Prof. Teo You Yenn’s first book "This Is What Inequality Looks Like" sold 43,000 copies, spent 80 weeks on The Straits Times' bestsellers list and drew rebuttals from THREE ministries. She is back with her “Unease," a book built on 92 cross-class interviews that argues inequality traps rich and poor alike through competition, kiasu parenting, and the loss of ethical agency.
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Check Out Prof's Teo's books:
- Unease: Life in Singapore Families
- This Is What Inequality Looks Like
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- Terence: Sam Altman’s Trust Issues at OpenAI | The New Yorker Radio Hour
- Haresh: Chicken Rush | A city-wide game of hide & seek for adults
- Prof Teo:
- Kin by Tayari Jones | Goodreads
- A World Appears - Michael Pollan
- Princess Mononoke - Official Trailer
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(00:00) Intro
(02:28) 43,000 Copies Sold — Bestseller Status
(03:10) What's Occupying Her Mind These Days
(04:16) Writing "Unease" vs "This Is What Inequality Looks Like"
(07:10) How the Research for "Unease" Began
(08:21) What "This Is What Inequality Looks Like" Is About
(10:19) From Class Comparisons to Inequality as Context
(13:18) Academic Writing vs Writing for the Public
(18:02) What Drew Her to Public Sociology
(21:58) Formative Experiences Growing Up in 1980s Singapore
(24:22) A More Pointed Tone in "Unease"
(27:29) The Privilege of Revisiting and Improving Past Work
(30:05) Writing Through a World on Fire
(34:17) Ian McEwan's "What We Can Know" & Recording Lived Realities
(36:45) Readers Finding "Unease" Painful and Close to the Bone
(39:34) Inequality as Context — Competition and Hierarchy in Everyday Life
(41:57) Reading About Privilege — Is It Hard to Be Sympathetic?
(44:17) The Collective Action Problem in Parenting and Education
(47:11) Changing Mindsets vs Changing Structures
(49:10) Is Singapore's Education System Really the Best?
(52:39) Youth Mental Health and the Education System
(55:01) Feeling Helpless as a Parent Within the System
(56:38) Maintaining Optimism in Singapore
(58:05) Tiger Moms vs the Fear of Falling Below Average
(1:02:11) The 2025 Election Results and Political Culture
(1:05:00) The Minimum Income Standard Study — Needs vs Wants
(1:11:27) Bubble Tea as a Social Need
(1:13:27) Is Singapore's New Political Leadership Tackling Inequality?
(1:15:51) Wealth Concentration and the World Inequality Database
(1:17:45) Brushes with Capital P Politics and Government Rebuttals
(1:20:09) Navigating Self-Censorship and Academic Freedom
(1:22:12) Public University Scholar vs State Employee
(1:23:11) The Call to Action from "Unease"
(1:26:03) Building the Center for the Study of Social Inequality
(1:28:00) Will There Be Another Book?
(1:29:19) Where to Get "Unease"
(1:30:26) One Shiok Thing
(1:41:56) Post-Interview Reflection
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