Explaining confidence in the police within transitional Hong Kong: the influence of postmaterial values

The Hong Kong Police Force (HKPF) has a tradition for being among the most respected national police organisations globally. More recent political events in Hong Kong have however placed the HKPF in highly visible public order situations. A wide array of political factions have emerged as a conseque...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: McCarthy, Daniel (Author)
Contributors: Stoneman, Paul ; Ho, Lawrence K. K.
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
Published: 2023
In: Policing and society
Year: 2023, Volume: 33, Issue: 1, Pages: 96-110
Online Access: Presumably Free Access
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Keywords:
Hong Kong
Police
Postmaterialism
police trust
Description
Summary:The Hong Kong Police Force (HKPF) has a tradition for being among the most respected national police organisations globally. More recent political events in Hong Kong have however placed the HKPF in highly visible public order situations. A wide array of political factions have emerged as a consequence of the handover of control in Hong Kong, many of which have involved young people protesting the curtailment of democratic rights. In this paper, we utilise Wave 7 of the World Values Survey (n = 2075). We utilise Inglehart’s (1971. The silent revolution in Europe: intergenerational change in post-industrial societies. American political science review, 65 (4), 991–1017) concept of postmaterialism to examine how far young people’s more negative attitudes to the police can be underpinned by cohort-based (or generational) explanations. Our findings identify associations between postmaterialist values and lower confidence in the police. Those that favoured stricter immigration controls, experienced higher fear of crime, perceived drug selling in their area, and consumed certain types of media (notably television and new media) were also less likely to have confidence in the HKPF.
ISSN:1477-2728
DOI:10.1080/10439463.2022.2055019