Fair trade and community supported agriculture (CSA) as middle class social movements in Hong Kong

Abstract

This thesis seeks to understand why certain segments of the Hong Kong middle class are choosing to mobilize around issues of Fair Trade and Community Supported Agriculture (CSA). It utilizes a case study approach to address the key research question as to why these social phenomena have arisen in such an unlikely setting as Hong Kong, one of the world's most capitalist and urbanized societies. In addition, the thesis interrogates whether the alternative food networks (AFNs) of Fair Trade and CSA can be considered new social movements (NSMs) by examining the extent to which they engage with NSM theories. It explores how issues of identity, ideology and morality intersect and influence the lifestyles and practices of the participants and suggests that these members of the middle class may, indeed, constitute a new social category in Hong Kong.The research was conducted in Hong Kong over a period of four months using a qualitative case study approach. The participants' values, beliefs and attitudes to the environment, sustainable development and global trade are explored through twenty four in-depths interviews. Documentary evidence and participant observation of farmers'