Does Class Matter? - Social Stratification and Orientations in Singapore

Tan, Ern Ser

doi:10.1142/9789812794802

Cited by 16 publications

(13 citation statements)

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“…Tan (, p. 63) also lists education, together with income and occupation, as an objective criterion in assessing class in Singapore's society. The type of school attended also reveals a high correlation with parental occupation and housing, a trend confirmed by census data on housing and education as well as by previous research (Quah et al., ; Tan, ). The demographic profile underlying our study does not pretend to reflect the linguistic ecology of Singapore as a whole, but rather of a clearly delimited (and young) age group.…”

Section: Methodology and Data Collectionsupporting

confidence: 82%

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Singaporean students’ language repertoires and attitudes revisited

2018

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Singapore has received a large amount of scholarly interest with regards to the structural and sociolinguistic properties of its local variety of English. In contrast, there is comparatively less empirical data on individual linguistic repertoires and usage patterns.Building on previous research into the linguistic and sociological background of young Singaporean adults, our study examines 450 students recruited from three distinct educational institutions: a university, polytechnics, and vocational training schools. A detailed language background questionnaire reveals the degree of multilingualism, patterns of language use, as well as language attitudes towards different languages. We find important differences between the three student cohorts examined here and are able to relate them to their social and ethnic backgrounds.Recent research into the multilingual texture of Singapore indicates that the city-state is developing into a predominantly bilingual society in which, much in line with government policies, citizens speak English next to one of the socalled 'mother tongues' , that is, Mandarin for the Chinese ethnicity, Malay for the Malay group, and Tamil for the ethnic group of Indians. The mother tongues as well as English count as official languages in Singapore. Many Singaporean speakers, however, live in a more complex linguistic setting, since the term 'English' subsumes both Standard and Colloquial Singapore English, the latter being quite distinct from the standard, as is well known.Representing a follow-up study to Siemund, Schulz, and Schweinberger (2014), our study explores the individual language profiles of 450 Singaporean students coming from three cohorts, namely 150 university students (Nanyang Technological University), 150 students from various polytechnics, and 150 ITE students (Institute of Technical Education, the national vocational training school). Such individual linguistic information is conspicuously absent from government reports (SingStats) or other studies and helps, in our view, to paint a clearer picture of the Singaporean linguistic landscape. The novel contribution of our present study is the addition of 150 ITE students that we will set in relation to the two other cohorts sampled and analysed in Siemund et al. (2014). Our study significantly expands the relatively small body of research on language use and language shift in Singapore, thus helping to paint a clearer picture of this highly complex and dynamic situation. 282

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Section: Methodology and Data Collectionsupporting

confidence: 82%

“…In a second step, the type of housing participants had grown up in and the educational and occupational background of their parents were asked for. Particularly the type of housing and parental occupation is a reliable socio‐economic indicator in Singapore (Quah, Kong, Chung, & Lee, ; Tan, ).…”

Section: Methodology and Data Collectionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Singaporean students’ language repertoires and attitudes revisited

2018

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“…Trocki (2006) describes how the PAP politically neutered both the local capitalist and working classes early on, preventing such strong class coalitions from forming, confirming Khong's (1995) earlier observation of the political impotence of Singapore's local capitalists in acquiescing to authoritarian control for the protection the state could provide against labour agitation, and Pereira's (2008) subsequent explanation for its continued weakness. More recent class tensions between the middle and lower classes have further weakened democratic forces that do exist in Singapore by precluding the possibility of large cross sections of opposition (Tan 2004).…”

Section: Explaining Authoritation Stability In Singaporementioning

confidence: 99%

Rethinking Linkage to the West: What Authoritarian Stability in Singapore Tells Us

Ooi¹

2016

IJAPS

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“…Vietnam is also comparatively undeveloped, but it has a rising middle class (King, Phuong, & Nguyen, 2008) alongside Indonesia (Crouch, 2001), Malaysia (Embong, 2002), Thailand (Funatsu & Kazuhiro, 2003) and the Philippines (Kimura, 2003). Singapore's middle class is longer established (Rodan, 1993;Tan, 2004) and, elsewhere, while per capita incomes are modest, they are improving. Preglobal financial crisis average growth rates of approximately 5.5% should be restored in 2013-2017.…”

Section: Asean's Progress Tourism and Destination Competitivenessmentioning

confidence: 99%

The new dynamics of tourism in South East Asia: Economic development, political change and destination competitiveness

Henderson

2015

Tourism Recreation Research

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The paper is concerned with tourism in South East Asia and the forces which are shaping its evolution by consolidating established trends and introducing new directions. The important role of Asia's rising middle class in driving demand is acknowledged, alongside general economic growth and political developments which are creating a more favourable business climate. Diversity and difference are also noted in terms of the competitiveness of the member countries of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) as destinations. Myanmar serves as an illustration of the key influences on the ability to compete and how these are affected by politics and economics. It was chosen as a case study because it is one of the later ASEAN members in which there is growing interest from an industry and tourist perspective, spurred on by wider changes, and its emergence is an expression of and contributor to the reshaping of the region's tourism dynamics.

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Does Class Matter? - Social Stratification and Orientations in Singapore

Cited by 16 publications

References 0 publications

Singaporean students’ language repertoires and attitudes revisited

Singaporean students’ language repertoires and attitudes revisited

Rethinking Linkage to the West: What Authoritarian Stability in Singapore Tells Us

The new dynamics of tourism in South East Asia: Economic development, political change and destination competitiveness

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