Social Science I

Foundations of
Behavioral Sciences

Elizabeth Ventura
Ma. Glenda Lopez Wui
Realidad Rolda

University of the Philippines

OPEN UNIVERSITY
Social Science I Foundations of Behavioral Sciences
By Elizabeth Ventura, Ma. Glenda Lopez Wui, and Realidad Rolda

Copyright © 2003 by Elizabeth Ventura, Ma. Glenda Lopez Wui,

Realidad Rolda and the UP Open University

Apart from any fair use for the purpose of research or private study,
criticism or review, this publication may be reproduced, stored
or transmitted, in any form or by any means
ONLY WITH THE PERMISSION
of the author and the UP Open University.

Published in the Philippines by the UP Open University

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First printing, 2003

Second printing, 2005

ISBN 971-767-153-2

Layout by Helen Mercado Creer

The development and preparation of this module was made possible by a grant
from Metrobank Foundation, Inc.

Printed in the Philippines

 Table of Contents

Unit I Introduction, 1

Module 1 An Introduction to Social Science, 3

Objectives, 3
Historical Overview of the Social Sciences, 4
Ancient Greek, 5
Middle Ages, 5
Renaissance, 5
17 to 18th century, 6
19th century, 6
20th century, 7
General Objectives of Social Science I, 9
Rationale of Social Science, 10

Module 2 Analyzing Social Issues: The “Sociological Imagination”, 13

Objectives, 13
So what is a social issue?, 13
Appendix A, 19

Unit II The Individual and the Physical Environment, 31

Module 3 Human Activities and the Physical Environment, 33

Objectives, 33
Appendix B, 39
Appendix C, 59

Unit III Human Adaptation, 69

Module 4 Biological adaptation, 71

Objectives, 71
What is Adaptation?, 71
Human Evolution and Adaptation, 73
Forms of adaptation, 78
High altitude, 79
Cold temperature, 79
Hot temperature, 79

Module 5 Cultural Adaptation, 83

Objectives, 83
What is Culture?, 83
Cultural Development, 85
Political and Technological Institutions, 88
Cultural Adaptation and Cultural Adjustments, 90
Module 6 Language: A Form of Adaptation, 93
Objectives, 93
Persuasion: A Part of Language and a Form of Adaptation, 96
Persuasion: A Process, 98
Functions of Communication, 102
Symbols, 103
Cognitive functions of symbols, 104
Variations of Symbols, 106
Symbols and meaning, 106
Language and Adaptation, 109
Gender Speech Contrasts, 110
Summary, 112

Unit IV Socialization, 115

Module 7 Social Stratification, 117

Objectives, 117
Characteristics of Social Stratification, 119
The problematique of social class, 120
Kinds of Social Stratification, 122
Closed system, 122
Open system, 124
Why are societies stratified?, 124
Why stratification persists, 126

Module 8 Aims of Socialization, 129

Objectives, 129
Aims of Socialization, 131
The Role of Socialization Agents, 134
The Family, 135
The school, 136
The peer group, 137
Mass media, 138

Module 9 The Acquisition of Personality, 141

Objectives, 141
Cooley and the Looking-Glass Self, 142
George Herbert Mead and Symbolic Interaction, 143
Erik Erikson and The Eight Stages of Human Development, 145
Sigmund Freud’s Theory of Personality Development, 150

Module 10 Deviance, 153

Objectives, 153
Deviance, 154
Deviance: Functions and Dysfunctions, 156
Theories of Deviance, 158
Biological explanations, 158
Psychological explanations, 159
Sociological explanations, 161
Unit V Social Change, 167

Module 11 Examining Social Change, 169

Objectives, 169
Sources of Change, 170
Physical environment, 171
Population, 171
Ideas, 171
Events, 172
Cultural innovation, 172
Human action, 173
Technology, 173
Theories of Social Change, 174
Evolutionary theories, 174
Cyclical theories, 175
Functionalist theories, 175
Conflict theories, 177
Modernization, 179
Appendix D, 181

Unit VI Research Process and Methodology in the Social Sciences, 191

Module 12 Introduction to the Research Process and Methodologies in the

Social Sciences, 193
Objectives, 193
Research Strategy, 194
The research problem, 194
Reviewing the evidence, 194
Making the research problem precise, 195
Working at a research design, 195
Carrying out the research, 195
Interpreting the results, 195
Reporting research findings, 196
General Methodology, 196
Causal relationship, 196
Research Methods, 197
Fieldwork, 197
Surveys, 197
Documentary research, 199
Experiments, 199
Interviews, 199
Life histories, 199
Diaries, 200
Conversation analysis, 200
Triangulation, 201
Appendix E, 205
 Unit I
Introduction
 Module 1
An Introduction to
Social Science
Ma. Glenda Lopez Wui

W hat is social science? Why do we need to

study the subject? What is its significance?
To answer these questions, let us start our lesson
Objectives
with the definition of social science, and the scope After working on this module,
and subject matter of the discipline. you should be able to:

Social science is the study of the individual’s life 1. Define and identify the
with others, or the group life of individuals. The scope of social science;
discipline deals with “all human relationships 2. Illustrate the historical
specially those that take place in organized development of social
groups.” It is concerned with the influence of the science;
individual on the group as well as the impact of 3. Discuss the
the group on the individual. Social Science is also interdisciplinary approach
concerned with looking for explanations of of social science; and
“group attitudes, beliefs, and customs, and such 4. Cite the practical use of
complex social institutions as government, the studying social science.
business corporation, the family, and the
church.” It also seeks “to predict group behavior”
and to provide knowledge that will benefit the group. (Hunt, 1974)

Why is it important to study the group or social life of individuals? Or

why do we need to study social science at all? Well, human beings are
first and foremost social creatures. They normally spend their entire lives
in association with other human beings or as members of various organized
social groups. Their association with others may be constant and close, as
4 Social Science I

in the case of families. Or their association is occasional and often

impersonal as in the case of the majority of the citizens in villages or towns.
In the large social groups to which they belong, they may have no direct
contact at all with many of the members. For example, most citizens of a
country have no direct contact at all with each other although they are all
members of one nation. (Hunt, 1974)

Because the study of human relationships covers numerous areas and

concerns, various disciplines make up social science. These various
disciplines are collectively called the social sciences; they are also referred
to as behavioral sciences. They include geography, the study of the physical
environment and its relationship to social life; anthropology, the study of
the origins of human beings and of social institutions; psychology, the
study of the individual; sociology, the study of the collective and social
lives of individuals in society; political science, the study of the institution
of government; history, the study of the past as it relates to the present;
economics, the study of the production and distribution of commodities;
and demography, the study of population.

