Social Harmony in Hong Kong: Level,Determinants and Policy Implications

This study aims at ascertaining how Hong Kong people perceive Hong Kong as a harmonious society. It also identifies the elements that are most conducive to social harmony in Hong Kong, so that the government could take reference when formulating new policies. 1,062 adults residents were asked to rate their perceived level of social harmony and their satisfaction with 36 items (divided into three dimensions: public governance, society, and economy, family and work) for which the research team believes would be influencing the perceived level of social harmony. Results show that the average rating of social harmony was 5.57 (out of 10), delineating a moderate level of social harmony. Subsequent multivariate factor analysis and regression analysis show that the four extracted factors (from the three dimensions) had significant impacts on the level of social harmony. These were, in order of significance: (a) public governance, (b) social solidarity and respect, (c) economy/family/work and, (d) social tolerance and progressiveness. According to the factor loadings of each significant factor, we identified four core values which we hope the government would consider when formulating new policies, as follows: (1) A Justice Government with Sincerity on Communication, (2) Mutual Support and Respect with Integrity and Dedication, (3) Dedication to One’s Job and Community by Helping the Needed and, (4) Creativity and Progressiveness with Tolerance. Implications for policy making are discussed. The study was conducted under the direction and guidance of the Fostering Social Harmony Task Force of the Hong Kong Professionals and Senior Executives Association (HKPASEA). The authors acknowledge the kind support and assistance provided by the Council Members of HKPASEA and staff members of the Centre for Corporate Governance and Financial Policy at Hong Kong Baptist University. We are also grateful to Prof. Alex Michalos and Prof. P. K. Ip for their comments and suggestions given at the International Conference on National Well-Being held in November 2006 at the National Central University, Taiwan.     

The Quality of Life in Hong Kong

The AsiaBarometer of 1,000 respondents shows that Hong Kong people have a great desire for materialistic attainment, and such an emphasis on materialism bodes ill for their quality of life. Negative assessments of the public life sphere, which encompasses the natural environment, the social welfare system, and the democratic system, also detract from the experiences of happiness, enjoyment, and accomplishment in Hong Kong. Surprisingly, access to digital communication devices helps Hong Kong people to experience a greater quality of life.

New Evidence of the Postmaterialist Shift: The Experience of Hong Kong

This article makes use of survey data collected in 1992 and 2007 to examine the question of whether or not Postmaterialism is gradually becoming manifest in Hong Kong and to explore the applicability of Postmaterialist theory to this affluent Chinese society. Our findings basically support the hypotheses of the theory that the continued socioeconomic development of Hong Kong is giving rise to a populace that is increasingly inclined towards Postmaterialism. Younger people are more Postmaterialist than their seniors. In addition, Postmaterialists are more likely than Materialists to support the ‘new politics’ and democracy. Nevertheless, Hong Kong is far from being a Postmaterialist society. Multivariate regression analysis also revealed that the Materialist/Postmaterialist orientation is neither related to age nor to formative security.

Health Status and Risk Behaviors of Sexual Minorities Among Chinese Adolescents: A School-Based Survey

This study aimed to examine the association between sexual orientation and health disparities among a stratified random sample of 3776 secondary students in Hong Kong. The prevalence of homosexuality and bisexuality were 1.5% and 2.6% in boys and 1.8% and 3.7% in girls, respectively. A total of 10.7% of boys and 8.8% of girls were unsure of their sexual orientation. Homosexual and bisexual boys reported poorer physical and mental health than their heterosexual peers. Homosexual and bisexual boys were more likely to engage in smoking, frequent drinking, and vaginal sex and be subjected to sexually transmitted disease and sexual victimization. However, lesbian and bisexual girls were less likely to engage in risky health behaviors except for smoking and being subjected to sexual victimization. There is a gender-specific problem that may warrant prevention and intervention programs to address the unique health issues facing homosexual and bisexual adolescents in Hong Kong.     

社会支持的动态变化：关于香港新移民妇女的研究

本研究旨在采用纵贯质性研究探索新移民妇女移居香港后第一年的社会支持的变动状况,15个香港新移民妇女参与了这项研究.研究发现,社会支持的类型和来源是因时而变的,重要的决定因素是香港特定的社会文化背景和移民在不同时期的特殊需要.     

