Friday, March 27, 2015

Outreach Activities in Depoliticizing Poverty

            High levels of poverty and inequality have plagued Philippine society since time in memorial. For the past eight years, poverty has remained unchanged: 21.0 percent in 2006, 20.5 percent in 2009 and 19.7 percent in 2012 (NCSB, 2012). Being a problem that has lasted for so long, both government and citizens have developed a highly familiarized, personalized and depoliticized view of poverty; in other words, poverty has become nothing more than a personal trouble (Mills, 1959). This dangerously translates into ineffective government policies and misleading public opinion. The infamous statement of local celebrity Bianca Gonzales (2013) “Bakit nga ba bine-baby ang mga informal settlers?” as a reaction to a government policy of providing monetary and housing assistance to evacuated informal settlers in Quezon City displays the very limited view of poverty by both government and the public. Much of the perspectives on poverty today are culturally and historically ignorant, unaware of the factors of the colonial experience and the global economic order played in deeply rooting and worsening inequality and poverty in the country (Bello, 2009; McCoy, 2009). However, such a limited view on poverty did not simply evolve out of the individual mind throughout time due to the longevity of the issue. The modern social system and the incapability of the human agency to transverse it has led to the dominance of the economic system in modern society (Luhmann, 2012). As a result, different social institutions and cultural practices oriented around the capitalist culture of consumerism and individualism (Baudrillard 1998) have reinforced the factor of time in shaping a one-dimensional and inadequate perspective on poverty In the final analysis, the subtle influence of these institutions and practices have proved to be the greatest hindrance to solving the problem of poverty in the Philippines.

Photo from klimesmeralda.wordpress.com
            Using a structural functionalist framework, this paper argues that the practices of outreaches and public service oriented activities have become capitalistic in nature; which, in turn, contributes to a self-utilitarian, individualistic and depoliticized view of poverty. Through ethnographic-like research, this paper examines how the perspective of the youth has shifted from substantive structural causes of poverty to the pursuit of self-realization. It then roots the argument in the origins of a consumerist culture that dominates society by investigating the structures of class and capitalism in perpetuating it. This paper will conclude by present the general politicized and sociological view on poverty, using the frameworks of political economy and culture, rooting it in the larger socio-cultural structure for a more adequate and effective understanding of the perennial issue of poverty in the Philippines.

II.                Analytical Framework

Structural functionalism is a broad perspective from the disciplines of sociology and anthropology that interprets society as a complex system that is beyond the human beings which comprise it. Its focal point of analysis are social structures and institutions within society, how they interact with each other and with individuals within the social system (Ritzer and Goodman, 2004). Tracing its origins, August Comte (1798-1857) introduced structural functionalism as a theory of society that emanates from biology. He finds the organism as a natural model for society; arguing that the way how an organism relates with its environment, how its parts interrelate within its overall system, and how it maintains balance is similar to the operation of a social system (Harper, 2011). Emile Durkheim, in his classic work Division of Labor (1893), expands structural functionalism in asking how exactly society is able to maintain a level of integration similar to those of organisms. He argues that through interdependency and interaction of individuals with more specialized roles, or mechanical solidarity, social ‘facts’ or institutions emerge which are beyond the individual and has a life on its own. For both theorists, the individual or human agency is downplayed as less deterministic and independent; individuals only act the roles or functions required of them by the social system.

Modern theorists develop a more sophisticated structural functionalist perspective. The German sociologist, Niklas Luhmann (1997), furthers the deconstruction of an anthropocentric view of society and argues that individuals are not integral parts of society; society is a system of communication. It is further divided into autopoeitic communicative spheres—the economy, politics, family, religion and etc.—that operate according to their respective functions based on their own medium and codes. Individuals do not so much act independently but rather participate in the function of a specific communicative sphere by using its medium (Moeller, 2006). That is, the individual merely traverses the different communicative spheres; he does not exist in himself, he exists as part of a social sphere.  The inter-relations of these communicative spheres make up the entire social system. Luhmann, however, emphasizes that in a highly modern society, no communicative sphere will dominate or be the overarching steerer of society unlike the dominance of religion and the family of traditional societies.

Jean Baudrillard (1998) makes an in depth investigation of the economic sphere, the structure of capitalism and its role of propagating a consumerist culture. He argues that human beings have a ‘natural propensity to happiness’ that is mobilized by the myth of equality; the core principle of liberalism that underlies the structure of global capitalism. Happiness is then measured in terms of objects and signs which the individual consumes. It is removed from any collective sense; as being fuelled by egalitarianism, happiness is based on individualistic principles. Propagated by the structures of capitalism and consumerism, the myth of egalitarianism is made real through an equalization of consumption, even in the face of absolute inequality.      