One distinguishing characteristic of the social sciences is that they make

use of the scientific method to generate knowledge. Knowledge is scientific
if it has been “systematically gathered, classified, related and interpreted.”
Thus, a social scientist, like the physical scientist, “must observe carefully,
classify and analyze his facts, make generalizations, and attempt to develop
and test hypotheses to explain his generalizations.” (Hunt 1974) In earlier
times, knowledge generation was far from scientific. Supernatural
explanations were given to explain certain phenomena. To acquire
knowledge scientifically, the social sciences employ various methods in
gathering and analyzing data for research. These different methods will
be discussed in the last module of this course.

Historical Overview of the Social Sciences

So how did social science or the social sciences come about? I will attempt
to provide you a short summary of the highlights of the development of
the discipline in the different historical periods as discussed in Encyclopedia
Britannica (2002). Although critics may brand the Encyclopedia’s account
as too western in orientation, I think it is still useful for it cannot be denied
that the social science disciplines developed in western academic
institutions.

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 Unit I Module 1 5

Ancient Greek
The origins of the social sciences go all the way back to the ancient Greeks
and their rationalist inquiries. Without the initial Greek determination to
study all things in the spirit of dispassionate and rational inquiry, there
would probably be no social sciences today.

Middle Ages
The basis for the rise of several strands of specialized thought that were to
become the social sciences became evident during the Middle Ages or the
16th century, with the explorations made on the different institutions: the
state, economy, religion, morality, and the nature of the individual.
Medieval theology is best exemplified by St. Thomas Aquinas’ Summa
Theologica, a treatise on the individual and society¾“ideas indeed that
may be seen to be political, social, economic, anthropological, and
geographical in their substance.” But the close relationship between
medieval theology and ideas of the social sciences was also responsible for
the delay in the development of the discipline as a science.

Renaissance
Two powerful influences in the advancement of the social sciences were
evident during the Renaissance period. The first was the re-discovery of
the Greek classics, particularly Plato and Aristotle. Numerous
commentaries on the Greek classics were made during this period. The
second was the influence of the philosopher René Déscartes. Cartesianism,
as his philosophy was called, stated that “the proper approach to
understanding the world, including man and society was through a few
simple, fundamental ideas of reality and then, rigorous, almost geometrical
deduction of more complex ideas and eventually of large, encompassing
theories, from these simple ideas, all of which, Descartes insisted, were
the stock of common sense—the mind that is common to all human beings
at birth.”

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6 Social Science I

17th to 18th century

During the 17 th to 18 th centuries, the following contributed to the
development of the social sciences:

a. the spread of the ideal of a science of society that became as widespread

as the ideal of a physical science

b. rising awareness of the multiplicity and variety of human experience

in the world, which became a rich source of topics for investigation
for the social sciences

c. the growing sense of the social or cultural character of human behavior

in society, rather than biological basis alone

d. writings of philosophers such as Hobbes, Locke and Rousseau referring

to the political structure of the state. (These writings were basically
criticisms of the prevailing social order.)

e. theoretical idea of developmental change, where the present is seen as

a result of a long line of development from the past caused “not by
God or fortuitous factors, but by conditions and causes immanent in
human society.”

19th century
In the 19th century, the themes and problems of the social sciences were
issues pertaining to the weakening of the old European society as a result
of the French Revolution and the Industrial Revolution. The prevailing
writings and social thought at the time revolved around the following
themes:

a. great increase in population

b. deteriorating labor condition
c. transformation of property where the intangible kinds of property such
as shares of stocks, bonds, etc. assume greater influence on the
economy
d. urbanization, or the sudden increase in the number of towns and cities,
including the number of persons living in western Europe
e. technology – with the spread of the use of machines in factories and
agriculture, social thinkers saw possibilities for changing the
relationship between man and nature, between man and man, and
between man and God.

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 Unit I Module 1 7

f. factory system—the system of work whereby masses of workers left

home and family to work long hours in factories
g. development of political masses—increasing numbers of persons
becoming voters and participants in the political process

Three powerful tendencies of thought that influenced the social sciences

are positivism, humanitarianism and philosophy of evolution. Positivism
as espoused by August Comte heralded the scientific study of social
behavior. Humanitarianism, like social science, was for the welfare of
society, the improvement of its moral and social condition. Evolution
affected every one of the social sciences, each of which was as much
concerned with the development of things as with their structures. The
evolutionary view of things is evident not only in the work of Charles
Darwin but also in the works of social scientists like Comte, Herbert Spencer
and Marx.

Two contrary tendencies dominated the disciplines that formed the social
sciences. The first was the drive toward unification while the second was
the pull toward specialization of the individual social sciences. It is clear
that the second has triumphed “with the results to be seen in the disparate,
sometimes jealous, highly specialized disciplines seen today.”

20th century
The major influences and trends in the 20th century social science are as
follows:

The powerful influence of Marxism in the 20th century is beyond question.

Marx’s important theoretical contributions to the social sciences are the
“central concepts of social stratification and the location and diffusion of
power.” Although Marxism has had an indirect impact on the social
sciences as disciplines in the West, “it has had enormous influence on
states of mind that are closely associated with the social sciences.” This
was especially evident during the decade of the Great Depression in the
1930s. Marx’s influence is seen in the “profound interest in central planning
and governance that has given historic significance to the ideas of English
economist J. M. Keynes.” Keynesian ideas are illustrated in the “policy of
governments dealing directly with the business cycle, of pumping money
and credit into an economic system when the cycle threatens to turn
downward, and of then lessening this infusion when the cycle moves
upward.”

Another influential 20th century figure is Sigmund Freud. “His basic theories
of the role of the unconscious mind, of the lasting effects of infantile
sexuality, and the Oedipus complex have gone beyond the discipline of

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8 Social Science I

psychoanalysis and even the larger area of psychiatry to several areas of

the social sciences.” In the field of anthropology, for example,
“anthropologists have applied Freudian concepts to their studies of
primitive cultures, seeking to address comparatively the universality of
states of the unconscious that Freud and his followers held to lie in the
whole human race.”

