In both academic scholarship and the popular imagination, the globality of modern society has been represented by global cities as the corporate and financial epicenters for capital accumulation, cosmopolitan cultures and innovative change. This has created an image of the globalized world as empty beyond cities which make it into the global league as paradigmatic …
In the mid-fourteenth century, two empires dominated Southeast Asia: Majapahit in Java, and Ayudhya in Thailand. The 14th century was an important era in Asian history. The first known overseas Chinese settlements formed during this period. Little is known of them. Archaeological research over the past 20 years has shown that Singapore experienced its first …
Studying the Hong merchant houses in Canton provides us with a unique glimpse into the inner-workings of the Canton System. Tan Suqua was one of the most well-known Hong merchants of the early-eighteenth century. His family ran the prominent and respected firm, the Guangshun Hang, which was one of the pillars of the trade for …
WPS 50 Tan Suqua and Family: Merchants of Canton 1716-1778 Read More »
Who are farang (White Westerners) in the Thai construction of knowledge? How have farang become parts of the discourses of Thainess? What are the effects of farang on Thai national and popular cultural identities? This paper focuses on the deconstruction of Thailand’s Western other through an identification marker of “farang,” arguably one of many key …
Studies of hegemonic domination, even in authoritarian states, have tended to focus on ideology and consensus, treating coercion as a straightforward matter that does not need to be problematised. This essay attempts to redress the balance, arguing that states have a range of repressive tools at their disposal, which they need to use intelligently if …
WPS 48 Calibrated coercion and the maintenance of hegemony in Singapore Read More »
The Infinite Longing for Home is a groundbreaking study of Ben Okri’s and K.S. Maniam’s literary problematization of ‘home’ in relation to subjectivity and the nation within and beyond the context of Nigeria and Malaysia. Drawing on Lacan, Žižek, Laclau and Mouffe, and weaving through history, politics, philosophy and literature, this book critically examines the …
The ultimate sociological resource. Written by three eminent professors, this reference has been updated to reflect the shifts of sociological thought in the last five years, making it the most comprehensive, authoritative, and up-to-date dictionary of sociology available.
Objectives: Reciprocity is a powerful principle in family and other social ties. The ethos of reciprocity is especially strong in Asian societies. We study older Singaporeans, hypothesizing that the more current help seniors receive, the more help they give. Methods: Two national surveys are analyzed. Receiving help is measured by income and cash support, payment …
WPS 47 Giving Help in Return: Social Exchange in Singapore Read More »
The history of Opium in China begins in the mid-Ming dynasty, when as a tribute from vassal states, it was initially used as an aphrodisiac in the Ming court. The Chinese then began to collectively redefine the foreign recreational resource’s usage and created a complex culture around its comsumption. This book traces the transformation over …
