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The Promotion of Socially Inclusive East Asian Society: the Hong Kong Case

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Abstract

This study explores ethnic minority youths’ experiences of discrimination via the conceptual framework of social cohesion + social justice (inclusive of social harmony) = a socially inclusive Hong Kong. A small-scale qualitative research study was employed consisting of two focus groups, which included 13 ethnic-Pakistani aged 12- to 17-year olds in Hong Kong. All interviews were transcribed verbatim and analyzed using thematic analysis. In this study, Pakistani school-going youth reported experiencing different levels of discrimination. Two central themes emerged in the conceptualization of discrimination: (a) gender discrimination in youth’s own ethnic community and larger society reported by female Pakistani youth and (b) ethnic discrimination in broader Hong Kong society, mostly reported by male Pakistani youth. The findings of this study may highlight the importance of social cohesion, defined as unity among all members of a community for the betterment of society, which can be integrated into practice and implemented in social policy.

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Funding

The writing of this manuscript was partially supported by the Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Sociology & Social Policy, Lingnan University, Hong Kong SAR, People’s Republic of China

    Gizem Arat

  2. Department of Asian and Policy Studies, The Education University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, People’s Republic of China

    Gizem Arat & Narine N. Kerelian

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  1. Gizem Arat
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  2. Narine N. Kerelian
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Correspondence to Gizem Arat.

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The Human Research Ethics Committee for Non-Clinical Faculties (reference number: EA271114) approval was obtained prior to participant recruitment.

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This manuscript has not been published elsewhere and is not under review by any other journal. Nevertheless, this manuscript reports the findings generated from this study is a part of PhD study of Dr. Gizem Arat “Culturally specific resilience processes of health-risk behaviors among Pakistani and Indian youth in the Hong Kong context: a mixed-methods study.” Thus, the content in the Introduction, Methodology, and Results with content in other prepared articles but which then report on the findings of this manuscript and others making them different from one another.

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Arat, G., Kerelian, N.N. The Promotion of Socially Inclusive East Asian Society: the Hong Kong Case. J. Hum. Rights Soc. Work 4, 275–284 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41134-019-00107-y

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