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Sub-State Identity Conception: Applying ISSP Measures at Territorial Autonomy Level

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Abstract

The International Social Survey Programme National Identity Module has been widely applied at sovereign state level, contributing to a large body of comparative literature on state identity conception. However, comparative identity survey studies at the territorial autonomy level, where the conception of sub-state identities is often highly contentious, remain rare. This study fills this research gap by testing the sources and consequences of sub-state identity conception in the context of territorial autonomies, using Hong Kong as the testing site. The results indicate that the Hongkonger identity is closely tied to cultural and political identity markers, with such a cultural-political identity conception significant in predicting people’s aspiration for Hong Kong’s autonomy. Fostering comparative identity survey studies beyond sovereign states, this study generates a new set of hypotheses to be further tested across territorial autonomies worldwide.

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Notes

  1. A major exception is the adoption of the ISSP questionnaire in Van der Zwet’s study (2015) on the identity conception of members of the Scottish National Party (SNP) in Britain and Frisian National Party (FNP) in the Netherlands. However, this study’s focus is not designed as a study of the popular conception of sub-state identity at the territorial autonomy level, but a membership study of the SNP and FNP.

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  1. College of Social Sciences, National Sun Yat-Sen University, No. 70, Lienhai Rd., Kaohsiung, 80424, Taiwan, R.O.C.

    Brian C. H. Fong

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The author developed this study on the basis of a mega telephone survey dataset, which has been partially used in his two other journal articles recently published by Democratization (see Fong, Brian C. H. 2022. Movement-Voting Nexus in Hybrid Regimes: Voter Mobilization in Hong Kong’s Anti-Extradition Bill Movement, Democratization, DOI: 10.1080/13510347.2022.2037566) and Nations and Nationalism (see Fong, B. C. H. 2022. Peripheral Resistance Movements: Towards A Triangulated Research Approach. Nations and Nationalism, 28(4), 1173–1192). The author declared that the research questions, theories, hypotheses, and findings of this study are completely distinct from the two articles published in Democratization and Nations and Nationalism.

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Disclaimer This study seeks to offer scholarly, descriptive analyses of actors, events, forces, and trends relating to Hong Kong’s identity politics. It does not express the author’s personal, prescriptive view on the constitutional development of Hong Kong. It also does not reflect the official position of National Sun Yat-sen University, Taiwan.

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Fong, B.C.H. Sub-State Identity Conception: Applying ISSP Measures at Territorial Autonomy Level. Soc Indic Res 165, 919–940 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-022-03033-1

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