Chapter 4: What is diversity? (not including nationality)

Question 1

What is identity?

Answer 1

• Identity comes from how you define yourself and how others define you
• Can be expressed through various ways like choice of clothes
• Can bring people closer together or create tensions and challenges
• Identities vary and are complex as they are shaped by various influences in society
• Gain new experiences through interactions = identities evolve across time

Question 2

What is diversity?

Answer 2

• Diversity develops in society where there is a mix of people of different nationalities, religions, races etc.
• Socio-economic diversity also occurs when there are groups of peope wit different levels of income in society

Question 3

Race and ethnicity

Answer 3

• Two different things
• Shape our identity
• Practices and beliefs shape our way of life thus influencing our identity
• Race refers to the classification of people according to physical characteristics that are biological in nature like colour of skin, hair, eyes, bone structure, jaw structure etc
  -Ethnicity refers to one’s ancestry, cultural practices, language, customs, food and dressing that are associated with an ethnic group (Can differ within the same racial group)
  Eg: In china, members of the Miao and Hiu communities may have physical features of Chinese race but they are of different ethnicity, with unique costumes, practices and customs
  Eg: Within the Malay race, there also also different ethnic groups like the Bataks, Dayaks

Question 4

Religion

Answer 4

-An organised collection of attitudes, beliefs, practices, world views and often worship of a single or multiple gods
- The religion that one believes in may be determined by birth or by choice
- Embody a set of shared core beliefs and practices
- Believers keep to these beliefs and practices regardless of their nationality and ethnicity
- Shape the way we interact with others, the choices we make and out thinking
Eg: Main religions in Singapore promote the attitudes of compassion, sensitivity in belivers’ interactions with others and in helping others. Singapore citizens free to profess and practice their religion as well as propagate it. This is protected under Article 15 of the Singapore Constitution
Religions include; Christianity, Taoism, Sikhism, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism

Question 5

Socio-Economic Status

Answer 5

• Refers to an economic situation shared by a group of people and some determinants are occupation, income, education and ownership of wealth
• Usually determined by objective indicators which can be constructed from single or multiple measures
• In Singapore, an individual or household’s income level is used as the indicator for socio-economic status
  -Shape one’s life experience as it affects the choices of housing, food, activities etc. = influences the circle of friends that one interacts with
  Eg: Activities such as golf, fine dining and travelling to distant countries are usually activities carried out by people with higher socio-economic status. Activities such as soccer and swimming is enjoyed by individuals across all socio-economic groups.

Question 6

Types of SES and result of different groups of SES

Answer 6

High SES: Born into wealthy families, accumulate their wealth through work and investment, and have access to better housing, food, vacation and mode of transport
Middle SES: Involved in jobs performed in offices, PMETs which refer to professionals, managers, executives and technicians\
Lower SES: Do not possess much wealth, sometimes don’t have the financial means to support themselves. These people are involved in jobs which require manual labor or do not require much skill (blue-collar workers). Another group is the unemployed, homeless. or receive financial assistance from the government
-An individual can move from lower to higher levels of income through hardowork. This is called “social mobility”
- An individual from a higher socio-economic status can also experience a drop in income
-Income gap is a factor shaping socio-economic diversity
- “Income inequality” results when income gaps between higher and lower socio-economic group widen over time
-For social mobility to happen, measures have been put in place to support the needs of the lower socio-economic groups (Particularly in the areas of healthcare and education)