香港人口普查数据开发使用模式对大陆的借鉴意义

人口普查是一次规模空前的国情国力大调查 ,投入了大量人力物力 ,取得了全面翔实的人口社会经济信息。如何开发利用这些得来不易的宝贵资料 ,牵扯到人口普查资料的管理、使用方式的界定、资料的开发模式以及相应的法律建设等一系列问题。香港在人口普查数据开发使用上的信息提供、法律建设、实际操作的规范性管理上积累了一定的经验 ,可供我们借鉴和学习。     

Modernization of Power in Legal and Medical Discourses: The Birth of the (Male) Homosexual in Hong Kong and Its Aftermath

The removal of homosexuality from the list of mental disorders and the repeal of restrictive sexual laws deem that Foucault's argument on the discursive control of homosexuality requires refinement to take into consideration the continual modernization and improvement of power. This article examines the multilayered discursive terrain in Hong Kong where homosexuality is created, regulated, and contested in the contemporary era. With the popularization of human rights discourse, sexual dissidents are not simply treated as criminal or pathological; rather, legal and medical discourses have shifted to an increasing reliance on notions of risk to put mechanisms of social regulation in place.     

Determinants of the Safety Performance of Private Multi-storey Residential Buildings in Hong Kong

Given the high population and development density in Hong Kong, building failures can result in catastrophic consequences. It is thus worthwhile identifying those dilapidated buildings, and this explains why the Hong Kong government has considered launching a mandatory building inspection scheme in the city. Apart from the measurement of building safeness, however, it is equally important to explore the major determinants of the safety performance of buildings. Such information can help the government and other related organizations to rationalize their subsidies offered for building improvement and to make more informed strategies of urban regeneration in Hong Kong. To this end, the safety performance of 429 private multi-storey residential buildings was measured in this study using the Building Safety and Conditions Index developed by The University of Hong Kong. It was then followed by an explanatory analysis which found that older buildings were less safe than large, modern buildings. More importantly, the co-existence of a property management agent and a statutory owners’ association delivered the best building safety performance, and in this respect was the optimum building management regime for private multi-storey buildings in Hong Kong. These findings pose significant policy implications for building safety and urban regeneration in Hong Kong.     

Reconfiguring Queer Asia as Disjunctive Modernities: Notes on the Subjective Production of Working-Class Gay Men in Hong Kong

ABSTRACT

Informed by the framing of queer Asia as disjunctive modernities, this article argues for the analytic relevance of class to Hong Kong queer culture amid proliferating sexual progress. Based on ethnographic research concerning a support group for middle-aged, working-class gay men in a non-governmental organization (NGO), the findings demonstrate how their understanding and experiences of class were displaced into the culturally specific discourses of aging and generational difference. By examining the ideological work underlying three sets of local discourses (namely, generational experiences, urban redevelopment, and industrial transformation), the analysis reveals a temporal logic of class relation that governed the informants’ class displacements and, in turn, safeguarded the reproduction of inequalities in their lives. This article concludes by highlighting the interferential potential of class for understanding the queer cultural and subjective formations in other East Asian societies that went through similar processes of postwar economic development and class formation.     

乐观取向、社会服务使用与社会融合：香港新移民的一项探索性研究

本文基于对285名香港新移民的调查发现乐观取向、社会服务的使用是影响社会融合的重要因素,高乐观取向、更多使用社会服务的新移民社会融合程度更高。论文提出了相应的政策和服务建议。     

Constructing a Quality of Life Scale for Older Chinese People in Hong Kong (HKQoLOCP)

