書提出具體藍圖:以基本收入奠基、以稅制改革重分配、以社宅政策恢復居住權、以世代契約整合長照、退休與教育。
《世代與階級的雙重不平等》 不只是控訴,更是拯救:唯有重建世代平衡,社會才能脫離崩解邊緣。
