Hidden Youth”: a Critical Study of Socially Disengaged Young People in Hong Kong and Scotland
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This thesis has been submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for a postgraduate degree (e.g. PhD, MPhil, DClinPsychol) at the University of Edinburgh. Please note the following terms and conditions of use: This work is protected by copyright and other intellectual property rights, which are retained by the thesis author, unless otherwise stated. A copy can be downloaded for personal non-commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge. This thesis cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the author. The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the author. When referring to this work, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given. “Hidden Youth”: A Critical Study of Socially Disengaged Young People in Hong Kong and Scotland Mark Tsun On Wong PhD The University of Edinburgh 2016 Declaration I, Mark Tsun On Wong, declare that I have composed this thesis. It is entirely my own work and it has not been submitted for any other degree or professional qualification. Signed: Date: 11th November 2017 1 Abstract There has been growing interest in academic literature about young people who are marginalised and disengaged from society. This thesis focuses on young people in Hong Kong and Scotland who physically shut themselves in the bedroom and do not go outside for months and years on end. They are referred to as “hidden youth” in East Asia, and it has emerged as a topical social issue across the region in the past ten years. Previous research studying “hidden youth” (mainly in Japan and Hong Kong) highlights that there are structural barriers in contemporary society which could lead to young people becoming self-secluded. The young people are described as living reclusive and solitary lives, as they are excluded from participation in the labour market and education and disengaged from interactions with families and other communities, especially friends and peer groups. Hence, they are considered as “withdrawn” from society and disconnected from socialising. This thesis critically reflects on “hidden” young people’s sense of connectedness and “being social” based on their lived experience. It also draws on recent debates of the construction of the “social”, particularly in digital sociology, to shed light on the processes of socialising in the digital age. This study uncovered that how “hidden” young people socialise may in fact be heterogeneous. Variability in how they engage in interactions and participation in society was identified. There were also differences in their levels of solitude and loneliness. Hence, describing how the young people are “being social” could be more nuanced than previously thought. This also makes analysing them as “socially withdrawn” particularly problematic. This research uses a qualitative exploratory approach, looking comparatively across two contexts; 32 interviews were conducted with “hidden youth” in Hong Kong and Scotland. These two contexts are considered as instrumental examples, where social disengagements are especially prominent but discussed differently. The participants revealed various perceptions of hopelessness and lack of opportunities in work and education on the hand. This significantly affected their motivations to participate in employment and education; they could feel unable to fulfil their aspirations and become de-motivated. On the other hand, they were more interconnected with different groups of people in the digital world, and their interactions could be fluid. The space of the bedroom was highlighted as an important site where interactions could occur. This adds another dimension to consider how “hidden” young people interact, particularly with communities such as peer groups, friends and families. Moreover, digital interactions may also be important to how they socialise and experience a sense of connectedness. This highlights that there may be tensions in how young people’s motivations, as well as the opportunities they have, affect their engagements in digital and physical interactions. Therefore, this thesis argues that “hidden youth” could feel a sense of powerlessness towards hierarchical macro structures and meaninglessness towards interactions and participation in society. Conversely, they are relying on emerging digital social structures and networks to seek other forms of “being social”. Their high levels of digital interactions could in fact be a reaction to their experiences of un- fulfilment in the labour market and in education. This thesis makes an important contribution to understand “hidden youth” and adds a more nuanced perspective to this emerging debate. In addition, it points to further aspects that should be taken into account in future studies to fully comprehend the sociality of a young person and its complexities in the digital age. 2 Table of Contents Acknowledgements Chapter I — Introduction ................................................................................. 5 Chapter II — Literature Review ..................................................................... 12 Chapter III — Methodology ........................................................................... 48 Chapter IV — The Contexts of Hong Kong and Scotland ................................ 87 Chapter V — ‘What Future Do I Have?’: Exploring “Hidden” Young People’s Participation in the Labour Market and Education ........................................ 136 Chapter VI — ‘PC is So Much Better than Going Outside’: A Different Picture of “Hidden” Young People’s Engagements in Digital Interactions ................. 159 Chapter VII — Discussion ............................................................................ 194 Chapter VIII — Conclusion .......................................................................... 213 Bibliography ................................................................................................ 224 Appendix I — Interview Schedules Appendix II — Participant Information Sheets and Consent Forms Appendix III — Policy Brief 3 Acknowledgement s I would first like to thank my supervisors, Ingela Naumann and Sotiria Grek, who have provided an exceptional amount of guidance in every step of the journey of this PhD. Their advices and feedback were crucial to the development of this thesis and this study. It has been such a privilege to work with two very supportive, caring and patient supervisors. Thank you for always encouraging me to keep thinking critically and developing my own voice. Grateful thanks go to the School of Social and Political Science in University of Edinburgh for providing a financial award for the fieldwork conducted in this research. My thanks also go to the Non-Governmental Organisations and Schools in Hong Kong, Local Councils in Scotland, and YouthLink Scotland, for being willing to help with recruiting participants for this research. I am very grateful for the generosity and dedication shown by the youth work teams and management teams involved. The young people who took part in the interviews were integral to the insights developed in this study. My sincere gratitude goes to every single young individual who shared and opened up to me about their lives. I have valued and enjoyed most about being able to listen to their perspectives and self-reflections. Their help far exceeded what I had hoped to receive. Thank you for making the challenges of doing this study completely worth it. I would also like to thank all colleagues and friends in and outside of Edinburgh who had offered their help, intellectually and personally, throughout the course of this PhD. Finally, my heartfelt thanks go to my family. This work would not have been possible without the unending love and support I had received. Thanks to all of you who believed in me. 4 Chapter I — Introduction Nobody sees me anymore…I have been in my room, without playing PS3 or watching TV…Just sitting in the dark, texting my pals and that. —Gary, 15 years old, Scotland How long can someone stay in their bedroom and not go outside for? Weeks? Months? How about years? In April 2014, a young person who had shut himself in the bedroom for ten years attempted suicide in Hong Kong. This dominated the news headlines for days and created further public outcry for Hong Kong’s policy-makers and youth services to address the growing issue of “hidden youth” (Apple Daily 2014; Oriental Daily 2014). According to the news reports, the young person was found to live a very lonely, secluded life disengaging from the outside world. He was always in his bedroom and rarely got out of the house. He was also described as barely having any interactions with people, including friends, peers and neighbours. The young person lived with his father, but they had minimal interactions with each other. The father recalled that the way he communicated with his son was by writing and leaving post-it notes on the door, such as “dinner is ready in the fridge”. Nonetheless, the father also described how his son enjoyed being on the computer and playing online games. The newspapers published pictures of his bedroom, which was filled with boxes of computer games and figurines of game characters. Just days before his son attempted suicide, the father convinced him to take up an opportunity to work as a chef with his father’s friend. This was the first time he went outside in years. On the third