超越“银发焦虑”：老龄化社会治理的话语重构与公共政策转向

Beyond “Silver-Haired Anxiety”: Discourse Reconstruction and Public Policy Shift in the Governance of Aging Society

摘要: 长期以来，中国社会围绕人口老龄化形成了一种以“焦虑”为核心的话语体系，“人口海啸”“银发危机”“未富先老”等表述充斥于公共讨论与政策叙事之中。这种负面话语不仅塑造了公众对老龄社会的悲观预期，更深刻影响着政策制定的底层逻辑——将老年人视为需要“应对”的负担而非需要“开发”的资源。本文从话语分析的视角出发，系统审视“银发焦虑”的三种典型叙事——经济负担话语、劳动力短缺话语和医疗黑洞话语，剖析其政策后果与社会效应。在此基础上，超越单纯的话语批判，从治理思维的深层转型出发，探讨话语重构的多元路径：重新定义老年群体的消费者、生产者与公民三重角色，推动统计指标从“抚养比”向“参与率”转型，并据此提出促进老年社会参与、营造代际融合环境的具体政策建议。本文认为，改变叙事是改变现实的起点，建设老龄友好社会需要一场从话语到制度的系统性转向。

Abstract: For a long time, a discourse system centered on “anxiety” has taken shape around population aging in Chinese society. Expressions such as “demographic tsunami,” “silver-haired crisis,” and “aging before affluence” pervade public discussion and policy narratives. This negative discourse not only shapes public pessimism toward an aging society but also profoundly influences the underlying logic of policymaking—framing older adults as a “burden” to be managed rather than a “resource” to be developed. Adopting a discourse analysis perspective, this paper systematically examines three typical narratives of “silver-haired anxiety”—the discourse of economic burden, the discourse of labor shortage, and the discourse of healthcare abyss—and analyzes their policy consequences and social effects. On this basis, moving beyond mere discourse critique, the paper explores multiple pathways of discourse reconstruction through a deep transformation of governance thinking: redefining the triple roles of older adults as consumers, producers, and citizens, promoting a statistical shift from “dependency ratio” to “participation rate,” and accordingly putting forward specific policy recommendations for fostering social participation among older adults and creating an environment of intergenerational integration. This paper argues that changing the narrative is the starting point for changing reality, and building an age-friendly society requires a systematic shift from discourse to institutions.