UNDERSTANDING SINGAPORE'S POLITICAL CULTURE

Abstract

This Thesis attempts to uncover the more important characteristics of Singapore's political culture. By examining and trying to understand how Singaporeans make sense of their daily lives and their political situations, two dominant themes have been found. The first being the effects of consumerism on Singapore's contemporary political culture and the second, the role of the government in trying to shape and define this culture. In chapter three, I explored the theme on consumerism and attempt to demonstrate its relevance to one's political orientation through three important findings from the fieldwork. First, a consumer's approach towards politics where some groups of Singaporeans make sense of politics by adopting a consumer's position and using a consumer's rationality which is largely characterised by instrumental rationality. Second, this consumer's rationality leads to a consumer's view towards citizenship which I suggested could be the main reason behind the high percentage of Singaporeans who have considered emigration. Third, a consumer's definition of politics as a result of looking at politics from a consumer's position over time. In chapter four, I examined the effects of socialisation on Singaporean's political orientation. However, I stayed away from analysing more direct attempts of cultural planning by the government and focused on less apparent and sometimes also less intended processes of socialisation. The first section focuses on the effects of Singapore's meritocratic system on the people's perception of self and subsequently their political roles. The second section looks at the effects of the style of governance on the people may it be perceived as authoritarian or paternalistic by the respondents. The last section focused on the effects of public prosecution of Opposition members, academics, foreign press and political dissidents on people's attitude toward politics. I wanted to find out whether a climate of fear exist in Singapore. Throughout the analysis in chapter three and four, a generational framework conceptualised during sampling has been used. Themes examined in the two chapters have different impact on Singaporeans from different generations mainly due to their differences in generational experience and their stage in the life-cycle. This framework also allowed a comparative approach (Inter-generation comparison) to be adopted where the dynamics involved in the formation of these cultures were elucidated. Chapter five is very important because it is where I attempt to synthesise the different themes into a coherent framework. It also provides insights into the current development in Singapore. With that, I hope I have done a comprehensive and insightful study of Singapore's political culture.