Perceptions of Social Justice Among the South Asian and Mainstream Chinese Youth from Diverse Cultural Backgrounds in Hong Kong

ABSTRACT

This study examined the attitudes of young people from different cultural backgrounds in Hong Kong toward social justice, in particular those regarding gender, racial/ethnic equalities, and immigrant rights. Among the sample of 15,428 adolescents, aged 12 to 19, 7.1% were South Asians, 15.5% were immigrants from mainland China, 4.1% were cross-boundary students, 73% were Hong Kong mainstream Chinese, and 0.3% did not indicate. Their civic attitudes were assessed by the adapted International Civic and Citizenship Study (ICCS) (2009) questionnaire instrument. Latent means analysis (LMA) was conducted and the findings concluded that, compared with Hong Kong mainstream students (HKMS), South Asian (SA) students reported a statistically significant lower score on gender equality and significantly higher score on racial/ethnic equality and immigrants' rights. In contrast, both Cross-Boundary students (CBS) and Chinese Immigrant students (CIS) rated significantly higher on items relating to racial/ethnic equality and immigrants' rights, as compared with their HKMS counterparts. Regression analyses were also utilized to investigate how demographic variables predicted the latent variables. Specifically, regression analyses of different student groups on social justice issues were discussed to compare how demographic variables contributed to the subjective perceptions of these rights and responsibilities. Policy implications were drawn with reference to the data and recommendations for improvement were discussed.

Acknowledgments

The author is grateful for the financial support of the Public Policy Research [PPR-RGC Ref. No. HKIEd8005-PPR-12] and General Research Fund (Ref. No. 18406214) from the Hong Kong Research Grants Council.

Additional information

Funding

Research Grants Council, University Grants Committee [HKIEd8005-PPR-12; RGC844812].