Specialization was a notable tendency in the social sciences at the start of

the 20th century, with the vast increase in the number of social scientists.
This trend continued until World War II, where “several disciplines existed
each in a kind of splendid isolation from the others. That historians and
sociologists for example, might ever work together in curricula and research
projects would have been scarcely conceivable prior to about 1945.”

In recent years, however, “evidences are all around for cross-disciplinary

work and of fusion within a single social science of elements drawn from
other social sciences. Thus there are such vital areas of work as political
sociology, economic anthropology, psychology of voting, and industrial
sociology. The techniques of one social science can be seen consciously
incorporated into another or into several social sciences. “

There is much emphasis on research in the social sciences. Corollary to

this is the widespread introduction of mathematical and other quantitative
methods in doing research. The fascination with method and fact,
however, did not mean that interest in theory was lost. Among the
emergent theories in this century are developmentalism, the social systems
approach, and interactionism.

Activity 1-1
For your first Activity, I want you to visit the Encyclopedia Encarta
website in the Internet on this address http://encarta.msn.com/
encyclopedia_761555505/Social_Sciences.html, and answer the
following questions below after going through the site.

1. What is the subject matter of each discipline found in the social

science?

2. What is the importance of each discipline?

3. After going through the disciplines, what do you think is the

reason why Social Science 1 is offered in the Associate in Arts
program? What is the importance of the subject?

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 Unit I Module 1 9

General Objectives of Social Science I

Now that we know the historical beginnings, subject matter of, and trends
in the social science disciplines, let me orient you to the general objectives
of Social Science I. These are:

1. To understand the basic concepts that govern relationships between

individual and society;
2. To develop critical thinking; and
3. To appreciate and apply such understanding in the interdisciplinary
analysis of issues and problems and society in general and of the
Philippines in particular.

The modules that you are about to study are designed to meet these general
objectives.
The basic concepts that govern the relationship between individual and
society are the concerns of the various disciplines in the social science.
However, not all of the disciplines will be covered in this course. The others
will be taken up in Social Science II. Our discussions will focus on areas
covered by geography, anthropology, linguistics, psychology and sociology.
The overriding theme of the concepts we are going to take up is the
relationship between the individual and society—how individuals
influence the group or society, as well as the impact of society on
individuals.

Your study of the different concepts of the disciplines will provide the
groundwork for the inter-disciplinary approach in studying issues and
problems. The inter-disciplinary approach makes use of “the concepts
and generalizations of the different social sciences,” while illustrating the
inter-relationship of the various disciplines in recognition of the multi-
faceted nature of the individual and of society. The inter-disciplinary
approach “can bring about a holistic understanding of man and society.”
A holistic understanding is important because “life as experienced is multi-
faceted; it is at the same time sociological, psychological, economic etc.”
(Foundations of Behavioral Sciences: A Book of Readings, 1987).

At the end of the course, you will have a chance to apply the inter-
disciplinary approach in the paper you will be required to write. In your
paper, you will be asked to analyze one social issue using the concepts
you have learned from the various social sciences.

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10 Social Science I

Rationale of Social Science

To further appreciate the importance of studying social science, let us
then enumerate the practical uses of the discipline according to Raymund
F. Bellamy et al. (as cited in Foundations of Behavioral Sciences: A Book of
Readings, 1987), the social sciences are designed to:

1. prepare the student to lead a personal and civic life based on ethical
principles consistent with democratic ideals;

2. develop in the student a curiosity as to his/her social environment

and further stimulate an awareness of social problems and their
implications to personal and societal life;

3. prepare the student to participate critically as an informed and

responsible citizen in the solution of local and national, social, economic
and political problems;

4. develop and apply habits of scientific thought to both personal and

civic problems;

5. habitually use skills involved in critical and constructive thinking; and

6. propose to lay the groundwork for more advanced courses.

Take note that as you study your social environment, you will become
aware of issues gripping society. It is expected that such awareness will
motivate you to be involved in critical discussions about and finding
solutions to problems besetting our country.

Activity 1-2
Take note of the course objectives and the rationale for a social
science subject. At the end of the course, you are going to write an
assessment of whether these objectives have been met by the course.

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 Unit I Module 1 11

References

Foundations of Behavioral Sciences: A Book of Readings. 1987. Social Science

I Committee, College of Social Sciences and Philosophy, University of
the Philippines, Diliman QC.
Encyclopedia Britannica. 2002.
Encyclopedia Encarta. Available at http://encarta.msn.com/
encyclopedia_761555505/Social_Sciences.html
Hunt, C L and Lewis Walker. 1974. Ethic Dynamics: Patterns of Intergroup
Relations in Various Societies. Homewood, Ill.: Dorsey Press.

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 Module 2
Analyzing Social Issues: The
“Sociological Imagination”
Ma. Glenda Lopez Wui

I n this module, we shall clarify the concepts

of social issue and sociological imagination.
The concept of social issue was already partly
Objectives
introduced in the earlier module, particularly in After working on this module,
the section on the rationale for a social science you should be able to:
course. You will recall that social science aims
to stimulate the students’ awareness of social 1. Explain what a
problems or issues and to prepare them to sociological imagination
critically participate in finding solutions to the is;
same. 2. Explain the difference
between personal troubles
and social issues; and
So what is a social issue? 3. Explain the practical uses
of a sociological
As mentioned in Module 1, human beings are imagination.
foremost social creatures. We spend our lifetimes
in association with others. Our everyday lives
are an interrelated web of social relationships with our families, neighbors,
community etc. We meet our needs through these various social
relationships and settings.

As we go on with our everyday lives, we may encounter problems. The

solutions to some of these problems may go beyond our personal capacities
and lie in the larger social context. When the problem is characterized as
such, then it is a social issue.
14 Social Science I

Underlying the idea of a social issue is the connection between the personal
and the social: our social milieu affects what is happening in our own
personal circumstances even as we in turn contribute to the shaping of
our external environment. And studying individuals in the context of their
external environment is what social science is all about.

In order for you to have a better appreciation of the connection between

the personal and the social, let us turn to the framework of sociological
imagination. Although the concept is from a sociologist, the framework is
useful in our study of social science for it will make you better appreciate
the importance of viewing the connection between the personal and the
social.

Read “The Promise”, the first chapter in Charles Wright Mills’ book
Sociological Imagination (attached to this module as Appendix A). After
reading the essay answer the following questions:

1. Why did Mills say that individuals nowadays feel that their lives are a
series of traps?

2. What is the sociological imagination? How can it help individuals to

overcome the feeling of being trapped and helpless?

