{"product_id":"unease-life-in-singapore-families","title":"Unease: Life in Singapore Families (Backorder)","description":"\u003cul class=\"tabs\"\u003e\n\u003cli class=\"active\"\u003eDescription\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003ePraise\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003cul class=\"tabs-content\"\u003e\n\u003cli class=\"active\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBackorder your copy and expect to receive it by the end of April! If you are ordering other titles, order this preorder separately to receive the other titles first.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e—\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFeatured in \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/www.straitstimes.com\/life\/arts\/parenting-shouldnt-feel-that-way-teo-you-yenns-book-unease-questions-how-pro-family-singapore-really\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"\u003e\u003cem\u003eThe Straits Times\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eFrom the bestselling author of \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/epigrambookshop.sg\/products\/this-is-what-inequality-looks-like\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\"\u003eThis Is What Inequality Looks Like\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn Singapore, a loudly ‘pro-family’ society, why is work-life balance so elusive? And why are parents so uneasy? What accounts for this gap between the lived reality and ideal narrative of Singapore families?\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSociologist and bestselling author Teo You Yenn turns her eyes to the contours and rhythms of life inside families, exploring how ‘kiasu’ parents are made and investigating the ways in which inequality marks life in contemporary Singapore. Drawing from in-depth interviews with parents from all walks of life, \u003cem\u003eUnease\u003c\/em\u003e examines how social structures, individual strategies and common practices come to produce Singaporean ‘cultures’ of doing family.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAn incisive exposé of how the logics of hierarchy, competition and unequal worth infect ordinary people’s lives, \u003cem\u003eUnease\u003c\/em\u003e asks what these cost parents, children and the values we hold as a society. And what possibilities are there for living differently?\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“In this powerful and persuasive book, Teo You Yenn challenges Singapore’s self-image as a pro-family society. She reveals the contradictions of a state that champions family life yet often overlooks the stress, anxiety, exhaustion, and gender and class inequalities that define it. Kiasu parenting, she argues, is less a personal choice and more a response to structural conditions and policies. If \u003cem\u003eUnease\u003c\/em\u003e leaves you unsettled, then it has succeeded in prompting us to confront the difficult questions it raises.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e—\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/epigrambookshop.sg\/collections\/authors\/author_donald-low\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\"\u003eDonald Low\u003c\/a\u003e, Professor of Practice, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“This is a book that asks us to look closely at how responsibility and care are practised in everyday life and what we quietly pass on and pass over in the process. It articulates with particular force the gap between the values we profess out loud and the quieter logics we reproduce through habit, silence and structure, giving shape to tensions many of us live with but rarely have language for.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWritten with striking intellectual precision and a profound attentiveness to lived experience, this is scholarship that makes room for the heart without sacrificing rigour, and for rigour without losing the human. This work is incisive, intimate and quietly heartbreaking in what it helps us see. It asks, with quiet insistence, what we are really raising ourselves, and our children, to value, and why that question matters more than ever now.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e—Pooja Nansi, Poet\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“The idea that the family is a basic unit of society is widely held, and not just in Asian societies. Indeed, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, proclaimed by the United Nations in 1948, includes this article: “The family is the natural and fundamental group unit of society and is entitled to protection by society and the State”. On the one hand, familial responsibilities and obligations are extolled as foundational for social stability and economic success. On the other hand, beneath this idealised veneer, the burdens and costs of parenting are unevenly distributed amid unequal social conditions and a culture of individualist meritocracy. Teo You Yenn’s \u003cem\u003eUnease\u003c\/em\u003e is both a model of qualitative social research—learning deeply from the lived experiences of wage workers in Singapore—and a meditation on the disjuncture between ideal and reality and how we can imagine a good society based on relationships of mutuality and solidarity.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e—Kwok Kian Woon, Emeritus Professor of Sociology, Nanyang Technological University\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Teo You Yenn does it again. \u003cem\u003eUnease\u003c\/em\u003e represents what good social science research should look like, marrying analytical sharpness with social consciousness. In her typically accessible writing style, she details the lived realities of some Singaporean families which are often glossed over or ignored when macro data is put forth. Statistics do not always capture the complex lives of individuals. This book fills that gap well, reminding us that human beings should never be reduced to mere numbers.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eProf Teo takes the experiences of ordinary Singaporeans seriously. More of us should. Her impassioned call for Singapore to engage in self-introspection on ideas such as meritocracy should be genuinely considered by those in power and everyone else, as evidently, not everyone benefits equally from the system. Hopefully, those who read the book will be filled with some unease, realising that for many people, life is not as comfortable as the stats suggest. Singaporeans should indeed be, in her words, “allowed ambivalence, contradictory feelings, and critical responses to our own lives and the city.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e—\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/epigrambookshop.sg\/collections\/authors\/author_walid-jumblatt-abdullah\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\"\u003eWalid Jumblatt Abdullah\u003c\/a\u003e, Associate Professor School of Social Sciences, Nanyang Technological University; Author of \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/epigrambookshop.sg\/products\/why-palestine-reflections-from-singapore\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\"\u003e\u003cem\u003eWhy Palestine? Reflections From Singapore\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Teo You Yenn has once again written a groundbreaking book which speaks clearly and directly to its readers. This time, the concerns are more immediate; they enter each of our lives and homes. Looking at family, gender and class, \u003cem\u003eUnease\u003c\/em\u003e is a page-turning series of provocations packed with illuminating interviews, punchy analyses and an abundance of care.