TNAG-0647-FCO40-795-Study-of-labour-relations-in-Hong-Kong-by-Professor-H-A-Turn-1977 — Page 152

xiii

some difference by firm size, more of the respondents employed in small

firms (40%) had considered this compared to 24% of those employed in

large firms. This general lack of ambition by the respondents for

starting up business on their own account is paralleled by the respondents'

lack of experience in this field.

fact only 8 of the respondents

In

had ever had a business of their own. Thus the respondents had been

employees rather than small scale capitalists in the past and preferred

to remain employees in the future.

The respondents' low level of aspirations is further confirmed by their

replies to the question on attendance at vocational classes/night school.

Only just over a quarter (27) were currently attending such classes.

These attenders were in fact drawn from the younger section of the

sample only; thus 3% of the younger men and 40% of the younger women

attended whereas none of the older men and women did. There were also

tendencies for the attenders to be unskilled (35%) or semi skilled (29%)

rather than skilled (14%) and to be employed in large firms (38%) rather

than small firms (16%).

We can conclude here that the workers in the sample did not in general

appear to resemble the picture of aggressively ambitious would-be petty

capitalists that has been so frequently painted of workers in Hong Kong

by writers such as England and Rear. However, we should note that the

younger respondents, particularly the younger men were considerably

more ambitious than their elders, suggesting perhaps a lack of the

refugee mentality that might have still influenced the older workers

despite their mostly having been brought up in Hong Kong themselves.

The more ambitious also tended to work in small firms rather than large

firms, possibly reflecting the greater contact that would be found in

the former with persons of different social status and with businesses

of their own.

Despite their tendency to have limited aspirations for themselves, the

6 workers in the sample had high aspirations for their children. Almost

all of the respondents would be prepared to support a son for 5 years of

secondary school education and over three quarters would be prepared to

support a son for a further period of post secondary education both

part and full-time. When asked what occupation they would like a son

of theirs to take up, the respondents aimed their sights high; thus 86%

of the respondents who named an occupation named one on the technologist/

professional managerial level. It is interesting that the most

frequently named occupation was that of docter. There was no difference