Max Weber, Thorstein Veblen, Social Theory and Contemporary Singapore

By Phua Kai Lit

Under the iron-fisted rule of the People’s Action Party (PAP), contemporary Singapore is a society which is a prime candidate for sociological analysis. In the 1950s, under British colonial rule, it was a slum-ridden and politically unstable place wracked by high unemployment and underemployment, widespread poverty, labor strife and racial tension. Beginning in the late 1950s, under the authoritarian rule of the PAP – first led by Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew and then by Goh Chok Tong (in this article, last names are written first in the East Asian manner) – Singapore cleared off its slums through the public housing built by the Housing and Development Board (HDB), reduced unemployment and poverty by welcoming foreign transnational corporations with open arms, eliminated labor strife by emasculating the Communist-influenced trade unions while incorporating the moderate unions into the state apparatus and achieved “political stability” by repressing opposition parties and politicians (whether ideological opposition parties or ethnic-based opposition parties).

The PAP, through its unbroken rule since the late 1950s, has managed to transform Singapore into a cosmopolitan and wired society with a high per capita GNP (Gross National Product) and high foreign exchange reserves. Although it has been experiencing slow growth and rising unemployment since the Asian currency crisis of 1997-98, the technocrats in the ruling party and the government are trying their best to come up with solutions to these problems.

Singapore is a society ruled by technocrats: top Ministers and civil servants are highly educated and high achievers. Many of them are trained in engineering, the sciences and business and public administration. This is reflected in the policies and programs of the Singapore Government. In fact, “social engineering” is a phrase familiar to Singaporeans and it refers to deliberate action undertaken by the politico-technocratic elite to shape and reshape Singapore society and the economy in the direction favored by them. Rationality (in the “formal rationality” sense discussed by Max Weber) is strongly evident here. In the political arena, the PAP actually has a program to “spot talent” and to recruit talented individuals into the party and onward to top level political positions, the rationale being that Singapore would be in safer hands if the “best and the brightest” are actually making policy and running the place. In the economic sphere, new industries are literally built up from scratch and nurtured by the Government into viable enterprises, e.g., the oil refining industry, the electronics industry and the sophisticated parts of the financial services industry. In the sociocultural arena, effort is made to shape things so that Singapore will not lose in the perceived economic race against other nations. For example, the encouragement of English and Mandarin Chinese in the schools to promote the competitiveness of individuals later on in international business, the emphasis on scientific and technical education, the promotion of computerization, and latterly, efforts made to revamp the educational curriculum and promote “creativity” in Singaporean students.

We need to keep in mind, of course, that although Max Weber noted the trend of increasing formal rationality in modern societies, he also warned about the dangers of the “iron cage of rationality” that threatens the freedom and welfare of the individual. Sure enough, in contemporary Singapore, individuals – ranging from elementary schoolchildren all the way to working adults and even to the individual “talent” who have been recruited into high level Ministerial positions – are prisoners of the iron cage of rationality. For example, schoolchildren are subjected to a demanding curriculum from day one and then quickly tracked into various “streams” with different curricula quite early in their school career. Good students are tracked into the more demanding streams while weak students are tracked into less demanding streams. This looks rational on the surface but unfortunately, students in the less demanding streams are essentially trapped into streams which will channel them eventually into blue collar and other less prestigious jobs. Good students in the more demanding streams will end up in high schools that prepare them for entry into one of Singapore’s three public universities. This rational but highly elitist system of education sorts children when they are relatively young, disadvantages the late bloomers and stigmatizes the weak students as “failures”. Schools are ranked regularly and this increases the competition to get into the “best” streams in the “best” schools. Thus, by the time a student is ready to enter one of the local universities, he or she is likely to be a highly competitive individual with elitist attitudes. In fact, in Singapore, there is a term for individuals with a highly competitive attitude, i.e., “kiasu”. The term kiasu comes from the Chinese dialect known as Hokkien (or Fukienese) and literally means “afraid to lose”. A kiasu individual is a self-centered person who will do almost anything to win – including obstructing and tripping up others – and who is also full of envy at the success of others. There is in fact a popular cartoon character called “Mr Kiasu” who appears in the Singaporean comic books.

Top students will enter university and be funded as prestigious President’s Scholars and SAF (Singapore Armed Forces) Scholars and be told that they are headed for high achievement and success later on in life. As a result of the demanding curriculum in elementary and high school coupled with the competition to get into the “best” streams in the “best” schools, school life can be miserable for many schoolchildren. The term “academic pressure cooker” has been used to describe the situation in the Singaporean public schools. In fact, one indication of this heavy pressure is the periodic suicides of schoolchildren (even elementary school children!) as a result of academic “failure”.

Later on in life, adults are also pressured to compete and to perform. As mentioned earlier, the PAP has a policy of “spotting talent” and then recruiting these talented individuals to join the party and to run for political office in the elections. They are selected to run against opposition party candidates for Member of Parliament (MP) positions and if successful, further talent spotting is done and they are given high level positions in the Government. However, such individuals are expected to perform and if they do not, they will be dropped from the high level positions without any hesitation. They may also not be given another chance by the party to run in the next election in order to retain their seat as an MP. Thus, the history of the PAP is replete with cases of initially high-flying individuals who have been unceremoniously dumped for non-performance and have faded back into sociopolitical oblivion. Once again, a highly rational system but one which exacts high psychological and social costs on the individual. An excellent example to illustrate Weber’s warning about the “iron cage of rationality”.

