Hong Kong was not spared the global economic downturn. Unemployment remained high and a sense of pessimism abounded, with tragic stories of those unable to cope taking their own lives. For society as a whole, this was a wake up call, where it was being asked to look inward and identify areas where support and preventative action could be taken. The question emerged - what role did the family, the neighbourhood, school, workplace and religious groups play and what was their bearing on the issue of Social Capital?

A territory-wide Survey was conducted to assess the inter-connectedness, mutual trust and support of the people of Hong Kong in the areas of family, neighbourhood, school, workplace and religious group. These are called the “Five Systems” in this Study. 

The Survey was conducted from 20 March to 4 April 2002.  By random sampling, 2,026 Hong Kong people aged 15 or above, were successfully polled.  Of the total, 329 were aged between 15 and 24, with the remaining 1,669 over 24 years old.  To avoid an uneven age distribution, the Study adopted a weighting method to adjust the proportion of respondents’ ages to keep them in line with the age proportion in the 2001 Census. Of the 2,026 respondents, 249 were students, while 1,018 were employed. 566 claimed to have some sort of religious belief.

The major findings are as follows:

(1)      With regard to “Social Networks”: 

a.           The Family System: In general, the people of Hong Kong have close relationships with their families.  “Family” was rated highly by the respondents, who also claimed that the daily average time spent talking to family members was 85 minutes. 

b.          The Neighbour System: Respondents show a weak connection with their communities, with 80% not participating in any community activity, while more than 60% knew none or few neighbours. 

c.          The School System: Respondents at school have in general a closer connection with their schools, with about 75% saying that they frequently attended gatherings for schoolmates.

d.          The Workplace System: Employed respondents had an average connection with their workplace, with 35% claiming that they seldom, or never, attended gatherings for their workmates.

e.          The Religious System: Respondents who claimed to have belief in religion had a loose connection with their religious groups, with 40% stating that they had not participated in any religious assembly. 

 (2)     With regard to “Trust”: 

a.       The Family System:  Respondents have a greater trust in their family members, with the family having a key role to play in offering support.  56% of youth respondents said their mothers were the most reliable members of the family, while 34% of adult respondents relied on their spouses.

b.   The Neighbour System: Respondents have the least trust in neighbours, with   63.8% believing that none of their neighbours were reliable.

c.      The School System: Respondents at school have comparatively greater trust in their schoolmates, but 18.3% of them said they could not trust their teachers.

d.      The Workplace System: About 20% of the employed respondents said no colleague or supervisor was trustworthy.

e.      The Religious System: 43.1% of respondents who claimed to have religious faith did not believe that even one of their religious associates was trustworthy. 

 (3)     With regard to “Reciprocity”: 

a.           The Family System: It is common for family members to help one another.  However, youth seems less spontaneous than adults in offering help to family members.

b.          The Neighbour System: Mutually beneficial relations are not common among neighbours.  The concept of neighbourliness is fairly weak among youth.

c.          The School System: Schoolmates are more willing to help one another.  However, respondents are less likely to volunteer help to their schoolmates in dealing with difficulties in studies. 

d.          The Workplace System: Help offered by the respondents to their colleagues is basically work-oriented. 

e.          The Religious System: It is not a common practice for religious associates to help one another. 

The major observations from the findings are as follows: 

1.   Unemployed respondents have a weaker link with their families and neighbours 

2.  There are always some groups within society that are alienated from the system. They trust nobody and do not participate in any activity or gathering.  This situation deserves greater attention. 

3.  People who retired have a weaker connection with family, but they are comparatively more active in the community, with which they have a certain connection. 

4.  Housekeepers are comparatively more active in community participation; they have a higher degree of connection and greater sense of belonging to the community. 

5.  Figures show that the more educated the respondent, the higher the rate of attending family gatherings, reflecting that they held a high value to the quality of family relations. 

6. Respondents living in private housing knew less about their neighbours, and were less likely to attend neighbourhood gatherings. 

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