Poverty AND THE Filipino Mindset Research PDF

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POVERTY AND THE FILIPINO MINDSETCHAPTER IINTRODUCTIONRationale of the StudyIn one of the research writing classes this researcher has taught, he often argue that research should be seen as a social and personal responsibility, rather than as a practice done exclusively for academic reasons. He belie...

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POVERTY AND THE FILIPINO MINDSET

CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION Rationale of the Study In one of the research writing classes this researcher has taught, he often argue that research should be seen as a social and personal responsibility, rather than as a practice done exclusively for academic reasons. He believed that it should be an individual’s duty to approach information he encounters online and elsewhere with a healthy dose of skepticism. He also believes that it should be an individual’s duty to refrain from making unfounded accusations prior to actual research. An article from GetRealPhilippines.com has this to say, “Filipinos obsession with happiness is what keeps them mired in chronic poverty.” Such an expression is very ironic considering the fact that happiness is usually associated with material abundance or prosperity. According to Benigno (2014), “One wonders why the poor Filipinos continue to fail because Filipinos have been led to believe that simply being

“happy” makes them “winners”. That is a nice philosophy to live with — when you are happy being a loser for the rest of your existence, and that is,

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so to speak a kind of mentality that one wishes to entertain for the rest of his/her own life. One reason why people need to do research more is to prevent them from thinking ridiculous ideas about how to live life. And the only thing such an experience reveals is that the researcher has to immerse himself in a concrete situation in order really to understand poverty.

Theoretical Framework There are many reasons why Filipinos are poor. We can attribute poverty with the rapid population growth that our economy cannot cope with. We can blame it to unemployment, inflation, inequality and corruption as a direct cause of why Filipinos are poor. However, if we wish to simplify the problem, we may say that most Filipinos are poor because they were born poor as a matter of circumstance. According to an SWS survey, the ratio of poverty in Luzon is at 45 percent, 74 percent in the Visayas, and 71 percent in Mindanao. Needless to say, many Filipinos are in dire poverty even before they can even spell “happiness.” Filipino children are poor even before they have tasted a little comfort with bits of simple happiness manifestly shown thru their faces. As these children grow up they come to realize that they are poor and start wondering, even yet during their tender years, why they are in such a

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situation and not in the same way they saw with some children who are clean, well dressed, well fed and being taken-cared of by their nannies off to school and back home. And so as they grow older, poor children start thinking about why and what makes them poor and so begins to feel discriminated, bullied, deprived etc…by their well-off counterpart. Psychologically, children who grew up poor suffer more negative emotions when they become adult. According to Science Daily (2013), it states that; Researchers found that test subjects who had lower family incomes at age 9 exhibited, as adults, greater activity in the amygdala, an area in the brain known for its role in fear and other negative emotions. These individuals showed less activity in areas of the prefrontal cortex, an area in the brain thought to regulate negative emotion.

What that means is that a person who experienced chronic stress from childhood to adolescence may be less capable of suppressing negative emotions such as fear. In fact, according to surveys, 1/6 of people raised in poverty developed mental disorders. The psychological consequences of childhood poverty and stress are the same psychological barriers that may prevent a person from becoming more successful in adulthood. Furthermore, impediments to the development of the prefrontal cortex can also affect a child’s ability to learn, making it more difficult to compete with children who did not grow up in poverty.

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THE PROBLEM Statement of the Problem The researcher aims to analyze and interpret the Filipino mindset in the context of understanding the real meaning of poverty in Philippine situation. By analyzing the said theme, the study proceeds to show the real cause or causes of poverty inherent in the psycho-social well-being of poor Filipinos. Specifically this study is guided by the following questions; 1) What is Poverty? 2) What is the Filipino mindset in relation to poverty? 3) How can Filipino mindset with regards to poverty be corrected to effect change in his/her psychological frame of mind.

Significance of the Study In one of the few studies on poverty in the Philippines, 200 low-income Filipinos expressed feelings of hopelessness or despair; disillusionment with the economic, social, and political conditions in the country; but with little sense of resignation or apathy (Guerrero, 1973). This lack of resignation was

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due to a belief in their power to change conditions in the country using peaceful means (Guerrero, 1973). Findings showed that people who are poor have few aspirations for themselves but hold high hopes for their children’s futures and educational attainment. According to Guerrero, their sociopsychological traits and attitudes are a sense of life being unfavorable; dissatisfaction due to the discrepancy between expectation and attainment; high work orientation; reliance on chance or luck; the magical role of education; being half optimistic and half hopeless; and disillusionment with social, economic, and political conditions in the Philippines. However, Guerrero’s study was conducted more than 30 years ago, and although a low-income sample population was investigated, nothing is known about the origins of the participants’ poverty, including whether the participants had always been poor. Knowledge of its origins is part of understanding poverty: This study investigates Filipinos who were born poor. In this study, the differences in terms of perceived causes of poverty, experiences of poverty, coping,

and

cultural

characteristics

of

coping

become

relevant

to

understanding how people raised in poverty have evolved to lead different lives. According to Harrison (2000), the crucial elements in explaining poverty’s persistence are the culture, values, and attitudes in society that obstruct progress. Those who stay indigent may have different experiences of struggle; prejudice, power, and privilege in their society may work to keep them impoverished. Filipinos who move out of poverty may be creating a different culture—a new paradigm of human progress (Harrison, 2000). It is

