Class Inequality in the Global City: Migrants, Workers and Cosmopolitanism in Singapore PDF
Preview Class Inequality in the Global City: Migrants, Workers and Cosmopolitanism in Singapore
G Class DI L VE OB Inequality in R A SI L TI the Global City E S Migrants, Workers and Cosmopolitanism in Singapore JUNJIA YE GlobalDiversities In collaboration with the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Ethnic and ReligiousDiversity Series Editors: Steven Vertovec, Max-Planck Institute for the Study of Reli- giousandUniversityofGottingen,Germany;PetervanderVeer,MaxPlanck InstitutefortheStudyofReligiousandEthnicDiversityandUtrechtUniver- sity,TheNetherlands;AyeletShachar,MaxPlanckInstitutefortheStudyof ReligiousandEthnicDiversity Over the past decade, the concept of ‘diversity’ has gained a leading place in academic thought, business practice, politics and public policy across theworld.However,localconditionsandmeaningsof‘diversity’arehighly dissimilar and changing. For these reasons, deeper and more comparative understandingsofpertinentconcepts,processesandphenomenaareingreat demand.Thisserieswillexaminemultipleformsandconfigurationsofdiver- sity, how these have been conceived, imagined and represented, how they have been or could be regulated or governed, how different processes of inter-ethnicorinter-religiousencounterunfold,howconflictsariseandhow political solutions are negotiated and practised, and what truly convivial societies might actually look like. By comparatively examining a range of conditions, processes and cases revealing the contemporary meanings and dynamicsof‘diversity’,thisserieswillbeakeyresourceforstudentsandpro- fessionalsocialscientists.Itwillrepresentalandmarkwithinafieldthathas become,andwillcontinuetobe,oneoftheforemosttopicsofglobalconcern throughout the twenty-first century. Reflecting this multi-disciplinary field, theserieswillincludeworksfromAnthropology,PoliticalScience,Sociology, Law,GeographyandReligiousStudies.Theseriespublishesstandardmono- graphs,editedcollectionsandPalgravePivottitles,forshorterworksthatare between25and50,000words. Titlesinclude: JunjiaYe CLASSINEQUALITYINTHEGLOBALCITY Migrants,WorkersandCosmopolitanisminSingapore LaavanyaKathiravelu MIGRANTDUBAI BuildingaGlobalCity TatianaMatejskovaandMarcoAntonsich GOVERNINGTHROUGHDIVERSITY MigrationSocietiesinPost-MulticulturalistTimes Jin-HeonJung DEFECTIONANDCONVERSION TheChristianEncountersofNorthKoreanMigrantsandtheSouth ProtestantChurch TamT.T.NgoandJustineB.Quijada ATHEISTSECULARISMANDITSDISCONTENTS AComparativeStudyofReligionandCommunisminEurasia SusanneWessendorf COMMONPLACEDIVERSITY SocialRelationsinaSuper-DiverseContext StevenVertovec DIVERSITIESOLDANDNEW MigrationandSocio-SpatialPatternsinNewYork,Singaporeand Johannesburg GlobalDiversities SeriesStandingOrderISBN978–1–137–37750–0(hardback) and978–1–137–37751–7(paperback) (outsideNorthAmericaonly) Youcanreceivefuturetitlesinthisseriesastheyarepublishedbyplacinga standingorder.Pleasecontactyourbookselleror,incaseofdifficulty,writeto usattheaddressbelowwithyournameandaddress,thetitleoftheseriesand theISBNquotedabove. Customer Services Department, Macmillan Distribution Ltd, Houndmills, Basingstoke,HampshireRG216XS,England Class Inequality in the Global City Migrants, Workers and Cosmopolitanism in Singapore Junjia Ye LecturerinHumanGeography,MasseyUniversity,NewZealand CLASSINEQUALITYINTHEGLOBALCITY:MIGRANTS,WORKERSAND COSMOPOLITANISMINSINGAPORE Copyright©JunjiaYe2016 Softcoverreprintofthehardcover1stedition2016978-1-137-43614-6 Allrightsreserved.Noreproduction,copyortransmissionofthis publicationmaybemadewithoutwrittenpermission.Noportionofthis publicationmaybereproduced,copiedortransmittedsavewithwritten permission.InaccordancewiththeprovisionsoftheCopyright,Designs andPatentsAct1988,orunderthetermsofanylicencepermittinglimited copyingissuedbytheCopyrightLicensingAgency,SaffronHouse, 6–10KirbyStreet,LondonEC1N8TS. Anypersonwhodoesanyunauthorizedactinrelationtothispublication maybeliabletocriminalprosecutionandcivilclaimsfordamages. Firstpublished2016by PALGRAVEMACMILLAN Theauthorhasassertedherrighttobeidentifiedastheauthorofthiswork inaccordancewiththeCopyright,DesignsandPatentsAct1988. PalgraveMacmillanintheUKisanimprintofMacmillanPublishersLimited, registeredinEngland,companynumber785998,ofHoundmills, Basingstoke,HampshireRG216XS. PalgraveMacmillanintheUSisadivisionofNatureAmerica,Inc.,One