the new middle class in the philippines

8/4/2019 The New Middle Class in the Philippines

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The New Middle Class in the Philippines: A Case Study in Culture ChangeAuthor(s): Carol H. Cespedes and Eugene GibbsSource: Asian Survey, Vol. 12, No. 10 (Oct., 1972), pp. 879-886Published by: University of California PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2643065 .

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THE NEWMIDDLECLASSINTHE PHILIPPINES:A CASE STUDY NCULTURE HANGE

/ Carol H. Cespedes nd EugeneGibbs

Te twentiethentury ore han ny other eriod nhistory,asbeen atimeofbasic transformationn the ivesof all the world'speoples.Otherageshadknown hange-thepassingof empires,heuprootingfpopula-tions, he ntroductionfnewtechnologies-butt is only n thepresentcenturyhat hangehasextendednto hemost ntimatereas of ife, ffect-ing thebasicrelationshipsfthefamily, heage-oldprocesses fsocializa-tion-and finallyhe ndividual ersonalitytself. he most eneral auseofthistransformationas thepenetrationfthe cash economy f the citiesinto herural ocieties fAsia and Africa.With henew economyameop-portunity-new aysofthinkingnd earning living, ewmeans o wealthandpower. eople were n themove.Farmers nd craftsmenecame ntre-preneurs. heir hildren ent o school ndbecame eachers,octors,man-agers,and civil servants. uch changes n occupation rought onsonantchangesnvalues, n socialranking,n familytructure,ndfinallyndmostsignificantlyn-the ays ofraising hildren. he new generationotonlyliveddifferently-iteallywas different.These changes id not, fcourse, ffectll strata f societyqually or inthe ame way.Some areaswere solatedbecauseof geographic actors. nothers,nentrenchedower lite erved o solate hemasses fsociety romsocialchange.Butin those reas of the developing ationswhereupwardmobility as possible,hereppeared omethingearing t east n outwardresemblanceo theEuropean nd NorthAmericanmiddle lass.Thepresenttudy s concerned ith he mergencef thismodernmiddleclass in 20thcentury hilippine ociety ndwith he changes n contem-porary amily tructurendpersonalityatternshathave accompaniedhechange oa middle lass ife tyle. n placeof the tatic wo-classocial sys-tem hathasbeenaccepted s thebasis forrural ocial organizationn thePhilippines1tsuggests modelfor hange nwhich classsystem ased on'Frank Lynch,S.J.,Social Class in a Bikol Town (Chicago, 1959), and MaryHolln-steiner,Dynamicsof Power in a PhilippineMunicipality Quezon City, 1963) studiedsocial organizationn traditional ommunitiesn the ate 1950sand found hatthepeas-ant-lorddichotomy est described the Philippine countryside.

879


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880 NEW MIDDLE CLASS IN THE PHILIPPINEScashvalue s seenas graduallyeplacing socialorder ased on land.Theexpansion fthis ashbasedsystems reflectednthegrowingmportanceofa middle lass in theruralmunicipalities,middle lass whosedistinc-tivenessmaybe definedyseveral ndicatorsncludingducation, ccupa-tion,ife tyle, ew exroles, ndplaceofresidence. inally nefamily illbeportrayedromhisgrowinglassofpeoplewho reneither ichnorpoor,whohave ntwogenerationsecome ducated, chieved placeinbusinessandtheprofessions,nd ost heir iestothe and.2The newmiddle lasshad emerged rom hemore nterprising embersof thepeasantry.ifehad notbeeneasyforthem, utthroughrugality,"sideline" nterprises,ndthe abororbusiness ctivities f mothersndolder hildren,heymanaged osave enough o sendtheir hildrenhroughhigh chool ndpossibly ven ollege ndtobuild mproved omes fboardandconcretehat ontrasted ith hetraditionalipahousesofthepoorerfolk. hisgroupmightmulate he litendress ndsocialmanners,utwiththeirmodestncome evels hey ouldnotcompete orpolitical nd socialleverage. hesecircumstances otivatedomefamilies o hoard,to resistsocialdisplay, nd tominimizehe bligations fkinship-inshort,o rejecttraditionalilipinopatternsn favor feconomicallyational ehavior.Asthesenewehavior atternsecamewidespread,heolder tratificationsystemasedon andownership avewayto an individualismor at leastafamilism)where tatuswasmeasuredn cash.Although lderpeopleclungtothe raditionalaluesystem, newgeneration asgrowing p in a radi-callydifferentocialmilieu.The first nd secondgenerations fthenewmiddle lass had achieved heirpositionmainly yeducation, ardwork,and regular ash incomeduring 'time feconomic xpansion, nd theyreflectharacteristically9thcenturyuro-American iddle lass values.Their onsanddaughters,owever,renowcoming omaturityt a timewhen pportunitiesor he ndividual recontracting.opulation ressureshaveexceeded conomic rowth,nd education as outpaced pportunitiesforemployment. ithmuchfree ime and little irection,hisgenerationcongregatesnteenage angs barcada) whose tyle eflectshe nternationalyouthulturendwhose nfluence arks furtherecline n thehierarchicalauthorityfthefamily.Thesedevelopments,he eap intoa casheconomy ndtherestructuringofsocialization atterns, illbe described s they ccurred verthree en-erationsn anactualmiddle lassfamilyn a medium-sizedhilippineown.While hematerialsre derived romGibbsstudy nLeyte, he ivingpat-