3. What are the practical uses of the sociological imagination?

How was your reading? I hope you were able to answer the questions
above. Now let us discuss the answers.

According to Mills, the feeling that they cannot overcome their personal
troubles gives individuals the impression that their lives are a series of
traps. And in this feeling they are quite correct. However, although they
feel that solutions to their personal problems are beyond them, they are
not conscious that their personal lives are intertwined with the larger
external milieu. They are not aware of the connection between their
personal problems and their social environment, nor of the possibility that
solutions to their problems may lie in their external milieu.

The lack of appreciation of such a connection is brought about by the fact

that in their everyday lives, their interactions are often confined within
their limited personal milieus  that is, within their family, friends,
workplace etc. As a result, they do not situate their actions within the
larger social context; neither are they aware that the larger social
environment impinges on their personal lives. Their being unaware of the
intricate connection between the personal and the social compounds their
feeling of uneasiness and being trapped.

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 Unit I Module 2 15

As Mills wrote:

Neither the life of an individual nor the history of a society can be

understood without understanding both. Yet men do not usually
define the troubles they endure in terms of historical change and
institutional contradiction. Seldom aware of the intricate connection
between the patterns of their own lives and the course of world
history, ordinary men do not usually know what this connection
means for the kinds of men they are becoming and for the kinds of
history-making in which they might take part. They do not possess
the quality of mind essential to grasp the interplay of man and
society, of biography and history, of self and world, They cannot
cope with their personal troubles in such ways as to control the
structural transformations that usually lie behind them.

And what is this quality of mind that they need? Mills calls it the
sociological imagination.

The sociological imagination enables its possessor to understand

the larger historical scene in terms of its meaning for the inner life
and the external career of a variety of individuals. It enables him
to take into account how individuals, in the welter of their daily
experience, often become falsely conscious of their social positions.
Within that welter, the framework of modern society is sought,
and within that framework the psychologies of a variety of men
and women are formulated.

Even if there are problems that may not be within our means to solve, this
should not cause us to become passive victims of the events happening
around us. The transformative function of sociological imagination is
suggested by Mills in the following:

By such means (sociological imagination) the personal uneasiness

of individuals is focused upon explicit troubles and the indifference
of publics is transformed into involvement with public issues.

This involvement in public issues is borne out of the realization that man
“contributes, however minutely, to the shaping of this society and to the
course of its history, even as he is made by society and by its historical
push and shove.”

Indeed as Filipino sociologist Randy David puts it:

The sociological imagination permits a person to see the

commonality between her personal circumstances and those of
her fellow human beings, and encourages her to search for collective
solutions to shared problems.

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16 Social Science I

To better understand the distinction between personal troubles and public

issues and thereby appreciate the usefulness of a sociological imagination,
let us take the problem of unemployment as cited in the essay.

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 man, his skills his immediate opportunities. But 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 individual. The very structure of
opportunities has collapsed.

Finding a solution to the problem then may require one to look beyond
the person’s personal circumstances. As Mills wrote:

Both the correct statement of the problem and the range of possible
solutions require us to consider the economic and political
institutions of the society, and not merely the personal situation
and character of a scatter of individuals.

Mills added: “What we experience in various and specific milieux I have

noted is often caused by structural changes. Accordingly, to understand
the changes of many personal milieux we are required to look beyond them.”

The essay also discusses the crisis in contemporary social science. The
crisis is brought about by what the discipline has become, namely, a “set
of bureaucratic techniques which inhibit social inquiry by `methodological’
pretensions, which congest such work by obscurantist conceptions, or
which trivialize it by concern with minor problems unconnected with
publicly relevant issues.” If social science is to be relevant, it should concern
itself with problems that “are of direct relevance to urgent public issues
and insistent human troubles.”

The predicament cited by Mills also exists in the Philippine social science
scene; hence, this should also be the guiding principle of our discipline.

Activity 2-1
Think of problems that are bothering you at present. Classify which
of these you can solve within your capacities and which you cannot
solve within your own capacity.

The problems you classified as not being within your personal

capacity to solve are considered social issues. From the social issues
you identified, pick one and analyze it. What do you think causes
the problem? Can you think of ways to solve the problem.

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Comments on Activity 2-1

The activity is an exercise in the practical application of the
sociological imagination. The instruction to analyze one social issue
is meant for you to internalize one important lesson imparted by
the framework: although there are problems that you cannot solve
on your own, this should not make you become uninvolved and
passive.

Reference

Mills, C. Wright. 1959. The Sociological Imagination. New York: Oxford

University Press.

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Appendix A
The Sociological Imagination
Chapter One: The Promise1

Nowadays people often feel that their private lives are a series of traps. They
sense that within their everyday worlds, they cannot overcome their troubles,
and in this feeling, they are often quite correct. What ordinary people are
directly aware of and what they try to do are bounded by the private orbits in
which they live; their visions and their powers are limited to the close-up
scenes of job, family, neighborhood; in other milieux, they move vicariously
and remain spectators. And the more aware they become, however vaguely,
of ambitions and of threats which transcend their immediate locales, the
more trapped they seem to feel.

Underlying this sense of being trapped are seemingly impersonal changes

in the very structure of continent-wide societies. The facts of contemporary
history are also facts about the success and the failure of individual men
and women. When a society is industrialized, a peasant becomes a worker;
a feudal lord is liquidated or becomes a businessman. When classes rise or
fall, a person is employed or unemployed; when the rate of investment goes
up or down, a person takes new heart or goes broke. When wars happen,
an insurance salesperson becomes a rocket launcher; a store clerk, a radar
operator; a wife or husband lives alone; a child grows up without a parent.
Neither the life of an individual nor the history of a society can be understood
without understanding both.

Yet people do not usually define the troubles they endure in terms of histori-
cal change and institutional contradiction. The well-being they enjoy, they do
not usually impute to the big ups and downs of the societies in which they
live. Seldom aware of the intricate connection between the patterns of their
own lives and the course of world history, ordinary people do not usually
know what this connection means for the kinds of people they are becoming
and for the kinds of history-making in which they might take part. They do not
possess the quality of mind essential to grasp the interplay of individuals
and society, of biography and history, of self and world. They cannot cope
with their personal troubles in such ways as to control the structural trans-
formations that usually lie behind them.

