Sociology Commons^™

Veiled Lives? Muslim Women, Headscarves, And Manufacturing Islam, Aliya Hamid Rao

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

The essentialist and dichotomizing battle over who is ideologically, morally, indeed humanly, more advanced (the West or the rest), has for centuries been fought over women’s bodies. A few hundred years ago the rationale for imperialism in the case of the British Raj included the idea of white men saving brown women from brown men. The post 9/11 invasion of Afghanistan was also partly justified as a war between good and evil, with the US representing all that is good in terms of democracy, human rights, and, significantly, women’s rights.

Voices Behind The Veil: Unravelling The Hijab Debate In Singapore Through The Lived Experiences Of Hijab-Wearing Malay-Muslim Women, George Wong, George Wong

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

This article critically examines the hijab debate in Singapore by drawing upon the lived experiences of Singaporean Malay-Muslim women whose daily lives are fraught with a constant negotiation between their identities as veiled women and the institutionalized constraints that impede their social mobility and voices in the public arena. Drawing upon publicly accessible data and findings from in-depth interviews with Malay-Muslim nurses, the article explores the everyday lived struggles of women working in Singapore’s public healthcare sector organizations. These struggles illustrate a decade-old public debate on the hijab. We show how these women’s narratives reflect their intersectional subjectivities, which unravel …

Governance As An Emergent Compromise: Modernization And Flexibility In The Pakistani Electrical Power Sector, Ijlal Naqvi

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Developing countries are often characterized by a mix of bad governance and development initiatives seeking to accelerate modernization. When inevitable cracks in the modernization process appear, they create opportunities for informalities to seep in where the influence of power relations and culture can lead to new forms of predation or allow governance compromises to emerge. The article explores this at the national and local levels of the Pakistani electrical power sector, with each level conceptualized as a field of strategic action. The aim is to recognize the importance of emergent compromises for producing workable accommodations of competing interests, improving access …

Family Support For Older Persons In Thailand: Challenges And Opportunities, John Knodel, Bussarawan Puk Teerawichitchainan

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Population aging and the wellbeing of older persons are major emerging challenges for families, communities, and government in Thailand as in much of Asia. Traditionally, support and care for the elderly are met within the family. Adult children are important providers of material support as well as other forms of assistance to their older-age parents. The state and communities typically provide limited care services for the older population. Currently, Thailand is facing demographic and socioeconomic changes that pose significant challenges for the roles that family members, especially adult children, play in providing support for the elderly. This paper empirically examines …

The Woman Behind The Man: Unemployed Men, Their Wives, And The Emotional Labor Of Job-Searching, Aliya Hamid Rao

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

“How’re you going to find a job when you have no confidence and are very emotional?”

Child's Gender, Parental Monetary Investments And Care Of Elderly Parents In China, Christine Ho

Research Collection School Of Economics

Son biased investments are common in many Asian countries where sons are customarily responsible for providing old age support to parents. Using data from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study, I find that parents invested nearly twice more in sons than in daughters in terms of college education spending and marriage gifts value. Conversely, parents received relatively higher marginal returns to investment from daughters than from sons in terms of living proximity, monetary and in-kind transfers, and help with instrumental activities of daily living. Family fixed effects models as well as an instrumental variable strategy are employed to control …

Benefits And Burdens: The Role Of Trait Gratitude In Positive And Negative Exchanges In Friendships, Ze Ling Nai

Dissertations and Theses Collection

Objective: This study examined the effects of trait gratitude on relationship satisfaction amongst friends through two potential mechanisms – perceived fulfillment of positive expectations and perceived burden of negative exchanges. The study also aimed to examine whether grateful people over-perceive the benefits received from friends. Method: 101 pairs of same-sex friends were recruited from Singapore Management University to take part in a dyad study. Participants were asked to rate their relationship expectations, and the benefits received and performed for their partner. Participants were also asked to rate their tolerance, and the burdens caused by and imposed on their partner. Results: …

Labour Protection For The Vulnerable: An Evaluation Of The Salary And Injury Claims System For Migrant Workers In Singapore, Tamera Fillinger, Nicholas Harrigan, Stephanie Chok, Amirah Amirrudin, Patricia Meyer, Meera Rajah, Debbie Fordyce

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

This research seeks to review and analyze the protections afforded to migrant workers in Singapore who bring salary and injury claims to the Ministry of Manpower for resolution. Our focus is male Work Permit holders from Bangladesh, China, and India who make up the majority of the workforce in Singapore’s construction and marine sectors. Work Permit holders are the lowest wage category of foreign workers and comprise nearly a third of the overall workforce. While these workers play an important role in building the nation, they face workplace issues that many would not associate with a modern economy.

Generation "P": Philippines' Millennial Impact Entrepreneurs, Jinky Tuliao, Zen Bin, Vivienne Zerrudo

Social Space

"Millennials"—broadly defined as those born between 1980 and 2000— are a dynamic driving force behind any country’s economic progress, but particularly so in the Philippines. Making up about 50 per cent of the national population, Philippine millennials are mainly employed in micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), which in turn account for over 99 per cent of all local businesses.

