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A review by lorenzana
This Is What Inequality Looks Like by Teo You Yenn
5.0
Poverty can only be fully understood in the context of the structural forces that perpetuate it. This book dives deep into those forces: assessing subconscious assumptions, revealing the flaws of national narratives, and questioning the very principles of the meritocratic system. In doing so, You Yenn Teo also showcases the multidimensional effects that poverty has on real people.
This book showed me much more than poverty or inequality. It opened my eyes to the subtle yet encompassing role structural forces have on our lives: how the interplay between individual and cultural narratives shape our interactions with others; how constant exposure to certain physical settings can have a toll on our psyche.
Admittedly, it also revealed many of my biases. I used to think that people who fell into poverty made bad choices: buying things they couldn't afford or paying monthly installments for otherwise unnecessary goods. But the thing is, people in poverty don't make bad choices, they have bad options. In Singapore, harsh working conditions coupled with a lack of continuous support from society means that people have to make tradeoffs that hurt them either way. If an employee had to miss work because their child was sick, they wouldn't get paid.
These issues cannot be resolved with band-aid solutions such as one-time lump sum grants or wish-fulfillment services (which also require one to jump through various lengthy bureaucratic procedures). While these initiatives do help people in the short run, these people are eventually pushed back down by the system in the long run.
There is so much this book has to say and I am thankful that I get to take part in this discussion. Issues such as inequality cannot be solved through individuals or policies alone. It takes a community. It takes a nation.
Hands down the best book I've read this year so far.
This book showed me much more than poverty or inequality. It opened my eyes to the subtle yet encompassing role structural forces have on our lives: how the interplay between individual and cultural narratives shape our interactions with others; how constant exposure to certain physical settings can have a toll on our psyche.
Admittedly, it also revealed many of my biases. I used to think that people who fell into poverty made bad choices: buying things they couldn't afford or paying monthly installments for otherwise unnecessary goods. But the thing is, people in poverty don't make bad choices, they have bad options. In Singapore, harsh working conditions coupled with a lack of continuous support from society means that people have to make tradeoffs that hurt them either way. If an employee had to miss work because their child was sick, they wouldn't get paid.
These issues cannot be resolved with band-aid solutions such as one-time lump sum grants or wish-fulfillment services (which also require one to jump through various lengthy bureaucratic procedures). While these initiatives do help people in the short run, these people are eventually pushed back down by the system in the long run.
There is so much this book has to say and I am thankful that I get to take part in this discussion. Issues such as inequality cannot be solved through individuals or policies alone. It takes a community. It takes a nation.
Hands down the best book I've read this year so far.