Do education and occupation associate with online and real-life civic participation?–an exploratory quantitative study on civic participation of Hong Kong young people

This article reports the quantitative findings on whether education and occupation associate with the online and offline civic participation of Hong Kong Chinese young people. It would present an exploratory study about the association between education and civic engagement because the existing literature comes from Western democracies. About 953 valid online questionnaires were collected after the enactment of a new and comprehensive National Security Law in 2020. The findings revealed that education and occupation are positively associated with several forms of online and offline civic participation among young people. Education is associated with joining groups or associations, reading newspapers, paying attention to debates on controversial issues on television, interest in local political and social issues, interest in national political and social issues, and interest in international politics. This exploratory study also confirms the association between occupation and offline civic participation, online civic participation, and interest in political and social issues. Policy makers and educators should prepare engaging youth in online and real-life civic participation.