ST ROSE OF LIMA’S COLLEGE

F. 4 LIBERAL STUDIES 2020-2021

Hong Kong Today – Socio-political participation

Name: ___________________________ Class: _______ ( ) Date: _______________

Learning Focus:
• Understanding the social media influence young people socio-political participation

Socio-political participation

1.1 Definition of socio-political participation

• Social participation means participating in social activities or public affairs

(e.g. raising funds by flag selling).
• Political participation means taking actions that can influence public policies
(e.g. participating in elections and demonstration).

• Social participation and political participation are closely related. Therefore, any

behavior that aims at influencing public affairs or policies can be considered examples

of socio-political participation.

1.2 Levels and forms of socio-political participation

a. Levels of socio-political participation

• The level of socio-political participation generally refers to the degree to which people
are willing to input various resources (e.g. time, money, knowledge, physical and
mental effort) to express their concern about, participate in and manage socio-political
affairs.

• The more resources they are willing to input, the higher their level of socio-political
participation is, and vice versa.
Warm up exercise:
Statements Always Often Sometimes Seldom Never

How often do you participate in the following activities?

1) Fund raising by flag selling
2) Demonstration
3) Voluntary work e.g. helping the poor
4) Voluntary work e.g. cleaning HK
5) Voting
6) Express opinions in consultations

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 b. Forms of socio-political participation
The forms of people‘s socio-political participation are shown in the table below:
Type of Form Matching
participation
examples
Institutionalized Participate in elections,
means including becoming a
candidate and voting.
Join different advisory
bodies and express
opinions on different
policies and issues.
Respond to the
government’s public
consultation
Give suggestions to or
lodge complaints with
government departments.
Non-institutionalized Organize or participate in
means collective actions such as
processions,
demonstrations and
assemblies.
Form or join political
parties and social groups.
Express opinions or
initiate public opinions
through the mass media.
Express opinions on the
government officials’
websites.
Examples
with the
A. Join the Antiquities Advisory
B Board and give suggestions
about relevant issues.
B District Council elections
Legislative Council
A elections
C Express opinions on the
government’s energy
D policy through e-mail.
D Make submissions on
consultative documents of
C constitutional reforms.
E • Political parties such as
H the Democratic Party
• Social groups such as
Hong Kong Unison
F • Reports and commentaries
E in newspapers
• News reports and current
affair programs broadcast
by television
G Comment on government
F policies in the Chief
Executive’s Facebook.
H • July 1 Procession
• Procession on the first day
G of the New Year
• Occupy Movement
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c. Classify the following examples into different unofficial channels of socio-political participation given.

Mass media Protests Petitions Cultural and art Civil

activities disobedience

Traditional Demonstration, Collect Movie, Deliberately

printed Demand action, signatures, Drama, violate the law
newspapers, Strike, Prepare a letter Documentary, which is against
Free newspapers, (Need to apply for for petition, Artistic work social justice in
Online media, the letter of no Give it to the order to fight for
TV stations and objection) related officials justice
radios

Examples Unofficial channels

明報 MingPao, 文匯報 Wen Wei Po, 大公報 Ta Kung Pao e.g. Mass Media: Traditional
printed newspapers
都市日報 Metropolis Daily, am730, 晴報 Sky Post Mass media: Free newspaper
6000 citizens joined the protest against Lantau Tomorrow Vision Protest
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1M5ikcJFg70
Rare disease patients asking for drug subsidies Petition
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8AgMKPdhhk
香港 01 HK01, 立場新聞 Stand News, 眾新聞, 端傳媒, 香港獨 Mass Media: Online media
立媒體 Hong Kong In-media
無綫電視 TVB, 奇妙電視 Fantastic Television Limited, 香港電 Mass Media: TV station and
台 RTHK radios
Strike by medical staff (2020) Protest (strike)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YUMdYIr5acc
Thousands of Hongkongers defy police ban to commemorate Civil disobedience
Tiananmen Massacre victims at Victoria Park
https://www.facebook.com/hongkongfp/videos/626228447973507/
香港電台節目: 義想天開 Cultural and art activities:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i4Gi4isulno Drama
Nurses demand action over staffing shortages, saying public Protest
hospitals need more staff not money
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AFYwA5Fy_FM
一批旅遊業從業員請願要求早日恢復適度通關 Petition
https://news.rthk.hk/rthk/ch/component/k2/1535763-20200704.htm