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with this perspective that the present study seeks to understand the psychology of poverty—by contrasting people of comparably impoverished origins who had opposite outcomes in financial circumstances. Research Paradigms The paradigms guiding this qualitative research are constructivist (Lincoln & Guba, 1985) and critical (Kincheloe & McLaren, 1994) theories, and they are in the context within which grounded theory (Charmaz, 2000; Corbin& Strauss, 1990) is used as a methodology. In capturing the experiences of poverty, the qualitative researcher uses the methodology of grounded

theory

to

be

congruent

with

the

paradigms

of

inquiry.

Constructivism recognizes the existence of many possible realities and explores their meanings (Guba & Lincoln, 1989). It includes personal and social meaning constructions of the participant’s experience of poverty and the researcher’s involvement and interpretation of the research experience. Constructivist theory

also asserts

that

the

researcher’s

values

and

experiences cannot be eliminated from the research process—thus, the resulting rhetorical structure is personalized, as the methodology of constructivist research necessarily includes immersion in the participant’s world (Ponterotto, 2005). Critical theorists construe reality within a socialhistorical context and are vigilant about existing power relations (Kincheloe &McLaren, 1994). A goal of critical research is to empower people and engage those who are oppressed in discussion about their experiences and perspectives of privilege and oppression (Denzin, 2003). Critical theory 6

asserts that reality is shaped by social, political, ethnic, gender and cultural values and recognizes that this reality includes the subjective and dialectical nature of the relationship between the researcher and the participant (Ponterotto, 2005). The rhetorical structure is necessarily first person, and the

methodology

includes

naturalistic

and

hermeneutic

approaches

(Ponterotto, 2005). Ponterotto (2005) described both constructivist and critical theories as primarily idiographic (case studies) and academic. The present study includes the cultural and historical context of the Philippines, grounded in Filipinos’ experiences (Enriquez, 1977). The Philippines has traditions

based

on

oral

communication.

The

informal

interactive,

“pagtatanong-tanong,” is a form of questioning that assumes a level of trust (pakikitungo) and deep respect (pakikiisa ) in the relationship between researcher and participant (Marcelino, 1990).

Scope and Limitation This research work would seek to investigate a specific type of mentality among poor Filipinos in the context of their observational behavior that causes them to remain in poverty for the rest of their life. The areas of inquiry cover only communities specifically identified by the City Social Welfare Office (CSWO) in Zamboanga City among the 98 barangays under the 4P’s program of the DSWD as the primary respondents for this research, specifically respondents who are students of the Western Mindanao State 7

University (WMSU). Other topics relevant to this research study under discussion shall likewise be treated secondarily upon the researcher’s evaluation of their applicability. The range that this study may take will depend upon certain topics under discussion; hence, other references may be quoted for that matter. Sources relevant to the Filipino understanding of poverty and other sources on Filipino mentality of some well-known Filipino authors will be employed to expound such research topic.

Figure 1. Conceptual Paradigm

POVERTY THRESHOLDS

MINDSETS

FACTORDETERMINANTS Psychological Injury Cultural Enhancers and Barriers Values and Attitudes Socio-Cultural Environment Religious Beliefs

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RESEARCH METHODOLOGY The theme “Poverty and the Filipino Mindset, “as a research problem could well be understood by employing analysis and interpretation based upon the data offered by the respondents questionnaires. The survey conveys significant meaning in analyzing and interpreting the problem under discussion, hence, reference and use of these materials are indispensable in this

research. And in

interpretation

of

these

order

to analyze

surveyed

data

is

the

problem,

necessary.

an

objective

Such

objective

interpretation is possible only by employing the Convenience Sampling method to determine the qualitative signification of said research. A descriptive and analytic approach is to be employed in the entire presentation, analysis and interpretation of this research study. Figure 2. Research Methodology

Research Methodology INDEPENDENT VARIABLE

DEPENDENT

VARIABLE POVERTY

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The Filipino Mindset

Chapter II LITERATURE REVIEW

Postcolonial Theory on Poverty The Republic of the Philippines consists of 7, 107 tropical islands located in the South China Sea northeast of Malaysia. The annual population growth rate is 1.87% while its current population is approximately more than 100 million people (CIA Factbook, 2006). Since 1986, the Philippine economy has grown modestly. The country is well endowed with mineral and non-oil energy resources; and its economy is buoyed up by remittances from overseas Filipino workers. However, there remain major problems such as high poverty levels, widespread unemployment, a large government deficit, and massive external debt. The industrial sector is concentrated in urban areas.

Inadequate

infrastructure,

transportation,

communication,

electrical power inhibit faster industrial growth (Macionis, 2002).

