29
old conceptions persist is testified by the fact that the
majority of respondents explained poverty by personal fault or
reasons rather than by social causes. However, most importantly,
a predominant proportion of them perceived conflicts between the
rich and the poor in society. More ominously, they considered
conflict between them as inevitable.30
The respondents of Wong also saw a lot of opportunities for
upward mobility in society. They thought that Hong Kong was open
enough to reward individual endeavors and self-efforts.
Nevertheless, lurking beneath these sanguine platitudes are more
realistic and even pessimistic assessments of one's chance of
success. Three-quarters of the respondents, for example, saw the
likelihood of job mobility (changing to a better job) for
themselves as either none or very little. The gap between general
expectation and personal reality is likely to foment feelings of
personal failure and dissatisfaction with society.
In Hong Kong, class conflict would most likely express itself
increasingly in political actions. Except for the employees in
the public sector and large corporations, the workers in Hong
Kong are faced with numerous small employers, hence they can
hardly organize on a large-scale and utilize market tactics (such
as strikes) to force the latter to make concessions. The weakness
of the trade unions further cripples the workers bargaining
29 Wong's survey is part of the Social Indicator project
mentioned in fn. 3.
30
In my own 1988 survey, it was found that 74.1 percent of respondents thought that the government should tax the rich more to reduce economic inequality. See Lau and Kuan, 'Public Attitude,' p. 770.