The Project Runway: Cheryl Chong On Getting Your Social Initiative Off The Ground, Cheryl Chong

Social Space

Cheryl Chong is co-founder of The Social Co., the team behind the 50 For 50 project that brought together more than 80 young people under the age of 35, and 70 corporations to raise awareness of and funds for lesserknown causes such as mental health, suicide prevention and charities that serve those with physical and mental disabilities. Cheryl currently chairs the Young Women's Leadership Connection (YWLC) and lends a hand in programme development at Jia Foundation, a family foundation established by the Lim and Lin families. In her day job, she heads the private investor division of equity and debt …

The Business Of Giving, Eunice Low, Christian Petroske

Social Space

Paul Dunn is shaping a new generation of socially conscious businesses by providing a sustainable platform that connects company with cause. When it comes to giving, Paul Dunn means business—literally. As the chairman of Buy1Give1 (B1G1), the 72-year-old oversees a social enterprise devoted to making business philanthropy a more effortless process. A firm believer that it is in giving that one receives (joy, that is), he tells EUNICE RACHEL LOW and CHRISTIAN PETROSKE how joy, rather than duty or guilt, sustains giving corporations.

Estimating And Decomposing Changes In The White-Black Homeownership Gap From 2005 To 2011, Kiat Ying Seah, Eric Fesselmeyer, Kien Le

Research Collection College of Integrative Studies

This study evaluates the effects of the recent US housing bust on the White-Black homeownership gap by estimating and decomposing the changes in the distribution of the gap between 2005 and 2011. Our analysis shows that the housing bust did not affect the homeownership gap uniformly. In fact, we find that the gap decreased for households that were the least likely to own and remained unchanged for households that were the most likely to own, and that Black households with around a 50% probability of homeownership were especially vulnerable to the crisis. We also find that the contribution of the …

Hate Speech And The Freedom To Live, Singapore Management University

Perspectives@SMU

Drawing the legal line at insult or hurt feelings could do more harm than good at maintaining religious and social tolerance

Pay For Social And Impact Bonds In Singapore, Richard Edwards, Kevin Tan

Social Space

Measurably Improving the Lives of People Most in Need

Taking Action For Social Change, Singapore Management University

Research@SMU: Connecting the Dots

Research at the SMU Lien Centre for Social Innovation is helping to better understand and respond to the needs of vulnerable communities in Singapore.

See the papers:

• Elderly population in Singapore: Understanding social, physical and financial needs
• Single-parent families in Singapore: Understanding the challenges of finances, housing and time poverty
• People with physical disabilities in Singapore: Understanding disabling factors in caregiving, education, employment and finances
• A handbook on inequality, poverty and unmet social needs in Singapore

Dissecting A Giant: The Commodification Of Rural China, Singapore Management University

Research@SMU: Connecting the Dots

Rapid growth is causing unprecedented transformations in the social fabric and market structure of rural China, Professors Forrest Zhang and John Donaldson, researchers at SMU investigate.

See the papers:

• Class differentiation in rural China: Dynamics of accumulation, commodification and state intervention;
• Political dynamics in land commodification: Commodifying rural land development rights in Chengdu, China
• The rise of agrarian capitalism with Chinese characteristics: Agricultural modernization, agribusiness and collective land rights
• China's agrarian reform and the privatization of land: A contrarian view

Balancing The Sacred And The Secular, Singapore Management University

Research@SMU: Connecting the Dots

Professor Lily Kong, widely regarded as one of the world’s leading social and cultural geographers, studies the complexities that surround a society’s religious spaces and practices.

See her book: Religion and space: Competition, conflict and violence in the contemporary world

and journal article:

Religious processions: Urban politics and poetics

The Might Of Millennials, Christopher Cheok

Social Space

Throughout history, young people have been the energy and driving force of change in society. Today, that is all the more true. With the prevalence of social media, youth and young adults have the unique ability to infl uence others, and to a greater extent than parents or schools can. Since they are able to shape attitudes and values so greatly, it is important to empower youth with the necessary knowledge and tools to be a force for good, and to make positive contributions to society. Young people have shown their ability to create change and broad awareness of social …

Youth And Social Media: Power To Empower?, Sujith Kumar Prankumar

Social Space

Much has been written on social media and how it has positively revolutionised communication and information transmission. The infl uence of social media is indubitable—it reaches anyone with an Internet connection, no matter their geographic location or socioeconomic status. This means information that was previously out of reach for isolated and less well-off communities is now accessible by more people than ever before. For example, University College London’s “Why We Post” social media anthropology project—conducted by nine researchers in nine different communities over 15 months—found that communities that have traditionally received comparatively lower levels of schooling now have access to …

The Young And Restless: Re-Examining Media Portrayals Of Youth, Shee Siew Ying

Social Space

From TV programmes, to newspapers, books and magazines, traditional media’s depictions of youth have tended to dwell on either sides of two extremes: hapless victims or violent perpetrators.

