Singapore is a society whereby an individual needs to be monetary sound in order to live a comfortable life. Due to globalization and its economic growth, we now are able to dine and shop at many restaurants and fashion boutiques. There are now many restaurants and fashion boutiques that cater to the upper middle class and above in Singapore. The number of Singaporeans who have the purchasing power to dine or shop at these restaurants and fashion boutiques are increasing. Therefore, it is common to see Singaporeans forming long queues at these restaurants or swarming to these fashion boutiques. It is also now common to see luxury cars cruising down our forever packed roads. Given the rosy picture on how Singaporeans live their lives these days, it would be safe to say that most Singaporeans now live a comfortable life.
As the number of Singaporeans that are now living comfortable luxurious lives increase, a standard way of living in Singapore has been formulated. For those who are not able to meet these standards, they are left out; thus creating an anomie for those that cannot meet the standard.
To have the standard of living that has been imposed on us, we have to work and earn a certain level of remuneration. An employee must aspect to earn around S$3000 or more and obtain promotion 2 to 3 years every time in order to meet a high standard of living, if not he or she would feel isolated from society.
Singaporeans have to work every day work from Mondays to Fridays or on Saturdays and Sundays in order to survive. Prices in Singapore for houses, car, books and other merchandisers will keep on rising. Young graduates who start working after their graduation will began to obtain loans like housing and car loans in order to meet up society’s standard of living. Therefore, they become slaves to car loans, marriage loans, housing loans and other financial loans. A good handful of Singaporeans are in debt for the rest of their lives. If you are “born” an elite in Singapore, you are lucky. If not, you are “born” unlucky.
In this world there will always be some who will not be able to live a comfortable life because they are not able to earn high salaries. The reasons for not being able to earn high salaries are as follows :-
- Do not have the right qualifications and skills
- By pass for promotion ( stuck in the same job for many years without promotion )
- In the wrong job. No vacancies to transfer to another department for better job prospects
- Long wait to be transferred to another department
- Are not good enough in their supervisors eyes
- Stuck in their careers with no prospect of promotion
- Do not know how to find another job
What happens to those that are facing these problems? They may become jaded and lose interest in their lives. They may feel a great sense of emptiness. They may just live from day to day. They are left feeling indifferent and dehumanize. They may feel trapped in this Singaporean pressure cooker society. They will lose their ambition to improve themselves in their jobs; they will lose interest in setting and achieving goals for themselves and will begin to lose interest in other things in life. They will have no mood to look for another a mate because they would not have the financial capability to get married. They may begin to feel trapped in their jobs, may not be able to find a way to get a new job and may not have the motivation to change their life.
There have not been any reports on Singaporeans adopting these kinds of behaviors but there have been such reports in China. Therefore if this social phenomenon is happening in China, what is there to say that it is not happening in Singapore or other parts of the world. This social phenomenon can be found among doctors, bank employees, teachers, journalists, traffic policemen and taxi drivers. The following are quotes by some China citizens that are facing this social phenomenon. It is taken from a newspaper article published by the Straits Times called Rise Of The “ Plasticine’ generation on Monday, September 13 2010.
- Kevin Tu 31, property agent, wakes up at 8 am each day. Drags himself to work, puts in 9 hours in front of the computer and with his clients. Then he goes home to his one-bedroom apartment in the South side of Beijing to stare at the TV shows alone. A go-getting executive in a multi- national company just a few years ago, just lives “one day at a time”. “Everything just feels very bland,” he said. “I have no ambition, no real goal in life and I just don’t feel interested in anything anymore, even in hobbies I used to have. Now that I feel stuck in my career, I am in no mood to look for a mate. Maybe this numbness is just a phase or maybe life will just be this bland for me and I’ll just have to accept that this is it”
- Advertising executive Wang Win 29 had this to say : “ I feel very trapped in my job boring job of six years, but I keep thinking I have to find first find someone to marry, then move on in my career, so I keep trying. I feel stuck in life and I feel confused, trapped but I can’t find the motivation to do something about it. I want to change my life but I don’t know the way out.”
An outspoken sociology professor Zhou Xiaozheng of Renmin University in Beijing said that most Chinese become slaves when they buy a car or a house; thus becoming house slaves or car slaves. This is because they will be paying back the loans they purchased to buy the house or the car or both. Now transpose this situation to our situation in Singapore and you will see the big picture. To meet the Singapore Standard, one has to buy a car or a nice house. They end up repaying the loans they purchased to buy these items for a very long time. If one cannot buy a house or car, they do not really meet the “Singaporean Standard”. Furthermore, more young Singaporeans are used to being driven around, so what more if they find themselves not being able to buy a car.
He also said that young Chinese feel suppressed by pressure in many fronts. Once they graduate, they have to fight to find a job, male enough money to buy a house amid the soaring property prices and when they do that they are in debt for a very long time. Isn’t this also happening in Singapore as well? They have to meet the Singaporean Standard if not they feel like they are losers.
Some sociologists have written about why people become jaded if they cannot obtain what they want in life or become jaded in their jobs. They are Talcott Parsons, Karl Marx and Max Webber.
Talcott Parsons created the AGIL system to explain how systems ( political, law, business and family ) can work together to form social equlibrium in society. I will use it to explain the consequences if the Singaporean Standard is not met.
