2019/12/18 by Humairah Zainal, Walid Jumblatt Abdullah · 1 citation
Social Sciences · #Socioeconomic Development in Asia #Asian Studies and History #Migration, Refugees, and Integration
paper · doi:10.1080/14631369.2019.1706153
openalex publication_date 2019/12/18 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/01/11
This article contributes to a more nuanced understanding of privilege as a conceptual category through the case study of Chinese privilege in Singapore politics. It does so through two main ways. First, at the theoretical level, we emphasise the importance of foregrounding the salience of political hegemony in the analysis of privilege. Second, at the empirical level, we interrogate the concept in an Asian context, with specific reference to Singapore. We argue that the existing focus on class privilege within the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) should go hand-in-hand with the study of Chinese privilege since PAP hegemony has significant implications on how race is constructed, understood and implicated in Singapore politics and society. Furthermore, PAP’s race-based approach to politics inadvertently perpetuates Chinese privilege, as exemplified by contradictions in minority representation in parliament and the clash between Chinese privilege and the government’s system of meritocracy.