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This study examines older persons’ hopes, fears and expectations for the future, a topic little explored in Hong Kong. The study of twenty-five people aged 65-85 years adopts a qualitative approach to explore the experiences that shape older persons’ views of their future lives. Three models emerged from the empirical study, namely The Model of Resignation, The Model of Predestination and The Model of Adaptation. The findings suggest that respondents who had and still have little social support from friends tend to live very much in the present; they do not look forward to the future nor do they have a strong anticipatory sense of it. In addition, the research identifies “turning points” related to life events mainly in the domain of marriage, health, work and living arrangements that shape people’s attitudes toward their future. Turning points are identified by individuals as a moment when life is redirected into a different path. Turning points continue to influence subsequent events over their life-course. The concept of turning points helps us understand the life trajectories and transitions throughout the life-course. The research also identifies variables that influence respondents’ perceptions of their future. This research indicates that current living environment and living environment does not appear to play an important part in how respondents view their future. Respondents who believed they had performed their responsibilities to their family and society or have strong religious belief did not report any fears related to their health. Respondents who failed to maintain good marital relationships in the past or in the present did not create future hopes in the domain of social relationships. The study further investigates how older people translate their future hopes into daily activities and how they obstruct fears of the future. Furthermore, the research finds that respondents reported their own health and the well-being of their family members as the most important life domain. The research provides both formal and informal caregivers with ideas suited to motivating older persons to think positively about their daily lives and their future.

Mass tutoring on senior secondary curricula, with specific focus on examination syllabi and techniques, has expanded rapidly in Hong Kong in the recent decade. Through semi-structured in-depth interviews, conducted in summer 2007, with 20 certificate level (Secondary 4 and 5) and 21 advanced level (Secondary 6 and 7) students with various level of involvement in mass tutoring, this study discovered: (1) Risk awareness and future-oriented mentality: Students expected that mass tutoring could help improve their performance in public examinations, and could secure good grades. To them, better grades mean higher chance to get a recognized qualification, fulfil their career aspiration, and secure a better life in the uncertain future. (2) Individualization of decisions and choices: Students thought that they should be responsible and accountable for their own life-choices. The decision to enrol in mass tutoring was made on their own. When they needed advice on choices of tutors, they referred to the opinions from the schoolmates with similar learning experience and academic performance as themselves. In order to locate the most suitable tutors, some students even collected various tutors’ lecture notes or recordings for comparison, or attended free-of-charge trial lessons before finalizing their choices. (3) Individual reflexivity and conditional trust on authority: In terms of enhancement of academic performance, a number of students trusted cram school tutors more than daytime school teachers, as they thought the former more familiar with the examination requirement than the latter. Nevertheless, they did not completely trust their tutors. They evaluated from time to time the effectiveness and suitability of the tutorials they were attending, and discontinued and made changes if necessary. (4) Detraditionalization of schooling values: Students viewed senior secondary education different from more idealistic lifelong learning. In their eyes, getting good grades and preparing for good prospect in further studies and career are of utmost importance in senior secondary schooling. Some of them even preferred daytime school teachers to adopt cram school tutors’ approach. With the above findings, the study argues that the microscopic phenomenon of blossoming mass tutoring enrolment is a reflection of the macroscopic risk culture of late modernity, which has been addressed by Anthony Giddens and Ulrich Beck. The study unfolds several specific qualities of individual life and social environment in the post-industrial era. To deal with the uncertain social environment, individuals prefer adapting to the existing social order rather than imposing changes to the external social environment. Appreciated traditional values not conforming to the modern social order will only be practised only after an individual has achieved ontological security in the highly modernized social environment. Individuals are locked in a cage where they had to endlessly appeal to uncertain measures to deal with the uncertainties embedded in daily life. This study also reveals the unbalanced power between individuals and social structure in the structuration process, and the disparity in power of risk negotiation due to wealth difference in the highly modernized environment, which were under-examined by the proponents of the late modernity paradigm.

Hong Kong is one of Asia’s more demographically-aged cities, with 14% of population aged 65+ in 2012, projected to be 23% by 2025. Facilities and transport are generally good by world standards although the urban environment may not consistently be particularly ‘age-friendly’. Drawing on a range of urban sub-areas, this research investigated the ‘age-friendliness’ of Tuen Mun, a ‘new town’ of half a million population in Hong Kong. This study was also interested in socio-cultural variables and age-friendly cities (AFC) characteristics in its predominantly Chinese population, and relationships with psychological well-being (PWB). A total of 503 participants aged 50 years or above were interviewed in a face-to-face questionnaire survey in Tuen Mun. Two focus groups were held afterwards as a post facto evaluation to ascertain and explain the findings of the survey. Among the WHO’s original eight AFC domains, in this study ‘Social participation’ scored the highest AFC rating. ‘Housing’, ‘Civic participation and employment’, and ‘Community support and health services’ perhaps surprisingly scored the lowest. Interestingly, the ‘higher social group’ (i.e. respondents from private housing, with a higher education attainment and household income) tended to be less satisfied with the AFC domains than the lower social group. An important contribution of this study is therefore to show the importance of considering social variations in attitudes to AFC characteristics, as perceptions/expectations of AFC might vary across different social groups. This study also addressed the potential role of AFC characteristics in influencing older persons’ PWB. AFC, especially the ‘software’ aspects related to social support, were found to have the strongest positive correlations with PWB. A newly-proposed ‘Food and shopping’ dimension appeared to be a salient factor affecting PWB, showing such ‘lifestyle’ items should be included in AFC in Asian settings. The policy implications and the value of the AFC concept in cities such as Hong Kong are discussed.

In July of 2021, thousands of people took to the streets in different cities of the United States in demand of military intervention by the U.S. government and freedom for the people of Cuba. This study aims to explore the motivation behind the Florida-based Cuban American popula-tion to engage in acts of civic protest. The study explains the unique characteristics of the Cuban American Immigrant group in the United States influencing social movement participation. The study provides an analysis of the background of the S.O.S. Cuba movement. To accomplish this, in-depth focus groups were conducted to explore the opinions, reactions, and perspectives among the Cuban American population regarding S.O.S. Cuba. In these focus groups, participants shared their experiences, their Cuban identity, and how that identity has played a major role in informing their actions in the U.S. A qualitative content analysis revealed interviews four major: dictatorship trauma, detachment, gratitude to the U.S. government, and a history of sacrifice, struggles, and sadness. These prominent themes, along with their sub-themes, are used to understand why Cuban Americans, as a group, have been found to refrain from participating in major social movements and the influence of the S.O.S Cuba movement on the changing attitudes of political participation.

No description available.

No description available.