III.             Depoliticising Poverty

Consumerism and Individualism in Outreach Programs

           In an NSTP pagpapalalim session, participants are asked to reflect on the semester-long outreach activities that were conducted. Composing of students who mostly come from similar middle class backgrounds, the reflections they gave also followed a common theme—NSTP has been a source for self-actualisation or “feel-good” sentiments. A number of students commented that they “felt good” helping people less fortunate than they. Another number of students said that it allowed them to “break out from their comfort zones” and that it was “fulfilling” to participate in such humanitarian activities. When asked about what they think they could do to further help the less fortunate, the class was united in answering “remind them to do well in school and make right decisions.”

It is clear from the anecdotal evidences that the practices of outreach and other public service oriented activities, which are so often engaged in by the youth, have been means for self-actualization and fulfillment. The unifying theme of all the reflections of the NSTP participants have been oriented around self-focused words such as “felt good” and “fulfilling.” As much as self-oriented their reflections were, their view on poverty and the plight of the less fortunate is just as individualistic—to win against poverty, the less fortunate must individually excel in activities increasing social mobility.

Tracing Consumerism and Individualism in the Structures of Class and Capitalism

It is convenient to account such a personal-utilitarian and depoliticized view of poverty to the unique conditions of the individual. However, it is grossly mistaken. According to structural functionalists, the individual is insignificant; it is the larger social structures that make up society which determine the predispositions of the individual (Ritzer and Goodman, 2004). Analysing the described phenomenon in such terms entails a close examination of the practices of outreaches and service-oriented activities in the context of the larger social institutions and structures in which they are embedded in. As argued earlier, the reflections of the youth reveal an individualistic, self-focused view and the very manner in which outreach activities are carried out has a very capitalistic nature. Under these conditions, poverty becomes a commodified form of self-actualization and happiness that is consumed by the youth through outreach activities.

Using such a framework, outreach activities and the likes are revealed as commodities that are instrumental to the very survival of capitalism. Systems function to survive (Luhmann, 2012); the high levels of sophistication of the modern capitalist system allows it to coopt anti-capitalist activities and transform them into capitalistic ones.  On the surface, charitable acts such as these appear to go against the very individualistic principles of capitalism; but a critical analysis reveals that such acts have resembled an industry that merely reproduces the capitalist system.

The strong structures of capitalism and class have contributed to the dominance of the consumerist culture that is observed even in supposedly non-capitalist, to an extent anti-capitalist, activities such as outreaches and other public service oriented activities (Hickel, 2013).  According to Baudrillard (1997), consumerism is built on the hegemony of the liberal-capitalist idea that the biological propensity of human beings for happiness can be achieved through equality. However, Baudrillard is critical of the concept of equality, arguing that equality is a myth perpetuated by a capitalist system that lives on its existence. To his mind, equality is not considered in absolute terms; but in terms of objects and other manifest signs of success and happiness. In other words, the happiness of an individual is based on the objects he consumes.

The manner which outreach activities are carried out show that it is highly oriented around the manifest signs and objects of well-being (Baudrillard, 1997), a characteristic of consumerism. Outreach activities are commonly programmed into three parts: activities, feeding and goods giving.

First, the activities that are being done are usually in the form of games and other fun exercises, under the simple purpose of “giving joy and making them (the poor) forget of their troubles even for a while.” Sometimes, it is even noticeable that some of the activities have become sources of enjoyment for the facilitators instead, while some of the target participants have become uninterested. When a happiness is manifested through smiles and laughter, the program is deemed to be a success. In other cases, activities are oriented around education; teaching the target participants about the environment, leadership, literacy or financial literacy. While such are indeed important, the teachings merely reinforce the existing liberal-capitalist idea of “every man for himself.” It frames a way of thinking that poverty is caused by lack of skill instead of “a collapse in the structure of opportunities” (David, 2000). The plight of participants are attributed to their individual failure, emptying the argument of the failure of the system they are trapped in.

Second and the last, feeding programs and goods giving replicate exactly what Baudrillard critiques as the myth of egalitarianism before consumption. For a brief moment in time, the inequality between the privileged facilitators and the underprivileged participants is blurred as they are able to consume the same food and goods. It also becomes a direct form of consumerism, one can only speculate how much capitalist firms have profited from such charitable activities.

