Singapore’s business model has been to rely upon foreign
capital from the Global North and foreign labour, from the less-developed
countries of the region, so as to maximize surplus value. The Singapore
‘business model’ has remained essentially unchanged since the foundation of
modern Singapore by Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles in 1819.
We study three hostess pubs on Joo Chiat Road, Singapore - a ‘Vietnam pub’ and
two ‘Filipina pubs’, utilizing the concept of ‘assemblages’ based on Bøhling’s
work on Copenhagen nightlife. We compare and contrast the customer demographics
of each night-time economy (NTE) establishment, and the resultant culture,
which is a product of the race/ethnicity of the hostesses, the race/ethnicity
and ages of the patrons, the policies and ethos of the owner/manager, and the
pricing model whereby hostesses get financially rewarded. At the beginning of
2018, I decided to embark on the research project formally. I had come to
perceive that the cultures and dominant practices at the Vietnamese pubs and
the two Filipina pubs on Joo Chiat Road were significantly different and that
this point was worthy of further investigation and commentary. The Filipina
pubs rely upon ‘ladies’ drinks’ whereas the Vietnam pub fosters a tipping
system. Whilst the ladies’ drinks model suggests a hyper-capitalist business
setting, the tipping model remains feudal, honour-based and debt-based. These
observations derive from Marx’s Historical Materialism Theory where remnants of
feudal or pre-capitalist practices linger on into the capitalist modern era.
Author(s) Details:
Kieran Edmond James,
University of the West of Scotland, Paisley Campus, UK.
Faizah
Awan,
University
of the West of Scotland, Paisley Campus, UK.
Rex John Walsh,
Western Sydney University, Australia.
Please see the link here: https://stm.bookpi.org/RRAASS-V5/article/view/13442
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