The decline of sensate culture : the operation of Sorokin's principle of polarisation in contemporary Singapore

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Sorokin's "integralist" sociological and philosophical conceptions enable us to discern the emergence of his "principle of polarisation" in Singapore society. Sorokin argued that as modern sensate culture disintegrates, it generates a bimodal movement towards hedonism and nihilism for the majority and towards religion for a minority. Contemporary Singapore provides a testing ground of Sorokin's thesis. Though traditional Chinese faiths are decaying here and atheism growing, Christianity is making so many converts from higher socio-economic groups that it will almost certainly become the dominant religion in Singapore by the turn of the century, in spite of the revival of traditional Buddhism. A possible explanation for the strength of religious revivalism in Singapore may be found in the very rapid rate of change to which this culture is subjected. Warnings of the possibility of religious conflict are followed by suggestions for avoiding it through education stressing the transcendent unity of religions as well as through the identification and proscribing of certain sects. Religion will provide Singaporeans with a defence against the hedonism and nihilism that inevitably accompany the disintegration of a sensate culture, possibly enabling them to make the transition to a new socio-cultural order.