The ‘Government’ in our lives : an exploratory study of ideology and the Singapore middle class

• Main Author: Yap, Si Hong.
• Other Authors: Kwok Kian Woon Anthony
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2013
• Subjects: DRNTU::Social sciences::Sociology::Social behavior
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/87281; http://hdl.handle.net/10220/9461
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Ideology is closely linked to politics, where the former guides and justifies the latter. Singapore’s economic success and the ideology that has allowed it to flourish have also been studied. However, existing scholarship has not addressed how ideology plays out in the everyday life of Singaporeans; while studies have been carried out on class in Singapore, literature on the convergence of ideology, class and everyday life in Singapore is lacking. In this study, I will explore how the central tenets of the PAP’s ideological system – namely pragmatism and economic orientation, which were instrumental in achieving the PAP’s preeminent goals of economic survival – are reproduced by middle-class Singaporeans and manifested in everyday life, through their attitudes towards issues such as education, mobility, ‘foreign talent’ and the government. Therefore, I aim to demonstrate that the PAP government has established an enduring ideological hegemony that has not waned despite decades of economic success.