Search results

The purpose of this study is to examine how people’s perceptions of the importance of financial investment relate to their value orientation, societal perceptions and policy attitudes. Tying together insights from theoretical analysis of the financialization of society and Mannheim’s (1972) theory of generation, this study hypothesizes that perceived importance of investment should be less connected to a desire for a wealthy lifestyle and more connected to a critique of social inequality among the young generation. Analysis of survey data (N = 1,020) from Hong Kong, an international financial hub, shows that perceived importance of investment relates positively to consumer materialism, perceptions of social inequality and support for social democratic policies. More importantly, the relationships between the latter variables and perceived importance of investment vary across age groups in ways largely consistent with the expectation. The findings illustrate the changing social significance of financial investment and the reluctant embracement of investment by young people.

A representative telephone survey (N = 1,020) was conducted and analyzed.

The analysis shows that perceived importance of investment relates positively to consumer materialism, perceptions of social inequality and support for social democratic policies. More importantly, the relationships between the latter variables and perceived importance of investment vary across age groups in ways largely consistent with the expectation.

The findings illustrate the changing social significance of financial investment and the reluctant embracement of investment by the young generation. It is, to the authors’ knowledge, the first study in Hong Kong addressing people’s attitudes toward investment in relation to the notion of financialization.

This study aims to examine the symbolic meanings of the local shopping malls inscribed by the shoppers from the sociocultural lens other than merely departing from the economic dimensions.

In this research, Kwai Chung Plaza was adopted as the case study. The author interviewed 12 local shoppers through an in-depth individual interview. All interviewees were selected through convenience and snowball sampling. All names of the participants in this paper are kept pseudonymous to protect their privacy.

An integrated model, which consists of three major levels, namely, the spatial, individual and community levels, has been formed to show that the shopping mall was not merely a place for buy-and-sell transactions but rather a place that could be understood as an extension of the street, a body of collective memories and a place for Hongkongers.

The most significant limitation of this study was the lack of a diversified demographic profile adding that the sample was restricted to the young generation. It is recommended that future research should consider including interviews with middle-aged and old-aged shoppers to ensure the generalizability of results. Future research may also consider examining other small/medium-sized shopping malls for comparison.

The findings demonstrated the diversified social roles and functions of the local shopping malls in a community. In addition, the present study, to the author’s knowledge, is one of the few scholarly discussions on small/medium-sized shopping malls from a sociocultural perspective.