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 Ladder of citizen participation
An American scholar, Sherry Arnstein, categorized people’s socio-political participation into eight levels and three types according to how much power they
share in government’s policy making.

Public power 8 Citizens hold absolute

Citizen power of decision. Citizens
control dominate
7 Citizens hold most of
Delegated the power of decision.
power
6 The government and
Partnership citizens jointly
formulate policies.
Symbolic 5 The government gives in
participation Placation to public opinions.

4 The government
Consultation consults the public about
the policy.
3 The government informs
Informing the public about policy
details.
Non-participation 2 The government guides
Therapy the public to accept its
policy. Government
1 The government dominates
Manipulation encourages the public to
support its policy.
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 Factors affecting the extent of socio-political participation

Social cohesion Sense of belonging Participation opportunity Government credibility

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e.g. More cohesion → easier to When citizens have high sense of More opportunities to participate means When the government’s credibility is
gather people with same ideology → belonging to society, they are more That there are more channels to express high, she can be trusted by her citizens.
join different protests willing to build a better society. their opinions and ideas. For example, Citizens believe that the government will
(more participation) Thus, they are more devoted and approval of protests by the police, take public opinion into consideration in
would like to contribute more. They petition, consultation sessions, policy making and balance different
More cohesion in the society, it is are more likely to propose some LegCo/ district councilors to reflect their stakeholders view. Thus, she can come
easier to come to an agreement/ reach policies to improve the society, and opinion/ advisory board can make people up with the best options to society.//
broad consensus. Their contribution/ express their ideas (e.g. through feel their opinions are being heard/ She has high transparency in
opinions are likely to be accepted. consultation). Moreover, they will accepted. They think that their opinion decision-making process. Citizens are
This encourages people to participate. also pay attention to the new policies matter and can make a difference. They more willing to contribute to society,
or social and political issues arisen. are more willing to contribute their such as giving opinions to the policies
In contrast, when the cohesion is low This lead to high socio-political ideas/ express their views. This leads to initiated by the government
or there are diverging views that split participation. high socio-political participation.// more (consultation), or even providing policies
the society into different interest participation opportunities→ reduce the idea to the government.
groups, they may not share common In contrast, when the sense of threshold to take part in socio-political → They have more incentives to
goals. Thus, they may have lower belonging is low, people tend to issues contribute to the society and thus more
awareness towards new policies or neglect the current situation of the socio-political participation.
social and political issues arisen. This city. They do not care about the city When there are less participation
may lead to low socio-political and what the government is doing. Or opportunities (e.g. screening and However, when there is low government
participation. they do not understand the policies or disqualifying candidates/ differential credibility, people doesn’t trust the
the situation of the place, thus cannot treatment to various camps in Legco/ government and they think that the
Low cohesion→ people having give appropriate response or give no only selective parties are consulted in government doesn’t have the ability to
diverging views insist on their own opinion in different issues.// They some occasions) improve the society. They may think the
belief, there would be more conflicts may be indifferent and are not willing Some citizens may not want to express government isn’t trustworthy and cannot
or even miscommunication between to devote their time, effort and their views to the legislators/ councilors satisfy their needs. As a result, they are
different parties, making it difficult to resources to improve the community. due to different political views and discouraged to express their opinions on
reach consensus.// some people may This may lead to low socio-political concern. They might think that the different social issues as they don’t think

