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Purpose: This study explores the politics of ideology in the process of sensegiving and sensemaking at a Japanese retailer in Hong Kong. Studies on power and politics are scarce despite key role of power and politics in understanding the factors behind the conflict between the management's policy legitimization (sensegiving) and employees' policy interpretation (sensemaking). By using the three dimensions proposed in the critical sensemaking approach (discourse, rules and contexts), this paper explores the complex mechanism of power and politics in sensemaking and sensegiving. Design/methodology/approach: Using 15 months of participant observation as a salesperson, this paper discusses how the Japan-centric customer service philosophy (dominant discourse), customer service policies and practices (organizational rules) and asymmetric power structure between the Japanese global headquarters and Hong Kong subsidiaries (formative contexts) are presented and perpetuated through the sensegiving–sensemaking process. Findings: Dominant discourse was observed in the management's sensegiving, which placed the Japanese style of customer service over others. This ethnocentric dominant discourse informed the creation of customer service policies, although the realization of the discourse was determined by the employees' conflicting interpretations of the organizational rules. As a formative context, an asymmetric power structure was present that positioned the Hong Kong subsidiary as subservient to the global headquarters in Japan. This shows that the political process of sensegiving and sensemaking deeply implicates the dominant discourse, organizational rules and power structure as central forces that determine the level of perpetuating ideology. Originality/value: This research illustrates the wider implications of power and politics in sensegiving–sensemaking studies and provides a complex picture of ethnocentric management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Elsewhere in this issue I state 'Chiropractic is the diagnosis and management of the neuromusculoskeletal system of the human body' and discuss the emergent problem of an increasing shrinkage of the constitutional framework of the discipline where current arguments continue to remove reference to subluxation from the profession's lexicon, even flagitiously mandating against teaching the idea within its natural context. In this editorial I give some examples of the good work being done to carry our profession to greatness, and balance that with some examples of wackiness from Canada and the United States of America, and once again from the usual dismal suspects in Europe. I am starting to think that Australia is one of the better places in the world to practice Conventional Chiropractic, yet offer caution that this may be about to change. Above all I hold that a Chiropractor carries spontaneous unspoken trust in what they see and feel, and conclude with a marvellous video of a Philosophy discussion about how strongly we can 'know things' from our patient's testimony. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chinese cultural conservatism used to participate in shaping the course of modernization to a large extent. In this paper, I aim to describe a hidden lineage of Chinese cultural conservatism of the twentieth century that is still alive and appears to be more and more influential in mainland China. Relying on several ideas developed by Neo-Confucians of the early twentieth century, Gan Yang's paper in 2007 represented a contemporary revival of Chinese cultural conservatism. More importantly, in recent years, this kind of revival of conservative discourse went through another big change, which not only matters to the self-underpinning of the legitimate basis of the current regime, but also combined with the political conservations related to the Hong Kong protest of 2019–2020 explains why this country is so ideologically different from the West. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper draws on 'diaspora at home', a concept that encapsulates the unique dynamics between Hong Kong and mainland China, as an analytical tool to explore the cross-border experiences of 23 Hong Kong students at 11 universities in mainland China. It empirically ascertains how the made and imposed claims and identifications of these Hong Kong students resulted in inclusion and exclusion as their interactions with their mainland peers and institutions deepened. Specifically, it highlights how their 'diaspora at home' status offered exclusive access to privileged higher education opportunities, preferential treatments and opportunities for upward social mobility. Meanwhile, such a status also resulted in an overwhelming sense of political liability as they unwittingly became 'political tokens' and suspected political subjects amid the increasingly tense political atmosphere between mainland China and Hong Kong. This paper pinpoints the relevance of class and politics in understanding how diasporic groups engage with higher education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Facing the challenges of a fast-growing ageing population - amidst the worldwide trends of declining birth rates and longer lifespans - the Hong Kong government has since two decades ago developed and implemented policies and plans for senior adults in Hong Kong to engage in third age learning, both formally and informally. This paper first argues for a critical need to evaluate the efficacy, adequacy and value of the policy and provision of third age learning in Hong Kong. It then discusses the choice between the functionalist approach and the critical educational gerontology (CEG) approach for a critical evaluation of the content and purpose of education for older adults. In this paper, CEG is conceived to be more comprehensive and robust than the functionalist approach that focuses primarily on learning for self-fulfillment and adjustment to older age. More broadly though, CEG views third age learning from a sociopolitical perspective and takes into account the empowering and liberating nature of learning for and by senior adults. