This Is What Inequality Looks Like

A NATIONAL BESTSELLER

“A vivid ethnography of the lives, dreams and disappointments of low-income Singaporeans… the mental ideologies, social structures and bureaucratic institutions that both bind and separate us.” – Linda Lim, University of Michigan

“Masterfully crafted… lived experiences that stand in sharp, stark contrast to the dominant imaginings of Singaporeans.” – Vineeta Sinha, National University of Singapore

“Makes the invisible visible… disrupts widely-held national mythologies… Sociology at its best!” – Michael Burawoy, UC Berkeley

ABOUT THE BOOK

What is poverty? What is inequality? How are they connected? How are they reproduced? How might they be overcome? Why should we try?

The way we frame our questions shapes the way we see solutions. This book does what appears to be a no-brainer task, but one that is missing and important: it asks readers to pose questions in different ways, to shift the vantage point from which they view ‘common sense,’ and in so doing, to see themselves as part of problems and potential solutions. This is a book about how seeing poverty entails confronting inequality. It is about how acknowledging poverty and inequality leads to uncomfortable revelations about our society and ourselves. And it is about how once we see, we cannot, must not, unsee.

FIND OUT MORE

REVIEWS AND RESPONSES

ADAPTATIONS