Getting By
Neoliberal Governmentality and the Lack of Success in Instilling Financial Self-Reliance
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 2116289 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Yen Kiat Chong (0000-0003-0069-7998, National University of Singapore, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2023 |
| Volume | 52 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 358-375 |
| Publication date | 2023-04-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of Social Policy (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0047-2794 • E-ISSN: 1469-7823 |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1017/s0047279421000672 |
| OpenAlex | W4360598507 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 32 |
The Short-To-Medium-Term Assistance (SMTA) is a state programme in Singapore providing financial, employment and other assistance to individuals in financial need. SMTA frames the resources that it provides as a temporary form of support that applicants should use to regain their financial self-reliance through employment. Drawing on eleven months of ethnographic fieldwork, this article identifies two forms of self-reliance which differ from the objective of the programme. First, informants worked to receive assistance by convincing Social Service Office (SSO) officers of their financial need; they further approached their Members of Parliament (MPs) to enhance the approval of their assistance. Second, informants worked to find jobs on their own rather than accept job recommendations from SSO officers and career consultants. The different forms of self-reliance illustrate the agency of informants to get by, which contrasts with the agency resource embedded in the neoliberal governmentality of SMTA. These ethnographic insights indicate that SMTA was unsuccessful in directing informants to work and achieve financial self-reliance
Agency (philosophy) · Business · Ethnography · Governmentality · Political science · Politics · Public relations · Service (business) · Social science · Sociology · Work (physics) · Employment and Welfare Studies · Engineering · Finance · Housing, Finance, and Neoliberalism · Law · Marketing · Public Administration · Social Policy and Reform Studies
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| Unique citing works | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,5 |
| Citation span | 2024 - 2024 (1) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 1 |