CONCEPTION OF THE PAST IN THE SINGAPOREAN'S SOCIAL REALITY : A SOCIOLOGY OF KNOWLEDGE APPROACH

Abstract

Political elites and the learned in a secondary nation-state (Benjamin 1988) see the mandatory need to re-shape the consciousness of the citizenry into one which accepts the state as the talked-about entity. With respect to the conception of the past in Singapore, the organicist mode of history is used. The organicist mode of history sees history is used. The organicist mode of history sees history as the narration of events under dominant themes. In Singapore, these themes have been identified as multiracialism, economic survival and the possibility of communal and communist threats. The argument here is that the organicist mode of history reflects the proactive use of history: whereby history is perceived in terms of the possible detrimental consequences of dissensions to society. The organicist view of history also complements the presentist view of history which stresses the importance of living in the present: the knowledge of the past is only ephemeral as it only serves to account for the present. The fieldwork done—that is, the interviews of academics and select individuals from the community—suggests that the presentist view of history is most prevalent. This reinforces the pragmatic nature of Singapore’s social reality.