ARI Working Paper Series

For many years, Singapore was believed to be a middle-class society. However, recent statistics and studies reveal growing stratifications within the middle-class bulge. This paper shines the spotlight onto a specific group of Singaporeans – the elderly – and examines the extent and implications of social stratification among them.

Drawing upon life-history interviews with elderly persons from a range of socio-economic backgrounds, this paper uncovers not stratification as evidenced by statistical data, but differences in lifestyle, opportunities and values between the classes that are reflective of lived experiences. The findings draw attention to the likelihood that social stratification will be perpetuated through the generations as the upper-class provide their children with enhanced educational opportunities and financial support into adulthood.

This trend may be attributed to the state’s ‘developmental’ ideology, which subordinates welfare to economic growth and emphasises private sources of welfare, and the practice of meritocracy, which creates conditions that allow the elite to reinforce their privileged position.  When economic differences are cumulated over a lifetime, the gap between the classes almost certainly becomes more stark in old-age.  Consequently, unless chances of upward mobility are improved, living in a prosperous state may not necessarily imply a prosperous old-age.