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFrom my perspective as a playwright, and one who constantly writes about contemporary Singaporean characters and issues, the book is invaluable as it shines a light on the ‘Singapore condition’—who we are, and why we are what we are. It challenges us to re-examine ourselves as individuals, families and communities in a nation-state; how we can—and should—break away from rigid systems and social conditioning, and find greater agency within ourselves and solidarity with each other.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e—\u003ca rel=\"noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/epigrambookshop.sg\/collections\/authors\/author_haresh-sharma\" target=\"_blank\"\u003eHaresh Sharma\u003c\/a\u003e, Playwright\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“\u003cem\u003eUnease\u003c\/em\u003e—what a marvellous title, and what an excellent book. Teo has not only revealed the palpable tension between the imagined and real narratives of Singaporean families, but also opened an important portal that tells us about the lives and realities of families in countries across the world! A real accomplishment and a must-read for anyone interested in learning about family and society today.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e—Ito Peng, Professor and Canada Research Chair in Global Social Policy; Director, Centre for Global Social Policy Department of Sociology and Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy, University of Toronto\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“In this love letter to Singaporean parents, Teo You Yenn sensitively teases out the unspoken truth of family life in a supposedly ‘pro-family’ regime. The author pulls into the spotlight the key contradictions that organise families in contemporary Singapore, conditions that families around the world share: prosperity without pleasure, childhoods without playfulness and education that feels like work for parents and children alike, especially for mothers. Teo You Yenn argues that anxiety, competition and hierarchy influence the tacit knowledge and everyday practices of parents more than we realise. Inequality, she reminds us, harms us all, not just those struggling at the bottom.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThrough meticulous research, conveyed through the empathetic voice of a lifelong educator, this book prompts us to realise our shared humanity, our care for our children and the promise of a family life beyond the stresses of kiasu parenting. As you pick up this book, know that Teo You Yenn is asking every reader to make a break from a life structured by inequality to participate in creating a new collective culture of inclusive prosperity, built on the values of ethical agency, solidarity and respect for human worth.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e—Smitha Radhakrishnan, Marion Butler McLean Professor in the History of Ideas and Professor of Sociology, Wellesley College\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Teo You Yenn offers another lucid analysis of Singaporean families. Blending sociological insight with rich ethnographic stories and a commitment to social change, she uncovers the roots of parental anxieties, explores the broader context of inequality and invites readers to reflect on what a good society should look like.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e—Lan Pei-Chia, Distinguished Professor of Sociology, National Taiwan University\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Why, in a country that prides itself on its ‘pro-family’ policies, do parents feel deep unease and worry about their children? Drawing on the lived experience of Singapore parents across class and gender, Teo You Yenn shows that their fears about their children’s preparedness for uncertain futures crowd out the joys and possibilities of parenting. In lucid, approachable prose, she demonstrates how structural constraints—state policy, labour markets, educational systems—shape what seem like individual parenting decisions. Teo vividly illuminates how social conditions shape lived realities and political subjectivities, and how inequalities come to seem natural. Her analysis offers an alternative political imaginary, defined by a common sense of collective care, solidarity and agency, rather than individualism and fear.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e—Rachel Sherman, Michael E. Gellert Professor of Sociology, The New School; Author of \u003cem\u003eUneasy Street: The Anxieties of Affluence\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Teo You Yenn looks behind the façade of Singapore’s developmental success at what it feels like to actually live there. She finds that many parents feel a palpable sense of unease. Under intense pressure to do everything it takes to help their kids succeed, they feel overextended, stressed out, exhausted and yet still inadequate. They also feel like they have no choice but to play this game. They feel trapped, ironically, by a national identity predicated on success.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe brilliance of \u003cem\u003eUnease\u003c\/em\u003e is its systematic and sensitive exploration of the texture of everyday life in Singapore. It goes a long way in helping us understand not only how Singaporeans feel but also why they feel this way. The book enlarges our perspective on ‘development’ by examining its hidden psychic and emotional costs. In doing so, it creates the space necessary for Singaporeans (and all of us) to ask crucial questions about what a good society—not just a rich or developed one—should look like.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e—Marco Garrido, Associate Professor Department of Sociology, The University of Chicago\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eTeo You Yenn\u003c\/strong\u003e is an Associate Professor and Provost’s Chair in Sociology, and Director of the Centre for the Study of Social Inequality, at Nanyang Technological University. Her research focuses on poverty and inequality, care\/welfare regimes, gender and class inequalities, and minimum income standards. She is a founding co-editor of AcademiaSG, an initiative to promote Singapore studies and encourage critical debate about the state of intellectual life in Singapore. More information about her work at: \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/teoyouyenn.sg\/\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\"\u003ewww.teoyouyenn.sg\u003c\/a\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e","brand":"Ethos Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":52846079279401,"sku":"9789811781407","price":30.0,"currency_code":"SGD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0550\/0041\/files\/Unease_frontcover_12Mar.jpg?v=1773810052","url":"https:\/\/epigrambookshop.sg\/products\/unease-life-in-singapore-families","provider":"Epigram","version":"1.0","type":"link"}