Social identity conflict in Hong Kong: examining the reconciliation of Hong Kong's and Mainland China's social-political identities
Date
2022
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Publisher
University of Delaware
Abstract
In recent years, localism has been rising in Hong Kong. Several protest events in 2019 have brought people’s attention back to focus on the issue of Hong Kong's identity. The Chinese identity in Hong Kong was questioned by Hong Kong society and experienced a plunge after protests. To understand factors that influence Chinese identity in Hong Kong, the current study divides Chinese identity into political and cultural Chinese identities to explore the influence of social-economic status and political inclination on Chinese identity in Hong Kong. Results indicate that Hong Kong citizens with democratic political attitudes have significantly lower Chinese identity, while the social-economic status was positively correlated with Chinese identity. Hong Kong citizens with higher social-economic status would be more likely to identify themselves as Chinese both politically and culturally. For the purpose of comparison, the study analyzes Hong Kong identity as well. Research results give support that political inclination is a significant indicator of both Chinese and Hong Kong identity.
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Keywords
Chinese identity, Hong Kong, Political inclination, Social economic status