Prejudice and cultural generalizations in Hong Kong students’ discourse
Hans J. Ladegaard | The English Department, Hong Kong Baptist University
This article analyzes how a group of Hong Kong students talk about people in other countries in an informal group discussion. The focus is on the discursive construction of outgroup stereotypes, and the analyses show that the attitudes discussed in the group are highly variable, even contradictory — across as well as within individual group members. Discursive Psychology is used as the theoretically informed analytic approach for the analysis, and Social Identity Theory (Tajfel) and Self-Categorization Theory (Turner) are proposed as the overall theoretical frameworks which seem to encompass the different themes uncovered in the analyses. The article argues that personal experience, rhetorical ends, and group dynamics are salient factors in terms of explaining the construction and nature of the stereotypes. Furthermore, it is argued that intergroup differentiation is important in accounting for the process of stereotype-construction, and that cognitive dissonance, as well as accusations of prejudiced identities, appear to have little noticeable effect on individual group members or intra-group harmony. Finally, the article argues that this group discussion could be seen as an example of predominant discourses and ideological positions about Western and Asian ‘others’ which exist in contemporary Hong Kong society.
2024. Media representations of foreign domestic helpers in Hong Kong: a corpus-assisted discourse analysis. Text & Talk 44:1 ► pp. 97 ff.
Chan, Hon Leung Clement
2023. Identity construction of Hong Kong returnees: stance taking and self-labelling in narratives. International Journal of the Sociology of Language 2023:281 ► pp. 129 ff.
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2021. Toward an inclination to advocate: a discursive study of teachers’ stance toward linguistically-responsive pedagogy in online language teacher education. Language and Education 35:1 ► pp. 60 ff.
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2020. Lateral-privatisation of the publics: Hong Kong’s spatial struggles. URBAN DESIGN International 25:3 ► pp. 266 ff.
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2020. Leading With Life. In Social Justice and Putting Theory Into Practice in Schools and Communities [Advances in Educational Technologies and Instructional Design, ], ► pp. 245 ff.
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2019. Discriminatory discursive strategies in online comments on YouTube videos on the Hong Kong Umbrella Movement by Mainland and Hong Kong Chinese. Discourse & Society 30:6 ► pp. 549 ff.
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2017. Stakeholders’ perceptions of language variation, English language teaching and language use: the case of Hong Kong. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development 38:1 ► pp. 2 ff.
Chan, Jim Yee Him
2018. Attitudes and identities in learning English and Chinese as a lingua franca: a bilingual learners’ perspective. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development 39:9 ► pp. 759 ff.
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2016. ‘Macao has died, traditional Chinese characters have died’: a study of netizens' comments on the choice of Chinese scripts in Macao. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development 37:6 ► pp. 564 ff.
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2015. Exploring second language speakers’ linguistic identities in ELF communication: a Hong Kong study. Journal of English as a Lingua Franca 4:2 ► pp. 309 ff.
Ladegaard, Hans J. & Ho Fai Cheng
2014. Constructing the cultural ‘other’: prejudice and intergroup conflict in university students' discourses about ‘the other’. Language and Intercultural Communication 14:2 ► pp. 156 ff.
Ladegaard, Hans J.
2011. Negotiation style, speech accommodation and small talk in Sino-Western business negotiations: A Hong Kong case study. Intercultural Pragmatics 8:2
Ladegaard, Hans J.
2012. The discourse of powerlessness and repression: Identity construction in domestic helper narratives1. Journal of Sociolinguistics 16:4 ► pp. 450 ff.
Ladegaard, Hans J.
2012. Discourses of identity: Outgroup stereotypes and strategies of discursive boundary-making in Chinese students’ online discussions about “the other”. Journal of Multicultural Discourses 7:1 ► pp. 59 ff.
Ladegaard, Hans J.
2013. Demonising the cultural Other: Legitimising dehumanisation of foreign domestic helpers in the Hong Kong press. Discourse, Context & Media 2:3 ► pp. 131 ff.
Ladegaard, Hans J.
2013. Beyond the reach of ethics and equity? Depersonalisation and dehumanisation in foreign domestic helper narratives. Language and Intercultural Communication 13:1 ► pp. 44 ff.
Ladegaard, Hans J.
2013. Laughing at Adversity. Journal of Language and Social Psychology 32:4 ► pp. 390 ff.
Ladegaard, Hans J.
2015. Personal Experience and Cultural Awareness as Resources in Teaching Intercultural Communication: A Hong Kong Case Study. In International Teaching and Learning at Universities, ► pp. 111 ff.
Ladegaard, Hans J.
2017. The disquieting tension of ‘the other’: international students’ experience of sojourn in Hong Kong. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development 38:3 ► pp. 268 ff.
Ladegaard, Hans J.
2019. Reconceptualising ‘home’, ‘family’ and ‘self’: identity struggles in domestic migrant worker returnee narratives. Language and Intercultural Communication 19:3 ► pp. 289 ff.
This list is based on CrossRef data as of 6 august 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers.
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