This paper reports a multi-stagestudy carried out between 1999 and 2001 whichaimed to develop an instrument to address theneed for a culturally relevant measure ofquality of life for Chinese older persons inHong Kong and similar communities. The firststage of the research involved a focus groupstudy conducted in August 1999 which it washoped would reflect how quality of life maybe interpreted by older persons themselves. Thenext stage, a content analysis of the focusgroups, enabled the construction of aquestionnaire containing over 100 items onvarious aspects of quality of life (QoL). Thequestionnaire was reviewed by a panel ofexperts and the items were refined and reducedto 86 to which were added a further 25 itemsfor socio-demographic background. This formedthe initial instrument. The final stage was avalidation study based on a representativecommunity survey, with a sample of 3,000respondents drawn for the research team by theCensus and Statistics Department of the HongKong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR)Government. The survey yielded 1,616 successfulinterviews with older persons aged 60 or above.The careful stratification of the sampleenabled us to say that subjects in all thestages of the survey had broadly similarcharacteristics to the general Hong Kongelderly population in sex and age distribution.After a rigorous process of validation, theresearch team recommended the adoption of bothan index and six domains for measuring HongKong older persons QoL. The new scale containsa total of 21 items which can be grouped intovarious domains: subjective well-being, with 4items; health with 5 items; interpersonalrelationships with 6 items; achievement-recognition with 4 items, finance and livingconditions (1 item each). The overall QoL scalehas a Cronbachs alpha of 0.72 with its domainsranging from 0.65 to 0.77 which indicates ahigh degree of statistical reliabilities. Thename recommended for the scale was Hong KongQuality of Life for Older Persons Scale-abbreviated as HKQoLOCP.     

香港产业结构变动对收入分配的影响——基于人口普查数据的分析

香港是全球发达的市场经济体之一,也是贫富差距最大的地区之一。本文主要采用香港2006、2001及2011年人口普查数据,并结合产业结构变动历史对香港产业结构变动如何影响收入分配的议题展开研究。本文认为,香港产业结构变动形塑了当前的行业、职业结构,决定了经济发展重心和未来发展方向。此外,经由教育途径,香港产业结构知识专业化的特征已日益凸显。由此,香港产业结构不但缔造了当地经济繁荣,同时通过行业、职业、教育等变量对香港收入分配产生了深远影响。作者期望,本研究的开展能为香港产业升级提供绵薄的科学参考依据,以此实现香港经济健康、可持续发展和收入分配公平的美好愿景。     

Mental Health of Transgender People in Hong Kong: A Community-Driven,Large-Scale Quantitative Study Documenting Demographics and Correlates of Quality of Life and Suicidality

A community-driven survey of 106 transgender people (the first such survey in Hong Kong) showed that: (1) more than half the sample (50.9%) had a university degree or higher qualification; (2) despite this, 43.4% had a monthly income below HK$6,000 (about USD$775); (3) 66% reported “fair” or “poor” quality of life; (4) 67% of the sample (87.1% of respondents aged 15–24 years) had contemplated suicide; and (5) 20.8% of the sample (35.5% of respondents aged 15–24 years) had attempted suicide. It was found that (1) those who were single, had a lower monthly income, and identified as transgender women reported lower quality of life; and (2) those who were younger and on a lower income expressed higher suicidality. The findings suggest that service providers and policy makers urgently need to address the mental health needs of transgender people, particular younger transgender people.     

Coming-Out Confessions: Negotiating the Burden of Lesbian Identity Politics in South Africa

For lesbians, “coming out” or disclosing one’s sexual orientation has come to be seen as a marker of self-acceptance, actualization, and the imperative first step in the authentication of a liberated subjectivity and social identity. However, other critical schools of thought, largely informed by Foucault’s middle writings, have argued that “coming out” is merely a confessional response to an incitement to discourse about sex. This study explored constructions of coming out by a group of self-identified lesbians in South Africa. Data were collected via eight semistructured interviews and subjected to discourse analysis. Although the coming-out stories appear to conform to some discursive practices characterizing confessional modes of response to incitements to speak, they are also de-emphasized as central to the constitution of selfhood. The changing conditions of possibility for the production of sexual subjectivity in contemporary South Africa seem to disrupt understandings of coming out as either solely a confessional or liberatory practice.     