1
Mills, CW. (1959). Chapter One: The Promise. The Sociological Imagination. Retrieved
15 October 2005 from http://www.lclark.edu/~goldman/socimagination.html.
22 Social Science I

Surely it is no wonder. In what period have so many people been so totally

exposed at so fast a pace to such earthquakes of change? That Americans
have not known such catastrophic changes as have the men and women of
other societies is due to historical facts that are now quickly becoming ‘merely
history.’ The history that now affects every individual is world history. Within
this scene and this period, in the course of a single generation, one sixth of
humankind is transformed from all that is feudal and backward into all that is
modern, advanced, and fearful. Political colonies are freed; new and less
visible forms of imperialism installed. Revolutions occur; people feel the in-
timate grip of new kinds of authority. Totalitarian societies rise, and are
smashed to bits - or succeed fabulously. After two centuries of ascendancy,
capitalism is shown up as only one way to make society into an industrial
apparatus. After two centuries of hope, even formal democracy is restricted
to a quite small portion of mankind. Everywhere in the underdeveloped world,
ancient ways of life are broken up and vague expectations become urgent
demands. Everywhere in the overdeveloped world, the means of authority
and of violence become total in scope and bureaucratic in form. Humanity
itself now lies before us, the super-nation at either pole concentrating its
most coordinated and massive efforts upon the preparation of World War
Three.

The very shaping of history now outpaces the ability of people to orient them-
selves in accordance with cherished values. And which values? Even when
they do not panic, people often sense that older ways of feeling and thinking
have collapsed and that newer beginnings are ambiguous to the point of
moral stasis. Is it any wonder that ordinary people feel they cannot cope with
the larger worlds with which they are so suddenly confronted? That they
cannot understand the meaning of their epoch for their own lives? That - in
defense of selfhood - they become morally insensible, trying to remain alto-
gether private individuals? Is it any wonder that they come to be possessed
by a sense of the trap?

It is not only information that they need - in this Age of Fact, information often
dominates their attention and overwhelms their capacities to assimilate it. It
is not only the skills of reason that they need - although their struggles to
acquire these often exhaust their limited moral energy.

What they need, and what they feel they need, is a quality of mind that will
help them to use information and to develop reason in order to achieve lucid
summations of what is going on in the world and of what may be happening
within themselves. It is this quality, I am going to contend, that journalists
and scholars, artists and publics, scientists and editors are coming to ex-
pect of what may be called the sociological imagination.

UP Open University
 Appendix A 23

The sociological imagination enables its possessor to understand the larger

historical scene in terms of its meaning for the inner life and the external
career of a variety of individuals. It enables him to take into account how
individuals, in the welter of their daily experience, often become falsely con-
scious of their social positions. Within that welter, the framework of modern
society is sought, and within that framework the psychologies of a variety of
men and women are formulated. By such means the personal uneasiness
of individuals is focused upon explicit troubles and the indifference of publics
is transformed into involvement with public issues.

The first fruit of this imagination - and the first lesson of the social science
that embodies it - is the idea that the individual can understand her own
experience and gauge her own fate only by locating herself within her period,
that she can know her own chances in life only by becoming aware of those
of all individuals in her circumstances. In many ways it is a terrible lesson; in
many ways a magnificent one. We do not know the limits of humans capaci-
ties for supreme effort or willing degradation, for agony or glee, for pleasur-
able brutality or the sweetness of reason. But in our time we have come to
know that the limits of ‘human nature’ are frighteningly broad. We have come
to know that every individual lives, from one generation to the next, in some
society; that he lives out a biography, and lives it out within some historical
sequence. By the fact of this living, he contributes, however minutely, to the
shaping of this society and to the course of its history, even as he is made by
society and by its historical push and shove.

The sociological imagination enables us to grasp history and biography and

the relations between the two within society. That is its task and its promise.
To recognize this task and this promise is the mark of the classic social
analyst. It is characteristic of Herbert Spencer - turgid, polysyllabic, compre-
hensive; of E. A. Ross - graceful, muckraking, upright; of Auguste Comte
and Emile Durkheim; of the intricate and subtle Karl Mannheim. It is the
quality of all that is intellectually excellent in Karl Marx; it is the clue to Thorstein
Veblen’s brilliant and ironic insight, to Joseph Schumpeter’s many-sided con-
structions of reality; it is the basis of the psychological sweep of W. E. H.
Lecky no less than of the profundity and clarity of Max Weber. And it is the
signal of what is best in contemporary studies of people and society.

No social study that does not come back to the problems of biography, of
history and of their intersections within a society has completed its intellec-
tual journey. Whatever the specific problems of the classic social analysts,
however limited or however broad the features of social reality they have
examined, those who have been imaginatively aware of the promise of their
work have consistently asked three sorts of questions:

UP Open University
24 Social Science I

(1) What is the structure of this particular society as a whole? What are its
essential components, and how are they related to one another? How
does it differ from other varieties of social order? Within it, what is the
meaning of any particular feature for its continuance and for its change?

(2) Where does this society stand in human history? What are the mechan-
ics by which it is changing? What is its place within and its meaning for
the development of humanity as a whole? How does any particular fea-
ture we are examining affect, and how is it affected by, the historical
period in which it moves? And this period - what are its essential fea-
tures? How does it differ from other periods? What are its characteristic
ways of history-making?

(3) What varieties of men and women now prevail in this society and in this
period? And what varieties are coming to prevail? In what ways are they
selected and formed, liberated and repressed, made sensitive and
blunted? What kinds of ‘human nature’ are revealed in the conduct and
character we observe in this society in this period? And what is the mean-
ing for ‘human nature’ of each and every feature of the society we are
examining?

Whether the point of interest is a great power state or a minor literary mood,
a family, a prison, a creed - these are the kinds of questions the best social
analysts have asked. They are the intellectual pivots of classic studies of
individuals in society - and they are the questions inevitably raised by any
mind possessing the sociological imagination. For that imagination is the
capacity to shift from one perspective to another - from the political to the
psychological; from examination of a single family to comparative assess-
ment of the national budgets of the world; from the theological school to the
military establishment; from considerations of an oil industry to studies of
contemporary poetry. It is the capacity to range from the most impersonal
and remote transformations to the most intimate features of the human self
- and to see the relations between the two. Back of its use there is always
the urge to know the social and historical meaning of the individual in the
society and in the period in which she has her quality and her being.

