Serious debate about the indigenization of social work has transpired recently. This article argues that by taking indigenization as an interactive and non-linear process that helps cultivate a multicultural social work practice within a society, importing Western social work practice and indigenization are compatible. In particular, this article attempts to illustrate the compatibility by analyzing how political activists employ Western values and practice, the universal human rights discourse, and mainstreaming, to fight for the rights of Hong Kong ethnic minorities, which may consequently lead to the development of a multicultural social work practice.
This paper aims to develop a better understanding of the economic situations of South Asian minorities in Hong Kong. A theoretical perspective emphasizing the embedding of economic behavior within social relationships and socio-political processes will be employed. This study will examine how three macro-historical processes, namely, colonization, industrialization and globalization, induce the different configurations of three structural factors, namely, government policy, societal reception and co-ethnic community, affecting the economic wellbeing of South Asian minorities in Hong Kong. The authors argue that Hong Kong Chinese and South Asians coexisted peacefully without major conflict or discrimination during the early colonial age. However, when the colonial government started to develop unique Hong Kong Chinese identity and as the HK Chinese became wealthier, well-educated and successful, ethnic tensions began to occur. In this era of globalization, Hong Kong encounters the serious problem of economic restructuring, and the continuous inflows of migrants from developing countries engender keen competition with lower-class Hong Kong citizens for low-end service jobs. South Asians are no longer enjoying positive societal reception from the Hong Kong Chinese. The co-ethnic community factor for Hong Kong South Asians has not significantly changed since the pre-war years. Their sub-communities' internal resources may secure their economic wellbeing through mutual assistance. However, under a very harsh external environment, whether sufficient resources can still be continuously drawn remains questionable. (J Contemp China/GIGA)
Unlike the poverty in the developing world which is more likely associated with undevelopment or underdevelopment of industrial capitalism, the new poverty in advanced cities is induced by the development of a new phase of capitalism that goes beyond industrial capitalism and emphasises the role of knowledge, information, global networks and global finance for capital accumulation and profit generation. This new phase of capitalism represents a transformation from country-based economic systems to city-based ones. Hong Kong as a global city is no exception to this trend. Most of the big advanced cities around the globe are witnessing increasing inequalities of income, job opportunities and job securities, and are turning into 'divided' or 'dual' cities. In these divided global cities, a new group of marginalised urban poor or 'underclass' emerges, and new regimes of urban marginality are established. This article is about the poor and the low-income earning marginalised workers in Hong Kong. Following the social polarisation thesis advanced by Sassen, this article will review the current literature and official statistics to portray and examine the trends of poverty and inequalities in Hong Kong. Then we will attempt to explain how low-skilled and less-educated workers are marginalised and trapped in a vicious cycle of low income and poverty. Specifically, we will draw insights from Esping-Andersen's discussion of a post-industrial stratification order, which combines both the Fordist industrial and post-industrial hierarchies in advanced Western countries to analyse the Hong Kong situation. Our article shows that social polarisation, in its narrowest definition of absolute income polarisation and the disappearing middle, does not happen in Hong Kong. However, there are serious problems on income inequality: a low-income-poverty trap against the lower class, and the spatial and economic segregation towards migrant groups.
The Hong Kong SAR government has always been proud of the fact that Hong Kong retains its top ranking in terms of "market freedom" according to most international rating agencies and think tanks. What the government has been much more reluctant to recognise is that, more than 15 years after the handover, Hong Kong now also tops other developed economies in terms of income inequality. The growing inequality is caused, among other things, by worsening poverty among the aged. This paper attempts to provide an updated analysis of income and wealth polarisation in Hong Kong, with a particular focus on the retirement protection policy and old-age poverty. It will examine the polarising effects of the financialisation of the Hong Kong economy. (China Perspect/GIGA)
