Career Stories

Carol Mai

Degrees obtained:
Bachelor in Sociology, Hong Kong Baptist University

My current work:
Company: The Hong Kong Jockey Club
Senior Charities Officer (Grant Making)

My career and sociology:
The "sociological imagination" has empowered me to be aware of the relationship between one's personal experiences and society as a whole, which enables me to think beyond the box in workplace. In the grant making process, we need to identify the service needs and gaps to improve the service provision. It is important to have a macro view of the issues and connect fragments to develop possible solutions to the social problems.

Cheng, Alex Ho Man

Degrees obtained:
Bachelor in China Studies (Sociology), Hong Kong Baptist University

My current work:
Postgraduate student, King’s College London (MA International Political Economy)

My career and sociology:
I think Sociology is more focused on the way of thinking and students can benefit from the multiple perspectives learnt throughout the course. It helps identifying business problems and proposing solutions, which I believe is very useful in the workplace.

Fung, Kayi

Degrees obtained:
Bachelor in China Studies (Sociology), Hong Kong Baptist University
M. Phil. in Sociology, Hong Kong Baptist University
PhD in Sociology, University of Saskatchewan

My current work:
Assistant Professor, Caritas Institute of Higher Education, Hong Kong

My career and sociology:
As a sociology researcher, I study social life of different groups and communities. Some of these phenomena happen every day, like the elderly chatting at the park, a housewife doing grocery shopping, or youth playing T.V. games. It is however this ordinary nature of such activities that makes us forget their existence in our everyday life and think that it is not important. Thanks to the sociological training I received, I understand that personal issues are related to broader social issues. Once you study these ordinary activities in a social context, you find that they all relate to gender inequality, social network, community building, ICT, and so forth. I am currently excited to contribute to the literature in the Sociology of video gaming and social networks.

Lau, Pik-yiu

Degrees obtained:
Bachelor in China Studies (Sociology), Hong Kong Baptist University

My current work:
Postgraduate student, Chinese University of Hong Kong, (Juris Doctor)

My career and sociology:
This year marks one year since I graduated from HKBU. I will never forget what I have learned at school because sociology is so relevant to our lives. I came to this university with my mind-set to take History as my major but ended up studying sociology after my first year. This was not what I envisaged. Sociology is a fascinating subject which observes everyday life of groups. Sociology provides a scientific study of society, such as patterns of social relationship and interaction, helping us to explore and analyze social phenomena. These four years at HKBU have equipped me with the strong analytical skill to discuss social issues and strengthened my understanding towards different social issues.

Internal control and external control are the two concepts that never ceased to amaze me. Internal control is about an individual's own sense of right and wrong, our conscience and guilt, that functions to internalize our values and norms through socialization. On the other hand, external control refers to the people and institutions, that will respond if your behavior deviates from the norm. If you do not want to lose anything, no matter it is power, fame, wealth or social reputation, you have to follow the norm. I did not know there were so many different perspectives that could help us to study human behaviors. One salient example is queuing. It is one of the outcomes of socialization. These made me fall in love with Sociology.

Sociology sounds very abstract and it has many theories. I wouldn’t have made it to graduation without the professors in the Department. They taught us well, shared with us all their knowledge and guided me towards the right direction in understanding each topic. I am so glad to be part of the Sociology community. Apart from gaining valuable knowledge and experience that are relevant to my future development, I was able to form some awesome relationships with my professors. Even after graduation, I still stay in touch with my professors giving each other updates on our lives. They are truly my professor-friends.

Although Sociology is not one of the professional disciplines like social work, the knowledge it provides us enables us to get into various different fields. Foucault’s “governmentality” is even related to my present legal training! Sociology is part of our life.

Studying Sociology has not only taught us how to look at the big picture, it also teaches me how to be strong and independent. This has significantly influenced on my life and that is what makes Sociology unique.

Lin, Zhi Yang Tony

Degrees obtained:
Bachelor in China Studies (Sociology), Hong Kong Baptist University
M. Phil. in Sociology, The University of Hong Kong
Master in International Affairs (MIA), Columbia University
M.S. in Journalism, Columbia University

My current work:
Author and documentary filmmaker. Formerly working at Bloomberg as a producer. Currently founding a start-up company in New York.

My career and sociology:
As a documentary filmmaker and writer, I have the privilege to tell different stories for various communities and groups. I reported on the refugee ban for *The Washington Post*, wrote about Chinese online activists for *Columbia Journalism Review*, and produced documentaries on minorities for *BuzzFeed*—and it was all thanks to the sociology training gained from early on. I learned about how our external environment constructs us into being who we are, and how such socialization can sometimes serve as a means to alienate and exploit. To me, sociology is a lens that allows me to see the society buried under its facade, and it enabled me to embark on a career to unveil the world I see.

Mo, Pui Sim Sophie

Degrees obtained:
Bachelor in China Studies (Sociology), Hong Kong Baptist University

My current work:
The founder of an NGO. Founding and running an IT start-up in Taipei and Hong Kong

My career and sociology:
Sociology informs my social activist action as well as my business pursuit. My NGO aims to help disadvantaged women. It is centrally guided by hip-hop feminist theories, which I have learned through sociology courses and research associated with my honor project. My start-up business is made possible by the quantitative skills and sociological theories of popular culture I learned at HKBU. I also adopt sociological theories to help with machine learning and training the AI.