NewYorkPlaza,Suite4500,NewYork,NY10004-1562. PalgraveMacmillanistheglobalacademicimprintoftheabovecompanies andhascompaniesandrepresentativesthroughouttheworld. ISBN978-1-349-68342–0 E-PDFISBN:978–1–137–43615-3 DOI:10.1057/9781137436153 DistributionintheUK,EuropeandtherestoftheworldisbyPalgrave Macmillan®,adivisionofMacmillanPublishersLimited,registeredin England,companynumber785998,ofHoundmills,Basingstoke, HampshireRG216XS. LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData Names:Ye,Junjia,1981–author. Title:Classinequalityintheglobalcity:migrants,workersand cosmopolitanisminSingapore/JunjiaYe. Description:Houndmills,Basingstoke,Hampshire;NewYork, NY:PalgraveMacmillan,2016. | Includesindex. Identifiers:LCCN2015039312 | ISBN9781137436146(hardback) Subjects:LCSH:Socialclasses—Singapore. | Equality—Singapore. | Immigrants—Singapore | Workingclass—Singapore. | Cosmopolitanism—Singapore. | Singapore—Socialconditions. | Singapore—Economicconditions. Classification:LCCHN700.67.Z9S6522016 | DDC305.5095957—dc23 LCrecordavailableathttp://lccn.loc.gov/2015039312 AcataloguerecordforthebookisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary. Contents Acknowledgements vi Introduction:GlobalizingClass,MigrationandDivisionsof LabourintheCity-State 1 1 ResearchingInequalityintheGlobalCity 16 2 SituatingClassinSingapore:StateDevelopmentand Labour 27 3 MigratingtoSingapore:BangladeshiMen 58 4 CommutingtoSingapore:JohoreanMalaysians 93 5 ConstructingCosmopolitanisminSingapore:Financial Professionals 118 ConcludingReflections 155 Notes 165 References 171 Index 179 v Acknowledgements Variousinstitutionsprovidedfinancialsupportforthiswork.Inpar- ticular, I would like to thank Challenges of Agrarian Transition in Southeast Asia, the Pacific Century Graduate Scholarship and the UniversityofBritishColumbia. Theperspectivespresentedherehavegreatlybenefittedfromcon- versations and engagements with many people (often I think, with- outknowingit!).IamgratefultomyfriendsandfamilyinSingapore, CanadaandNewZealandwhohavebeenwithmeatdifferentpoints of my writing this book. I want to thank the editors and review- ers of this manuscript in its various forms. Audience and student responses to seminars, talks and lectures have been important in shaping my thinking and I thank all those who have contributed to this process. I want to thank my colleagues at Massey Univer- sity who provide a collegial and fun working environment. There are some people who have helped me more specifically and I am fortunate to have their support. I am immensely thankful to Steve Vertovec at the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Religious and EthnicDiversityforencouragingmetoembarkonthisbookproject andforhishelpfulcommentsonthemanuscript.Bothmymentors, Jim Glassman of the Department of Geography at the University of BritishColumbiaandPhilipKellyoftheDepartmentofGeographyat YorkUniversity,deservespecialmention.Asidefromprovidingstead- fast intellectual support with great patience and humour, they have contributedgreatlytomyideaswhilegivingmealotofroomtogrow, and for this I am grateful. Their work and our conversations inspire me to become a more rigorous geographer. I also want to thank my friendsandcolleaguesattheDepartmentofGeography,Universityof British Columbia, especially Guanming Low and Lawrence Santiago fortheirfriendship.TheSocialandCulturalGeographygroupatthe NationalUniversityofSingaporegavehelpfulandconstructivelycrit- icalcommentsfordifferentpartsofthiswork.Overthepastfewyears, anumberofothershavealsoprovidedmuchinsight.Ithankthemin (whatonescholarhastermed)themostdemocraticwayIknowhow– inalphabeticalorder:TimBunnell,JamieGillen,ElaineHo,Michael vi Acknowledgements vii Leaf, Jamie Peck, Gerry Pratt, Brenda Yeoh and Henry Yu. Each of thempushedmetoconsiderquestionswhoseanswersIcontinueto ponder. ∗∗∗ Thisnarrativeisdedicatedtothemanyindividualswhobecamemy researchrespondents.Iamindebtedtothestaffandvolunteersofthe NGOs who took me in and the workers who so generously offered theirtime,friendshipandobservationsthatIhadnorighttoexpect but without which this study would not have been possible. I can onlyhopethatthisworkconveysmygratitude,admirationandsoli- daritytowardstheresilience,painandhumourIsawthroughoutmy