The Invisible Rainbow in Diversity: Factors Influencing Sexual Prejudice Among College Students

While colleges may reflect sexual prejudices of the societal culture at large, they also have the capacity to resist or even transform these troubling viewpoints. Based on longitudinal data collected from 13,881 students nationwide, this study investigates the impact of college experiences on sexually prejudicial attitudes. Results indicate that individuals are more accepting of lesbian, gay, and bisexual relationships after four years of college and that experiential components of racial diversity in the college environment are associated with a decrease in sexual prejudice. Interpretations of findings include the possibility that the observed trends are indicative of sexual prejudice becoming less socially acceptable, as more insidious forms of heterosexism maintain the dominance of the privileged group.     

香港拾荒老人的生存境遇：以社会排斥为视角

本研究基于对96位60岁或以上的拾荒老人的问卷调查和17名老人的深度访谈,揭示了拾荒老人这一特殊群体的基本生活图景,并辨识出他们面对各种不同形式的社会排斥,包括经济排斥（缺乏工作机会与消费能力）、政治排斥（缺乏工会／机构保护其利益）、社会关系排斥（因拾荒而受到歧视或生活孤独）和福利排斥（没有领取社会保障金和无法企及社会福利服务）。     

Sexual Identity in the American Deep South: The Concordance and Discordance of Sexual Activity,Relationships, and Identities

This research explores the association between sexual identity and sexual behavior and how that association varies across gender and race in the American Deep South. Multinomial logistic regression analysis is used to determine the likelihood of each sexual identity given past sexual behavior, sexual relationships, and other social characteristics. The more traditional cultural climate of the South appears to suppress identification as a sexual minority. Sexual identification in the Deep South is primarily a product of sexual activity and sexual relationships, although attitudes toward and contact with the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community play a minor role. Although most participants' sexual behaviors and identities were in concordance, sexual discordance was highest for White women and lowest for White men. Discordance was also associated with traditional men's roles attitudes, negative homosexuality attitudes, and contact with the LGBT community. It is hoped that these results encourage scholarship that deconstructs the sexual behavior and identity of all groups, not just oppressed groups.     

Implicit Prejudicial Biases in Student Learning: The Effects of Sexual Orientation

In an investigation of students' potential biases toward gay and lesbian instructors, 93 female and 59 male undergraduates viewed a lecture, rated the instructor and perceived learning, and completed a lecture-retention test. Lectures were given by a man or woman, identified as straight or gay or lesbian. Sexual orientation did not affect the instructor evaluation or perceived learning ratings for any of the groups. Although sexual orientation did not affect the lecture-retention scores for the female students, learning by the male students was significantly lower with the gay male instructor than with the straight male instructor (p = .03), suggesting an implicit bias.     

Same-Sex Attracted,Not LGBQ: The Associations of Sexual Identity Labeling on Religiousness,Sexuality, and Health Among Mormons

ABSTRACT

In the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (LDS church), beliefs about same-sex sexual attraction are carefully differentiated from beliefs about same-sex sexual behavior and identity, leading some to reject a lesbian, gay, bisexual, or queer (LGBQ) identity label in favor of declining a sexual identity or describing themselves as experiencing same-sex attraction (SSA). Using data from 1,128 sexual minority Mormons recruited from both politically conservative and liberal circles, we examined the relationship between rejecting an LGBQ identity and religiousness, attitudes toward sexuality, and health outcomes. We found that Mormons who reject an LGBQ identity were significantly more religious and less content with their sexuality but had similar health outcomes relative to LGBQ Mormons. We posit that these differences are best understood by differences in group affiliation and support, intersectional experiences with minority stressors, and the lack of generalizability of LGBQ constructs to those who reject an LGBQ identity.     

Exploring Perceived Discrimination Among LGBT Individuals in Turkey in Education,Employment, and Health Care: Results of an Online Survey

This article explores the discrimination practices encountered by lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) individuals in education, income, employment, and health care in Turkey. Limited quantitative data on LGBT individuals are available in Turkey. This study collected data from 2,875 LGBT individuals through a Web-based survey. The findings suggest that LGBT individuals report perceived direct and indirect discrimination in accessing education, employment, and health care. In a country where LGBT rights are not yet recognized and antidiscrimination legislation covering sexual orientation and gender identity is still nonexistent, findings demonstrate perceived discrimination of LGBTs rarely turns into a legal complaint. Even when they do, most LGBTs in our sample report that they did not feel that the justice system addressed their grievances.