Real World Issues- Poverty and Inequality
Income inequality has picked up traction in Singapore as being one of the biggest problems that people are facing. In fact, 73 percent of Singapore’s wealth controlled by the top 20 percent of those who earn (ASEAN Post Team, 2018). In Singapore, we are no strangers to the fact that prices of many things including food, water, electricity, homes and many other basic necessities have been on the rise. Given this situation, many people's livelihoods have been affected as their income level has not risen substantially even as the cost of living has gone up. For instance, the richest 10% saw the per household member income increase from S$8,571 in 2007 to S$13,215 in 2017. At the same time, the poorest 10%'s income increased only S$219 (Hoffmann, 2018). This has pushed many people into the bracket of poverty in Singapore as they are unable to sustain themselves and their family with their current income level.
Reflecting about my ideas and preconception of poverty, I realise that they are very simplistic. Rather, I would say that they were very simplistic before my undergraduate education. I say this, with a very distant experience of poverty in mind from childhood. I also do acknowledge that I am speaking from a very privileged point of view, never understanding the real struggle of poverty. In fact, one of my first experiences looking at the effects of poverty was in India when I went for a holiday in 2007. My parents had given some money to beggars on the street, who were lying on the dusty sidewalks with their torn clothes that looked like they had not been washed in a long time. Many of them held their children in the arms, looking up at us to help them out. It broke my heart to see that, and I remember wondering how come I never saw any of such 'poor people' out on the streets back home in Singapore.
Reflecting about my ideas and preconception of poverty, I realise that they are very simplistic. Rather, I would say that they were very simplistic before my undergraduate education. I say this, with a very distant experience of poverty in mind from childhood. I also do acknowledge that I am speaking from a very privileged point of view, never understanding the real struggle of poverty. In fact, one of my first experiences looking at the effects of poverty was in India when I went for a holiday in 2007. My parents had given some money to beggars on the street, who were lying on the dusty sidewalks with their torn clothes that looked like they had not been washed in a long time. Many of them held their children in the arms, looking up at us to help them out. It broke my heart to see that, and I remember wondering how come I never saw any of such 'poor people' out on the streets back home in Singapore.
For many years to come after that trip, it was as if poverty in Singapore was almost non-existent in my mind. When I thought of poverty and what it meant, I often thought, rather embarrassingly, of the poor I saw in India or the poor Africans that we hear about in the news, who die from famishes and droughts. Surely Singapore had no such poor people, I figured for at least a decent amount of years. It was only until I entered university and learning more through my field of study, Sociology, that I started to open my eyes towards the prevalence of poverty in Singapore.
Poverty and inequality is a very important topic in Singapore and constitutes as a real world issue as it pressing problem that people face and it involves their livelihood. In Singapore, I would say this issue is important because of the very fact the poverty is almost invisible and so hidden that many who suffer often suffer in silence. As a meritocratic society, we often talk about how those who work hard in life tend to be rewarded for their hard work in terms of recognition and monetary benefits. However, what meritocracy assumes, which I believe is one of the pitfalls of the system in Singapore, is that everyone is born into a level playing field in society. That is far from the truth, I have come to realized, as many people who are born into poverty and born into families who do not have the abilities to provide their children with the same opportunities that many other middle-high income families can afford to (Ng, 2018). How then can we help those with much less opportunities to succeed in life just as their other peers can? How can we redistribute resources so that we all progress as a society together?
Citations:
ASEAN Post Team. (2018, July 1). Income inequality in Singapore. Retrieved from https://theaseanpost.com/article/income-inequality-singapore.
Hofmann, W. (2018, July 25). How Big of a Problem is Income Inequality in Singapore? Retrieved from https://www.valuechampion.sg/2018/07/how-big-problem-income-inequality-singapore.
Ng, C. (2018, September 7). Commentary: This is what the face of poverty looks like. Retrieved from https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/commentary/this-is-what-the-face-of-poverty-inequality-looks-like-10633800.
Poverty and inequality is a very important topic in Singapore and constitutes as a real world issue as it pressing problem that people face and it involves their livelihood. In Singapore, I would say this issue is important because of the very fact the poverty is almost invisible and so hidden that many who suffer often suffer in silence. As a meritocratic society, we often talk about how those who work hard in life tend to be rewarded for their hard work in terms of recognition and monetary benefits. However, what meritocracy assumes, which I believe is one of the pitfalls of the system in Singapore, is that everyone is born into a level playing field in society. That is far from the truth, I have come to realized, as many people who are born into poverty and born into families who do not have the abilities to provide their children with the same opportunities that many other middle-high income families can afford to (Ng, 2018). How then can we help those with much less opportunities to succeed in life just as their other peers can? How can we redistribute resources so that we all progress as a society together?
Citations:
ASEAN Post Team. (2018, July 1). Income inequality in Singapore. Retrieved from https://theaseanpost.com/article/income-inequality-singapore.
Hofmann, W. (2018, July 25). How Big of a Problem is Income Inequality in Singapore? Retrieved from https://www.valuechampion.sg/2018/07/how-big-problem-income-inequality-singapore.
Ng, C. (2018, September 7). Commentary: This is what the face of poverty looks like. Retrieved from https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/commentary/this-is-what-the-face-of-poverty-inequality-looks-like-10633800.
Hofmann, W. (2018, July 25). How Big of a Problem is Income Inequality in Singapore? Retrieved from https://www.valuechampion.sg/2018/07/how-big-problem-income-inequality-singapore.
Ng, C. (2018, September 7). Commentary: This is what the face of poverty looks like. Retrieved from https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/commentary/this-is-what-the-face-of-poverty-inequality-looks-like-10633800.
Good research! Thanks for sharing.
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