'The material n this case studyfirstppearedin an unpublisheddoctoraldissertationby Eugene Gibbs,"Family and Politics: A Studyof a Filipino Middle Class Family"(Claremont, 971). Other ase studiesmaybe found longwith a moredetailedanalysisofsocial class in a doctoraldissertation yCarol Cespedes,"AwayFromtheLand: TheEvolutionof a Middle Class in a Pangasinan Town" (Claremont,1971).The data for hesedissertations erecollectedbythe twoauthorsduring ieldresearchin thePhilippinesfromAugust1969 toJune1970.Fundingwas providedbyFulbright-Hays Office fEducation and Linhardtgrants.


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CAROL H. CESPEDES AND EUGENE GIBBS 88!terns epicted ere re equally ypical fthe own hatCespedes bservednNorthernuzon.Theemergencefthis lass s thereforewidespreadrendrather han n isolated henomenon.t indicates hedirectionn which ili-pino society s evolving, nd at the same timeunderscoreshefragile ndprecarious haracter f themiddle lass in a society hat s telescopinghetransitionrom traditionalubsistence o a mass market conomy. achgenerationn the tudy eacted uitedifferentlyothepressures fchange,the irstnd secondgenerations aintaininghefamily'sohesiveness,hilethe hird enerationrokewith amily uthoritynd reduced ts obligationstothekingroup.Sergio and SocorroPomada belongto the secondgenerationf risingmiddle lass families. ergiowas 62 in 1970, whileSocorrowas 43. Theyhad seven hildren angingnage from 0 to 20, and all iving,more r ess,athome. ocorrowas a third rade eacher horeceived 60 pesos month.Sergiohad retired rom hefamily ransportationusiness,whichhe hadstartedn partnership ithhisfather nd brothersometwenty-fiveearsbefore.AfterWorldWar II, transportationas in demand nd theprofitswerehigh.When ompetitionecamekeenand partsmore ostly, hecom-panywent ut of business. ergiowas able to put a littlemoney way n apostal avings ccount, nd thefamily eceived nother 0 pesosa monthfromherental f a sari-sarivariety tore) on thefirst loor ftheir ome.Jesus the oldest on) had a part-timeob and sometimesharedhis paywith hefamily.More significanthan theexact amount f cash incomereceived romvarious ourceswas theaccompanyinghange n the family's ttitude ndlife tyle s they ntered predominantlyash economy. ne ofthemostm-portant hangeswas thisfamily's ejection f thetraditionaltatus ystembased on landownership.lthough heirparentshad come from armingandfishing ackgrounds,ergioand Socorro xpressedittle esire o ownand work he and. nstead hey reamed f visiting heUnited tatesandsending heir hildren o college.3;Sergio's amily ad migrated o the communityrom more crowdedislandat the urn f the entury. hey tarted s farmersnd soonbecamerising arrio ntrepreneurs,embers f the lass that inked he ocal sys-temof barter xchange o the arger ash economy. hifts n the base offamily ivelihood ad little ffect n family elationships.ergio grewupimitating,especting,nd obeying is father ntil dulthood nd, n fact,untilhis father's eath.Business ontacts lus control f a ready upply fcash gave ergio political ase n the ommunity,ndhe became hebarriolider4 orone of the own's igpeople.Becausepeopletrusted im andthefamily usinesswas themajoremployern thebarrio, ergio bartered is

'Middle incomefamilies n thePangasinan studyfrequently xpressed nterest n ob-taininga small parcel of rice land because of inflationary ressures.'A barrioor village lider is a man who has a loyal block of followers hat he candeliver o a politician t electiontime,much ike an Americanward boss.


