ABSTRACT PRINCIPLE VERSUS CONCRETE INTEREST: A STUDY OF EDUCATION AND POLITICAL OPINION IN HONG KONG.

HONG Kong (China); CHINA

The article examines the impact of education on the political opinion of people in Hong Kong, China. Education is one of the most important factors affecting people's political opinions. Also, people with different levels of education form their opinions in different processes and take different things into consideration as bases of opinions. The article analyzes the influences of education on whether, and to what extent, people accept and apply abstract principles and specific interest considerations in forming their opinions. Early research on the impact of education on political opinions was dominated by the enlightenment view, which treats education as a positive political socializing agent. Researchers have found that educated people more often possess sophistication traits such as attitude consistencies and higher levels of abstraction in political thinking and that they adhere more strongly to the dominant norms and values in a society. Educated people also exhibit different reasoning processes when compared with the less educated.