Author Description

"How can social cohesion be achieved in a meritocratic and multicultural global city-state? Meritocracy poses a paradox: integrating groups on one hand through frameworks of equal treatment and opportunity regardless of race, language or religion, but also segregating them through academic sorting, unequal rewards for merit, elite identification and bonding then, after a generation, social stratification. Distinctive circles, differentiating social elites from non-elites emerge. The remedy the authors propose is network diversity: the deliberate and organic forming of ties across class and other social boundaries. This social mixing, forged in social infrastructure such as schools, workplaces, and voluntary associations pays off by producing the collective goods of national identity and trust. In particular, they analyse the importance of developing bridging forms of social capital built on social relationships. An insightful read for scholars and practitioners in public policy and social network analysis looking to understand the challenges faced by and the solutions that have emerged form Singapore's unique system"--