On the surface, outreach and other charitable activities reflect countercultural and anti-capitalist values; however it did not take long before a powerful capitalist system was able to co-opt such ethics. Such acts of counter-capitalism are neutralized and channeled back into new forms of virtuous-consumption (Hickel, 2013). Sociologist Slavoj Zizek (2009) calls this the “redemptive quality of consumerism”—in the act of consumption, the consumers are not only buying their redemption from mainstream capitalism, but also its vicious effects on the world. As argued, outreach and charitable activities have become part of these “virtuous commodities” (Hickel and Khan 2012). Sociologist Jason Hickel (2013) puts it well “people think of this as a countercultural process – a process by which the individual resists society – but in fact it has become essential to the reproduction of capitalism, for the primary method of self-realization has become consumption.”

The infiltration of the capitalist system and liberal ideology into non-capitalist activities has been an evolutionary process of history. As noted before, German sociologist Niklas Luhmann (1997) argued that in a modern society, no one social sphere dominates the system; not even the economic system. However, even Luhmann admits that modernity is an evolutionary process that still continues to occur in society today. Scholars have also argued that Luhmann is more post-modern than he is modern (Moeller, 2006). In his famous the end of history thesis, Francis Fukuyama (1992) argues that the victory of the west in the cold war marked the end of history; the end of an ideological evolution and the universalization of Western liberalism and capitalism as political and economic orders, respectively. Liberalism, as an ideology, is largely apolitical; with emphasis on individual rights and on compromise (Heywood, 2007), it breeds a centrist ideology and argues that the individual lives and dies by his own hand.  The dominating victory of capitalism and liberalism as the hegemonic forces of the world order explains how even anti-capitalist activities such as outreaches and charities are transformed into vehicles for consumerism and individual self-actualization, empty of any political critique of the larger social structure of the liberal world order as a possible root cause of poverty.

IV.             Conclusion

The American sociologist C. Wright Mills (1959) says it right: “when, in a city of 100,000, only one man is unemployed, that is his personal trouble, and for its relief we properly look to the character of the man, his skills, and his immediate opportunities. But when in a nation of 50 million employees, 15 million men are unemployed, that is an issue, and we may not hope to find its solution within the range of opportunities open to any one individual.”

Indeed, poverty, at its high levels in the Philippines, is beyond the milieu of the individual; poverty is a public issue that roots itself in the fundamental structure of Philippine society as it is embedded in the larger global political economy.

Baudrillard furthers his argument about consumerism and capitalism by including the structure of class. He argues that capitalism is a function of inequality; its survival as a system is highly dependent upon the maintenance of an order of privilege and class. The inequality that is inherent in capitalism is blurred by the myth of egalitarianism pushed by consumerism. The function of class and privilege is “precisely to reproduce caste and class privilege” (1997). In other words, the survival of a capitalist system is dependent upon the maintenance of inequality and class difference as it is hidden behind the façade of consumerism. However, while Baudrillard emphasizes that “the system knows only the conditions of its survival, it knows nothing of social and individual contents”, opportunities for redistribution and genuine equality lies in the social structure. However, in the Philippines, such a structure has broken down.

In his famous book The Anarchy of Families, Alfred McCoy (2009) traces inequality in the Philippines through the power structure that privileges a minority over the majority. The power structure of Philippine society has largely been built by the Spanish and American colonizers. During the Spanish colonial period, families who cooperated with the Spanish colonizers in their divide and rule strategy lorded over fellow Filipinos with vast amounts of land or haciendas granted to them. These haciendas were incomparable in terms of size to that of any other Southeast Asian country. American colonial policy further exacerbated this by giving the landed oligarchs institutional access to the state apparatus. When the privileged minority is able to control the state, the only institution powerful enough to redistribute wealth to the underprivileged is rendered useless in this regard.

It is disappointing to see the ignorance or sheer hypocrisy of policymakers in the Philippines to address the issue of poverty. According to Filipino sociologist Randolf David (1999), every administration had attempted to solve poverty while choosing to turn a blind eye to the larger social structure that maintains it. Cory Aquino treated it as a matter of charity, Ramos viewed it as an inevitable consequence of economic development, and Estrada treated it hand in hand with development. However, all these efforts merely reproduce the inherently unequal capitalist system, hypocritically legitimizing it as a solution to poverty. Indeed, Baudrillard (1997) says it best, “if poverty and nuisance cannot be eliminated, this is because they are anywhere but in the poor neighbourhoods. They are not in the slums or shanty-towns, but in the socio-economic structure.” When the economic elites are also the ones steering the state, any radical change to the unequal structure of Philippine society will never happen.

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