Value Shift or Suspension? Hong Kong Youth under Economic Precarity and Political Inhibition

Commentators and scholars have considered the shift to post-material value orientation among young people in Hong Kong as a driver of the rise of social mobilization since the 2000s. However, post-materialism is theoretically premised on a sense of security. As young people face both economic precarity and political inhibition in the post–National Security Law era, will their value orientation shift? We use an interpretive approach to address this question. While survey data show a rise of materialism, focus group data suggest that young people’s value orientation can best be understood as suspended post-materialism. Changing economic and political conditions have led young people to reconsider the feasibility and even desirability of certain non-material goals at the societal level. Yet they can remain committed to non-material goals at the personal or community level. The findings have implications for value change in Hong Kong and the study of post-materialism in general.