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find it frustrating to deal with the
split of the country/ city OR fed up
with the conflicts and upset social
order→ they decided to stay away
and discourage people to participate
in socio-political activities→ low
participation
Political culture
participation. councilors cannot represent them.
Citizens may doubt the
representativeness and effectiveness of
these councils and sessions.
They might think that their voice could
not be heard easily and thus become
reluctant to express their views and
concern. This lead to low socio-political
participation.
// Less approval of protests→ people get
outraged/ feel being suppressed → join
more protests even if they are illegal→
more participation
→citizens are afraid of being
arrested → become more reserved→
participate less
Educational level Civic education
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the government will listen to them/ it can
make no difference/ It is useless to voice
out.
They have low socio-political
participation.
When people do not trust the
government/ the government is having
low transparency, citizens may give
more suggestions hoping to make an
improvement/ demand the government to
reveal more information to the public (by
having protests/ other collective
movements). This increases the
socio-political participation.
Circulation and quality of information
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 Social media: The driving force behind young people’s socio-political participation?

Source A Opinion on social networking media affecting socio-political participation

Ma, editor of Yazhou Zhoukan: The main forces of the Occupy movement – Occupy Central,
Scholarism and the Hong Kong Federation of Students (HKFS) published live feeds on their Facebook
pages. They displayed their power of mobilising people and attracted ‘likes’ from a lot of young
netizens. Their promotion has become wide.
Yau, teacher: When the Internet was not that commonly used, it was hard for young people to make
public comments. Their influence was very limited. Since the rise of social networking media,
information posted by anyone can spread quickly. It has become much easier for like minds to
communicate and action. Young people can feel that individual action can be influential.

Source B News report about anti-extradition movement

Netizens and pressure groups are now demanding the bills’ full withdrawal. They also want arrested
protesters not to be prosecuted, and have called for a probe into alleged use of force by the police.
Young people checked the online forum LIHKG every 15 minutes to keep up with the fast-developing
anti-extradition movement. They created online events inviting people to a ‘picnic’ at nearby Tamar
Park, in Admiralty. The online platforms such as LIHKG and Telegram play a key role in helping
protesters coordinate their moves and stay on message. Anonymity gives peace of mind, while coded
language identifies ‘outsiders’.
According to a survey done by the Baptist University’s Department of Government and International
Studies, a third of respondents used the online forum LIHKG, which is known for emphasizing
freedom of speech. More than half of those polled also used Telegram, the engrypted mobile
messaging app for broadcasting information and forming private and open discussion groups.

Source C An adapted article about Agnes Chow 周庭1

On 1 January 2019, Agnes Chow wrote on her Facebook page: “New worries emerge every now and
then but the most worrying would be for people to fool themselves, distort their own experiences and
bend the reality.” On one of her Form 4 days, she was home scrolling through Facebook and she
bumped into images of Scholarism at a rally. The information about anti-National Education
movement prompted her to sign up with Scholarism as a volunteer. As a member of Demosisto (香港
眾志), she announced her intention to take part in the Legislative Council by-elections in the Hong
Kong Island constituency – the same seat that fellow party member Nathan Law occupied prior to his
disqualification. She said, “Nathan Law’s (羅冠聰) performance in the legislature had impressed
others, and demonstrated that young people are capable of politics. His work often drew the
admiration of the public and even electorates who identify as‘moderate’. Although the world is dark,
we can make light. Unfortunately, she was disqualified to join the election.

1
http://little-a-little.com/en/2019/03/13/agnes-chow-eng/
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Source D Website of Liber Research Community 本土研究社2: (adapted)

The monthly donation model enables independent research to continue without the clout of
consortiums, the government and vested interests. We speak independently without fear or favour. We
set up facebook to spread messages based on our research. Our research covers ten topics, including
land supply and usage, housing policies, town planning, redevelopment, environment, agriculture,
archives and files and global state-capital nexus. With concrete research, we provide more
perspectives on different issues. We aim at doing independent research so as to narrow the gap
between knowledge production and social issues. Your donation is welcome.

