Publications from ODSW Social Insights: Letters by DSW (Vol 2) | Page 148

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mobility can be improved and how to ensure that low-income families do not
resign to their station in life through a lack of aspiration. These families must
be encouraged to emphasise education for children and skills upgrading to
achieve a better quality of life.
It is clear that market mechanisms cannot be exclusively relied on. There is
a need for both (appropriate) social policy and the market to complement
each other, which is a challenge that calls for constant calibration by
policymakers. As economist Amartya Sen puts it: ‘the invisible hand of the
market has often relied on the visible hand of government.’ (Sen, 1987). The
nation building efforts have shown that market principles are necessary to
help the government to work better, and a good government is necessary
to help markets work better. Singapore may not always get the balance
right. Pragmatism, experimentation and adjustments must continue as the
government plays its role of managing the relationships between public
policies and the market. To do this effectively, the responsibility of the
government may have to expand in the areas of enabling, regulating,
stabilising and legitimising markets in order to achieve better societal
outcomes that ultimately benefit the quality of life and well-being of the
people.

Defining Social Integration
Social integration is the unifying force or glue of society fostering social
solidarity. It is about access to resources for individual and group
development. It is about giving equal opportunities to all regardless of
origin, background or station in life. The act of integration enables citizens,
particularly those who are disadvantaged, either by birth, gender, ethnicity,
class, age or disability to fulfil their aspiration and potential.
How is social integration operationalized? Indicators of social integration
may be represented by the statistics collected by the United Nations Office,
post World Social Summit for Development. These include: number of
people in vulnerable groups, age/gender structure, occupational profile,
economic activity profile, income levels, position within overall income
distribution, housing standards/amenities, such as access to safe water,
sanitation and floor space per person, health status, such as infant mortality
rate, age-specific mortality rates, expectation of life and nutritional intake,
educational standards, such as adult literacy rate, number of years of formal
education and participation rates (for children), crime victimization rate and
proportion eligible to vote. When the statistics are systematically analysed
by age, ethnic group, gender, handicap, and social class, the pattern that
emerge can reveal the progress in social integration.
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