Hot Topics And Happenings In Social Innovation, Florian Parzhuber

Social Space

WALK THE TALK Do you take your ability to speak, sing or swallow for granted? For individuals with speech impediments, simple actions like taking a sip of tea or saying hello can be diffi cult, or even impossible. However, speech therapy can help strengthen the muscles responsible for making sounds and swallowing, and equips affected persons with strategies to improve verbal communication, and to make eating and drinking safer. To combat Cambodia’s lack of speech therapy and therapists, Australia-born Weh Yeoh founded OIC Cambodia, a charity dedicated to making speech therapy available to the local people. Himself a professionally trained …

Collective Philanthropy: The Strength Of Giving Together, Rob John

Social Space

Giving to charity has never been a solitary activity in any culture. People have joined together to give for millennia. In Asia, clan associations, religious groups or just friends have enjoyed the benefits of giving as a group. But there appears to be a renaissance of collective giving with the advent of more organised, strategic and outcome-focused philanthropy. At the Asia Centre for Social Entrepreneurship and Philanthropy (ACSEP) where I am presently based, our research team’s curiosity about giving circles was first piqued when investigating the nature of innovation in Asian philanthropy in 2012.1 In that study, we reported several …

Investing In Impact: A Perspective On Social Impact Bonds, Rashika Ranchan

Social Space

Innovation is inherently risky: even if not all interventions work, social impact bonds can help to accelerate the rate of learning about which approaches work better than others.

Scaling Impact Investing Through Innovative Finance: A Focus On Women's Livelihoods, Durreen Shahnaz

Social Space

I embarked on a journey from the first steps of my career to utilise finance to do good for the world. This journey has now turned into a global movement that is taking the world by a storm, known as impact investing or social finance.

Your Burning Changemaking Questions - Answered, Jiezhen Wu

Social Space

To be or not to be? That may (or may not) be your question. In ASK ME ANYTHING, readers write in with their social innovation queries, and the Social Space team finds a changemaker to answer them. In this issue, we pose these inquiries to JIEZHEN WU of THE HIDDEN GOOD.

A Quick Guide To Social Change Buzzwords, Jay Boolkin

Social Space

Social Impact, Intrapreneurship, Benefit Corporation, Shared Value— these are just a few of the many buzzwords that get thrown around in the social arena. But what do these terms mean and how do we apply them? JAY BOOLKIN of socialgoodstuff.com has come up with a handy guide that demystifies the myriad jargon and fanfare surrounding social change.

Sofi 101: Understanding Social Finance, Christian Petroske, Florian Parzhuber, Haneol Jeong, John Kinsella, Maaya Murakami, Mitchell Laferriere, Remi Cordelle

Social Space

What is social finance? Rachel Kalbfleisch of the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) defines it as a collection of approaches to managing money that create value for society or the environment, often while producing a financial return,1 while the MaRS Centre for Impact Investing calls it “an approach to managing money to solve societal challenges”.2 In other words, social finance is a movement that covers various ways of using finance—via socially responsible investments, micro-loans, community investments, and so on—to achieve a social or environmental impact. Who is involved in this process? While charities, socially driven businesses and governments all work …

Increasing Energy Acces In Southeast Asia Through Social Enterprises, Haneol Jeong

Social Space

The 21st century has seen cars go driverless and virtual reality become a reality—yet one fact remains: one in seven people still do not have access to electricity.1 In an age where more people have access to mobile phones than toilets,2 electricity has become as vital a necessity as clean water. To address this issue, social enterprises such as M-KOPA and Sunlabob have pioneered efforts to provide renewable energy for off-grid communities, and yielded innovative energy alternatives and financing solutions. Southeast Asia, however, remains a largely untapped market, with approximately 19 per cent of its population still without access to …

The Sinophone Roots Of Javanese Nini Towong, Margaret Chan

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

This article proposes that Nini Towong, a Javanese game involving a possessed doll, is an involution of fifth-century Chinese spirit-basket divination. The investigation is less concerned with originist theories than it is a discussion of the Chinese in Indonesia. The Chinese have been in Southeast Asia from at least as early as the Ming era, yet Chinese contributions to Indonesian culture is an understudied area. The problem begins with the asymmetrical privileging of Indic over Sinic influences in early European scholarship, a situation which in turn reveals the prejudices that the Europeans brought to bear in their dealings with the …

No-Place, New Places: Death And Its Rituals In Urban Asia, Lily Kong

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

In many Asian cities, particularly those that confront increasing land scarcity, the conversion from burial to cremation has been encouraged by state agencies in the last several decades. From Hong Kong to Seoul to Singapore, planning agencies have sought to reduce the use of space for the dead, in order to release land for the use of the living. More secular guiding principles regarding efficient land use in these cities had originally come up against the symbolic values invested in burial spaces, resulting in conflicts between different value systems. In more recent years, however, the shift to cremation and columbaria …