Reshaping tradition? Women negotiating the boundaries of tradition and modernity in Hong Kong and British families

In debates on social change and personal life, modernity has generally been conceptualized in opposition to tradition, though some have pointed to the persistence of traditional values and practices within modern family relations. In this paper we seek to extend these debates beyond their largely Eurocentric context. Drawing on a comparative qualitative study of women and social change in Britain and Hong Kong, we argue for an understanding of the traditional and the modern that takes account of the ways in which tradition is reshaped in the context of modernity. The accounts of young adult women and their mothers in Hong Kong and Britain reveal varied interpretations of family obligations and practices in relation to normative ideals of family life in each context. We consider how configurations of family life deemed ‘modern’ are inflected by the differing traditions and histories of Hong Kong and British society and argue that these differences are not only cultural, but also attributable to the material conditions under which family relationships are forged and negotiated.     

Multidimensional Inequality in South Korea: An Empirical Analysis

The objective of this study is to review the theoretical limitations of single dimensional approaches for measuring inequality and to prove the effectiveness and practicality of the concept of “multidimensional inequality” by analyzing the inequality embedded in Korean society. This study constitutes nine dimensions of inequality (income, education, health, employment, social capital, leisure, work‐family reconciliation, housing, and social security) and analyzes inequality through the lens of each dimension by using data from of the first to fifth wave of the Korea Welfare Panel Study. The findings show a high degree of correlation among the dimensions of income, education, health, and social capital. However, work‐family reconciliation and housing have a relatively low correlation with income and the other dimensions. Second, multidimensional disparities were found between the groups of gender, age, and region. In conclusion, this study found a high degree of overlap between the concepts of income‐oriented inequalities and the multidimensional inequality approach. By capturing the notions of the multidimensional disparities that exist in each of the different groups, this study confirmed the effectiveness of multidimensional inequality as a useful concept for informing the creation of social policy intervention to alleviate inequality.     

Children's ideas about the bank and shop profit: Developmental stages and the influence of cognitive contrasts and conflict

Ninety-six Hong Kong boys, aged 6 to 13, were given a questionnaire dealing with the operation of the bank and shop transactions. The developmental progression in the understanding of the bank, though more complex in the Hong Kong sample, was essentially similar to that of a Scottish sample reported by Jahoda (1981). A full understanding of the bank emerged at age 10, while that of shop profit emerged at age 6, both showing a precocity over the Scottish sample. The study also considered the roles of cognitive differentiation and conflict, and experimentally tested for any new understanding that might result from the experience of cognitive contrasts and conflict. The experience was found to produce a significant improvement in the understanding of the bank among 10 to 13 year old boys, and of shop profit among 8 to 10 year old boys.