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gender norms, roles and relations differentially affect women, men, and non-binary individuals' vulnerability to disease. Outbreak response measures also have immediate and long-term gendered effects. However, gender-based analysis of outbreaks and responses is limited by lack of data and little integration of feminist analysis within global health scholarship. Recognising these barriers, this paper applies a gender matrix methodology, grounded in feminist political economy approaches, to evaluate the gendered effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and response in four case studies: China, Hong Kong, Canada, and the UK. Through a rapid scoping of documentation of the gendered effects of the outbreak, it applies the matrix framework to analyse findings, identifying common themes across the case studies: financial discrimination, crisis in care, and unequal risks and secondary effects. Results point to transnational structural conditions which put women on the front lines of the pandemic at work and at home while denying them health, economic and personal security – effects that are exacerbated where racism and other forms of discrimination intersect with gender inequities. Given that women and people living at the intersections of multiple inequities are made additionally vulnerable by pandemic responses, intersectional feminist responses should be prioritised at the beginning of any crises. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Students of the politics of aging have mainly focused their research on the following: (1) elders' voting patterns and other forms of political participation, (2) the power and influence of older people as perceived, most notably, by politicians, and (3) the effectiveness of pressure/interest groups and lobbyists for older people. The context of their research has been large and growing national fiscal deficits and the projected growth in health care, long-term care, and age pension costs arising from population aging and the consequent calls for welfare state reform. However, an aspect of the relationship between aging and politics in which there has been little investment is that of the engagement of elders with issues and that do not bear narrowly on their own well-being or self-interest. This paper focuses upon the politics of aging in relation to the highly controversial issue of greater democratization in Hong Kong SAR, China. It seeks to provide some insight into the role played by Hong Kong's elders in shaping politics and policy under a quasi-democratic regime in order to move beyond, on the one hand, the focus by students of the politics of aging on liberal democracies and, on the other, their hitherto exclusive focus on the politics of aging in relation to old-age welfare state reform. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There are global neoliberal pressures on the academy that are more or less faced by anthropologists around the world. To what extent are anthropologists required to publish in English in SSCI-ranked journals to keep their jobs and get promoted? But there are also distinctly national and local pressures to some extent counteracting or eclipsing these global pressures. In this article I explore these counteracting pressures in the context of Hong Kong. In Hong Kong, my home society, neoliberalism has reigned supreme, with a remarkably short-term mentality. Yet despite this, anthropology has been flourishing, and has operated with great freedom and generous funding that is quite exceptional by global standards. However, this may be coming to an end. In China there is direct government control over anthropology. Hong Kong, following the protests of 2019 and the advent of the national security law in 2020, may be following suit, with many democratic political figures and some journalists now in jail. In light of this ongoing narrowing of room for freedom of inquiry, what will happen to Hong Kong academics and to anthropology? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides an insight into the development and growth of family therapy in Hong Kong. Family therapy was introduced in Hong Kong in the early 1980s and is now gaining ground. The authors give a historical account of the development of family therapy in Hong Kong, and report on its progress and achievement for the past three decades there. The field has gone through several stages of development. The 1980s were marked by an importation of Western family therapy models, during which overseas expertise was tapped to promote family therapy. The 1990s were characterized by a blossoming of different schools of family therapy on the local scene. Most schools established their own practice centers, and training packages were tailor-made for local use. The 2000s were an important era of family therapy development in Hong Kong. The field has nurtured a new generation of leaders (both academics and front-line practitioners and trainers) who play an essential role in advancing its development. The paper concludes by identifying problems in clinical practice, professional training, and research and knowledge development, and proposes ways of overcoming these difficulties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides a commentary and analysis on the half-century development of social work in Hong Kong, from its origins in the twin roots of Christian ideology accompanying British colonialism and Chinese family values, the transfer of sovereignty in 1997, the Asian financial crisis and subsequent economic recession and major cuts in government funding for social welfare. We pointed out that the government had tried to co-opt social work for ideological ends. This aim was not achieved in the 1980s, but the government has succeeded in doing so by imposing the new financial control on the non-governmental organisations (NGOs) after 1997. We argue that the four major political challenges ahead for social workers in Hong Kong relate to social integration, urban maladies, social justice and indigenisation. We propose that a process of re-politicisation of social work by both agencies and practitioners, seeking to reclaim social workers' political and professional role, is necessary in order to ensure a more equitable distribution of community resources in Hong Kong to ensure that all citizens share in its prosperity. