Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://ir.iimcal.ac.in:8443/jspui/handle/123456789/4973
Title: Conscription and Nation-Building in Singapore: A Psychological Analysis
Authors: Nair, Elizabeth
Keywords: National service
Ethnic groups
Nation-building objectives
Workforce discipline
Out-group polarization
Post-colonial Singapore
Issue Date: Apr-1995
Publisher: Indian Institute of Management Calcutta, Kolkata
Series/Report no.: Vol. 1;No. 1
Abstract: In an earlier study by Nair,1 undergraduate national servicemen were interviewed regarding their perceptions on their conscript experience and nation-building. The present study examines the congruent perceptions of military commanders in the context of social psychological theory and research. Twenty senior military commanders were selected to represent a cross-section of formations and appointments in the army. They were individually interviewed with particular reference to their recall of policies, procedures and practices in conscript service that might have a bearing on nation- building. Verbatim transcriptions of each interview were scrutinized and responses coded and tallied. There was clear identification of the unifying effect of common barracks and training regimes across economic, ethnic and religious differences. The findings provide converging evidence for the presence of the psychological effects of superordinate goals,2 the minimal group paradigm, 3 and the contact hypothesis,4 serving to build a cohesive nation. There were also recurrent and converging attributions of the military experience resulting in national servicemen with the qualities of discipline, responsibility, team spiritedness and physical fitness. It was perceived that these acquired positive qualities were carried over to civilian life and characterized the Singapore workforce.
Description: Elizabeth Nair, Senior Lecturer, Psychology, National University of Singapore, Singapore.
p. 93 - 102
URI: https://ir.iimcal.ac.in:8443/jspui/handle/123456789/4973
https://doi.org/10.1177/097168589500100109
ISSN: 0971-6858 (print version)
Appears in Collections:Issue 1, April 1995

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