Hong Kong tops the most intolerant of other races list

[jonathan.lo]

One thing the survey does not take into consideration is the actual proximity to the foreign neighbour. Just an observation, but the places that ranked 'most intolerant' are also some of the most densely populated countries, places where there will be many more interactions with the foreign neighbour. I'm speaking generally here, but in the US or Canada there is much more space and greater distances between accommodations; you do not really have to interact with your neighbour, unless you want to. Whereas even in Hong Kong, most people have to live in very close-quarters, and being someone's neighbour means seeing them everyday, hearing their chatter and noise , and more often than not, smelling what they are having for dinner.

I'm not at all denying the xenophobic attitudes of HKers, but I also wonder how people from the "most tolerant" countries would fare if they had to live much closer to their neighbours and consequently had to deal with more frequent and unavoidable interactions with them.

As Robert Frost once said: "Good fences make good neighbours".

[usehername]

It's a fair point, but on the otherhand, I would say hk has a much smaller proportion of non-locals compared to most large western cities, so how many local chinese actual live next to, for example, a south asian family? Probably not many. the vast majority of hk locals live next to other chinese.

[YCC]

what a stupid survey...

[Creative83]

Well the survey is drawing conclusion about racism based on their willingness to live with a foreign neighbor.

I think if they replace racism with "spatial" conservatism, it'll be more close to what it's actually measuring.

So if I were to list it, these countries is spatially conservative based on what it measured:

Hong Kong, Bangladesh, Jordan and India
Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Vietnam, Indonesia, South Korea

[vroom]

Check the basic question - "kinds of people they would not want as neighbors"
Can you judge people on basis of this question ? I may be open to other people but not as neighbors.

[Creative83]

Not wanting to live next to neighbor isn't a direct translation to intolerance, but shows they are conservative.

A tangible example would be that certain ethnicity may bring home different guys/girls every night. They don't want their neighbors to have random people appear close to where they live.

But spatial conservatism may not be as tangible as the example above.

[usehername]

Not wanting to live next to neighbor isn't a direct translation to intolerance, but shows they are conservative.

A tangible example would be that certain ethnicity may bring home different guys/girls every night. They don't want their neighbors to have random people appear close to where they live.

But spatial conservatism may not be as tangible as the example above.

Did you look at the unison survey? the % of people who would accept south asian/african people as neighbours was *higher* than would accept in personal life (as friends etc)

[kimwy66]

I also wonder how people from the "most tolerant" countries would fare if they had to live much closer to their neighbours and consequently had to deal with more frequent and unavoidable interactions with them.

I'm from New Zealand originally, although not lived there for many years. NZ is in the lowest intolerance bracket. I don't care what race my neighbours are here in a dense population country, or anywhere else. As long as they are law abiding, polite and considerate of their actions on others, it doesn't matter. You find rude people all over the world, just as you find friendly people.

I don't find my sentiments wholehearted reciprocated by my neighbours, but I turn a blind eye 99% of the time.

[Creative83]

Virginity is a somewhat flawed but has a positive correlation with conservatism.

The 2 outlier is France and Bulgaria. Otherwise, most of it matches.



Here's the data of this thread

40% + (of individuals surveyed would not want a person of another race as a neighbour)
India, Jordan, Bangladesh, Hong Kong

30 - 39.9%
Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Vietnam, Indonesia, South Korea

20 - 39.9%
France, Turkey, Bulgaria, Algeria, Morocco, Mali, Zambia, Thailand, Malaysia, The Philippines
THE MOST TOLERANT COUNTRIES

0 to 4.9%
United States, Canada, Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, Guatemala, Britain, Sweden, Norway, Latvia, Australia, New Zealand

5 - 9.9%
Chile, Peru, Mexico, Spain, Germany, Belgium, Belarus, Croatia, Japan, Pakistan, South Africa

10 - 14.9%
Finland, Poland, Ukraine, Italy, Greece, Czech Republic, Slovakia

15 - 19.9%
Venezuela, Hungary, Serbia, Romania, Macedonia, Ethiopia, Uganda, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Russia, China

[kimwy66]

It's a fair point, but on the otherhand, I would say hk has a much smaller proportion of non-locals compared to most large western cities, so how many local chinese actual live next to, for example, a south asian family? Probably not many. the vast majority of hk locals live next to other chinese.

Washington Post have just published a follow-up survey which looks at most ethnically homogenous http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/...rse-countries/

So Hong Kong is both most intolerant of other ethnicities as neighbours and 2nd most ethnically homogenous bracket. So yes, to an extent it is because they don't have much experience at all of living with other cultures in close quarters.

However, looking at Australia or UK, they are both in the most ethnically homogenous and lowest intolerance groups, so it doesn't necessarily correlate that living around people that mostly look and act like you leads you to being intolerant of other cultures.