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The much-publicized reversion of Hong Kong's sovereignty to China on July 1. 1997. has been hailed as a success by many. Politically, it has been pointed out that Hong Kong has scarcely changed since the handover. Nevertheless, the alleged successful transition has also witnessed a number of economic. social, and political crises. Drawing on systematically collected longitudinal data of public opinion, this paper tries to answer two important questions: first, has the quasi- bureaucratic-authoritarian political structure of the post- transition government experienced a "legitimation problem," i.e., a rejection of the political structure as a whole. And second, does social discontent directed at incumbent government officials represent strong bottom-up pressure for faster democratization? The longitudinal data suggest that even when public confidence in the HKSAR government dropped to its lowest level in June 1998, there was no evidence to suggest the quasi-bureaucratic authoritarian system had a legitimation problem, nor was there strong public pressure demanding rapid democratization. The demand for changing the political system has seldom been treated as an important personal concern during the transitional period. While social and economic issues have been of great personal concern for most Hong Kong people. very few of them have demanded democratic changes as a way of restoring confidence. Pressure for bottom-up democratization remains low. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyses the youth social movements in Hong Kong employing 'conscientisation' popularized by Paulo Freire. It is argued that the youth, as historical beings, promote humanisation by seeking to effect structural changes with the help of the social media. However, the youth-led movements in Hong Kong differ from Freire's ideas in two significant ways. First, the increasingly violent nature of the protests departs from Freire's emphasis on peaceful resistance. Secondly, Freire's call for loving dialogue is not evident in Hong Kong despite meetings between the authorities and protesters. Hong Kong highlights the usefulness of the notion of conscientisation in shedding light on the youth social movement in an Asian context. At the same time, the developments in Hong Kong extend the existing literature on Freirean thought by situating it in a Confucian cultural setting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: This article explores how political fluctuations can negatively affect young adults' psychosocial well-being, by using the case of Hong Kong's Anti-Extradition Law Amendment Bill Movement. The study included both individual and focus group interviews to collect the experiences and perspectives of 25 youths, 13 teachers, and 12 social workers within a qualitative paradigm. The data were coded independently by the author and research assistant. Findings: Four major themes related to young adults' psychosocial well-being: (a) mental health deterioration, (b) tension in family relations, (c) problems in peer relations, and (d) decreasing trust in teachers and social workers. The findings not only reveal the relevance of political issues to contemporary youths' well-being, but also display a possible vicious circle among negative psychosocial environment, psychosocial strain, and poor environment. Applications: There is a pressing need for social workers to be better prepared for dealing with young adults' psychosocial issues that arise from political conflicts. This article contributes to the literature by considering the role of psychosocial factors in maintaining or reinforcing youth participation in protests. Unconventional strategies should be developed by social workers to reach youth activists and help relieve emotional and psychological pressures caused by political unrest. Suggestions for fostering post-conflict reconciliation in the community are also offered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines how the documentary film Raise the Umbrellas (Evans Chan 2016) enacts a more democratic form of collective memory that generates a politics of hope by remembering the failed 2014 Umbrella Movement for universal suffrage. I argue that the documentary engages in democratic remembering by taking an agonistic and pluralist view of the movement, emphasizing the intersubjective and recursive circulation of collective memories of the event and poeticizing the failure of the movement. Through aesthetic commemoration that emphasizes the value of failed political resistance, the film generates hope – the most basic and fundamental requirement for democratization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined the effectiveness of an experiential learning-based integrated policy advocacy education model in Hong Kong, a partially democratic and non-Western society. The model incorporated guest lectures, a mock hearing, a site visit, and an advocacy project. A mixed methods evaluation involving 144 students in quantitative surveys and 9 students in focus groups demonstrated that this model increased students' levels of political activity, political efficacy, competence in advocacy, and their intention to take future advocacy action despite what some have perceived to be a pessimistic and ambivalent environment for advocacy in Hong Kong. Interviews with six advocates also suggest that an ideal advocacy education model should incorporate theoretical teaching, social justice values, sharing experiences of field experts, practice, and action. