Social Change in South East Asia
New Perspectives
By Jaques Hersh
Oct 1997
Pearson Education / Longman
ISBN: 0582317347
256 pages
Paper original
OUT OF PRINT
Provides a comprehensive and in-depth examination of the ongoing process of development and societal transformation in a dynamic region of the Third World.
Written by a team of specialists from the fields of development studies, sociology and political economy, the book looks at some of the fundamental problems facing South East Asia by addressing the following issues: the social constellations; class, culture and political legitimation; and industrialization and labour regulation.
Contents
Introduction: Changing Realities of Social Transition in Southeast Asia.
PART 1: THE INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL DYNAMICS OF SOCIAL CONFLICT IN SOUTHEAST
ASIA.
1. The Impact of US Strategy: Making Southeast Asia Safe for Capitalism
2. The Custodian State and Social Change - Creating Growth Without Welfare
3. The Emergence of the Middle Classes in Southeast Asia and the Indonesian
Case
PART 2: CLASSES, CULTURE AND POLITICAL LEGITIMATION
4. Class, Culture and Malaysian Modernity
5. The Legitimacy of the Public Sphere and Culture of the New Urban Middle
Class in the Philippines
6. Ethnicity, Class and Human Resource Management in Singapore
PART 3: INDUSTRIALIZATION AND LABOUR REGULATION
7. The Wage Labour Nexus in Malaysia's Industrial Development
8. The Labour marketing Vietnam: Between State Incorporation and Autonomy
9. Inconsistencies and Enquities in Thai Industrialization
10. Conclusion: Societal Forces and Class Constellations Behind Southeast
Asian Capitalism
Features
• Examines contemporary debates concerning segmentation and class polarization
in the "Newly Industrializing Countries (NICs)" of South East Asia.
• Proposes a variety of approaches to social change and inequality by
exploring linkages between the international level, the nation-state and societal
forces.
• Compares and interprets the changing political culture and economic
affluence of the middle class by looking Indonesia, Singapore, and the Philippines.
• Focuses on changes in labour market relations from a regulation perspective
and state versus trade union approach, eg. in Malaysia and Vietnam.
• Offers a discussion of social welfare, inequalities and the rural
question in Thailand as well as in other ASEAN-countries.
• Ideal text for undergraduate and postgraduate students in a range
of disciplines, including geography, sociology, political science, development
studies and economics.