“It is harder to climb a ladder when the rungs are further apart” Social immobility is a significant problem in Singapore. Singapore has progressed rapidly, and now we have many different needs both as a global city and a nation. Our meritocratic system has been key to our economic success, by creating a competitive environment for people to strive to achieve their best. However, in recent years there has been greater income inequality among the population, and our social mobility has slowed down. This has an impact on our social cohesion, which is what many Singaporeans are concerned about now. Our meritocratic system, along with our increasing income inequality, has slowed social mobility. It is analogous to judging runners in a race by who …show more content…
Because our social mobility has slowed, many ordinary Singaporeans feel it is harder for them to improve their lives and aspire to at least middle-class levels. Social cohesion and harmony is the essential key in holding Singapore together in times of crisis; if our social cohesion is worn thin, our society may fall apart when faced with a crisis. The widening income gap and continued low social mobility will create a stratified class system and leads to social divisions. When the social classes do not mix much, it may in turn lead to greater elitism in society. The ‘haves’ will not understand the ‘have-nots’. This divide is not good for society and there will be much distrust in the society. Racial riots in the past are reminders of what may happen with large divides in society. Social immobility can also generate widespread disaffection with the prevailing economic and political systems. This is because some may now see the system as ‘unfair’ and ‘biased’ towards the more privileged. There have been more public displays of disaffection towards the government, with more protests at Hong Lim Park etc. At the recent General Elections, there was a record lowest amount of votes for the
Kaitlyn Johnson English, 008 September 29, 2015 Inequality Inequality has been a major problem all over the world. Not just with race or gender, but now ones' income puts them aside from others. and they are catorgarized. Gary S. Becker, a Noble laurete in economics, and Kevin M. Murphy, a professor at the University of Chicago and a recipient of a 2005 MacCrthur "genius" fellowship, believe that a higher education equals higher income. Paul Krugmam, a teacher of economics at Princeton and the city University of New York, uses people who have had an impact on America.
Don’t you think it’s about time people start thinking of each other as equals? An outsider is a person who doesn’t correspond to a particular group or is overpowered by people of higher estate. Outsiders are constantly alienated because they are abused by the people with authority, leaving them with no voice in decision making, this sensation is seen in the French Revolution, Industrial Revolution,The Metamorphosis, and Fences. During the French Revolution and Industrial Revolution young children and adults went through rough times, whether they had very little money or were starving because of how poor they were.
Critics of affirmative action frequent describe the policy as being unfair, asserting that it contravenes a conserved system of meritocracy in the country by basing selection decisions on demographic characteristics at the expense of ability and achievement (Thernstrom & Thernstrom, 1997). Defenders take a different position that can be explained by two facts: racism and sexism are still present in the United States society and affirmative action is the most efficient and effective way of reducing discrimination than the present alternatives. However, affirmative action increases fusion and fairness in employment and in education because it works as a proactive observing system. As Crosby and Smith (2005) consider, “such policies may help ensure that patterns of bias—including selective system bias— are uncovered and
Every day over 352,000 babies are born. The second these babies enter the world, the opportunities and privileges given to them vary but are set at their birth. Privilege constantly determines opportunities whether the individual can help it or not, and it is revealed constantly throughout our country's history. In the past privilege has affected minorities lives and their opportunities in careers, freedom of speech, and much more. Unconscious biases and privileges are still very well present today but not as obvious.
The conflict standpoint is based on the idea that the society is comprised of various different groups who are in constant friction with one another for the access of scarce and valuable resources; these may include wealth, fame, power, or the authority to apply one’s own value system onto the general society. The conflict theorists argue that a conflict exists in the society when a group of people who believe that their interests are not being met, or that they are not getting a fair share of the society’s resources, work to counter what they perceive as a handicap or a
When no influence is strong enough to unify people, they divide. They struggle” (91). During times of instability, the “influence” that once brought people together is long forgotten, people only look out for themselves. This stimulates the division of like people and as a result, the community struggles. She examines every person around her to make sense of her thoughts and values and to find her place in the world.
Looking at the modern office there are many “glass ceilings” that Steele refers to not only apply to minorities but to genders in general. Some bosses may stop people from being promoted because they are intimidated by women and do not think they should be placed on the same level as themselves, even though they are equally qualified for the position. Steele also talks about how a misused privileged can turn out to be a disadvantage such as the concept of welfare, because people use it to their advantage so much that it become a crutch for the rest of their lives. Wiley addresses a more individual process of failing to meet educational standards hence; “You get ballplayers who could barely form a compound sentence to keep a dog off them.” This statement is still true to this day due to the fact that so many people get accepted on full ride sports scholarships but their academics are below par, so that if something happens that keeps them from competing in sports they can not afford to stay in college nor can they keep their grades
Building off previous scholarship of Bowles and Gintis, Bourdieu, Bernstein and Heath, Willis and Giroux, McLeod seeks to investigate the tension between personal agency and structural barriers to social mobility, or in his words, how “class based institutional mechanisms set limits on mobility, thereby ensuring social reproduction, while cultural innovations can be at once both functional and dysfunctional for
As previously stated, America’s current state caused the formation of a caste system that prevents talented, hard-working people from attaining success. In a just society, all people are given equal access to education and opportunities that they don’t get today. Our current system tries, and fails, to accomplish this through Affirmative Action, busing, sdfljgsad;g. This results
It is a very useful article which provides counter arguments to four main criticisms of positive discrimination, which are: 1) Failure to select the “best” candidate; 2) The undermining of meritocracy; 3) The negative impact on the beneficiaries; 4) Injustice of reverse discrimination. This article starts with the analogy of the “shackled runner” given by the US President Lyndon Johnson who introduced affirmative action legislation in 1965 aimed to redress discrimination towards
Racial inequality has plagued our society for centuries and has been described as a “black eye” on American history. It wasn’t until the passing of The Civil Rights Act of 1965 that minorities were given equal protection under the law. This was a crucial step on our society’s road to reconciling this injustice. However, the effects of past racial inequality are still visible to this day, and our society still wrestles with how to solve this issue. In 1965, President Lyndon B Johnson said: “You do not take a person who, for years, has been hobbled by chains and liberate him, bring him up to the starting line of a race and then say you are free to compete with all the others, and still just believe that you have been completely fair.
Social classes are a form of social stratification that refers to the existence of structured inequalities between individuals and groups in society. A social class is a group of people of comparable status, power and wealth which are usually classified as upper class, middle class, and lower class. For each class, there are some specific opportunities available that influence their social life. We can understand about the particularity of the chances through unequal distribution of these opportunities between individuals in social classes. In here belonging to a social class seems to be an obstacle for some individuals to obtain equal opportunity, unlike upper class people.
In order to support these claims, I will discuss the characterisitcs of social moblity, while providing the necessary examples. Social Mobility On the topic of social classes, the question of social progression ought to rise: is it possible for people to move within a society 's stratification organization? In other words, is there some possibility of social mobility, or the improvement from one social level to another?
Using year 2000 as a base with an index of 100.00, the education index rose from 36.72 in 1980 to 146.39 in 2010 (AMP, 2015). The indices for post-secondary and tertiary enrolment have also increased very significantly. Table 1.1: Education Development Indices of Singapore Malays in 1980 – 2010 Field/ Sub-field 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005
In a survey conducted by The Straits Times and research firm Nexus Link in 2015, seven in 10 families in Singapore pack their pre-school children off to tuition. The most common reason for private tuition - cited by more than half of the parents with children under seven - was to keep up with others. It is my opinion that the increasing prevalence of private tuition nowadays is superfluous. Our education system is top-notch. This year, Singapore topped the biggest global school rankings published by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).