That, in brief, is why it is by means of the sociological imagination that men

and women now hope to grasp what is going on in the world, and to under-
stand what is happening in themselves as minute points of the intersections
of biography and history within society. In large part, contemporary humanity’s
self-conscious view of itself as at least an outsider, if not a permanent
stranger, rests upon an absorbed realization of social relativity and of the
transformative power of history. The sociological imagination is the most
fruitful form of this self-consciousness. By its use people whose mentalities
have swept only a series of limited orbits often come to feel as if suddenly
awakened in a house with which they had only supposed themselves to be

UP Open University
 Appendix A 25

familiar. Correctly or incorrectly, they often come to feel that they can now
provide themselves with adequate summations, cohesive assessments,
comprehensive orientations. Older decisions that once appeared sound now
seem to them products of a mind unaccountably dense. Their capacity for
astonishment is made lively again. They acquire a new way of thinking, they
experience a transvaluation of values: in a word, by their reflection and by
their sensibility, they realize the cultural meaning of the social sciences.

Perhaps the most fruitful distinction with which the sociological imagination
works is between ‘the personal troubles of milieu’ and ‘the public issues of
social structure.’ This distinction is an essential tool of the sociological imagi-
nation and a feature of all classic work in social science.

Troubles occur within the character of the individual and within the range of
his or her immediate relations with others; they have to do with one’s self
and with those limited areas of social life of which one is directly and person-
ally aware. Accordingly, the statement and the resolution of troubles properly
lie within the individual as a biographical entity and within the scope of one’s
immediate milieu - the social setting that is directly open to her personal
experience and to some extent her willful activity. A trouble is a private mat-
ter: values cherished by an individual are felt by her to be threatened.

Issues have to do with matters that transcend these local environments of

the individual and the range of her inner life. They have to do with the organi-
zation of many such milieu into the institutions of an historical society as a
whole, with the ways in which various milieux overlap and interpenetrate to
form the larger structure of social and historical life. An issue is a public
matter: some value cherished by publics is felt to be threatened. Often there
is a debate about what that value really is and about what it is that really
threatens it. This debate is often without focus if only because it is the very
nature of an issue, unlike even widespread trouble, that it cannot very well
be defined in terms of the immediate and everyday environments of ordinary
people. An issue, in fact, often involves a crisis in institutional arrangements,
and often too it involves what Marxists call ‘contradictions’ or ‘antagonisms.’

In these terms, consider unemployment. When, in a city of 100,000, only

one is unemployed, that is his personal trouble, and for its relief we properly
look to the character of the individual, his skills and his immediate opportuni-
ties. But when in a nation of 50 million employees, 15 million people 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. The very structure of
opportunities has collapsed. Both the correct statement of the problem and
the range of possible solutions require us to consider the economic and
political institutions of the society, and not merely the personal situation and
character of a scatter of individuals.
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26 Social Science I

Consider war. The personal problem of war, when it occurs, may be how to
survive it or how to die in it with honor; how to make money out of it; how to
climb into the higher safety of the military apparatus; or how to contribute to
the war’s termination. In short, according to one’s values, to find a set of
milieux and within it to survive the war or make one’s death in it meaningful.
But the structural issues of war have to do with its causes; with what types
of people it throws up into command; with its effects upon economic and
political, family and religious institutions, with the unorganized irresponsibil-
ity of a world of nation-states.

Consider marriage. Inside a marriage a man and a woman may experience

personal troubles, but when the divorce rate during the first four years of
marriage is 250 out of every 1,000 attempts, this is an indication of a struc-
tural issue having to do with the institutions of marriage and the family and
other institutions that bear upon them.

Or consider the metropolis - the horrible, beautiful, ugly, magnificent sprawl

of the great city. For many members of the upperclass the personal solution
to ‘the problem of the city’ is to have an apartment with private garage under
it in the heart of the city and forty miles out, a house by Henry Hill, garden by
Garrett Eckbo, on a hundred acres of private land. In these two controlled
environments - with a small staff at each end and a private helicopter con-
nection - most people could solve many of the problems of personal milieux
caused by the facts of the city. But all this, however splendid, does not solve
the public issues that the structural fact of the city poses. What should be
done with this wonderful monstrosity? Break it all up into scattered units,
combining residence and work? Refurbish it as it stands? Or, after evacua-
tion, dynamite it and build new cities according to new plans in new places?
What should those plans be? And who is to decide and to accomplish what-
ever choice is made? These are structural issues; to confront them and to
solve them requires us to consider political and economic issues that affect
innumerable milieux.

In so far as an economy is so arranged that slumps occur, the problem of

unemployment becomes incapable of personal solution. In so far as war is
inherent in the nation-state system and in the uneven industrialization of the
world, the ordinary individual in her restricted milieu will be powerless - with
or without psychiatric aid - to solve the troubles this system or lack of sys-
tem imposes upon him. In so far as the family as an institution turns women
into darling little slaves and men into their chief providers and unweaned
dependents, the problem of a satisfactory marriage remains incapable of
purely private solution. In so far as the overdeveloped megalopolis and the
overdeveloped automobile are built-in features of the overdeveloped society,
the issues of urban living will not be solved by personal ingenuity and private
wealth.

UP Open University
 Appendix A 27

What we experience in various and specific milieux, I have noted, is often

caused by structural changes. Accordingly, to understand the changes of
many personal milieux we are required to look beyond them. And the num-
ber and variety of such structural changes increase as the institutions within
which we live become more embracing and more intricately connected with
one another. To be aware of the idea of social structure and to use it with
sensibility is to be capable of tracing such linkages among a great variety of
milieux. To be able to do that is to possess the sociological imagination.

What are the major issues for publics and the key troubles of private indi-
viduals in our time? To formulate issues and troubles, we must ask what
values are cherished yet threatened, and what values are cherished and
supported, by the characterizing trends of our period. In the case both of
threat and of support we must ask what salient contradictions of structure
may be involved.

When people cherish some set of values and do not feel any threat to them,
they experience well-being. When they cherish values but do feel them to be
threatened, they experience a crisis - either as a personal trouble or as a
public issue. And if all their values seem involved, they feel the total threat of
panic.

But suppose people are neither aware of any cherished values nor experi-
ence any threat? That is the experience of indifference, which, if it seems to
involve all their values, becomes apathy. Suppose, finally, they are unaware
of any cherished values, but still are very much aware of a threat? That is
the experience of uneasiness, of anxiety, which, if it is total enough, be-
comes a deadly unspecified malaise.