1. According to the sources given above, what are the features of social networking media?

Source Features and evidence

A Social networking media allow live feeds (e.g. on Facebook pages) which information
posted by anyone can spread quickly.

It also allows public comments and ‘likes’ which is easy to attract like minds to
communicate and action, e.g. mobilising people/ promoting various events

B Information are updated and shared very frequently (“Users can check online forum
LIHKG every 15 minutes to keep up with the fast-developing anti-extradition
movement”), so that it is easier to organise online events and coordinate actions of a
large group of people. (LIHKG and Telegram play a key role in helping protesters
coordinate their moves and stay on message)

Anonymity gives peace of mind, while coded language identifies ‘outsiders’/ Encrypted
mobile messaging app for broadcasting information and forming private and open
discussion groups. The high security/ privacy setting create a “safe” environment for
citizens to express their views and opinions.

C Social media such as Facebook can spread the information about different socio-political
events (e.g. ) and political groups (e.g. )

2
https://www.facebook.com/localresearch/

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 D Social networking media e.g. Facebook can help promote various groups (Liber
Research Community) and spread messages based on their research.

It also can be a platform to collect donation.

2. ‘The dissemination of social networking media is the main cause of Hong Kong people’s active
socio-political participation.’ To what extent do you agree with the statement?
Refer to the main arguments below. (1) Identify and match with the relevant sources. (2) Quote
evidence from the sources and explain your answers.

Main arguments Sources Explanation

Social networking media is A, B
the essential tool for
political organisations to
use as the platform for
promotion and gathering
people.
Agree
Young people, who are frequent users of social
networking media, have more opportunities to learn
about social and political affairs. They will be
encouraged to participate.
Source A states that Occupy Central, Scholarism and
the HKFS published live feeds on their Facebook pages.
It attracted ‘likes’ from a lot of young netizens. It shows
that…
Source B LIHKG readers use the platform to create
online events and they keep checking for the updated
information of the anti-extradition bill movement. It
reflects that citizens are encouraged to…

Social networking media B
encourages young people to
play an active role in
socio-political participation
because it ensures a sense
of security.
Source B People can post comments/ express their
opinions via the Internet anonymously, this safeguards
their privacy and prevents the possibilities of their
identities being exposed on the Internet or to the
government. With fewer concerns about their personal
information being revealed or any follow-up actions
being done by the government e.g. being arrested, it
enhances the sense of security// they don’t need to be
worried about others perception on them, thus young
netizens are more encouraged to express their views
online about the social and political affairs.

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Social networking media A, B, C, Source A Young netizens’ views on social or political
encourages young people to D affairs can be posted online and spread quickly on the
play an active role in Internet, more netizens can read the information and
socio-political participation show their approval by giving ‘likes’ or possting
because it helps them to comments, this makes it easier to attract like-minded
gather people with the people to communicate or discuss those topics, it is also
same demands. easier to mobilise people or promote various events/
initiate actions e.g. Occupy Central, Scholarism and
HKFS → participate more

Source B
Social networking media allows people to use coded
language to identify their mates who share the same
view and stance in a socio-political affairs, therefore,
young people may make use of social networking media
to form private and open discussion groups to
communicate and share their thoughts such as what they
want the government to do in order to solve some
conflicts/ problems. As a consequence, it can gather
people with the same demands to take action
collectively.

Source C
Agnes Chow scrolling through Facebook and she saw the
information about anti-National Education movement and she
signed up as a volunteer/ join Scholarism. This shows that
when people read the information in different social medias,
they will find the people who have the same demands as
them. Therefore, they will be attracted to gather together to
work for their common goal.

