The Class Structure in Hong Kong

The Class Structure in Hong Kong It has been substantiated by a stream of studies in the last two decades that Hong Kong residents hold a strong conviction that the colony is a land of abundant opportunities and these opportunities are allocated in accordance with individual achievement rather than social ascription. This study aims to investigate whether this subjective perception is an objective reality within the social structure of Hong Kong. In this study economic-class situations of all occupational titles found in the 1981 census are first measured by making use of the method of socio-economic index construction. Based on the socio-economic index constructed, social-class situations existing in the social structure of Hong Kong are identified by using the method of mobility-table analysis. As a result, the process of class structuration underlying the class structure of Hong Kong is revealed. It proves that class-situation inheritance is a prominent phenomenon in the social structure of Hong Kong and that Hong Kong society is not as open as its residents perceive it to be.