Ours is a time of uneasiness and indifference - not yet formulated in such

ways as to permit the work of reason and the play of sensibility. Instead of
troubles - defined in terms of values and threats - there is often the misery of
vague uneasiness; instead of explicit issues there is often merely the beat
feeling that all is somehow not right. Neither the values threatened nor what-
ever threatens them has been stated; in short, they have not been carried to
the point of decision. Much less have they been formulated as problems of
social science.

In the thirties there was little doubt - except among certain deluded business
circles that there was an economic issue which was also a pack of personal
troubles. In these arguments about ‘the crisis of capitalism,’ the formula-
tions of Marx and the many unacknowledged reformulations of his work prob-
ably set the leading terms of the issue, and some people came to under-

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28 Social Science I

stand their personal troubles in these terms. The values threatened were
plain to see and cherished by all, the structural contradictions that threat-
ened them also seemed plain. Both were widely and deeply experienced. It
was a political age.

But the values threatened in the era after World War Two are often neither
widely acknowledged as values nor widely felt to be threatened. Much pri-
vate uneasiness goes unformulated; much public malaise and many deci-
sions of enormous structural relevance never become public issues. For
those who accept such inherited values as reason and freedom, it is the
uneasiness itself that is the trouble; it is the indifference itself that is the
issue. And it is this condition, of uneasiness and indifference, that is the
signal feature of our period.

All this is so striking that it is often interpreted by observers as a shift in the

very kinds of problems that need now to be formulated. We are frequently
told that the problems of our decade, or even the crises of our period, have
shifted from the external realm of economics and now have to do with the
quality of individual life - in fact with the question of whether there is soon
going to be anything that can properly be called individual life. Not child labor
but comic books, not poverty but mass leisure, are at the center of concern.
Many great public issues as well as many private troubles are described in
terms of ‘the psychiatric’ - often, it seems, in a pathetic attempt to avoid the
large issues and problems of modern society. Often this statement seems
to rest upon a provincial narrowing of interest to the Western societies, or
even to the United States - thus ignoring two-thirds of mankind; often, too, it
arbitrarily divorces the individual life from the larger institutions within which
that life is enacted, and which on occasion bear upon it more grievously than
do the intimate environments of childhood.

Problems of leisure, for example, cannot even be stated without considering

problems of work. Family troubles over comic books cannot be formulated
as problems without considering the plight of the contemporary family in its
new relations with the newer institutions of the social structure. Neither lei-
sure nor its debilitating uses can be understood as problems without recog-
nition of the extent to which malaise and indifference now form the social
and personal climate of contemporary American society. In this climate, no
problems of ‘the private life’ can be stated and solved without recognition of
the crisis of ambition that is part of the very career of people at work in the
incorporated economy.

It is true, as psychoanalysts continually point out, that people do often have

‘the increasing sense of being moved by obscure forces within themselves
which they are unable to define.’ But it is not true, as Ernest Jones asserted,
that ‘man’s [SIC] chief enemy and danger is his [SIC] own unruly nature and
the dark forces pent up within him [SIC].’ On the contrary: ‘man’s chief dan-

UP Open University
 Appendix A 29

ger’ today lies in the unruly forces of contemporary society itself, with its
alienating methods of production, its enveloping techniques of political domi-
nation, its international anarchy - in a word, its pervasive transformations of
the very ‘nature’ of human beings and the conditions and aims of their life.

It is now the social scientist’s foremost political and intellectual task - for
here the two coincide - to make clear the elements of contemporary uneasi-
ness and indifference. It is the central demand made upon her by other
cultural workers - by physical scientists and artists, by the intellectual com-
munity in general. It is because of this task and these demands, I believe,
that the social sciences are becoming the common denominator of our cul-
tural period, and the sociological imagination our most needed quality of
mind.

UP Open University
 Unit II
The Individual and the
Physical Environment
 Module 3
Human Activities and the
Physical Environment
Ma. Glenda Lopez Wui

I n Module 2 you learned about the socio

logical imagination and the significance of
looking at the connection between the
Objectives
personal and the external environment. In After working on this
addition, the framework imparted the lesson module, you should be able
that your external environment affects you to:
while you in turn could also affect the larger
social milieu. 1. Explain how the physical
environment affects
Now we will examine the relationship of human activities; and
individuals with their physical environment. 2. Explain the effects of
The framework you have learned earlier will human activities on the
be applied here as you analyze the affects of physical environment.
the physical environment on human activities
and how such activities in turn affect the
external environment. You will be required to watch a video presentation
and read two reading materials in this module.

Entitled The Individual and the Physical Environment, the video offers an
interesting discussion of the different elements of the physical environment
and how these affect the way people live (their food, clothing, shelter and
economic activities). The different elements discussed are: the weather
and climate, landforms, water forms, vegetation or plant cover, animal
life and soils.
34 Social Science I

Now I want you to watch the video. Take down notes while watching.

As a supplement to what is to be shown in the video presentation, let me

explain to you briefly how the elements in the physical environment such
as climate and weather, landforms, and water forms affect human
economic activities as discussed in the article “Elements of the Physical
Environment” (1987).

Climate and weather are vitally related to the economic and physical
conditions of human life. These elements can dictate the living conditions
of human beings and affect their main sources of food supply (plants,
animals and soil), including their economic activities. So closely intertwined
are climate and weather to human living conditions that they can be
defined “from an economic geographic viewpoint as the average and
temporary atmospheric conditions which help to decide the degree of
livability and usefulness of an area for man.” For example with regard to
economic activities, in a tropical country like the Philippines a bigger
proportion of the population is engaged in agriculture than in countries
with cold weather.

Examples of landforms are mountains, volcanoes, river valleys and deltas.

Like weather and climate, landforms are major features in the physical
environment that determine human living conditions. Economic activities
such as agriculture, trade and transportation very much depend on the
type of landform in an area. For example, the presence of a volcano and
its subsequent eruption could very much affect the living conditions in an
area. The eruption of Mt. Pinatubo in 1991 drastically changed the lives
of thousand of families in Central Luzon. The Aeta community living at
the foot of the volcano now have to look for other sources of living because
the changed landscape resulting from the eruption makes subsistence
farming no longer feasible. The ashes spewed by the volcano have covered
the fertile lands previously tilled by the Aetas.

