The Semiotics of Singapore's Founding Myths of Multiracialism and Meritocracy

Conventional wisdom maintains that Singapore, a one-time marginal British commercial post of 580 km2 devoid of any natural resources, and a general population of merely two million, emerged from the ruins of a bitter partition from Malaysia, and a hotbed of ethnic communalism and Communism to achieve 'First World' economic status in a generation. Indeed, multi-ethnic Singapore is today Southeast Asia's high-tech hub with a burgeoning class of professionals and technicians. Accordingly, this paper seeks to elucidate the central "signs" that constitute the grand narrative of independent Singapore, identify the interpretive networks and verify its materialization. In so doing, this essay will scrutinize the place of Peircean semiotics within sociological theories and demonstrate its relevance to historical sociology. © 2011 Springer Science + Business Media, LLC.