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882 NEW MIDDLE CLASS IN THE PHILI PPINESlocal influence orcampaign moneyand special favorsduring an election.As Sergio explained,"People won't isten to you unlessyou give them mon-ey." Sergio helped his patron regardless of the candidates' partylabel orthe issues in the election, "like a carabao (water buffalo) being led 'byhisnose."Sergio married Socorro,thedaughterof one ofhis allies in thetown, andtook up residence n his father-in-law'souse near the centralmarket-place.Socorro was a pretty oung teacher and at first bjected tomarrying mannearly twenty ears her senior. But she finallyyielded to familypressures,and themarriageturned out to be a happy one. For a short ime,thecouplelivedcomfortably n their oint incomes,butbusinesswentbad, and Sergioretired.

In spite of his business and politicalexperience,Sergio never ost his lovefor the simplebarrio life nor his pleasure from a day's hard work. Whentherewas nothingforhimto do athome,he wentto thebarriowhere he wasraised and wheresome ofhis brothers nd sisters still ived to help them ntheir work. His clothes were baggy and patched,servingalso as his swimsuit and pajamas; there was outwardly ittle to distinguishhim fromthecommon tao (peasant).Being younger than her husband and better ducated,Socorro had moremodern tastes. She entered nto a teaching career as a result of the urgingsof her father,who had himselfrejected a career as a farmer for that of apoliceman. Socorro's mother, milia, who still ives with thefamily,did notentirely pprove of the changes that her new occupation brought to herdaughter's tyleof ife. Emilia was the very tereotype f the peasant woman.Her long skirt nd loose peasant blouse contrastedwithSocorro's short kirtsand modernstyles.Emilia had triedto raise her children n the traditionalmanner. Since she had come from a familyof folk healers, she had an in-grained suspicion of doctors, teachers, and clergy. Socorro's father hadbeen as progressivefor his time as her motherwas conservative, nd he wasthe dominant nfluence n her life. He was the one who had chosen Sergioover suitorsmore nearly her own age, and in marriage Socorro deferred oSergio as she had once deferred o her father.Sergio was the ultimate de-cision-maker n such vital mattersof family ife as how many children theywould produce and which politician would receivetheir votes.Sergio and Socorro taught their children few skills and were more per-missivethantheir own parents had been. A disobedient child was made tofeelashamed by teasing,pinching, nd scolding,while he was encouraged toadjust to a repetitive outine of caring for a youngersibling,helping withchores, and playing.The Pomada children found that their safestcourse of behavior was toconform o their peer group,show deference o theirelders, and avoid at-tracting ttention o themselves. ergio and Socorro intentionally efrainedfrom mposing strict ules and demanding obedience fromthe children. Re-sponsibility ormolding the character of the boys when they became seven


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CAROL H. CESPEDES AND EUGENE GIBBS 883years ld moved rom heprovince ftheparents o theoverall ocializationprocess.With hegirls heparentsweremore ontrolling.On any typical ay,thehousewas a beehive factivity,omeofwhichfollowedraditional atternsndsome,modern.Withfive ooms oaccom-modate henineortenpersonsiving nder neroof, hehousewasperpetu-ally rowded. dded othiswas a steady tream fvisitors.ergio'srelativescame foradvice; Socorro's tudent-teacherropped y to discuss henextday's esson.Theyoungeroys,barefoot, earinghort hakipants ndteeshirts,layednearthehousewhile hegirls roned hefamily'slotheswitha charcoal ron nd istenedo soapoperas n the ransisteradio. Socorro'svoicemight e heardcalling ronicallyrom hebedroom,Girl,have thetears rom heheroine ustedheradioyet?"

Themealswere casualaffair.ocorro avemoney o oneofthe hildrento buypork or fish, nd somevegetables t the market. he children idthe ooking: heblackened icepot wasplaced on thekerosenetove o boilanda fish oupwith reeneaveswasmade to washdown herice.For des-sert, herewas a banana and a glass of water.PreparationseganwhenSocorrofelthungry. he childrenwerefree o leave thetable whentheyfinished,nd since Lourdes (the oldestgirl) went o schoolat night, hedidnot at with hefamily.f anyonewas ate,he ate the eftovers; suallytherewerenone.Atnight heboys lept nwovenmatsplaced onthe ala floor;when hemosquitoesweretroublesome,heyburned mosquito epellant. he oldgrandmother,milia, he wogirls, ndSergio ndSocorro ach had a tinybedroom; heyoungest oysleptwith ne of them r withhisbrothers nthefloor.He was themost ndulged,nd in returnwas expectedo be themostaffectionate.The three ldest hildren f thePomada familywerereacting uite dif-ferentlyo theirmiddle lass,provincial tyle f ife.The boys weremostalienated romraditionalndparental alues,while hegirl dhered losely