Source D
Social networking media e.g. Facebook can help promote
various groups (Liber Research Community) and spread
messages based on their research. Citizens can donate money
to show support to the research community. With concrete
research, people provide more perspectives on different issues
based on similar demands. The social networking media
encourages young people from various groups to play an
active role in socio-political participation.// By getting access
to researcher’s information, they can be gathered together and
participate in different events.

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 Increase in young people’s A, B, C, Source A & B
sense of identity as Hong D
Kong residents is the main
cause of their active
socio-political participation.
The dissemination of social
networking media is just a
facilitator.
Disagree
The main cause is the poor A,B
performance of the Hong
Kong government driving
people to participate in
social and political affairs.
The dissemination of social
networking media is just a
tool.
Young people have a strong sense of identity as HK residents,
they care about the development of socio-political events in
recent years e.g. universal suffrage and the extradition bills.
These events are closely related to their well-being and the
development of the society. They develop their own stance
and try to defend the local interests/ contribute to the society
e.g. they watch the live streams and make public comments
and “likes”, take part in the social movements when they have
increasing sense of belongingness and responsibility to the
community. Social media (e.g. Facebook, LIHKG) provides
them the channel and platform but it is not the main cause.
Source C Agnes Chow with high sense of identity as HK
residents showed her will to make the world brighter by
joining the by-election.
Source D
With an increased sense of identity of Hong Kong residents
increased, the citizens think they have greater responsibility to
build a better society. So, in order to build a better Hong
Kong, they participated in different socio-political events. For
instance, the formation of the Liber Research Community
helps narrow the gap between knowlege production and social
issues. And the social networking site is only helping the
group to promote the research and findings faster as well as
collect donation but not causing this movement.
Source B
Young people participated in the protest because of the
alleged use of force by the police. The protestors use online
platforms like telegram and LIHKG to keep up with their
movements. When people have little trust in the government/
think that the government is biased, they would challenge the
government and safeguard their rights.
Source B
The cause of the anti-extradition movement is that the
people’s demand of a full withdrawal is ignored by the HK
government. Social media is only a tool for them to express
their views, anger and also organize protests to further
pressure the government.
Although social or political events such as strikes, protests are
promoted via the Internet, people will not join them when
they disagree with the intentions of organising these events.
When the government has high transparency or satisfactory
policies, there are no such needs for the citizens to go against
the government. However, citizens find the government faulty
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 or ineffective (e.g.), it arouses rage and disapproval in the
society, they may express their opinions through events such
as demonstrations, strikes. In this case, the social networking
apps will be a tool and provide a channel to promote these
kinds of events, leading the higher socio-political
participation. Thus, the main cause should be the poor
performance of the Hong Kong government, the
dissemination of social networking media is just a tool.

Source A → universal suffrage(not representative)/ not

safeguarding their right for election. People participated due
to these limitations of the government→ not the social media

Source D
Liber Research Community aims at doing independent
research so as to narrow the gap between knowledge
production and social issues and provides more perspective
on different issues. When the government performs poor in
some areas like housing policies, environment(Source D)…
the community can carry out concrete research on the
problems in different perspectives. In this way, people can
evaluate the performance of the government or respond to the
government’s public consultation.
This type of community only reflects the performance of the
government in different areas. It is the government’s action
and performance that matters. People participated actively to
show their dissatisfaction towards relevant policies but not
because of the social media.
It shows that social networking media is only a tool to spread
information or gather like-minded people to respond and take
action.
Conclusion (Consider the more influential factor that would lead to active social political participation)

Counter-argument and Rebuttal

Small extent, agree

Some people may say that the social networking media allows the message to spread quickly (e.g. …) so that it
arouses people awareness towards the social issues…→ participate more actively

However, it is the sense of identity that matters. When citizens have poor sense of identity as local residents, even
if they are aware of/ knowing more about the social issues, they do not feel obligated to contribute. People will
only participate and take actions to improve…when…

