Table Of ContentSERIES IN ASIAN LABOR
AND WELFARE POLICIES
LABOR
AND CLASS
IDENTITIES IN
HONG KONG
CLASS PROCESSES IN A NEOLIBERAL GLOBAL CITY
CHUN WING LEE
Labor and Class Identities in
Hong Kong
SERIES IN ASIAN LABOR AND WELFARE POLICIES
Series Editors: Chris Chan, Dae-oup Chang, Khalid Nadvi
Asia has been the new focus of global social sciences. One of the key fea-
tures for the rise of Asia is the creation of the largest industrial workforce in
human history. China, India, and many other newly industrialized countries
in Asia have been transformed as “world factories” for global capitalism in
the past four decades. This development involves both extensive and inten-
sive migration of labor across Asia. Massive populations in the Asian coun-
tries that were formerly involved in traditional self-subsistence activities have
become wage laborers. In China itself, more than 260 million rural-urban
migrant laborers have been created in the past three decades.
The production and reproduction of labor in Asia have therefore become
the major research themes in a wide range of disciplines such as gender
studies, development studies, policy studies, employment relations, human
resource management, economic geography, business studies, legal studies,
as well as sociology, politics, and anthropology.
This book series is a response to the increasing interest among academics,
policy makers, researchers, students, and development agencies for a compre-
hensive understanding of the labor and welfare problems in Asia. It aims to
publish interdisciplinary and cutting-edge research on the questions of labor,
migration, and social protections in the region.
Published in the series
Labor and Class Identities in Hong Kong: Class Processes in a Neoliberal
Global City
Chun Wing Lee
Labor and Class Identities
in Hong Kong
Class Processes in a Neoliberal Global City
Chun Wing Lee
palgrave
macmillan
LABOR AND CLASS IDENTITIES IN HONG KONG
Copyright © Chun Wing Lee 2016
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2016 978-1-137-51755-5
All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication
may be made without written permission. No portion of this publication
may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission.
In accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents
Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying
issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, Saffron House, 6-10 Kirby Street,
London EC1N 8TS.
Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication
may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.
First published 2016 by
PALGRAVE MACMILLAN
The author has asserted their right to be identified as the author of this
work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
Palgrave Macmillan in the UK is an imprint of Macmillan Publishers Limited,
registered in England, company number 785998, of Houndmills, Basingstoke,
Hampshire, RG21 6XS.
Palgrave Macmillan in the US is a division of Nature America, Inc., One
New York Plaza, Suite 4500, New York, NY 10004-1562.
Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies
and has companies and representatives throughout the world.
ISBN 978-1-349-70415-6
E-PDF ISBN: 978–1–137–51756–2
DOI: 10.1057/9781137517562
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available from the
Library of Congress.
A catalogue recordfor the book is available from the British Library.
Contents
List of Tables v ii
Acknowledgments i x
1 Introduction 1
2 Studying Class Processes in Hong Kong: Approach
and Method 1 9
3 Childhood and Education 3 1
4 Work 5 5
5 Class, Politics, and Democratization 89
6 Class Identification 109
7 Hong Kong–China Integration, Neoliberalization, and
the Young Lower Class in Hong Kong 123
8 Classed Experience in a Neoliberal Global City 1 41
Appendix I: Interview Schedule 157
Appendix II: Profiles of the 56 Interviewees 161
Notes 1 75
References 1 79
Index 1 99
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Tables
1.1 The Deindustrialization of Hong Kong’s Economy 5
3.1 Parental Background and Educational Experience of the
Interviewees 3 5
4.1 Brief Work Histories and Incomes of the 56 Interviewees 57
7.1 Effect of Individual Visit Scheme (IVS) on Relevant
Sectors in 2012 126
7.2 Median Monthly Income from 2009 to 2014 in Selected
Industries ($HK) 1 28
7.3 T he Percentage of Hong Kong Workforce with 29 or
Fewer Weekly Working Hours in the Fourth Quarter
from 1997 to 2014 134
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Acknowledgments
This work is largely based on the research that I carried out while
studying for a PhD in Sociology at the University of Manchester. I
am indebted to the excellent guidance provided by my supervisors,
Professor Mike Savage and Professor Alan Warde. I also owe a lot to
the interviewees who trusted me enough to share their life stories and
opinions with me. Of course, I would have never been able to listen
to and analyze these stories without the people who offered to help
set up the interviews. One thing I learned during my study of class
in Hong Kong is to be grateful to my parents because of the eco-
nomic capital and cultural capital they transmitted to me. Although
I am glad to come from a middle-class family in Hong Kong, this
study is also a means for me to express my sense of middle-class guilt.
Chapter 7 of this book is based on a more recent small-scale study,
and I thank Jenny Chan, Crystal Kwong, Charles Fung, Lai Hang
Chu, Yeung Ka Yin, and Yuman Fung for carrying out some of the
interviews and Wong Yan Wing, Kwok Yuen Tung, Ng Yiu Kui, and
Chung Hip Ling for their research support. This book would not
have been completed without encouragement from Chris Chan and
Elaine Hui. Last but not least, I thank my wife Honyan, who iden-
tifies with the working class despite experiencing upward mobility,
for her support throughout the years. Any deficiencies found in this
book are, of course, my sole responsibility.
