Negotiating Class, Taste, and Culture via the Arts Scene in Singapore: Postcolonial or Cosmopolitan Global?

Abstract

The state of selected theatre productions in Singapore reflects the complexity of the nation-state's identity as both a postcolonial entity and a cosmopolitan city situating itself as a major player in the global economy. Using Pierre Bourdieu's theories on symbolic violence and the interexchangeability of different forms of capital, this paper demonstrates how class, taste, and cultural consumption both reflect and are reflected by the nation's postioning in the neo-liberal milieu.