Malays in Singapore: Culture, Economy and Ideology(East Asian Social Science Monographs)

This is the first full-length study of the Singapore Malay community to appear in nearly three decades. It presents a detailed investigation of changing social patterns at the micro level, particularly those within households. It also analyzes the impact of everyday activities both in households and in the community on macro trends in the national economy, including class formation and the diverging fortunes of Singapore's various ethnic groups. Singapore's urban wage economy has had a marked impact on economic relations within the household. It has particularly changed the nature and status of women's work, and altered the balance of economic exchange and authority between generations. This book examines various aspects of Singapore society as they relate to the Malay community, and concludes that the community has been an integral part of Singapore's economic, social and ideological history. This contrasts with other accounts which have suggested that its role has been marginal, static or unchanging.

Table of Contents:
Preface; acknowledgments; tables; Introduction; PART I; CULTURE, ECONOMY, AND THE HOUSEHOLD: Conceptual framework: Householding and Malay kinship: Householding; Kinship, commodification, and the gift; Household membership and consumption rights: Household membership; Consumption rights; Householding: Husband and wife: The obligations of maintenance and housework; Budgetary margins and the distribution of rewards; Domestic labour: An undervalued commodity; Property division: Separate economics and the balance of power; Householding: The Malay cultural heritage and the Islamic Law; Divorce; Householding: Parents and children: The care of a young child; Parents and working children; Parents and unmarried working daughters; Parents and unmarried working sons; Authority and the flow of giving; Parents and children: Old age; The personal life span and the afterlife; Kinship sentiment and the value of children; Householding relationships and the expansion of economic resources: Individual salvation and the dispersal of inheritance; Parental investment in children: Land and education; The Malay household and business enterprise; PART II: STRUCTURING PRACTICES: CULTURAL AND ECONOMIC DIFFERENTIATION IN SINGAPORE 1959-1984: The formation of the Singapore Malay community; The pattern of migration and settlement; Ethnic sentiment and the development of new cultural forms; Malays in the national economic and educational system: The economic position of Malays and Chinese prior to 1959; Chinese and Malay economic positions 1959-1980; Labour-force participation and household size; Entrepreneurship; Discrimination; The distribution of opportunities and rewards in the national economy; The national education system; Malays and education; The cultural basis of class differentiation: The impact of external conditions on household form; The sense of class and the achievement of social mobility; Individual and community: The cultural heritage; Class and hierarchy in the presence of the Chinese; Malay entrepreneurship: The Malay niche in entrepreneurship; Entrepreneurship within the Malay Community; The competitive context: Chinese householding and entrepreneurship: The Chinese household; The Chinese family and business; PART III; CULTURE, ECONOMY, AND IDEOLOGY: Culture, economy, and idealogy: Culture and Malay backwardness: The development of the orthodox view; Economic differentiation and cultural orthodoxy in the 1980s; Ideology in Singapore: Cultural explanations for structural inequalities; Conclusion.