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and

The government is seeking to revitalize the economy by encouraging both foreign and domestic investment and by restoring free-market forces. The

Philippines

faces

severe

economic

challenges:

stability

when

approximately 52% of the population suffers from debilitating poverty, and job creation for a rapidly expanding work force. Unemployment and underemployment exceeds 30%. The nation must try to reverse the ecological deterioration of its heavily populated rural sector while paying of its foreign debt (Todaro, 1995). Among the basic social concerns of Filipinos, health and nutrition, housing, utilities, and the environment, and income and consumption stand out most in relation to the study conducted by the researchers (Mangahas, 1976). These concerns reflect the individual aspiration to obtain a better quality of human life through improved welfare defined by upward social mobility or conspicuous consumption of luxury goods such as jewelries and electrical appliances. Filipinos

desire

to

live

long

with

the

absence

of

infirmity,

malnourishment, and mental disability. They possess an unquestionable, natural need to satisfy their wants through the sufficient purchase of products and services, which may only be adequately done through the acquisition of pecuniary gains. It is vital for Filipinos to obtain satisfactory housing, uncontaminated and ample water supply, affordable electricity, and unpolluted surroundings. The procurement of such basic physical needs will

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assist people to become free from poverty and allow them to create a more open society with equal opportunities to select individual roles (Tullao, 2004). Based on studies conducted by Victor Pattenden, the inability to provide for basic food in terms of calorie intake and shelter increased from 36.8% of the population in 1997 to more than 40% in 2002. Thirty-eight percent of Filipino families do not have solid-structure shelter. Access to safe drinking water declined from 81.4% of families in 1999 to 80% in 2002. Twenty-one percent of all families and 44% of families in the lower 40% income group have no electricity. Special effort must be made that the citizens of the less developed regions take an active part in so far as circumstances allow, in their economic betterment (Mater et Magistra, 1961). Postcolonial theory grounds this study in recognition of colonialism’s lingering impact. Postcolonial theory attempts to shift the dominant ways in which people perceive the world (Young, 2003). Young (2003) stated, “postcolonialism claims the right of all people on this earth to the same material and cultural well-being” (p.2).

Young (2003) asserted that post

colonialism “names a politics and a philosophy of activism” that challenges the pervasive inequality in the world. In a different way, it resumes anticolonial struggles of the past. Historically, European powers deemed the west, subjected many regions, the non-west, to colonial and imperial rule. European powers felt it was their duty to colonize and felt justified in doing so: Colonial and imperial rule was legitimized by anthropological theories which portrayed the peoples of the colonized world as inferior, childlike, or 12

feminine, incapable of looking after themselves and requiring the paternal rule of the west for their own best interests (today they are deemed to require ‘development’). The basis of such anthropological theories was the concept of race. In simple terms, the west-non-west relation was thought of in terms of whites versus the non-white races (Young, 2003, p.2).

Young

(2003) mentioned that white culture was and still is the basis for the dominant culture, which can encompass government, law, economics, science, language, music, art, and literature. Post colonialism and its theoretical foundations stem from the works of scholars including Frantz Fanon, Paolo Freire, and Albert Memmi. Memmi (1982) stated that, “racism illustrates, summarizes, and symbolizes the colonial relation” (p.32). Postcolonial theory also acknowledges that national sovereignty has been achieved in many countries and many have attained postcolonial status (Young, 2003). However, it recognizes that the major world powers have not changed since this decolonization had taken place and a form of domination often still continues, and continues to feed off of racism. One example of this idea today is neocolonialism, where colonialism takes on the form of cultural imperialism, capitalism, and globalization (Young, 2003). In a literal sense, colonists are no longer physically present but their values, attitudes, and beliefs that have been imposed and ingrained on the indigenous population continue to hold power, and so, hegemonic powers still intrude in some form from a distance, and the indigenous population is still oppressed. David (2013) asserted that a similar oppression 13

exists within the United States, but is outside a “formal colonial context” (p.47). He explained that racial inequality and cultural imposition by the dominant group on non-dominant groups is similar to formal colonial processes (David, 2013).

Fanon (1963) said, “Independence has certainly

brought the colonized people’s moral reparation and recognized their dignity. But they have not yet had time to elaborate a society or build and ascertain values” (p.40).This idea can be applied to the Philippines. After Filipinos defeated the Spanish after three hundred years of colonization, the Americans came in and continued this colonization for almost fifty more years. When the Americans left in 1946, globalization, neocolonialism, and cultural imperialism still influence the Philippines today (David & Nadal, 2013). Strobel (1997) referred to Freire in her study, who said that liberation starts with the “naming of the social and political structures that dominate and silence” (p.69). Thus, postcolonial theory serves as a backdrop to this study to name and recognize the effects of colonialism in order to break its dominating and silencing consequences. Postcolonial theory has also been acknowledged in the writings of Strobel (1997), Rimonte (1997), and David & Okazaki (2006a), as a way to recognize the inequality in the world, acknowledge colonialism’s consequences, and work to change its enduring effects. Strobel (1997) pointed out many Filipino and Filipino American scholars have added to the understanding of post-colonialists theory. The ideas mentioned above frame colonial mentality and the process of decolonizing the mind.

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Internalized Racial Oppression. As postcolonial theory indicates, many people today are still feeling the effects of colonialism and cultural imperialism (Young, 2003). Colonial mentality is one consequence of colonialism, which is the idea that ...