Large extent, agree

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3. With reference to the information and your knowledge, analyse the impact of young people’s
active socio-political participation on their personal growth.
Aspects of
Personal Positive impact
Growth
Social self Social circle and network
When young people have an active
socio-political participation, they will go to
different protests or research more on the
socio-political issue. While they do that, they
will find people who have the same opinions as
them and the same political stance as them.
This will lead to discussions among them and
they may go to protests or other public
demonstrations together and this can lead to
friendship among them thus expanding social
circle (more common topics).
With higher socio-political participation, young
people may make use of social media to
promote social events/ express their views
online e.g. posting comments, it is easier to
gather like-minded people, they can open
discussion groups in social networking apps to
communicate and share their thoughts, thus
they are able to develop their own social circle
with people with same interests/ demands and
enhance their social self (meeting new friends).
When young citizens take part actively in
socio-political activities, they meet other
like-minded people on different platforms such
as LIHKG or through protests, they establish
friendships with them and form a bonding with
them as they have the same goal thus their
social circle is expanded and their social self is
enhanced.
When young people join different social or
political events→ meet more people with the
same demands→ make new friends easily
→ expand their social circles→ enhance social
self
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Negative impact
Relationship?
When young people have an active
socio-political participation, they will have
some opinions and a stance on the
socio-political issue. They will discuss their
opinions with their friends and their friends
might have different opinions and stances
which may lead to conflicts and arguments
between them. Constant arguments could
lead to their friendship breaking which will
have a negative impact on their social self.
When young people participate actively in
socio-political activities (e.g.anti-extradition),
they have a high sense of identity as local
citizens. However, not all people in society
hold the same belief in particular social
affairs like blue and yellow camps. Therefore,
they may have divergent opinions about an
issue, leading to more conflicts between
them. Eventually, it will worsen their
relationship which will also harm social self
development.
However, when young citizens take part in
socio-political activities, they may have
friends who oppose them or do not support
their participation in these activities,
arguments arise between friends and their
friendship is worsened or they eventuallylose
those friends./ “unfriend someone with
different views→ lose friends
With higher socio-political participation,
young people may post comments/ express
their views online regarding social affairs. As
the Internet allows them to share their
opinions anonymously, they would not be
worried about others’ perceptions of them,
thus they may post hateful/ harsh comments
when they encounter people with different
opinions online, bullying is more likely to
 happen which worsen interpersonal
relationship and their social development.
With higher socio-political participation,
they may have more conflicts with their
family/ parents on different political views/
means of expressing opinion/ safety in
participating in demonstration and social
movement etc. More frequent argument leads
to poorer communication and less sharing of
in-depth feelings.

Moral self Values? Differentiating right from wrong? Young people may meet similar minds
during socio-political participation and
With the active socio-political participation, satisfy their social needs. However, they
they know more about different views in may be easily influenced by others and they
may participate in some radical
the society and build up their stance to the
demonstrations and violate laws. They are
recent events in society. They can learn
not able to judge whether an issue is right
how to differentiating right from wrong
or wrong. This may twist their moral value
according to their own knowledge instead
that believing it is fine to solve problems
of just following others. Also, they can
and achieve goals with aggressive and
learn what the government or citizens
violent means.
should do for the society through the
socio-political participation. This can build
up their value on what their responsibilities
are. Thus, their moral self-development
improved.

Young people active socio-political

participation would have a positive impact
on moral self. The young people know
more about the current situation through
joining their political activities. They
understand different stances and views of
stakeholders. Eventually, they can develop/
establish correct moral values. According to
Source B, the youngsters felt dissatisfied
about the bill and they started to question
the actions taken by the government are
correct or not. This shows that the
youngsters will not blindly follow either the
government or the people around them.
They develop the ability of judging right or
wrong. This improves their moral self.

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 Young people get to see different
perspectives through social medias, news
etc. then they can have a better
understanding on the intention of various
policies and events(fighting for rights/
opposing to laws)→ As they can see things
objectively, they can judge themselves the
right and wrong doings of various political
affairs with proves, then determine their
level of participation/events they want to
take part of→ Through critically thinking,
they can learn the ethics behind and
positively affect their moral development.

