The Binding Tie: Chinese Intergenerational Relations in Modern Singapore

Conclusion: Living in Transition

Conclusion Living in Transition When I began my fieldwork I was intrigued by the seeming contradiction between traditional family values and the huge generational divide caused by Singapore’s dramatic modernization. The Singaporean experience of modernity is peculiar in several respects, but most striking are the parallel processes of intergenerational integration and disintegration . While the family remains a pivotal feature of society and the primary unit of support, this tiny city-state still represents one of the most rapidly changing societies in the world. This study has attempted to explore Singapore ’s complex modernity from below, to capture the ethnographic reality of the “maelstrom of perpetual disintegration and renewal, of struggle and contradiction, of ambiguity and anguish” (Berman 1983, 15). As my research progressed, I came to focus in particular on the category of people belonging to the so-called sandwich generation. The sandwich generation, in anthropological interpretation, is not a biological fact; it is, as Mannheim (1952, 291) put it, a matter of “social location,” directly linked to rapid upward mobility. The sandwich generation is intriguing in the sense that it more or less embodies the transition to modern society; only fragments remain of the world its members grew up in. Many of the ethnographic accounts I have relayed here contain the experiences from this transition; they lay out the ideas and strategies people employ to cope with a deep and complex generation gap. the generation gap The complexity of the generational divide in Singapore makes modernization theory an insufficient frame of analysis. In this study I have suggested an approach that takes into account processes of both fragmentation living in transition : 157 and consolidation, and the levels at which these processes occur. As such, the fragmentation of intergenerational continuity has to be discussed in relation to different dimensions of modernity, in which economic development is but one—albeit influential—aspect. In chapter 3, I tried to shed light on how the subjective aspiration to be modern as well as the political regimes implementing a modernist project are driving forces in the emergence of intergenerational differences. The Singapore government is one of a kind, with powerful tools by which it can implement meticulously detailed social engineering schemes in its ambition to further modernize the country. One of the most severe consequences of the state-propelled modernity project is the decline of dialects in favor of Mandarin and English. Through language policies and the ban on dialects, the government has effectively discouraged young children from learning the languages of their forbears. The language policies were, as I have already pointed out, part of an attempt to (re)define the cultural heritage of the Chinese community in addition to molding a modern and civilized society, wherein dialects are judged inadequate. This intervention is by no means a trivial matter. Apart from obstructing verbal communication between people of different ages, the language policies have led to a heightened discrimination against dialect-speaking elderly in the public sphere, which has resulted in unequal access to information. Certainly, the disadvantages the elderly actually face in everyday life stand in sharp contrast to the notion of seniority upheld by the state. As Bee Choo once put it, “This is a world that favors the young, not the old. Being old is a liability.” What now manifests itself as a complex generational divide is not, of course, the simple result of external forces. Having grown up in poor circumstances in a village or a shabby urban area without modern conveniences , the sandwich generation has benefited not merely from the modernity project run from above; they themselves were the motor behind modernization in their aspiration to make a better life for themselves and their children. Living in this transitional situation is, as we have seen, a potentially conflict-ridden existence, characterized by changing ideas about family life and filial piety. While cohabitation remains a popular ideal for Chinese family life, young couples increasingly choose to establish their own households. As both men and women pursue careers outside the home, they are often forced to substitute practical and emotional care for elderly family members with financial and material support. An even more problematic reinterpretation of filial piety occurs among young people who convert to Christianity and reject the practice of ancestor worship. By rejecting 158 : conclusion ancestor worship, they not only dissociate themselves from Chinese religion but also from fulfilling their filial obligations to deceased parents...