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Protests and social movements have become part of Hong Kong's local politics since the 1970s. However, protests against the proposed extradition bill in 2019‒20 turned out to be the most violent political mass movement in Hong Kong after its return to the People's Republic of China in 1997. It not only drew wide international attention but also evoked another round of "news war" over Hong Kong (Lee et al. 2002). This special issue collects six articles which address the representations of the protests in Hong Kong by different parties on different media platforms. Adopting a critical discourse analysis approach, these studies examine discursive strategies employed in media representations of the protests and the ideologies and power struggles at play. It aims to present different perspectives towards the issue and shed light on the complex relations between language, media and politics in the representations of the Hong Kong protests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The social identity model of collective action (SIMCA) is frequently used to explain collection action. This study conceptualized group identification as identification with militant protestors and tested two versions of the SIMCA model with cross‐sectional data collected toward the end of the anti‐extradition bill movement in Hong Kong. The first model incorporates democratic ideology as the mediator and hypothesizes that instrumental, emotional, and ideological paths explain the effect of identification with militant protestors on objectively measured collective action. The second model sets democratic ideology as the antecedent and describes a process whereby a democratic ideology independently and directly influences the same three paths and thus the collective action or else influences the collective action by developing identification with the militant protestors. The results support the validity of both these models, while the model‐data fitness is slightly better, and a slightly higher variance of collective action is explained with the second model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents the author's comments on the articles about planning practices in different regions of Asia, published within the issue. From an essay over the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China he concludes that the planning in the region is suffering due to the influence of bureaucracy over the city's government. The politics in Taipei, Taiwan, he explains, is hampering the national development. The planning system is still under construction in Beijing, China.

Multilevel governance (MLG) has been extensively applied to elucidate the dispersion of decisionmaking across multiple levels of governments—supranational, national, and subnational in the European Union (EU) and its member states. In this paper I attempt to contribute to the literature through the case of Hong Kong (HK) and the Pearl River Delta (PRD) in China. I argue that a pattern of MLG has been emerging since the early 2000s in this subnational-level cross- boundary region, accompanied by the gradual institutionalization of economic integration between Hong Kong and the PRD. Decisionmaking competencies in the HK-PRD cross-boundary region have tended to disperse across multiple levels of governments ranging from the central, Guangdong Provincial, UK Special Administrative Region, to municipal, city, and county level of the PRD, as well as businesses and residents on both sides of the boundary. In response to the lack of an effective regional authority and the unique political framework of `one country, two systems', central government has played a somewhat backstage coordinator role in the transition of the integration mechanism and cross-boundary governance. Previous explanations of the integration and governance of the HK-PRD cross-boundary region need to be reevaluated. A regional level authority, similar to the supranational institutions in the EU, is urgently required to foster and upgrade cross-boundary cooperation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: To document the trend in a quality of life indicator for the older Hong Kong population as an assessment of the impact of age friendly city policies, political conflicts and the covid-19 pandemic. Design: Random telephone survey and collection of government data over four years (2017–2020). Setting: Community living older people. Participants: People aged 50 years and over. Measurements: The Hong Kong Quality of Life Index covering four domains of in income security, health status, capability and enabling environment. Results: From 2017–9, improvements were seen in various domains in parallel with the adoption of the World Health Organization's Age Friendly City concept by government policy together with a territory wide initiative supported by a major philanthropic organization. However scores of all domains dropped markedly as a result of political conflicts as well as the onset of the pandemic. Conclusion: The documentation of the trend in HKEQOL shows that while it may be used as a macro indicator that is able to reflect policies affecting the well-being of older people, it is also able to reflect the impact of societal unrest and pandemics, and that the latter may override the effect of existing ageing policies. It also follows that during social unrest and pandemics, specific policies targeting older people may be needed to maintain well-being. