Finding a Fit for Life's Funcʃions
Five semesters in, I finally feel like I belong with Sociology. Much has to do with the way I constitute ideas. I don’t rush into asking questions, making judgments, or finding formulas. I prefer to tackle readings on a clean slate and allow them to settle into the subconscious, until...
You’d think sociologists are best-equipped to debunk stereotypes. Surprise then, this semester, when ALL 3 of my NUS Sociology lecturers, in cordial but resigned tones, levelled essentially the same accusation at us students: That we are in it for the degree. The most subtle instance came during a Social Thought lecture on...
Money is burdensome. As Karl Marx lectured, “wage is but a necessary consequence of labor’s estrangement”. Money is what we deserve for hours x hours of unsatisfying work. But extra money is different. Extra money is a bonus we are not entitled to receive. Extra money is a guilty pleasure we derive for getting more...
Most of my Lunar New Years had been spent among relatives, so I wanted to immerse in the public festivities for a change. Taking photos was easy in the thick of camera-equipped crowds. The main issue was, how well can I represent the cultural realities in ever-moving crowds? The field...
According to Gallup, Singapore is the least emotional country in the world. This is probably worth celebrating if you were Durkheim (Mestrovic, 1993), who believed individual desires are infinite and required social control, for the good of both society and individual. Yet the survey findings are deeply problematic. I will...
Step inside Khoo Teck Puat Hospital (KTPH) for a breath of fresh air. Literally, because the buildings are designed with gaps and fins, allowing winds to ventilate all open spaces. And they were spacious indeed. Yet the first impressions were formed earlier. The fashionable glass exterior is fronted by potted...
