Commenting on measures to promote community support for the elderly announced in the Singapore Budget 2018, SMU Dean of Students and Professor of Sociology (Practice) Paulin Straughan said that Singapore is moving towards a new social norm where one stops looking to the government for direct assistance and more towards each other, as well as building the community for a strong social safety net. She said a cultural shift is required, to tone down the competitive individualism of Singapore’s meritocracy and bring back community into the perception of achievement.