Unintended Hegemonic Consequences of State Action: The Case of Incomplete Institutional Absorption of Chinese Schools in Colonial Hong Kong

• In Event: 63.068 - Asia as Method: Interreferencing Discourses of Culture, Politics, and Hegemony in Asia

Abstract

Objectives/Purposes
Using the case of Chinese schools in post-Second World War Hong Kong, this paper explores the unintended consequences of an incomplete hegemonic project. Unlike many other Southeast Asian societies with a large number of schools operated by the Chinese citizenry, Chinese schools in Hong Kong have never united their efforts to campaign for advancing their positions. I attempt to resolve this historical puzzle in this paper.

Theoretical Framework
The theoretical framework of this article will be drawn from Antonio Gramsci’s notion of hegemony and Michael Apple’s idea of cultural incorporation. Inspired by Gramsci, Apple proposed the concept of cultural incorporation in his seminal volume Official Knowledge (1993), suggesting that the ruling class can perpetuate their supremacy by accommodating, instead of eliminating, the culture of subordinated. In this paper I seek to go beyond Apple by contending that (1) cultural incorporation can be an unintended consequence of ruling class’s actions; and (2) hegemonic consequences can also emerge when the incorporation of subordinated cultures is incomplete.

Method of Analysis
My arguments are developed through the method of historical sociology. I began by using theories of hegemony and cultural incorporation to look at politics of Chinese education in post-WWII Hong Kong; and then, through the anomalies exposed by history I refine the theory. The paper’s theoretical claims are products of repeated interrogations between theory and history.

Data Sources
The data consists of both primary and secondary sources. Secondary sources include books and journal articles on related topics; primary data are from newspapers, declassified official files, and published governmental materials.

Substantiated Conclusions
In postwar Hong Kong the Chinese schools have never staged a united campaign for the betterment of their positions because the state’s partial incorporation of Chinese institutions fragmented them into three major categories of schools, namely, government, state-subsidized, and private. This incomplete incorporation of Chinese schools came as a result of the convergence of a string of conjunctural factors, including forces propelling the regime to be more active in providing and funding education (such as postwar anti-colonial pressure in international arena and rising educational demands in the local setting) and those checking the authorities from over-committing in education (such as the fact that postwar Hong Kong remained a British possession).

Significance
This paper surpasses existing formulations on hegemony and education by pointing out that hegemony should not be conceived only as a conscious, conspiratorial project, for practices of the dominant group may produce unintended hegemonic consequences. Findings of the article also urge us to examine very carefully the extent of compromise the powerful have actually conceded, as incomplete concessions can also have distinct hegemonic effects.

Author

• Ting-Hong Wong, Academia Sinica