Author

Ho Man LEUNG

Date of Award

9-7-2016

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Philosophy (MPHIL)

Department

Sociology and Social Policy

First Advisor

Prof. CHEN Hon Fei

Second Advisor

Prof. Peter William BAEHR

Abstract

The Occupy Movement is one of the most significant civic events in recent Hong Kong History. This thesis is an attempt to make a comprehensive understanding of the movement by analyzing the actual movement activities and illustrating occupiers’ justification of actions. Three major issues are of concern here. First, what actually happened during the movement? Second, why did the occupiers join the movement? Lastly, how did the occupiers justify their actions during the movement? In this regard, the concepts of repertoire, framing and vision, will be employed to guide this study. Considering the three main factions of the movement, including the left, localism and non-aligned occupiers, a series of in-depth interviews with occupiers of various factions are conducted to collect data. I argue that different factions share common instrumental tactics and strategies generally during the movement. Yet, different ways of interpreting the tortuous progress of democratization in Hong Kong have brought changes to the prevailing pattern of the actions which emphasized the tranquility and non-violence, and led to an internal strife between the localist occupiers and the others. Moreover, the non-aligned and leftist occupiers justified and identified their actions and reasoning with the communal and the economic visions of society respectively. However, instead of a vision of society, localist occupiers’ actions and rationales disclosed a vision of violence. That is the major difference between the localist faction and other factions of the movement.

Recommended Citation

Leung, H. M. (2016). Repertoire, framing and visions: The occupy movement in Hong Kong (Master's thesis, Lingnan University, Hong Kong). Retrieved from http://commons.ln.edu.hk/soc_etd/40

Included in

Sociology Commons

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