tothe ultural orms or roper emale ehavior. eteach ofthese eactionsreflecthe ncreasing ermissivenessndheterogeneityf themiddle lassenvironment.Jesus, heolderson,had been a handsome nd restless oywho wouldratherourt hegirls handohis schoolwork.He wassent o a Catholic ighschool n thebigcity, utthere e squandered hemoney orhis ast semes-ter's uitionnd so failed ograduate.Whenhe returnedome,he becamea bettertudentnd lessrestless. esus inally raduated rom igh chooland startedollege,majoringn commerce.Jesus' onflictsad already urfaced. e disputed arental uthority etcouldnotbecome conomicallyndependent;esought o winrespectndafavorabledentityna rapidly nbanizingndovercrowdedommunity;ewas ambitious etcould findno decentob. He was in a position hathisfather adnever xperienced: e hadbeenshownwhat here s tohave, ndwasnowdiscoveringhathecouldnotreally ave t.Hiepresented problem


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884 NEW MIDDLE CLASS IN THE PHILIPPINEStypical fhis generation: either is family or the arger ommunityadany pecific eed forhim.Socorroblamedher on's behavior n his varyingmoods. Jesus lannedto oin the rmy r navywhen e graduated igh chool. wanted im o bethepriest n thefamily.With hemoneywe gavehimfor uition,eboughta guitar!""When camehomefrom eaching odaythekids told methatJesuswhippedHoney (the youngest) ecause he ate at the neighbors'. said tohim, Jesus, ight wayyouwhipyourbrothernd youdo not ven skyourfatherryourmother.' henhegotmadandwent ut.Jesushas a temper,a bad temper. ergio neverwhips he children nd I onlyscold withmytongue. ut Jesuswants hechildren o obeyhim, nd they alkback,andthatmakesJesus ngry.He should ee a psychiatrist."Jesus ad pneumoniawith worelapses heyear of the tudy nd stayednearthe house, usually at the corner ari-sari tore wherehe meetshisfriends,hares smoke nd a talk, nd flirts ith hegirlbehind he ounter,a cousin.Jesuswasworried bouthisfuturendhismonologueumped romemploymento fraternitieso girls."We are not exactly oo manypeople n the Philippines, ut businessesarefew nd many re unemployed. any ommercend aw graduates hocan'tpractice, ake ower obs, or standby hang around he tore)."I havetried ishing ithmyfather,ut didn't ike t.You don'tget nysleep tnightndduring heday youhaveto prepare heequipmentor henextnight. was tired. likedbeing hedriver f our eep whenwehadone."In college became member f theAlpha Phi Omegabut didn't ellmyparents. waited ntil fter he nitiation. y mother new ecause hesaw all thered spotson mybody.She didn't ay anything ecausethat scollege ife.The initiations verydifficult.t is both mental nd physicaltorture.We don'twant high nd proudman to become member ecauseitwouldruinour good name."When havea girlfriend,will observe ercharactern case sheacci-dentally ets regnant. he young ilipinomen re after hevirginityfthewomen, nd so they ay, baby beforemarriage. he boy justwantshervirginity,nd thegirlwho oveshim s afraid o say no. Unlessthegirl swise cunning nd shrewd), he doesn't nowhow to prevent abies. willnotgetmarried ntil have a stable Ab o I can sendmy hildren ocollege.A good age for heboy is 27, and then onlywant hree hildren,oys.wouldprefero livein a mountain arrio after am married ecausethepeoplethere re very eligious, ind, uiet, nd loving. t is simplerherefor hildrenecausetheywillnotbe influencedy citypeople."Jesus,ntryingo adjust o thenarrowing angeof economic pportuni-ties, adan almost esperate esire o escape o the uieterwaysofthe and,to ookbackwards eyondhis own generationo whathe believed hepastmight ave held forhim n respect nd security. esushas become rigid