fieldwork. Finally,tomymother,KwanLiang,whoselove,senseofadventure andunwaveringfaithinmecontinuetoseemethroughitall. Introduction: Globalizing Class, Migration and Divisions of Labour in the City-State Thisbookexaminesthenatureofinequalityasexperiencedthrough class and cosmopolitanism in the lives of different workers, both migrants and non-migrants, in a global city. It is about how aspira- tions,expressedthroughthehopes,desires,goalsandwillofworkers as well as those of actors and organizations of the Singaporean state, bring the politics of cosmopolitanism to bear in a changing labour market. I explain how processes of cosmopolitanism, class and self-hood are intertwined and configured through the model of development in the city-state, which continues to rely strongly and strategically on migrants in its segmented workforce. While distinc- tive in its national development processes, Singapore is similar to many other globally connected cities in that its labour market con- figurations result from particular trends of economic development thataredominantintheglobalpoliticaleconomy.Throughvarious formsofeconomicrestructuringandmanagementknownasneolib- eralism, wages and conditions of work – such as those in care and construction industries – have been depressed. The impact of these trendshasalsotravelledbeyondthebordersoftheglobalcity,moti- vating people elsewhere to move into the city for work. Many of the least desirable jobs are now carried out by these new arrivals. I reject ideas of neoliberal conspiracy and migrant worker victim- ization. While much of the literature on global cities discusses the polarization of incomes and occupations, this case study expands thisperspectivebyhighlightingthefragmentedsocio-economiccon- tinuum that results from Singapore’s quest to maintain its status as a global city. The impacts of these changes are experienced by 1 2 ClassInequalityintheGlobalCity employees in different sectors, including those who are most read- ilythoughtofasincludedwithinthecosmopolitanimaginary,butit bearsrememberingthatitismigrantswhoaretakingonthemostpre- cariousjobsinthecity-state.Throughanempiricallydrivenanalysis, this book shows that while immigration and labour market change may have been led by capitalist logic and may have been at the expenseofmany,itisalsoanimatedbythemotivationsandstrategies of many workers and their communities as a response to economic restructuring. In this sense, the dynamics of class and cosmopoli- tanismreproducedthroughSingapore’slabourmarketstretchbeyond its national boundaries and are connected to much wider processes andgeographies. Bymanyaccounts,recentchangesinSingaporefitunderstandings of what a successful global city is. The city-state’s aspirations as a global financial centre are focused on expanding its influence over theorganizationandmanagementofglobalcapitalflows(Henderson etal.,2002).MeasuresinlinewithSingapore’sdevelopmenttowards becoming a “liveable and sustainable city” with a “high quality of environment to live, work and play” have been enviously studied by different city planners around the world. The Fraser Institute lists Singapore, with an annual GDP of $54,101 in 2013, as the sec- ond freest economy in the world, right behind Hong Kong (Fraser InstituteEconomicFreedomoftheWorldReport,2014:148;1 World Bank2). At the 2014 World Cities Summit, Singapore’s Prime Minis- terLeeHsienLoonghighlightedthat“effortshavegainedSingapore recognitioninternationally–rankings,differentmeasureshavegone up.”3 Itscosmopolitanismanditsrapiddevelopmenthavealsobeen widely celebrated and studied around the world. By developing its inwardandoutward-reachinggeographies,itsaspirationshavebeen spatialized to be highly conducive to capital accumulation. Aside from developing a high level of control and servicing functions within its boundaries, Singapore has further developed its extra- territorial reach to disperse its sites of production. Its population is also rapidly internationalizing, with Singaporeans moving abroad for work and education and, as this book will show, newcomers movingin. On this side of the twenty-first century, Singapore has again been transformed by immigration. An unprecedented number of new- comers have, with the largest increase being in the labour migrants
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