IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/soinre/v168y2023i1d10.1007_s11205-023-03094-w.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Why Hong Kong People Rebel: The Role of Economic Frustration, Political Discontent and National Identity in Non-Institutional Political Participation

Author

Listed:
  • Xi Chen

    (Lingnan University)

  • Alfred M. Wu

    (National University of Singapore)

  • Fen Lin

    (City University of Hong Kong)

Abstract

There are ongoing debates regarding the causes of social movements in recent decades in Hong Kong. Whether economic frustration or political discontent promotes Hong Kong residents’ non-institutional political participation (NiPP) remains an unanswered but important question. This study is an investigation of how perceived relative deprivation, democratic values, and attitudes toward Mainland China may influence Hong Kong residents’ participation in collective action. The analysis of a random sampling survey in 2017 (N = 919) showed that 35.4% of the respondents had participated in protests, strikes, or online collective actions. Young, single and male respondents, and those with higher education levels and incomes were more likely to engage in NiPP. Our results reveal a mixed impact of relative deprivation on NiPP: while perceived unfairness contributed to NiPP, perceived social status was positively associated with NiPP. In contrast, perceived mobility had no significant effect on NiPP. Moreover, respondents scoring higher in democratic values were more likely to participate in non-institutional political movements. However, the attitude toward Mainland China, serving as a system-justification mechanism, affected the possibility of collective actions and moderated the effect of democratic values. These empirical findings offer nuance to understandings of the social and political turbulence in Hong Kong.

