A Comparative Analysis of Social Mobility in Hong Kong

Abstract

This paper examines Hong Kong's intergenerational class mobility regime from a comparative perspective. We fit the core model of social fluidity developed in the CASMIN (Comparative Analysis of Social Mobility in Industrial Nations) project to a Hong Kong mobility table. This exercise serves two purposes. First, Hong Kong is used as a further test-case for some of the results reported by Erikson and Goldthorpe (1992). In particular, we consider and reject the claim of an East Asian type of social fluidity. Secondly, by way of this comparison, we identify some distinctive features of Hong Kong's fluidity pattern, which we relate to the larger social, political, and industrial context of post- war Hong Kong society. ABSTRACT This paper examines Hong Kong's intergenerational class mobility regime from a comparative perspective. We fit the core model of social fluidity developed in the CASMIN (Comparative Analysis of Social Mobility in Industrial Nations) project to a Hong Kong mobility table. This exercise serves two purposes. First, Hong Kong is used as a further test-case for some of the results reported by Erikson and Goldthorpe (1992). In particular, we consider and reject the claim of an East Asian type of social fluidity. Secondly, by way of this comparison, we identify some distinctive features of Hong Kong's fluidity pattern, which we relate to the larger social, political, and industrial context of post- war Hong Kong society. ABSTRACT This paper examines Hong Kong's intergenerational class mobility regime from a comparative perspective. We fit the core model of social fluidity developed in the CASMIN (Comparative Analysis of Social Mobility in Industrial Nations) project to a Hong Kong mobility table. This exercise serves two purposes. First, Hong Kong is used as a further test-case for some of the results reported by Erikson and Goldthorpe (1992). In particular, we consider and reject the claim of an East Asian type of social fluidity. Secondly, by way of this comparison, we identify some distinctive features of Hong Kong's fluidity pattern, which we relate to the larger social, political, and industrial context of post- war Hong Kong society. ABSTRACT This paper examines Hong Kong's intergenerational class mobility regime from a comparative perspective. We fit the core model of social fluidity developed in the CASMIN (Comparative Analysis of Social Mobility in Industrial Nations) project to a Hong Kong mobility table. This exercise serves two purposes. First, Hong Kong is used as a further test-case for some of the results reported by Erikson and Goldthorpe (1992). In particular, we consider and reject the claim of an East Asian type of social fluidity. Secondly, by way of this comparison, we identify some distinctive features of Hong Kong's fluidity pattern, which we relate to the larger social, political, and industrial context of post- war Hong Kong society.