These events, which have taken place in scarcely more than a year, add up to more than all the cumulative political reforms of past decades. It is not surprising that a prominent political science professor at National Taiwan University characterizes the present situation by commenting that given the ROC's current momentum for reform, "Change is the rule, and maintenance of the status quo is the exception."
The ROC's society is indeed on the move, but the movement is not spontaneous; instead, it is pulled along by progress among the people and the government. Every facet of the island's burgeoning social change is shaped by economic, political, and educational factors. A multitude of features now contribute to the new look of society on Taiwan.
On the political scene, ongoing rapid reform is building up a more democratic political mechanism and encouraging more people to take an interest in—even participate in—the governmental decision-making process. The "Democratic Progressive Party," formed in 1986, has ushered in the first true partisan opposition in the history of China. The ending of martial law, which at any rate was not strictly enforced in its later years, provided strong evidence of the late President Chiang Ching-kuo's commitment to democratic reform. And almost as soon as he succeeded as head of state following Chiang's death on January 13, 1988, President Lee Teng-hui reaffirmed the government's determination to carry on with the reforms initiated by his predecessor. Even as it brings greater democracy, this process of political liberalization encourages social change.
In the past, it was economic expansion that provided the ROC with much of its status in the world community. Per capita GNP has grown at an annual rate of 8 percent over the past 15 years, reaching nearly US$5,000 in 1987. Large trade surpluses year after year boosted the nation's foreign exchange reserves to a mountainous US$75 billion, the second-highest in the world, at the end of that year. And this spectacular achievement was accompanied by a distribution of wealth almost unparalleled for its equality, with the richest 20 percent of the population earning just 4.6 times as much as the poorest 20 percent. High economic growth rates plus an equitable distribution of wealth have created in Taiwan a huge middle class that plays an increasingly important role in the island's society. To a great extent, the economic and political expectations of this middle class are determining the directions of the nation's future development.
Education is another major factor—perhaps the major factor—in Taiwan's development. Education on the island has expanded mightily; vocational education has received particularly strong support from the government, which recognizes the vital need for high-level manpower in the nation's overall advancement. Fully one-fourth of all the island's people are attending schools of one kind or another. This access to educational opportunity obviously has major implications for society; two of the most important contributions of education to social progress in Taiwan are manpower training and upward social mobility.
The new, modernized face of Taiwan's society, as molded by the factors described briefly above, has a profile of cultural pluralism that has grown out of the trend of liberalization and the weakening of traditional authority. It also has a deep international complexion imbued by extensive cultural exchanges and increasing volumes of trade and investment between the ROC and the rest of the world.
But not all of the results of social change are happy ones. As the American political scientist Dr. Samuel P. Huntington once pointed out, "Modernity breeds stability, but modernization breeds instability." On its way to modernity the ROC is confronting many social problems, most of them caused by maladjustment of the people and the government to rapid change.
For example, the high economic growth rates that have made Taiwan the envy of the developing world have been accompanied by many undesirable side-effects, among which pollution has generated the greatest amount of public concern. People are upset about the air, water, and soil pollution that afflict the island in varying degrees, and protests by environmentalists and pollution victims have forcefully brought home to the government the need for a clean living environment. Economic growth, contend the protesters, should not be pursued at the expense of quality of life. This sentiment is now so widely held, and so strongly expressed, that it has forced reconsideration of several large investment projects by local and multinational firms. The government responded to this mounting concern by selling up an Environmental Protection Administration in 1987. This action was a signal that in the future, maintenance of a clean environment will receive equal emphasis with economic growth.
Economic development has also ushered in rapid urbanization, caused in large part by the changing economic structure and increasing social mobility. The motive force behind this change has been industrialization. Between 1950 and 1980, the percentage of the ROC's total exports comprised of industrial products skyrocketed from a mere 10 to 90 percent; for farm products, the movement was exactly the opposite. This speedy industrialization has led to a migration of labor from rural to urban areas. Better education has also prompted young people to seek job opportunities in the cities, which are perceived as more promising places for personal development.
Like other societies that have experienced rapid urbanization, Taiwan today is suffering from such maladies as congested traffic, polluted air, inadequate public services, higher crime rates, and rising unemployment. But the most frustrating problem is the growing gap between the countryside and the cities, a gap that adversely affects equal distribution of wealth and causes a weakening of the agricultural sector. This situation has given rise to some unaccustomed symptoms. For example, the island's farmers, who for decades were staunch government supporters and recipients of large government subsidies, played a major role in several recent massive street demonstrations.
Workers, too, have been taking to the streets in order to make their grievances known. Taiwan's five million workers have formed the backbone of the island's economic development, and some of them have come to the conclusion that they have not been adequately compensated for their contributions. They are therefore organizing unions, forming coalitions, and pressing their demands through group action. (They have little confidence in the Chinese Federation of Labor, which was set up by the government in 1948.) They even established their own Labor Party last year. And, to give their voices more strength, they have resorted to strikes like the May Day walkout by train engineers, which was disguised as a collective taking of leave.
The government has responded to heightened worker consciousness by establishing the Council of Labor Affairs in 1987. This body is expected to be elevated to ministry status within a year, showing the government's long-term commitment to added emphasis on labor issues.
The main social force for reform in Taiwan is made up of farmers, workers, environmentalists, and other groups pursuing a larger share of wealth and power. Most of the members of these groups see themselves as underdogs, the dominated elements of society. And today they find themselves gaining strength from better education, greater legal protection, and increased media attention.
These people are opposed by others, mostly advocates of the status quo, who view social movements as sources of instability and causes of serious problems. From a sociological perspective, however, social movements are a means of seeking out a new equilibrium among varying interests, and as such they may well lead to healthy reforms. Only through such approaches as collective bargaining, for instance, will once-ignored minority groups be able to draw adequate attention to their interests. That is why the government is continuing with its liberalization policy even as reforms are urged by bottom-upward social actions.
What will be the end result of all this ferment and change? As a pop song has it, "Tomorrow will be better." Basically, the trend toward liberalization and democratization is irreversible; it will give people a greater voice in their economic activities, and will therefore work for their interests in the long term. The trend will also allow the people greater and more direct political participation, and will give them better access to education and information.
The task of the government is to encourage this trend and maintain an environment conducive to its development. The authorities are doing this through such measures as the proposed Consumer Protection Law, Fair Trade Law, comprehensive farmers' insurance, and expansion of other social welfare programs. The object of these measures is to set forth fair and equitable rules of the game, not only to maintain an even distribution of wealth but also to protect the more needy in a society that espouses competition.
But inconsistencies are sure to remain. While Taiwan's newly industrialized society should become more pluralistic, there are those who feel a need to find a Confucian moral consensus amidst all this change. Similarly, how to maintain stability in the process of carrying out reforms has become a major question. Such inconsistencies and occasional frictions not with standing, it is likely that economic deregulation, political liberalization, the emergence of a large and well-educated middle class, and the awareness of the need to factor social costs into the overall calculus of national development will all play instrumental roles in formulating a new social order.
Sociologists know that problems like the ones facing the ROC today are just transitory phenomena in the process of social development. When this process approaches the goal of modernization, observers can expect to see a new nation more capable of resolving its internal social issues and more able to take on the added social programs that characterize the advanced countries of the world.—(Dr. Young Yi-rong is an associate professor of social education at National Taiwan Normal University. Taipei.)