Welcome to SOCI A202 Hong Kong Society, a middle-level, 10-credit, year-long course offered by the School of Arts and Social Sciences, HKMU.
This Course Guide tells you something about the course, states its aims and the learning outcomes for you, provides an overview of its major components, and suggests ways to work through it.
About the course
SOCI A202 Hong Kong Society is designed to facilitate your understanding of the major social and political issues of Hong Kong from the perspectives of the social sciences, in particular those of sociology. It introduces you to the cultural outlook and value orientations of the Hong Kong people, as well as the features of and changes in the key social institutions. It also identifies and analyses significant issues in Hong Kong society. A strong emphasis will be placed upon various theoretical perspectives and research on the major aspects of contemporary Hong Kong. This will provide you with the necessary analytic tools and information to understand the structure and functioning of Hong Kong society. Another focus for the course is the various changes in Hong Kong society, in particular the challenges and promises of 'one country, two systems' in the transition of sovereignty and subsequent impact on Hong Kong society.
The course consists of eight units. Each unit deals with a specific topic of Hong Kong society. They are:
- A development overview of Hong Kong society;
- Family and social change;
- Social class and social mobility;
- Culture and society;
- Crime, deviance and social control;
- Social policy;
- Social conflict and social movements;
- Education
Many of these topics are interrelated. You need to be aware of this and integrate what you learn so that you can understand Hong Kong society as a unique historical and sociological configuration.
There are no prerequisites for this course but SOSC A101 Social Sciences: A Foundation Course, especially the part on sociology, should provide a good foundation. Other courses offered by the School of Arts and Social Sciences, such as HIST A213/ HIST A213C A History of Hong Kong and POLS A211 Government and Politics of Hong Kong, also deal with some of the issues and topics of this course, albeit from other disciplinary angles.
Course aims
The overall aim of SOCI A202 Hong Kong Society is to develop your understanding of the social structure, processes and development of Hong Kong by means of a critical appreciation of the major issues and debates regarding Hong Kong society, and a comprehensive and critical examination of existing literature. The period concerned is from 1842 to the first decade of the 21st century, with a strong emphasis on the features and changes in Hong Kong society since the post-war period.
Specifically, the course aims to:
- Provide youwith an overview of the nature and development of Hong Kong society in terms of the impacts from its colonial past and capitalism.
- Introduce to you theories and concepts that are important for analysing Hong Kong society.
- Familiarize you with the patterns and changes as well as related issues in different aspects of Hong Kong society including the family, social class and mobility, culture and identity, social control of crime and deviance, social policy, social conflict and social movement and lastly education.
- Enable you to appreciate the interconnection between social processes and structural forces that are at work affecting the social life of Hong Kong people.
- Stimulate you into thinking about the issues, processes and prospects of the development of Hong Kong.
Course learning outcomes
Upon completion of this course, you should be able to:
- Apply relevant sociological concepts and perspectives for an all-round understanding of Hong Kong society.
- Identify the developments in Hong Kong's economy, social structure and political system during the colonial period.
- Discuss the patterns and changes in the various aspects of social life in Hong Kong from the 1950s up to the first decade of the 21st century.
- Analyse the impact of institutional changes and processes on the culture and identity of the Hong Kong people as well as on the way social policy has been formulated.
- Discuss the future prospects for Hong Kong.
Course overview
The eight study units in this course constitute 36 weeks of work. The following table provides an overview of the course and suggests the amount of time needed to complete each unit. As you are an adult learner in an open learning environment, you might want to devise your own schedule while taking into consideration the suggestions here. The estimated time, on average, that you need to spend on this course is eight to ten hours per week. This estimate includes time for reading the study units, studying the reading, completing the activities and self-tests, writing your assignments, reviewing the study materials, attending the tutorials, and preparing for your final examination.
Study unit | Title | Weeks of work |
1 | A development overview of Hong Kong society | 4 |
2 | Family and social change | 3 |
| Assignment 1 | 1 |
3 | Social class and social mobility | 4 |
5 | Culture and society | 4 |
| Assignment 2 | 1 |
5 | Crime, deviance and social control | 3 |
| Assignment 3 | 1 |
6 | Social policy | 4 |
| Assignment 4 | 1 |
7 | Social conflict and social movements | 3 |
8 | Education | 4 |
| Assignment 5 | 1 |
| Revision | 2 |
| Total | 36 |