SINGAPORE MODERNIZATION: A STUDY OF TRADITIONAL CHINESE VOLUNTARY ASSOCIATIONS IN SOCIAL CHANGE

This dissertation studies the traditional Chinese voluntary associations using them as models of change in the wider society. My intention is to construct a theory of social change by using voluntary associations as the key variable through which we could capture and analyse the structural transformations of a modernizing society.;As modern associations like trade unions and trade and professional associations appear, the traditional Chinese associations in Singapore are unlikely to retain their nature as ascriptive communities. The options appear to be that either they will disappear as they become cut off from their supportive bases among the low SES persons or they change themselves into non-traditional associations and thus lose their identities.;My thesis is that as a result of modernization, the ethical and effective basis of traditional Chinese associations, what Ivan Light called the bond of ascriptive brotherhood are slowly giving way to associations serving specialized needs and interests. The structural roots of urban associationism are based on the fact that the city no longer constitute a unified community in which all interests are somehow represented; it has become a highly complex collectivity within which special interests must be individually attended to. The study of traditional Chinese voluntary associations exemplifies this process of change; from like interests surrounding perceived cultural similarities to like interests surrounding new economic and social roles.