Reproducing Class in a Global Labour Force: the Case of Singapore’S Division of Labour

REPRODUCING CLASS IN A GLOBAL LABOUR FORCE: THE CASE OF SINGAPORE’S DIVISION OF LABOUR by JUNJIA YE B.A. (HONS), YORK UNIVERSITY, 2004 M.A., YORK UNIVERSITY, 2006 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES (Geography) THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA (Vancouver) September 2011 © Junjia Ye, 2011 Abstract This thesis analyzes the reproduction of inequalities within the realm of production within Singapore’s division of labour that relies strategically on migrants for different tasks in the global city. I examine the mechanisms that reproduce class differences within and across labour divisions to illustrate the politics of cosmopolitanism in Singapore. Specifically, I look at workers from different positions within the hierarchical labour force: Bangladeshi migrants who had been working in either construction or marine industries until employment disputes rendered them effectively jobless and homeless; Johorean commuters who cross the international border between Singapore and Malaysia daily to work in low-paid service sector work; and finally, middle-class financial workers who are often seen as the skilled, cosmopolitan faces of Singapore’s economy. I use the extended case method to integrate Marx and Bourdieu’s notions of class to illustrate how inequality is reproduced through social reproduction vis-à-vis people’s access to economic resources. It is about how class is also lived through other constructions– in particular, “the self” and how certain constructions of personhood intersect with and constitute class. Rooted in the division of labour, class is reproduced through processes by which some individuals are denied access to economic and cultural resources because they are not recognized as being worthy recipients. These processes are constituted through both material and symbolic struggles and violence. I aim to unpack the ambiguities and precarities produced through this struggle of classed bodies – desires, hopes, choices alongside hyper-exploitative work conditions and symbolic violence – and through which, identities are formed in the larger social world. I would argue that no matter how ambivalent it appears, class and its reproduction are never free from power-laden processes. I argue that it is through theoretically-informed empirical analyses of processes of class formation that the notion of cosmopolitanism can retain its purchase of understanding work lives in a diverse division of labour. ii Preface This research has been approved by the UBC Research Ethics Board, a division of the Office of Research Services. My researcher ID is 37385. iii Table of contents Abstract ......................................................................................................................................................... ii Preface .......................................................................................................................................................... iii Table of contents .......................................................................................................................................... iv Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................................................ v Introduction ................................................................................................................................................... 1 Chapter 1: Theorizing class and work ....................................................................................................... 12 THEORETICAL DIALOGUES: GEOGRAPHY AND CLASS ................................................................................ 17 THEORIZATIONS OF CLASS ........................................................................................................................ 23 CRITICAL COSMOPOLITANISM ................................................................................................................... 35 Chapter 2: Methodology: the extended case method ............................................................................... 41 RESEARCH DESIGN ................................................................................................................................... 41 Chapter 3: Contextualizing class and work in Singapore ........................................................................ 5 4 POST-COLONIAL DEVELOPMENT ............................................................................................................... 55 CONTEXTUALIZING CLASS: REGULATING THE LABOUR REGIME BY THE SINGAPORE STATE ...................... 59 CORRECTIVE WAGE POLICY ...................................................................................................................... 61 TRADE UNIONS ......................................................................................................................................... 63 MANAGING A MULTI-ETHNIC CITY-STATE ................................................................................................ 68 THE SINGAPOREAN STATE ........................................................................................................................ 70 ASSEMBLING A COSMOPOLITAN SINGAPORE THROUGH THE DIVISION OF LABOUR.................................... 76 INCORPORATING FOREIGN LABOUR .......................................................................................................... 78 FOREIGN WORKERS................................................................................................................................... 86 Chapter 4: Bangladeshi men in the Singaporean labour force ................................................................ 94 BANGLADESHIS IN SINGAPORE ................................................................................................................103 BANGLADESH AND THE GLOBAL ECONOMY .............................................................................................105 AGENCIES AND AGENTS ...........................................................................................................................108 DEPENDENCY ON EMPLOYERS .................................................................................................................113 MIGRANT SELVES ....................................................................................................................................124 GENDER AND MOBILITY ...........................................................................................................................125 CLASS TASTES .........................................................................................................................................130 Chapter 5: Commuting to work: Johoreans in Singapore’s labour market ........................................ 137 CONTEXTUALIZING THE WORKERS ..........................................................................................................142 CONTEXTUALIZING THE COMMUTE ..........................................................................................................149 GETTING TO WORK IN SINGAPORE ...........................................................................................................150 WORKING IN SINGAPORE: ALL ABOUT THE MONEY? ................................................................................153 THE CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN GOODS PRODUCTION AND TASTE PRODUCTION ...................................157 EMBODYING CLASS: THE HABITUS ...........................................................................................................160 Chapter 6: Classifying cosmopolitanism: the financial middle-classes ................................................. 166 INTERSECTING CLASS WITH OTHER SOCIAL IDENTITIES ............................................................................173 RECRUITING THE COSMOPOLITAN EMPLOYEE ..........................................................................................175 SOCIALIZING COSMOPOLITANS INTO CORPORATE CULTURE .....................................................................181 CLASSIFYING COSMOPOLITAN CONSUMPTION .........................................................................................188 REPRODUCING RACIALIZED IDENTITIES ...................................................................................................192 Conclusion .................................................................................................................................................. 211 References .................................................................................................................................................. 223 iv Acknowledgements This dissertation is the product of support from many people – whether they were conscious or not – and for this, I am lucky. I am also fortunate to finally be able to thank them in writing: My advisor, Dr. Jim Glassman at The Department of Geography without whose steadfast intellectual support and patience this dissertation would not have been complete. He has contributed greatly to my ideas while giving me a lot of room to grow and for this, I am grateful. I also thank him for being there for me (over Skype!), especially when I needed a long-distance crutch when I was in Singapore. His encouragement really kept me going. I also owe tremendous thanks to Philip Kelly, who was my Honours and Master’s

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