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines how politics has shaped Hong Kong's education system and the curriculum 23 years after the British handover of Hong Kong to China. Particularly, through the concept of nationalism, the article examines how the education system is being shaped. The article is intended to provide international readers with a perspective of the political and socio-educational dynamics at play in Hong Kong. The central question at issue is: how has political culture and identity been promoted in school education under the framework of "One Country, Two Systems" after the transfer of Hong Kong sovereignty from Britain to China? Two areas--the censorship of curriculum materials and the politicization of nationalism-- particularly reflect the influence of power relationships, and the historical and societal pressures on the formation of students' identity in school education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this short review, we explain the need for a multidimensional analytical framework for exploring how the construction of men and masculinities has shaped Hong Kong's social and political development, and how politics both enable and constrain men in their lived experiences and practices in various life spheres at the city's current political juncture. We observe that the majority of the extant research on men and masculinities in Hong Kong is depoliticized, whereas studies on current Hong Kong politics are largely gender-blind. However, the ever-tightening grip of the Chinese Communist Party and the instances of political resistance in response, namely, the Umbrella Movement of 2014 and Fishball Revolution of 2016, suggest that the influence of the wider political situation has penetrated every dimension of life, which has considerable implications for masculine identities and practices. Rather than continuing to conduct the depoliticized masculinity studies and genderless political studies we have seen to date, it is time for a thorough investigation of the dynamic intersection of men's practices and the political context of Hong Kong. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The two 2018 World Cup qualifiers between the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and Hong Kong were played out under a politically charged backdrop. Although the politicized atmosphere of these two matches was unprecedented, previous matches between the two teams did trigger two small scale riots, once in Hong Kong in 1980, and once in Beijing in 1985. This essay suggests that, since the PRC and Hong Kong first met in 1975, there have been three different stages concerning the political meanings of matches between these two sides. These three stages reflect the evolving political context and changing identities of the Hong Kong people. In the ongoing third stage, a rivalry between the PRC and Hong Kong has emerged because the fixture now embodies the conflicts between Hong Kong’s localism and the PRC’s nationalism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hong Kong is highlighting its position as a 'super-connector' to China in the Belt and Road Initiative. Premier Li Keqiang's Five-Year Plan unfurled in March 2016 noted that Beijing will be augmenting Hong Kong's economic position. Many expect the central government's policies towards Hong Kong in the post-19th Party Congress era to remain unchanged since the broad directions to managing Hong Kong have already been laid down. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Given the fraught political relationship between Hong Kong and China for the last 10 years, China has been attempting to integrate the semi-autonomous region economically and ideologically. This article uses rhetorical analysis to examine how China strategically adapts its nationalist rhetoric in the Hong Kong education curriculum, in an attempt to integrate Hong Kong citizens politically and ideologically in a transnational context. It argues that China's rhetorical and political project in Hong Kong had failed because the Chinese government had underestimated cultural power behind Hong Kong's cultural history and its self-constructed identity as a transnational site. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In response to challenges brought by population ageing, Hong Kong has adopted an active ageing policy framework and built age-friendly neighbourhoods to encourage the participation of older people. This article distinguishes between the civic and political participation and emphasizes active involvement in community and neighbourhood activities as a way to encourage the civic engagement of older adults. The promotion of age-friendliness is set at two levels: concerning policy and practical/operational issues, both of which are interrelated with the purpose of offering civic engagement opportunities for older people. The experiences of Hong Kong reflect both top-down and bottom-up approaches, where civic participation is promoted by encouraging life-long learning and developing caring communities, as well as carrying out a variety of neighourhood programmes. It is suggested that different stakeholders, such as older adults, NGOs and other social organizations, shall all be included and play important roles in promoting civic participation of the elderly through creating a conducive environment. The initiatives, whether these are in policy or at operational levels, should be integrated into actions that are aimed to enhance quality of life for all residents and create a more age-friendly neighbourhood. