ABSTRACT
This chapter is an attempt to examine the changing character and outlook of Hong Kong’s middle class after 1997. Economic downturn and the resultant changes in employment structures since the Asian Financial Crisis in the late 1990s have given rise to heated debates over a reduction in size and even the disappearance of the middle class in Japan and other East Asian newly industrialized economies. It was suggested that the financial crisis had a negative impact on the development and growth of the middle class. Compared to other Asian economies, Hong Kong seemed to have demonstrated a higher level of resilience when the region was seriously troubled by the financial crisis. However, with a growing emphasis on cost-cutting, organizational flexibility, and corporate de-layering, it is observed that the middle class in Hong Kong has found life to be never quite the same after the economic downturn. In the face of changing economic fortunes and way of life, a sense of anxiety and uneasiness has grown among Hong Kong’s middle class. Drawing upon existing studies, particularly official statistics and secondary data from relevant social mobility surveys, this chapter attempts not only to evaluate the theses of a disappearing and/or shrinking middle class in Hong Kong, but also to look at the impacts socio-economic changes on this social class after 1997.
