The Power of Everyday Networks in Nation-Building

The Case of Inter-Ethnic Friendships in Singapore

Bibliographic Data

ID13014690
AuthorsV Chua (0000-0001-8330-7427, National University of Singapore, corresponding author), Ern Ser Tan (National University of Singapore), Mathews Mathew (0000-0002-1313-7351, National University of Singapore)
Year2023
Volume12
Issue2
Pages186-200
Publication date2023-08-23
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueTRaNS Trans -Regional and -National Studies of Southeast Asia (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2051-364X • E-ISSN: 2051-3658
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/trn.2023.9
OpenAlexW4386096721
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited35

While scholars commonly see nation-building as a modernist project or a cultural assertion, we suggest that a “third way” is equally important. Analysing data from a representative survey of 2,001 Singaporean residents collected in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic, we demonstrate that everyday social networks have been key to creating and maintaining Singaporean nationalism. We make the point that despite ambitious plans at transforming society, modernist projects must rely upon organic, routinised, and quotidian mechanisms such as friendship-making within and between ethnic groups for national cohesion to materialise

Assertion · Cohesion (chemistry · Ethnic group · Friendship · Nationalism · Political science · Politics · Power (physics · Social science · Sociology · Anthropology · Asian Studies and History · Diaspora, migration, transnational identity · Law · Socioeconomic Development in Asia

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