This Is What Inequality Looks Like by Teo You Yenn (Part 2)
This contains Chapters 5 to 9.
JOURNALLING & LIFE STUFFSTORYBOOK TAKEAWAY
10/24/20262 min read
One sentence summary:
The rest of this book explores how dignity, belonging and help-seeking look different depending on where we stand in society, and invites us to look more closely before drawing conclusions.
Some key ideas:
1. Some “wants” are really about belonging.
Things that look unnecessary from the outside, like the latest trends for children, can help them take part in social groups and make friends. For families with less, these purchases can protect against the feeling of being “less than” others.
2. Dignity is like clean air: easy to overlook when you have it.
The author reflects that the respect she receives at work, through her title and salary, is something she rarely has to think about. For those who need support, though, having to prove that they are in need can make asking for help feel difficult. This may be why some people don’t seek help, even when it is available.
3. Look deeper before using categories to explain outcomes.
The author encourages us to treat categories like “race” as something to be unpacked, rather than as the explanation itself. She also suggests that recognising inequality honestly can sit alongside caring about our country.
My thoughts:
“Why don’t they seek help?”
This book reminded me of a question I had while waiting for my students to ask for consult sessions - Why don’t some students come for consultations, even when they are struggling? This book made me reconsider how asking for help may feel very different for them than it does for me. Rather than just offering help, I could make it easier and less awkward to accept. One way I did this was to create my own consultation booking list on Google Calendar and letting my students book in slots of 30 minutes so that they can ask for help privately in their own time, without having to commit for a long duration. This led to increased number of bookings from my students.
I also related to the author’s frustration about wanting to see effort. Just recently, I felt the same with my students. It was the end of year, and I had students who despite my various attempts to call them down and share with them how to plan their revision and explain concepts, they still left blanks on their paper which really irritated me. Sometimes students just choose to give up, but we need to make the conscious decision not to give up on them.
Finally, the chapter on needs and wants shed some light on an observation I had growing up. I generally don’t understand why people can feel a strong need to fit in by buying the latest things, especially when they are not financially well to do. I really like the alternative perspective shared by the author, reminding me to be grateful to grow up in an environment that gives me a sense of security. What looks like a waste of money to me, might be a way of coping with feeling left out to another. This also spurred me to want to include others, so that they do not feel left out, and have the same sense of security I feel.
All in all, I feel that this book is a really good read for Singaporeans, especially those who are in the care economy, or feel like they are living in a bubble. It is phrased in a way that is concise and easy to digest, and shares with us stories that we don't usually hear about the country that we live in. On to her next book ~ Unease...
Disclaimer: This blog post is a summary of my written takeaways assisted by Claude, and the cover image is illustrated by Gemini.