{"id":18175,"date":"2020-09-28T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-09-27T16:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fass.nus.edu.sg\/srn\/?p=18175"},"modified":"2021-01-08T15:19:39","modified_gmt":"2021-01-08T07:19:39","slug":"sites-of-resistance-alternative-websites-and-state-society-relations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fass.nus.edu.sg\/srn\/2020\/09\/28\/sites-of-resistance-alternative-websites-and-state-society-relations\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Sites\u2019 of resistance: alternative websites and state-society relations"},"content":{"rendered":"
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iStock\/imranahmedsg<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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The International Day for Universal Access to Information is held annually on 28 September to raise awareness of the right to seek and receive information, which is essential to freedom of expression and sustainable development. In \u2018Sites\u2019 of Resistance: Alternative Websites and State-Society Relations (British Journal of Sociology<\/em>, 2002), Associate Professor Ho Kong Chong (NUS Department of Sociology), along with Professor Zaheer Baber (University of Toronto Department of Sociology) and Professor Habibul Khondker (Zayed University Department of Social Science), show how Singapore\u2019s development as a knowledge-based economy through the use of information technology has contributed to greater freedom of expression by civil society in cyberspace, and how this conflicts with Singapore\u2019s traditionally regulative role over information.<\/p>\n

The authors argue that Singapore\u2019s ability to achieve its goals of rapid industrialisation in its nascent years was facilitated by a curtailment of an active citizenry that could have contested and resisted specific state policies. However, the development of Singapore\u2019s cyberspace today has opened up new spaces for social groups to influence policies on issues like gender and the environment. Examples include People Like Us, a gay equality advocacy group in Singapore, and the Nature Society of Singapore. Opposition political parties like the Workers\u2019 Party also have greater room for rallying and alternative expression. Indeed, there are now many \u201cvirtual Speakers\u2019 Corners\u201d.<\/p>\n

The Singaporean state has come to recognize the importance of negotiation following various pressures and demands from the new social groups, and has limited censorship and regulation over the internet presence of alternative voices. Indeed, the authors argue that the state\u2019s desire for greater creativity and independent critical thinking among its citizenry \u2013 in order to achieve new economic goals \u2013 has made for an uneasy relaxation of the state\u2019s regulatory role over information.<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, the authors also note an interesting twist whereby non-state actors, in support of the government\u2019s defence of traditional and conservative values, have also used the internet to advocate their positions. For example, a site called Singapore Virgins calls for teenagers to uphold traditional sexual values and abstain from pre-marital sex. Therefore, mainstream voices, in line with the government\u2019s stances, are also gaining greater room for expression alongside alternative voices.<\/p>\n

Read the article here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  The International Day for Universal Access to Information is held annually on 28 September to raise awareness of the right to seek and receive information, which is essential to freedom of expression and sustainable development. In \u2018Sites\u2019 of Resistance: Alternative Websites and State-Society Relations (British Journal of Sociology, 2002), Associate Professor Ho Kong Chong […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":247,"featured_media":18176,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"default","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[4529],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18175","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fass.nus.edu.sg\/srn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18175","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fass.nus.edu.sg\/srn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fass.nus.edu.sg\/srn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fass.nus.edu.sg\/srn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/247"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fass.nus.edu.sg\/srn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18175"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/fass.nus.edu.sg\/srn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18175\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27596,"href":"https:\/\/fass.nus.edu.sg\/srn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18175\/revisions\/27596"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fass.nus.edu.sg\/srn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18176"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fass.nus.edu.sg\/srn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18175"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fass.nus.edu.sg\/srn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18175"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fass.nus.edu.sg\/srn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18175"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}