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the interrelationships amongst and between news attention, education, and political tolerance. Based on the theoretical presumption that the mainstream news media tend to reflect the prejudices and ideologies of the dominant groups in a society, news portrayal of groups regarded as deviant and/or controversial can be expected to be negative in valence. Hence, news attention is expected to lead to more negative attitudes toward such groups, which in turn breeds intolerance toward them. Meanwhile, education may moderate the relationship between news attention and tolerance. Research questions and hypotheses are examined through analyzing the data from a representative survey conducted in Hong Kong. The findings confirm the negative, indirect effect of news attention on tolerance through attitude toward deviant groups. Education is also found to relate to tolerance in a complicated and contradictory manner: while education has a direct positive effect on tolerance, it also strengthens the negative impact that attitude toward deviant groups has on tolerance. The theoretical and social implications of the findings are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents the Elder Academy (EA) Network as the policy and practice in promoting active ageing through elder learning in Hong Kong. First, the article examines how the change in demographics and the prevalent trend of an ageing population have propelled the government in Hong Kong to tackle issues and challenges brought about by an increasing proportion of the elderly population. Second, the political and cultural contexts are critically discussed to identify the rationale underlying the successive implementation of a series of major reforms within a short time in areas including elderly welfare by the postcolonial Hong Kong government. Third, the Elder Academy Network is introduced to provide a model of cross-sectoral collaboration in the provision of elder learning involving the government as coordinator working jointly with schools, service agencies, and universities to form a network of elder academies providing a myriad of learning opportunities for elders to pursue in their late-life years. Finally, the EA network is critiqued for its benefits and limitations, warranting a need for research and evaluation before the Hong Kong experience can be shared and the EA model of active ageing through elder learning can be emulated in places outside of Hong Kong. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article is a study of the political process and developmental perspectives for the professionalization of Chinese medicine (CM) in Hong Kong (HK) after its handover to China in 1997. Political process approach and developmentalism are used as tools of analysis. It is suggested that the influence of the Chinese sovereignty, forces of integration between HK and China, developmental mindset of the government, all provided opportunities for local CM supporters to professionalize CM development. The political process perspective was used by Chiu et.al. (2005) to explain the institutionalization of CM in HK between the late 1980s and 1990s. Supplemented with developmental approach, the study will illustrate the changing political landscape of the HKSAR and explains how local CM supporters maintain the momentum to lead CM to a higher level of development in the post-handover period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Citizenship (education) is de facto a political and spatial concept and should be considered in local, national, and global contexts. Adopting a spatial and cultural politics perspective and with the dynamic formation of Hong Kong's citizenship education as a case study, this article tries to illustrate the politics at three different levels. It shows how citizenship and identity are hotly contested, with the result that, while the official civic education programme is oriented towards "national education", a pluralistic and vibrant civil society allows the hybridization and cross-fertilization of multiple discourses and practices to run parallel with the state project, either in a complementary or competitive way. Civic education launched by the democratic camp in civil society may be viewed as empowerment struggles for human rights and democracy vis-à-vis the domestication efforts made by the government and the pro-Beijing camp, as well as the tyranny of global capitalism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Public opinion studies have conventionally treated political efficacy as a two-dimensional concept involving internal and external efficacy. The former refers to people's beliefs about their individual abilities to understand politics, and the latter refers to people's beliefs about government responsiveness. The present study reexamines and goes beyond this two-dimensional view. It proposes that collective efficacy, defined as a citizen's belief in the capabilities of the public as a collective actor to achieve social and political outcomes, can be considered as a third dimension of political efficacy. Based on this three-dimensional view, the relationship between political efficacy, support for democratization, and political participation in Hong Kong is examined. Analysis of a representative survey (N=800) shows that both support for democratization and political participation are positively related to collective efficacy and negatively related to external efficacy. Internal efficacy, on the other hand, has only a limited relationship with the dependent variables, though high levels of internal efficacy are found to be a condition for collective and external efficacy to exert stronger impact on political attitudes and behavior. It is argued that two characteristics of the Hong Kong society—as a transitional society and a collectivist culture—contribute to the significance of collective efficacy in the public opinion process. But the relevance of collective efficacy to other contexts is also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Explains the origins of anti-partyism in Hong Kong, China and why its anti-partyism was higher in 2000 than in 1998. Impact of social background on anti-partyism; Political context of Hong Kong; Five questions that were raised in the Comparative Study of Electoral Systems to assess the evaluations of the performance of political parties and of the political system in general.