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CAROL H. CESPEDES AND EUGENE GIBBS 885personality,uthoritarianoward isyoungeriblingsndsubmissiveohisfraternityrothers.Alan,the econd on, had been evenmoreofa problem oSocorro andSergio hanJesus.Alan showedno interestn school ndspentmostofhistimewithhis barcada (gang). He was a quiet, ikeableboywith goodsense of humorwho seemed o have trouble ringing rder ntohis life.Socorro aid ofhim, If youcompareJesus ndAlan,Alan sworse.Jesuswould omehome t two n themorning,utAlan doesn't omehome t all.I can't leep ndmyhusband nd take urnsooking orhim.Wefound uthe was withJunior t thenightclub here heyhave hostesses. got verymad.Alangambles nddrinks ut havepromisedmyself ot toworry.just readmybook. said toAlan, What re youtryingodotome,killmelittleby little?' But he knows I can endure."Alan triedto defendhimself. If I have money liketo play mahjong andsometimesto drink and smoke, or go to the show and read comics. Mybarcada is like a fraternityxcept that t has no initiation.When we drinkwe don't look forany trouble."Alan's personalitywas in fluxas Sergio's never had been. The ties thattraditionally ound father nd son and that grewstrongerwhenthe son be-came a teenager able to shoulder a larger share of the work were missing.Sergio had no work in which he needed his sons nor business to divideamongst themwhenhe died. Alan could not completelyreject his parents'values,so his behavior ranged somewherebetweenthe standards hisparentshad set for him and those of a delinquentsubculture.Lourdes, thethird child,was the parents' pride. She received good gradesin college and was soon to graduate as a teacher.She was obedient and help-fularoundthehouse though shecould be very tubborn.Lourdes was raisedmore conservatively han her brothers; at home she was watched by herparentsand relatives nd at theCatholic college she attended, y thesisters.In contrast to her brothers,Lourdes has her career goals more clearlydefinedand may therefore e less of a problemforsocietythan theyoungmen. This reflectsthemore slowly changingpatternof femalesocialization,a pattern hat s enforcedperhapsby the nfluence f Spanish culturewith tsstandards of protectionfordaughters nd permissiveness orsons. Lourdeslearnedfromher mother nd friendsthat once she was married,she wouldassume responsibility ormanaging the family'sfinances.Many aspects ofthe girl's role continue to center around thefamily,while theboys' tradi-tionalrelationship o the land and to their fatherhas been destroyedby thespecializationof labor in a market conomy.Moreover, men are consideredto become more "foolish" than womenand are given the iberty to act fool-ish, which leads to a sense of failure,gambling and drink,and a morepainful adjustment.Socorro and Sergio consciously iberalized theauthority f theparentsbyallowingtheir hildren o argue and frequently o do as theypleased. As a re-sult,Jesus,Alan, and Lourdes grewup withan increased sense of ndividual


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886 NEW MIDDLE CLASS IN THE PHILIPPINESimportancend independence.he contrastn socialization atterns ointsup the hiftn orientations.ergio'syouth onsisted rimarilyf mitatingand obeying hard-workingather;his sons, Jesusand Alan,followpleasure thic stablished ytheir eers.The roleofthemiddle lassfamily,particularlyfthefather-sonelationship,as been reduced s many f thefamily's raditional unctionsavebeen assigned o the arger ociety.The authors elieve hat he newmiddle lassemergingnthePhilippinesdemonstratesocial trends hat re affectingimilarmiddle ncome amiliesthroughouthethirdworld lthough hedetails f thetransformationaryfrom ountryo country. hosefamilieswho tookup new occupations ndentered hecash economy uring he first alfof thecentury ave experi-enced progressiveulturalhange hathas finallyetthem ff rom therclasses n the society ncluding he elite, hetraditionalarmers,nd thelowerclass workers. he cultural hifts xperienced y the Pomadas andother merging iddle lassfamiliesmight e summarizeds follows: irst,a change n the status ystemrom hetraditional aluesbasedon landtovaluesbased on cash. n thePhilippines, ue to high evels funemploymentamong heyoung nd educated, he consequencesmay take the form f ademandfor a return o a moresimplepast, a dictated olitical olution;and/or rowinglienation ndsocial disruption.econd, change n social-ization atterns rom mitationf adultbehavior o peerdirected ehavior.In thePhilippineshismaydevelop nto raternalssociations nd the mita-tionof another ountry'sife tyle.And third, change n family ohesive-ness and age-ordered ependencies, hich n the Philippines acilitatesurbanization,ndividual areer hoice, nd new attitudesoward ex roles.

CAROL H. CESPEDES is AssistantProfessorof Anthropology, aliforniaState Col-lege, Fullerton, nd Coordinator f Research at Pitzer College, Claremont; EUGENEGIBBS is ProgramMonitorof the Kern CountyEconomic Opportunity orporation,Bakersfield, alifornia.

the new middle class in the philippines

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