Sociology Research Paper Proposal

In Singapore, many people travel by public transport. In my paper, I propose to examine the dynamics of crowds on public transport.

Singapore is a relatively small place, yet the variety of research participant (non-voluntary and certainly unpaid) is astoundingly large. To cramp all these different groups of people on the BMW T series is a highly exciting and refreshing sociology research, which frankly surprises me why no Singaporean sociologist has thought of writing an in-depth research paper to vie for some prestigious award like the Nobel Prize, or in smaller magnitude, publication on the Straits times forum. As mentioned above, the BMW T series is a simple formula used by some careless twit who forgot to put down his name thus allowing me to freely plagarize him. It stands for Bus, MRT, Walk & Taxi.

In other words, the well-connected public transport system painstakingly set in place by our illustrious, hardworking and dedicated government. I am fully in support and full of praise for them, of the modernity and motivation they have geared us towards. This is, of course, needless to say my own humble honest opinion and in no way, trying to find a way to mysteriously up my incoming year end bonus.

The groups that make up the masses on our public transport is certainly difficult to categorize according to conventional groupings such as race, gender or age. However, for the purpose of such an intelligent and laborious piece of research, I shall try to describe certain characteristics of these groups so that we may understand better their rationale, and hopefully, predict their likely next course of action so that rife staring incidents and fights that are seldom too afriad to take place be at least be mentally pictured.

One example that comes to mind immediately are school kids. These days, with the advanced technology from handphones, and poor hearing in our youths, they have taken to playing their music very loudly via their handphones. This mannerism is baffling as we are not a communist state and there is certainly no need to share your music with everyone. In addition, these groups of youths, in my opinion, cannot even be labelled deviant for the simple reason that their choice of music is utterly disappointing and downright childish.

The next group stretches age limits and defies categorizing, thus I have been forced to call them the working class. These people come in all shapes and forms, all ages and different gender. Or at least, they subscribe to different personal gender assumptions. And most certainly, they come in all sorts of smells. Their attire need not necessarily correspond to their attitude. Some examples include the well-dressed working man, decked in expensive shirts, tie, pants and shoes, who for some strange reason, believe their bags need to lie on the floor, often between their legs. While there is no proof that it hints of any sexual preference, their posture certainly says what they think of their own state of health because many of these firmly believe their backs require a rest after a hard day's work and leans exclusively on the poles which most normal people perceive to be an elusive, often under-utilized handheld support for themselves. There is also the female version who is all dressed prim and office, with expensive bags and shoes but open their suspiciously smelly mouths and motor off loudly like aunties in a wet market about the office and how they have been treated so unfairly at work, or how poor the dress sense of some of their dear fellow colleagues is, and question excessively in exasperation how they cannot comprehend why people would want to badmouth them behind their backs.

On the other extreme, there are the less-privileged groups, such as the classic pregnant woman. In singaporean context and culture, it is conventional to quickly close your eyes or open up the newspapers to put the pregnant woman out of view. Often, these pregnant women deserve to be commended because they can usually defy inertia efficiently and stand properly on the public transport. Fortunately, she usually has her hands free also, and this helps her to have free hands to rub her tummy or clutch at somebody's hair should she lose balance. Once again, this can only happen with credit given to the previous example of the working man and his tired companion the bag who occupies precious standing space and handheld support.

The next group is the germs, which is not short for the germans but the average sick singaporean who coughs and sneezes at an admirable fast pace. Once again, their political inclination is difficult to tell as they seem to be of the opinion that while they cannot share their seats and standing space, they will however share with you their germs and bad breath by spraying it ala aerosal cans into the atmosphere.

Statistics have shown that Singapore is more or less a conservative nation where promiscuous sex is not as high as some other countries. However, I contend that these numbers are not accurate as these surveys are usually done on club crowds and hotblooded teenagers. The highest number of people who sleep around is on the public transport. However, in objectivity, the author would like to point out that these people who sleep around usually do it alone. They are average Singaporeans who are simply overworked and once seated can convincingly drift off to sleep, or in most cases, slip into total unconsciousness, which translates into nodding their greasy heads into fellow passengers, and once again, mysteriously communistic as they tend to want to share their salivation with those around.

In conclusion, I hope to be granted maximum research funds to allow for a more thorough examination into these groups and the dynamics of juxtaposing them all on the public transport. As requested by the author, research funds need not come in monetary forms such as MRT and bus concession cards, but also in the forms of food and tidbits as these can help sustain the life of the author while he endures on his painstaking and hopefully, soon to end endeavour of travelling on public transport. In retrospect, it is no wonder why the MRT speaker system never fails to thank you for travelling with them, after having to put with all these distractions.