Family In Flux: Benchmarking Family Changes In Hong Kong Society

Anita C. Koo, Thomas W.P. Wong

    Research output: Chapter in book/report/conference proceedingChapterpeer-review

    16 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    This paper explores whether Hong Kong people are under the process of modernization/individualization in their family life. Data from a 2005 territory-wide survey are used to uncover the patterns of relations, practices, choice and diversity in the families of Hong Kong, with particular interest in testing the individualization thesis. The findings can both confirm and ‘unpack’ the trend of individualization. They suggest that individualization in Hong Kong is compartmentalized in that more individualized lifestyles can be contemplated and practised in some areas without undermining family mutuality or the connection between marriage and parenthood, and certainly without establishing diversified familial life-courses. In this regard, we argue that individualization in Hong Kong represents a more flexible way of handling and managing the multifarious practices and obligations of family life. Families in Hong Kong are less an entity than a process and an assemblage of practices, and ‘families are what families do’.
    Original languageEnglish
    Title of host publicationDoing Families in Hong Kong
    EditorsKwok-bun Chan, Agnes Ku, Yin-wah Chu
    PublisherBrill
    Pages17-56
    Number of pages40
    Edition1st
    ISBN (Electronic)9789047429111
    ISBN (Print)9789004175679
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 20 May 2009

    Publication series

    NameSocial Transformations in Chinese Societies
    Volume4
    ISSN (Print)1871-2673

    Scopus Subject Areas

    • General Social Sciences

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