探究客家的形成，是客家知識體系建構裡相當重要的研究課題。近二十年以來學界探討重點已經從過往探究客家是什麼，轉向於追問客家稱謂的產生、客家概念出現的時間、地域與背景，關注客家如何形成的議題。客家想像的浮現與蛻變，其實是與整個客家社群歷史發展密切相關的，這些推動客家想像的主要行動者與組織，都各自有其不同的參與目的，換言之，當代作為一種工具性的客家想像，它的概念內涵事實上會隨著時間、空間，甚至行動者與組織轉變而有所差異性。
本文針對全球客家想像的多元變化進行知識社會學的歷史考察，分析從中國華南地區逐漸形成的中原客屬想像，到客籍學者與富商共同組織的香港崇正總會聯手推動客家想像，以及1971年以來的客家跨國現象，指出當代客家論述競爭與背後隱藏的國族對抗，使得客家在其所在國家獲得前所未有的重視與資源。當代客家想像作為一個特殊歷史情境脈絡下所產生的現象，以客家為名的競爭也從政治經濟的場域並且擴散到文化場域，並且仍在形成當中。

In the recent two decades, researchers have shifted their focus from the definitions of Hakka to the emergence of such ethnicity, including its background of timing, geopolitics and the transformation of Hakka’s semantic meaning. The emergence and transformation of Hakka imagination are firmly related to the developmental history of the entire Hakka communities. The actors from various institutions including government sectors and local organizations have launched their Hakka imaginations with different purposes. Hence, the content of institutional Hakka imaginations would change along with the shifting of temporal and spatial context, as well as each organization’s transformations.
By reviewing the paradigm shift of the Hakka imagination from the perspective of sociology of knowledge, this article analysis of the narratives of Hakka imaginations proposed by Hakka scholars joined hands with Hong Kong Tsung Tsin Association, as well as the transnational phenomenon of Hakka from 1971, indicating that the emergence of global Hakka imagination was rooted from a special historical context but diverse through the political-economic competence as well as the social-cultural debates.