Thorstein Veblen, on the other hand, favored a society that is run by “engineers”. He believed that such a society would be run efficiently, rationally and productively because of the orientation of these engineers. What would Veblen think of contemporary Singapore if he were alive today? The present Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong was trained in economics and was a high academic achiever as well as a successful top level manager before entering politics. He can be considered a quasi- engineer in Veblen’s scheme of things since contemporary economics is the most mathematically-oriented of the social sciences and also the social science discipline that places the most emphasis on rationality and efficiency. Most of the other members of his Cabinet and the high level political appointees of the various ministries are trained in engineering, the sciences, economics and administration (public administration as well as business administration).

A few biographical details to illustrate my point:

Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong - He holds a First Class Honours degree in economics from the local university as well as a Masters degree in development economics from Williams College. He managed the state- owned shipping company called Neptune Orient Lines before being recruited into politics by the PAP.

Deputy Prime Minister BG (Brigadier-General) Lee Hsien Loong - The eldest son of Lee Kuan Yew, he graduated with First Class Honours in mathematics and a diploma in computer science (with distinction) from Cambridge University. He has also studied public administration at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government. He served in the Singapore Armed Forces before moving into politics.

Deputy Prime Minister Tony Tan Keng Yam - He holds a First Class Honours degree in physics (Singapore), a Masters degree in operations research (M.I.T.) as well as a PhD in applied mathematics (University of Adelaide). He lectured at the National University of Singapore before becoming a successful banker with the Overseas Chinese Banking Corporation (OCBC). He was recruited into politics by the PAP.

Richard Hu Hsu Tau – He is no longer in the Singapore Cabinet. An ex- Minister of Finance, Dr Hu holds a PhD in chemical engineering and is the former chief executive of Shell group of companies in Singapore as well as the former Chairman of the Monetary Authority of Singapore (equivalent to the Federal Reserve Board of the United States).

BG (Brigadier-General) George Yeo Yong Boon - Another Cambridge University graduate with First Class Honours (in engineering), he also holds an MBA from Harvard University (with High Distinction).

Lim Hng Kiang - Yet another top PAP leader with a First Class Honours degree in engineering from Cambridge University. He also holds a Master of Public Administration degree from Harvard. He served as the top manager of the Housing and Development Board (HDB) before moving into politics. (As a matter of interest, more than three quarters of all Singaporeans live in high rise apartments built by the HDB).

Rear Admiral Teo Chee Hean - Teo is an engineering graduate with First Class Honours who studied at University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology. He has also studied at Imperial College in London and at Harvard University.

We can see this technical orientation of its leaders reflected in the public policies of the Singapore Government. Although Singapore’s economy is market-oriented and capitalist with a heavy multinational corporation presence, the government planners do not hesitate to use the power of the state to intervene rationally in the economy. Their interventions are “pro- market”. Thus, the government planners in the Economic Development Board (EDB) try to identify industries that can be introduced into Singapore and “grown” with the strong assistance of the state through the supply of land and facilities, building of infrastructure, tax incentives, government- sponsored human resource training programs and so on. The oil refining industry in Singapore came into being through this method. So did the pharmaceutical, off-shore banking and movie industries. The computer industry was also brought into being after it had been identified as a sunrise industry. The National Computer Board (NCB) was formed to promote the growth of the computer industry by introducing the teaching of computer science and computer engineering in the schools, polytechnics and universities and to promote the computerization of the government and the private sector. Foreign computer companies were also actively persuaded to invest in Singapore. The great success of the NCB is evident in the fact that Singapore has become a significant exporter of electronics and computer equipment and that it is one of the world’s most computer-literate and wired societies. Besides the foreign multinational corporations, the Singapore economy is notable for the heavy presence of Government-Linked Corporations or GLCs. Thus, the Government of Singapore has its finger in every aspect of the Singapore economic pie so to speak. However, the GLCs are run like private sector companies and are expected to maximize profits. CEOs and other high-ranking GLC personnel who fail to perform are quickly removed from their positions by the Government. Thus, while Veblen gladly envisioned a future society ruled by engineers and Weber darkly identified the dangers posed by increasing formal rationality in modern society, it seems that Weber’s warning about the “ iron cage of rationality” is more prescient and also a more accurate description of contemporary Singapore than Veblen’s optimistic (and even utopian) hopes. This, however, does not mean that Veblen’s theorizing is without any merit at all. In his famous book “The Theory of the Leisure Class”, Veblen identified the appearance of social trends such as “conspicuous consumption” and “invidious comparison”. Ironically, conspicuous consumption and invidious comparison are Veblenian concepts that are highly evident in contemporary Singapore: as part of the competitive “kiasu” complex in Singapore, many people try not only to keep up with the Joneses. They also try to outdo the Joneses and to flaunt their success through conspicuous consumption. Thus, the widespread presence of “branded” clothes (designer clothes) worn by those who can afford it and faux branded clothes (purchased in neighboring countries) by those who can’t. Hence phenomenon such as the significant presence of cars (and luxury cars) although the cost of buying a car is very high in Singapore because of the government’s attempts to limit the number of cars through its COE (Certificate of Entitlement) program whereby would be car owners have to bid for and purchase a COE in order to have the right to buy a car. Also, the phenomenon of what I would call, “competitive house renovation” in which neighbors try to “out-renovate” each other, e.g., a family would renovate their house so that it is grander-looking and greater in height than the houses next door!

Classical social theory and social theorists such as Thorstein Veblen and Max Weber are not irrelevant in today’s world. Contemporary “modernizing” societies such as Singapore continue to prove their relevance indeed.