Academic Academic performance? With active socio-political participation→

self
Active socio-political participation
improves young people’s critical thinking.
The participation allows them to understand
the current issues from diffrent perspectives
which facilitate them to think more
critically but not in a biased manner. They
can distinguish whether the government’s
policies are effective from different
perspectives. This is an important skill for
our studies.
The active socio-political participation
improves young people’s presentation and
organisation skills. They can learn how to
express their ideas in an organised manner//
more persuasively. These can improve their
academic performance in relevant areas,e.g.
LS, history, Chinese/English speaking and
writing…
spend lots of time on it→ less time to do
revision or homework→ affect academic
performance negatively→ worsen academic
self and personal growth
Young people spend too much time on
participating social affairs. They may not be
able to manage the time between studying
and participating political activities e.g.
Occupy Central, anti-extradition bill
movement. This affects their academic
results and this affects their academic self.
Young people may focus too much on
socio-political events. They go to join
protests e.g. regularly or constantly check
their phones for new information and
updates. They may neglect their study/ they
may join the class boycott/ they fail to show
up in class/ attend lessons and hand in
assignments on time. They may have no
time to do their homework or do revision//
they stayed in occupied areas/ were engaged
in frontline protest. As a result, they will
have bad academic performance.

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Self-esteem Five different senses?
With higher socio-political participation,
young people use more channels to voice
their opinions (e.g. consultation and use
social networking media platform to
express their ideas), they attract people with
same views and demands to gather together
and become more active in social and
political affairs. Therefore, they feel like
their opinions are heard and valued/ they
can find the support from people around
them and improves their sense of
connection to the student groups→ improve
relationship and affiliation to the group→
improving self-esteem
Feeling satisfied when holding events/
calling people to join them? Being
recognised easily? Improve self-worth?
Sense of personal competence??
Young people are easily influenced by their
peers, some of them actively participate in
socio-political events because of the fear of
being isolated. They may not have their
own opinions/ not clear about their
viewpoints, they don’t know their
individuality but simply follow the “suit”
→ sense of uniqueness will decrease→ low
sense of self esteem
Young people are more radical?? Take more
aggressive means e.g. …? Maybe charged?
Difficult to get an offer? Worsen future
prospect in studies/ career?
These lead to doubts... question
themselves… worsen self-worth?
Self-efficacy? Sense of competence?

Life-skills When they are organising and planning for /

the socio-political events(e.g.
demonstration), they need to develop an
effective communication and decision
making because they have to gather to
discuss about their following movement.

During their socio-political participation,

they use different channels(e.g. telegram,
open a group on Facebook or Instagram) to
communicate with each other in order to
keep track of movements of other protestors
and the government. They express various
views and communicate with each other on
the following movement until they reach an
agreement on the planning. This improves
their communication skills.

Young people with active socio-political

participation concern a lot about different
social and political issues,e.g.poverty,
unemployment. They will be eager to
understand these problems and try to think
about the solutions. As a result, they can
develop problem-solving skills.// they have
solve the technical and other problems that
happen during the protests…
Through joining different socio-political
activities,e.g. Occupy Central, they can
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 meet more people who have same stances
and demand. They communicate with one
another to share their opinions. This can
develop their communication skills, which
is an important life skill. Young people use
social networking media such as LIHKG to
organise and promote various events,e.g.
protests. They can develop leadership skills
and learn how to organise activities.
Time-management skills (to strike a
balance between their studies and
socio-political participation)

Sense of Sense of local and national identity By active socio-political participation→

identity Three levels… know about different policies and know
more about the government’s problems/
limitations and issues. Recognising so
By active socio-political participation, they
many problems, they feel very disappointed
pay more attention to the situation (e.g.
by their government, so that worsen (or
current social and political issues) and the
doubt) their sense of identity both locally
new policies initiated by the government
and nationally.
(Cognitive awareness). Young people are
more willing to contribute more in order to
build a better society (behavioural level). WHO AM I?????
For instance, they are more likely to
propose policies and opinions to the
government in order to make it happen.
This can improve the young people’s sense
of belonging because they consider they are
more like an important member of their
community(emotional attachment) e.g.
Occupy Central.

