Understanding Social Divides in the Hong Kong 2019 Unrest: A Combination of Person- and Variable-Centred Approaches

Abstract

This research combined person- and variable-centred approaches to examine whether (a) core values, (b) perceptions of the political system's legitimacy and (c) attitudes towards Hong Kong–Mainland China integration underlie the Yellow versus Blue politicized collective identities that emerged during the Hong Kong 2019 social unrest. Data were gathered from a representative sample of 2003 Hong Kong residents through a telephone survey. Latent profile analysis of elements (a–c) identified four distinct latent classes that aligned with the Yellow–Blue identities. Membership in these classes predicted support for collective actions that challenged (e.g., protests against the government) versus defended the authority, and the associated solutions to mitigate the social schism. The person-centred approach also detected attributes (including political affiliation, Chinese identification, age and education level) that differentiated the four latent classes. Our approach can be adapted to identify elements that may characterize politicized identity groups in other social movements.