The ‘Social Distance’ project seeks to understand whether deep religiosity may translate into greater self-exclusion from secular and multicultural public life in a plural society such as Singapore. This is because deeply religious individuals are more likely to perform ‘rituals of intimacy’ to maintain religious purity and as a result, choose to ‘distance’ themselves from secular public life. The research involves interviews with self-declared ‘deeply religious’ individuals to find out their views towards public dining, schooling choice (for their children), choice of close friends and inter-religious marriage.

PI & Co-PI(s): Bryan Stanley Turner & Alexius Pereira

Funding Agency: NUS Academic Research Fund