When young people participate in

socio-political activities actively, they have
more chances to access related information,
so that they can understand the situation in
Hong Kong, their awareness towards Hong
Kong is raised. They like Hong Kong and
want her to have a better future so they care
more about Hong Kong consequently.
Therefore, young people are willing to
contribute to the society and participate in
more events.
As a result, their sense of identity as Hong
Kong residents increased. Young people’s
sense of identity towards their community
will increase from cognitive or emotional

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levels to a behavioural level e.g. sacriface
their time to fight for…so as to protect the
political rights/ well-being of the society
and the future generation.

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Assignment 5

1. Consider the following sources:

Source A: Frequency of protests, rallies and processions within the Anti-Extradition Bill camp
and Pro-Extradition Bill camp in 2019

Figure 1 Number of protests, rallies and processions of the Anti-Extradition Bill camp and
Pro-Extradition Bill camp, by attendance size of over 10,000 and by month
(Source: Hong Kong Public Opinion Research Institute)

Source B: Adapted from newspaper commentaries in 2020

It is believed that arguments over the universal suffrage have led to more and more
social-political movements in Hong Kong nowadays. In fact, under the protection of the Basic
Law and the Hong Kong Bill of Rights Ordinance, Hong Kong residents have the basic rights to
participate in public meetings and processions. It reflects that Hong Kong is a city of freedom.
At the same time, these social movements make it easier for the government to understand
public opinions.

According to a survey conducted by the Chinese University of Hong Kong in 2019, two-thirds
of the people reflected that public meetings and public processions become one of the most usual
ways to voice complaint to the government. About 70% agreed that the public must adhere to a
peaceful, rational and non-violent approach. About 64% of them disagreed with the use of
radical measures to force the government to respond to individual demands. However, some
demonstrators believed that peaceful assembly is not enough to highlight the urgency of issues
and more intense actions are required. In recent years, the number of prosecution cases over
illegal actions, such as torching rubbish bins and setting road barricade, has increased. This
indicates that social movements may disrupt social order. The Police are imposing conditions on
public processions more frequently to safeguard the law and order. For a few times, they
restricted the duration and areas of the protests for security issues. Yet, they are being criticized
for reducing the chance of citizen to take part in socio-political activities.

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(a) Using Source A, describe TWO features of the socio-political participation in Hong Kong.
(4 marks)
Features Description
• Name 2 distinct features (Consider both the • Provide evidence from Source A to explain
overall picture and the cross-group comparison) (data)
Topic Sentence:

The first feature is…

Topic Sentence:

The second feature is…

(b) “Imposing conditions on the public processions can help government administration.” With
reference to the sources, elaborate on ONE argument for and ONE argument against this statement.
(8 marks)
Define keywords (e.g. Imposing conditions, government administration…)
Imposing conditions→ add restrictions e.g.??? (source B)
Government administration→ ???

• Students can use the following structure when writing up the argument:
Arguments FOR / AGAINST Explanation (with evidence from Sources A and B)
the statement
Topic Sentence: Evidence:
• In Source ___, …
The argument for the statement is…
Elaboration:
• This shows that…
• s
Concluding line:
Therefore, imposing conditions on the public processions
can help government administration. of the traditional
Topic Sentence: Evidence:
• In Source ___, …
The argument against the statement is…
Elaboration:
• This shows that…
•
Concluding line:
Therefore, imposing conditions on the public processions
cannot help government administration.

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Assignment 5 Date: _________________

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