Wai-Kwok Benson Wong

HKBU > GIS

2012/10/19

Youth policy in Hong Kong: Torn between Trust & Manipulation?

Outline1. Rationale behind the proposed topic: Empirical

and conceptual facets

2. Nature of youth policy

3. Brief literature review

4. Nature of local youth policy

5. Concluding remarks

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Rationale1. Emerging the post-80(90)s generation

• Major social movements/campaigns: anti-HSR rally Scholarism against the enforcement of National Education as a subject at school level

• Deviant with the mainstream media’s discourse of constructing the reality of local young generation • Less competitiveness, politically and socially apathetic,

consumerism• “poisonous boy” (毒男 ) “god” (男神 )

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Rationale2. Marginalization of youth policy in policy

discourseNot influential comparing with e.g., labor, education,

housing, HK’s integration with ChinaYouth policy is not working for the youth, but for the

gov’t & capitalists“Controversial” issues surrounding youth policy’s

domain are defined, selected & constructed NOT by the youth – Housing, Education, (Un)-employment, (National) identity

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Social reconstruction of the youth policyYouth = socially/politically marginalized, like

women, minority, the poor?No subjectivityMaterial needs: livelihood’s issuesInstrumental: serve the defined purposes designed

and enforced by stateYouth’s voice: Who represents the young people?

How to represent them? How representative of such representatives? Why are they represented?

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“Representation” as “participation”1. How such representatives are located and

absorbed? – What are the criteria of being located and absorbed?

2. How such absorbed and coopted participants know about the youth? In what capacity do they know about the youth?

3. How does the youth approach them so that such coopted participants virtually know their voice and express faithfully in the policy mechanism?

4. How and how far do such coopted participants accountable to e.g., the public, notably the youth?

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NatureCollective termMuti- & trans-dimensional issues which can be

interrelated(un-)employment, education, (national) identity,

housing, social welfare, social mobilitySocial (livelihood) > political (participation,

engagement) issuesPositioning & engagement of the youth in policy

consultation, formulation & in decision-making

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Literature reviewA. Policy content

Prevention: helping the youth to manage the societal changes/transitional needs (Policy Research Initiative, 2010; Youth Policy in Luxembourg, 2002)

Identity: Redefining the role & responsibility of the youth in society (Youth Policy – Here & How, 2005)

Securing basic needs & protection: employment, education, social security, housing, criminal justice, civil & family law (Youth Policies in the UK, 2002)

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Literature reviewB. Participation:

Engagement through mechanisms, e.g., council, forum, school; by legislation

Bottom-up, NOT top-down approachShaping agenda-setting, apart from decision-

making processEmpowerment(Youth Policy – Here and Now, 2005)

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HK’s Youth Policy2 pro-government reports: HK Youth Politics (by

HK Policy Research Institute & HK Youth Council, 1997) & Submission of HK Youth Policy (by HK United Youth Association, 1998)

Policy discourse:Context: China-HK integration, China as a hub of

opportunitiesIdentity: Youth, based on the adults’ expectation,

should be competitive, adaptive and submissivePower relationships: unequal, top-down, imposition

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HKYDC： Pro-BJ organization?

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HKYDC

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HKYDC

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Instrumental, socially constructed

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The “ideal” type of the youthQuality:

Physical/mentalMoralIntellectual: leadership, adaptive

Values:PersonalSocialNationalGlobal

Knowledge & skills

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HKSYC

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“Irrelevant” questions from surveys done by HKYDC1. Do you believe that HK will continue to be

stable & prosperous?

2. Do you believe that “1 country 2 systems” will be successfully implemented in HK?

3. The estimation of the situation after 1997

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HK United Youth Association

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Political infiltration

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Activity

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HKUYA

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Interesting remarks1. United front of the youth: cultivating the patron-

client relations

2. Material attractions and future prospects as well as social and professional networking being as the driving force of exercising manipulation

3. Trust is illusionary, taking advantages are of salience (coopted young: privileges and networking; state: pro-establishment supporters)

4. Prevalence of cynicism: “I pretend to be submissive and loyal to you; and you pretend to be trustful and supportive of me”

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ConclusionYouth policy without youth participation &

engagementIn the official stance, youth policy aims

To serve the political needs: New generation with national identity, supporting the regime

To follow the guidance and framework imposed by the powerful to survive and mobilize

To serve the capitalists so as to be more capable instrument maintaining and sustaining the existing system

To help the youth being adaptive and flexible in facing the context

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ConclusionResistance: The power of the powerless

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