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SingaporeSocial StudiesQuick questions
Managing Diversity and Cohesion
Quick questions on Government policies for social cohesion explained: O-Level Social Studies
7short Q&A pairs drawn directly from our worked dot-point answer. For full context and worked exam questions, read the parent dot-point page.
What is housing policy?Show answer
One of the most important cohesion policies is in public housing. By ensuring that different races are spread across housing estates, rather than clustering in separate areas, the policy makes each neighbourhood reflect the wider racial mix. This means neighbours of different races share the same blocks, lifts, void decks and amenities, and children grow up among playmates of other races. The everyday contact this creates builds familiarity and trust from a young age and prevents the racial enclaves that can divide a society.
What is language policy?Show answer
Language policy supports cohesion by giving a diverse population a common means of communication. A shared working language, used across races in school, work and public life, lets people of different mother tongues understand and cooperate with one another, while each community can still keep its own mother tongue and culture. A common language prevents communication barriers from dividing the society and provides a shared medium that binds different groups together in daily life.
What is policies create conditions, citizens complete them?Show answer
The crucial point is that policies create the conditions for cohesion, but they cannot by themselves guarantee harmony. A housing policy can put races on the same floor, but it cannot force neighbours to be friendly; a common school can seat children together, but friendship across races still depends on the children themselves. Policies remove the structural barriers, separation, segregation, communication gaps, and make contact normal, but real cohesion is completed by the everyday goodwill of citizens. The most effective cohesion comes from policies and citizen attitudes working together.
What is no Singapore link?Show answer
Ground each policy in concrete Singapore-relevant practice such as mixed estates, common schools and a shared working language.
What is q1?Show answer
Explain why a government uses deliberate policies to build cohesion rather than leaving communities to themselves. [2 marks]
What is q2?Show answer
Explain how two government policies help build social cohesion. [4 marks]
What is q3?Show answer
Why can policies not guarantee harmony on their own? [2 marks]
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