Grappling with the concept of poverty in Hong Kong

Résumé du document

A 1500-words essay in which we try to define poverty beyond the simple approach of material only deprivation. Then, we try to analyze the causes of it and discuss the role of the government to tackle this problem, comparing the conservative and the liberal view over the issue. Eventually, we focus on the situation in Hong Kong, one of the most unequal society in the world and look at its specifcity (the role of the Chinese tradition for instance).

Extraits

[...] - Townsend Peter, (1994), Why Are So Many People Poor ? - “Hong Kong's `cubicle kids' highlight growing poverty”, in Taipei Times, 17/09/2003 - www.hkctu.org.hk Lee, William K. M., (2002), Poverty Policy in Hong Kong : Western Models and Cultural Divergence”, in Social Development Issues 24 p Ibid., p Peter Gottschalk, Sara McLanahan, and Gary D. Sandefur, (1994, 2001), Dynamics and Intergenerational Transmission of Poverty and Welfare Participation”, in Confronting Poverty: Prescriptions for Change, Sheldar H. Danziger et al., p Ibid. [...]

[...] A second interpretation of poverty complexity appears to be the idea of intergenerational continuities in deprivation, that is to say, the assumption that poverty and its characteristics are likely to carry through generations, making the children of poor parents themselves poor. This approach is tightly bound to the Grappling with the causes of poverty idea of culture of poverty, according to which poverty nourishes poverty. In other terms, this is the poor environment, the poor social network and the personality of the deprived family members among which the children grow up that prevent them to move up. Eventually, the last interpretation advanced by W.K.M. Lee defines poverty as the exclusion from mainstream society. [...]

[...] This position is actually based in my view on two deeply coined concepts in Hong Kong's people's mind. The first of them is the Chinese tradition which perceives poverty as “personal matters to be dealt with by the family system”. As a result of that, the government only intervenes in case of emergency and most of the time tries to respect this traditional sense of familial responsibility, limiting social welfare services which could break down it. The other point is actually part of the dominant philosophy which made Hong Kong become what it is today, that is to say, the freest city in the world in terms of economic liberties and thus, one of the bastions of the liberal economic order. [...]

[...] Poverty Policy in Hong Kong p Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Union Townsend Peter, (1994), Why Are So Many People Poor ? [...]

[...] This is actually what has been claimed by the government in 1999 when Lee Chuek-yan, a HKCTU[6] representative, tried to introduce a legal minimum wage in Hong Kong. In conclusion, Hong Kong's unique characteristics make poverty very difficult to be dealt with. Meanwhile, something must be done to avoid the establishment in Hong Kong of what Peter Townsend speaking of Britain under Thatcher called “Third World wages and Third World social conditions in an otherwise rich country”[7]. According to some analysts, this is actually already the case and that might prove, as said before, Hong Kong being one of the most advanced applications of capitalism, the failure of the latter, understood in a strict sense, in building up an equal and just society. [...]