October 10, 2022

AMP Singapore is a non-profit organisation serving the Muslim community. Established on 10 October 1991, AMP was formed with core programmes in education, human resource development, social development and research.

In ‘Unequal returns to social capital: the study of Malays in Singapore through a network lens’ (Asian Ethnicity, 2015), Associate Professor Vincent Chua (NUS Department of Sociology) and Associate Professor Irene Y.H. Ng (NUS Department of Social Work) assess the impact of social network inequalities on the Malay community in Singapore. This study analyses the discrepancy in the availability of ‘social capital’, defined as advantageous interpersonal connections, to majority and minority racial groups. It uses the concept of ‘social capital deficit’, where the majority group has access to more social capital than minority groups, and ‘return deficit’, where access to social capital is equal for different groups but they reap unequal benefits from the capital.

To identify different ethnic groups’ access to social capital, a survey was conducted in 2005 on 1,143 Singapore citizens and residents. The sample mimicked the ethnic ratio of Chinese, Malay, and Indian populations in Singapore. Participants were asked to indicate their social connections based on five categories – university graduates, private housing, Chinese, men, and weak ties (emotionally distant relationships). These five categories of social capital were used to determine network imbalances, which A/P Chua and A/P Ng propose are closely linked to political, economic, and educational developments that marginalise the Malay community.

The results show that in comparison to Chinese individuals, Malays have just a small fraction of university graduates, private housing dwellers, and weak ties as contacts. While there is no ‘return deficit’ identified, the results reflect that the Malay population has less social capital than Chinese and Indians in Singapore. This lack of access to social capital is shown to negatively affect the earnings of the Malay community. As lower education is revealed to be one of the reasons for less social capital among Malays, the researchers call for the evaluation of education programmes such as SAP schools and streaming in future studies. Furthermore, they encourage the creation of new educational initiatives that reduce racial division in Singapore.

Read the article here.