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Crafting the Financial-Subject: A Qualitative Study of Young Workers’ Experiences in Financialised Pension Investment in Hong Kong

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 April 2019

TAT CHOR AU-YEUNG  and
KA KI CHAN
TAT CHOR AU-YEUNG
Affiliation:
Department of Sociological Studies, University of Sheffield, UK email: tcau-yeung1@sheffield.ac.uk
KA KI CHAN
Affiliation:
Department of Social Work, Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong, China email: kaki01@hkbu.edu.hk
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Abstract

This article applies the concepts of the financial-subject and micro-foundation of financialisation to young workers’ experiences with Hong Kong’s financialised pension regime. The results of our qualitative analysis show that many respondents doubt and belittle their financial investment for retirement. In response to the compulsory investment required by the government and the fact that their aspirations for security in later life seemed unfulfilled, some young workers undertook ‘uninformed’ investment and ‘age-led’ risk taking. The findings also show that employment precarity translates into investment precarity owing to workers’ unstable incomes and contributions; labour inequalities are reflected in financial inequalities. Arguably, the neoliberal crafting of the young financial-subject, including constructions of financial irresponsibility, irrationality, and illiteracy, is fraught with tensions, turning workers into investors and using finance to satisfy socio-economic needs. It contributes to social policy studies by connecting selfhood and institutions, and calls for questions about the future of financialised pensions.

Keywords

Financial-subjectentrepreneurial selfmicro-foundation of financialisationyoung workerspension investmentHong Kong
Type
Article
Information
Journal of Social Policy , Volume 49 , Issue 2 , April 2020 , pp. 323 - 341
Copyright
© Cambridge University Press 2019

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