Suggested Citation

  • Xi Chen & Alfred M. Wu & Fen Lin, 2023. "Why Hong Kong People Rebel: The Role of Economic Frustration, Political Discontent and National Identity in Non-Institutional Political Participation," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 168(1), pages 79-98, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:soinre:v:168:y:2023:i:1:d:10.1007_s11205-023-03094-w
    DOI: 10.1007/s11205-023-03094-w
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11205-023-03094-w
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s11205-023-03094-w?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Dalton, Russell & Van Sickle, Alix & Weldon, Steven, 2010. "The Individual–Institutional Nexus of Protest Behaviour," British Journal of Political Science, Cambridge University Press, vol. 40(1), pages 51-73, January.
    2. Inglehart, Ronald, 1981. "Post-Materialism in an Environment of Insecurity," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 75(4), pages 880-900, December.
    3. Jin, Lei & Tam, Tony, 2015. "Investigating the effects of temporal and interpersonal relative deprivation on health in China," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 143(C), pages 26-35.
    4. Alfred M. Wu & Kee‑Lee Chou, 2021. "Correction to: Intergenerational Conflict or Solidarity in Hong Kong? A Survey of Public Attitudes Toward Social Spending," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 158(2), pages 799-799, December.
    5. Alfred M. Wu & Kee-Lee Chou, 2021. "Intergenerational Conflict or Solidarity in Hong Kong? A Survey of Public Attitudes Toward Social Spending," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 158(2), pages 775-798, December.
    6. Adjaye-Gbewonyo, Kafui & Kawachi, Ichiro, 2012. "Use of the Yitzhaki Index as a test of relative deprivation for health outcomes: A review of recent literature," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 75(1), pages 129-137.
    7. Marium Akhtar, 2018. "Role of Identity Crisis and Relative Deprivation as Catalysts of Political Violence and Terrorism," Proceedings of the 7th International RAIS Conference, February 19-20, 2018 012, Research Association for Interdisciplinary Studies.
    8. Marium Akhtar, 2018. "Role of Identity Crisis and Relative Deprivation as Catalysts of Political Violence and Terrorism," RAIS Journal for Social Sciences, Research Association for Interdisciplinary Studies, vol. 2(1), pages 1-17, May.
    9. Inglehart, Ronald, 1971. "The Silent Revolution in Europe: Intergenerational Change in Post-Industrial Societies," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 65(4), pages 991-1017, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Malte Petersen & Monika Keller & Jürgen Weibler & Wasilios Hariskos, 2019. "Business education: Does a focus on prosocial values increase students’ pro-social behavior?," Mind & Society: Cognitive Studies in Economics and Social Sciences, Springer;Fondazione Rosselli, vol. 18(2), pages 181-190, December.
    2. Bruce Tranter, 2015. "The Impact of Political Context on the Measurement of Postmaterial Values," SAGE Open, , vol. 5(2), pages 21582440155, June.
    3. B. Dima & Ş. M. Dima, 2016. "Income Distribution and Social Tolerance," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 128(1), pages 439-466, August.
    4. Sun, Yu & You, Wen, 2016. "Relative-deprivation effects on child health in China," 2016 Annual Meeting, July 31-August 2, Boston, Massachusetts 235926, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    5. Oliver Hansen & Richard S.J. Tol, 2003. "A Refined Inglehart Index Of Materialism And Postmaterialism," Working Papers FNU-35, Research unit Sustainability and Global Change, Hamburg University, revised Oct 2003.
    6. Helmuth Ramos Calonge & Carlos Fernando Agudelo Rodríguez, 2016. "Calidad de la vivienda informal: aportes desde la proyección social universitaria," Revista Equidad y Desarrollo, Universidad de la Salle, issue 25, pages 29-52, January.
    7. Ger, Guliz & Belk, Russell W., 1996. "Cross-cultural differences in materialism," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 17(1), pages 55-77, February.
    8. James W. Lamare, 1987. "International Conflict," Journal of Conflict Resolution, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 31(3), pages 420-437, September.
    9. Vanschoonbeek, Jakob, 2020. "Divided We Stad: a Fiscal Bargaining Model for Divided Countries," MPRA Paper 101863, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    10. Ivano Dileo & Thaís García Pereiro, 2019. "Assessing the impact of individual and context factors on the entrepreneurial process. A cross-country multilevel approach," International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, Springer, vol. 15(4), pages 1393-1441, December.
    11. Elena Samarsky, 2020. "Who is Thinking of Leaving Germany? The Role of Postmaterialism, Risk Attitudes, and Life-Satisfaction on Emigration Intentions of German Nationals," SOEPpapers on Multidisciplinary Panel Data Research 1066, DIW Berlin, The German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP).
    12. Antonio Segura Sánchez & Jesús Gil Roales-Nieto, 2016. "Diferencias intergeneracionales en satisfacción y felicidad percibidas, relacionadas con la prosperidad material," Revista Equidad y Desarrollo, Universidad de la Salle, issue 25, pages 11-28, January.
    13. Lianne Ippel & John Gelissen & Guy Moors, 2014. "Investigating Longitudinal and Cross Cultural Measurement Invariance of Inglehart’s Short Post-materialism Scale," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 115(3), pages 919-932, February.
    14. Nadarević, Sabine & Martin, Alexander, 2020. "A comparative study on the institutional determinants of social entrepreneurial activity: The moderating effect of capitalism," Flensburger Hefte zu Unternehmertum und Mittelstand 19, Jackstädt-Zentrum Flensburg.
    15. Bing Wang & Longmei Xia & Alfred M. Wu, 2022. "Social Development with Public Value: An International Comparison," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 162(2), pages 909-934, July.
    16. Martin Lakomý, 2017. "The role of values and of socioeconomic status in the education-fertility link among men and women," Vienna Yearbook of Population Research, Vienna Institute of Demography (VID) of the Austrian Academy of Sciences in Vienna, vol. 15(1), pages 121-141.
    17. Maria Kravtsova & Aleksey Oshchepkov & Christian Welzel, 2014. "Corruption and social values: do postmaterialists justify bribery?," HSE Working papers WP BRP 34/SOC/2014, National Research University Higher School of Economics.
    18. Engelhardt, Sebastian v. & Freytag, Andreas, 2013. "Institutions, culture, and open source," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 95(C), pages 90-110.
    19. Marianela Denegri & María Baeza & Natalia Salinas-Oñate & Verónica Peñaloza & Horacio Miranda & Ligia Orellana, 2014. "Materialism in Pedagogy Students in Chile," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 117(2), pages 505-521, June.
    20. Veenhoven, Ruut, 1990. "Inequality in happiness: inequality in countries compared across countries," MPRA Paper 11275, University Library of Munich, Germany.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:soinre:v:168:y:2023:i:1:d:10.1007_s11205-023-03094-w. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.