The AGIL System: Adaptation, Goal Attainment, Integration & Latent Pattern Maintenance
The explanations of how these five factors can explain the social phenomenon addressed at hand.
Adaptation : This is based on the physical or material environment. It looks at how individuals adapt to its physical environment.
If Singaporeans are able to adapt their lives and meet the expectations of the “Singapore Standard”, then they will be able to live comfortable lives. However, if they can’t due to the inability of obtaining good purchasing power, then they may face difficulty living in Singapore especially with meeting up with the Jones. They may start to lose any ambitions they have in life. They will lose the motivation to improve. They may just accept the fact that it is their destiny not to live a good life and die as a single men or women. In other words, they would just become walking zombies. However, they may still hope that there will be a better future for them.
Goal Attainment : Ability of individual or groups to identify and pursue goals. The individual’s need to achieve his or her goals to live comfortably in Singapore.
If Singaporeans are able to achieve their goals of obtaining good jobs, getting fast promotion and earning high paying salaries, they will be able to have good purchasing power and indulge in the various “luxuries” that Singapore has to offer. If they can’t, then they will left out. They may start to feel jealous and have resentment towards others who can live a “good life” in Singapore. They will lose the motivation to improve. They may just accept the fact that it is their destiny not to live a good life and die as a single men or women. In other words, they would just become walking zombies. However, they may still hope that there will be a better future for them.
Integration : the need to coordinate, adapt and regulate relationships among individuals and groups within the economy or country in order for the system to function.
In order for Singaporeans to properly integrate themselves in Singapore, they have the meet the “Singaporean Standard”. Of course, Singaporeans can still integrate with one another even though they do not meet the “Singaporean Standard” However, they may be in constant struggle with themselves in trying to think of ways to obtain the “Singaporean Standard”, however not all Singaporeans would feel this way. It all depends on their character. A sense of anomie will be felt in some Singaporeans if they cannot meet the “Singaporean Standard” in society. They may resort to crime to obtain the luxuries they want. Some may just accept the fact that it is their destiny not to live a good life.
Latent pattern maintenance : to maintain that individuals are motivated to fulfill their roles as clerks, bankers, cashiers and managers. Rewards are given for them to motivate them in their jobs.
Rewards are given to those that perform well. However, some employees may not be given these rewards because of favoritism. Rewards like salary increment are given to those that work hard and prove that they are efficient in their work. Due to office politics, some efficient workers may not be given the promotion or the just rewards they duly deserve. They will start to lose interest in their job. They will lose the motivation to improve themselves in their jobs. They will shun away from society because due to not receiving the salary increases they may not able to indulge in the comfortable lifestyle that most Singaporeans do. They may eventually live and die as a hermit.
Employees follow proper work procedures in their job everyday. Day in day out, nine to five, they follow the same work procedures. As mention before, some of them endure their “boring & torturous” job because what they earn may be barely enough for them to survive. The work that they do will become repetitious. They may perform their job just like a robot. Eventually they will become bored and alienated from their work. For example, a cashier cashing in the goods that customers purchase at a supermarket. The process of cashing in the goods never change. The cashier internalizes the process. The tools that she uses to cash in the goods and herself become one. She becomes alienated from her work. Companies may form unions to persuade their workers that their work life is normal when it is actually detrimental to their well-being and there is no need for self development. A false consciousness is formed among the workers. They will start to lose interest in their job if they are not promoted. They will lose the motivation to improve themselves in their jobs. They will be left feeling indifferent and dehumanize. They will feel trapped in this pressure cooker. They will lose their interest to improve themselves and will start to lose interest in life. They will start to avoid their friends because they may not have the financial capabilities to indulge in the “good” life that their friends do. Karl Marx called this alienation.
Max Webber looked at the bureaucratic rules that organizations have to explain why some employees are not happy with their work and thus may lose interest in their jobs. In every organization there are rules to follow. As a result, in every organization there is office politics. Some employees may not be given the promotion or salary increment that they deserve even though they are efficient in their work. Supervisors may show favoritism to some employees. What happen to those find who themselves in such situations? They will portray the same kind of behavior I have mentioned in the above paragraph when they are alienated from their work. Max Webber calls it the “iron cage” syndrome. The rules and regulations that govern the way employees work also make them feel like they are in an iron cage. Some employees may feel this constrictive effect. They may not be able to find ways to make their work more interesting and effective. If they do, their supervisors may not like it. This is especially so for employees whose supervisors go by the book.
Singapore will continue to grow and prosper. Cost will keep on rising. Income gaps will widen. All these are inevitable in a thriving capitalistic country. Singaporeans have to realize that in order to survive they have to find ways to help them live. Life is unfair. You cannot have everything in life. If you want to have a prospering country, then you have to face the facts that these social consequences will happen. For those facing difficulties, they have to sit back and think of ways to help them survive. It is not impossible. I believe that those that really sit back, think and act on what they must do to survive in a society in Singapore can succeed in whatever they plan to do. Singapore is a nice country to live in and I believe that most of us are happy to make Singapore our home despite the troubles we face in life. Life is what you make out of it. I have written why people feel jaded in their jobs, why the “Singaporean Standard” has to be met, its consequences if it is not met and why some cannot meet its standards. Read it carefully and see in which areas you can improve your life. With this note, I wish you all the best in life and your future endeavors.
No comments:
Post a Comment