Social Mobilization amidst Social Political Turbulence

Social Mobilizatio amidst Social Political Turbulence: Pattern of Social Conflict in Hong Kong in the Period 1980 to 1991 Hong Kong underwent unprecedented political turbulence in the period 1980-1991. The period signified intense political mobilization in both the institutional and non-institutional arenas. The development of representative government engendered by the British-colonial state provided institutional channels for a group of ascending political figures and organizations to exert their political efficacy through formal means. On the other hand, the 1997-Future-of Hong Kong issue politicized the society by the intense political interplay between the British-colonial and Chinese states. The Hong Kong citizens were mobilized along collective consumption, ideological as well as political autonomy spheres. The authors of this study attempted to map out the pattern of such socio-political mobilizations in the period and provide the detailed configuration of such movements in terms of the constituent parts (participants and organization), the development (resources and strategies employed) and the socio-political impacts derived (institutional response and results). The authors also attempted, based upon their empirical findings on such mass social mobilizations, to provide an alternative conceptual framework to analyze the Hong Kong polity (as contrasted with other prevalent ones pertaining to social stability and/or political apathy). On the other hand, the authors also attempted to render an alternative methodological endeavour investigating social movements by contextualizing the detail configurations of conflict incidents (as contrasted with macro-level theorizing along structural, socio- psychological lines). Results of the study unfold that social mobilization in Hong Kong which accumulated momentum during the 1970s, progressed during the 1980s and, therefore, laid out the foundation for the nurture of a civil society in the absence of an independent state.