Water forms affect economic activities in the following manner: “The sea
makes possible economic transportation and thereby helps make it possible
for the world to produce the amount of goods that it does. Were not the
ocean waterways available for transportation of goods, world commerce
could hardly exist as it is at present. International shipping accounts for
more than three fourths of the total tonnage exchanged among the
continents and nations. Waterways have always been the cheapest means
of transportation of bulky commodities. Transportation by water is
generally more direct than on land, where terrain irregularities and political
boundaries exist. In many ways the large expanse of water becomes an
advantage.”

UP Open University
 Unit II Module 3 35

After this lesson, you will realize how the elements in the physical
environment that we take for granted can have such an impact on the
way we live. To further internalize our lesson, I want you to do the
following activity.

Activity 3-1
Go out of your house and look around your physical environment.
Can you enumerate how the elements in your physical
environment affect the way you live (your food, clothing, shelter)
and the economic activities in your community?

After discussing how the physical environment affects human activities,

we will now tackle the lesson on how human activities affect the physical
environment. Let me offer the following framework on how to view the
impact of human activities on the natural world as outlined by Laporte
(1972).

First, although the effect of one act on the environment may be small in
itself, the global impact of human activities by thousands or millions of
people can be huge.

Second, the effects of human activities should be evaluated over a period

of years. For example the cumulative effect of burning fuels on the
atmosphere can only be felt after so many years.

Third, technological advances enabled humans to make enormous and

instantaneous changes on the environment. This is seen in the case of the
production of nuclear energy, where the release of tremendous amount
of energy created such an impact on the natural world unforseen just a
few decades ago.

Finally, human power to alter the environment is not necessarily bad.

What is crucial is how, when and where this power is used.

To further understand the impact of human activities on the physical

environment, I want you to read excerpts from the book Global
Environmental Change: Understanding the Human Dimensions (attached to
this module as Appendix B). Read the material now.

How was your reading? I hope you conscientiously read the material and
are now ready to do the following Activity.

UP Open University
36 Social Science I

Activity 3-2
For this Activity, I want you to answer the following questions:

1. What are the five social variables that cause environmental

change?

2. How do these variables affect the environment?

3. What are the positive and negative effects of these variables on

the environment?

After learning of the impact of human actions on the environment, you

will now read an article discussing the negative effects of human activities
on the ecosystem. The article entitled Living Sustainably discusses the
concept of sustainability and how we can live sustainably. This is also
attached to your module as Appendix C. Read the article now.

I hope the paper made you reflect on the deteriorating state of our
environment and how you can live sustainably to arrest its further
deterioration. The following activity will test your comprehension about
the concepts discussed in the article.

Activity 3-3
1. How did the article characterize a sustainable society?

2. What are the contrasting characteristics between sustainable

society and modern industrial society?

3. What should we do to cultivate a sustainable society?

UP Open University
 Unit II Module 3 37

References

“Elements of the Physical Environment”. 1987. Foundations of Behavioral

Sciences: A Book of Readings. Social Science I Committee, College of
Social Sciences and Philosophy, University of the Philippines, Diliman
QC.
Laporte, Leo F. 1972. “Man’s Role in Changing the Land” in The Earth
and Human Affairs. San Francisco: Canfield Press for the National
Academy of Sciences.
Milbrath, Lester W. 1998. “Living Sustainably” in Electronic Green Journal.
December 1998 Special Issue 9. Available at http://egj.lib.uidaho. edu/
egj09/milbrat1.html.
Stern, Paul C., Oran R. Young, and Daniel Druckman, Editors. 1992. Global
Environmental Change: Understanding the Human Dimensions.
Committee on the Human Dimensions of Global Change, National
Research Council. Available at http://www.nap.edu/books/
0309044944/html/45.html.

UP Open University
Appendix B
Human Causes
of Global Change1
All the human causes of global environmental change happen through a
subset of proximate causes, which directly alter aspects of the environment
in ways that have global effects. We begin this chapter by outlining and
illustrating an approach to accounting for the major proximate causes of
global change, and then proceed to the more difficult issue of explaining
them. Three case studies illustrate the various ways human actions can
contribute to global change and provide concrete background for the more
theoretical discussion that follows. We have identified specific research
needs throughout that discussion. We conclude by stating some principles
that follow from current knowledge and some implications for research.

Identifying The Major Proximate Causes

The important proximate human causes of global change are those with
enough impact to significantly alter properties of the global environment of
potential concern to humanity. The global environmental properties now of
greatest concern include the radiative balance of the earth, the number of
living species, and the influx of ultraviolet (UV-B) radiation to the earth’s sur-
face (see also National Research Council, 1990b). In the future, however,
the properties of concern to humanity are likely to change—ultra-violet ra-
diation, after all, has been of global concern only since the 1960s. Conse-
quently, researchers need a general system for moving from a concern with
important changes in the environment to the identification of the human ac-
tivities that most seriously affect those changes. This section describes an
accounting system that can help to perform the task and illustrates it with a
rough and partial accounting of the human causes of global climate change.

A Tree-Structured Accounting System

A useful accounting system for the human causes of global change has a
tree structure in which properties of the global environment are linked to the
major human activities that alter them, and in which the activities are divided

1
Stern, Paul C., Oran R. Young, and Daniel Druckman, Editors. (1992). Global Environ-
mental Change: Understanding the Human Dimensions. Committee on the Human Di-
mensions of Global Change, National Research Council. Retrieved 15 October 2005 from
http://www.nap.edu/books/0309044944/html/45.html
42 Social Science I

in turn into their constituent parts or influences. Such an accounting system

is helpful for social science because, by beginning with variables known to
be important to global environmental change, it anchors the study of human
activities to the natural environment and imposes a criterion of impact on the
consideration of research directions (see also Clark, 1988). This is impor-
tant because it can direct the attention of social scientists to the study of the
activities with strong impacts on global change.

Because the connections between global environmental change and the

concepts of social science are rarely obvious, social scientists who begin
with important concepts in their fields have often directed their attention to
low-impact human activities (see Stern and Oskamp, 1987, for elaboration).
An analysis anchored in the critical physical or biological phenomena can
identify research traditions whose relevance to the study of environmental
change might otherwise be overlooked. For example, an examination of the
actors and decisions with the greatest impact on energy use, air pollution,
and solid waste generation showed that, by an impact criterion, studies of
the determinants of daily behavior had much less potential to yield useful
knowledge than studies of household and corporate investment decisions
or of organizational routines in the context of energy use and waste man-
agement (Stem and Gardner, 1981a,b). Theories and methods existed for
each subject matter in relevant disciplines such as psychology and sociol-
ogy, but much of the research attention had been misdirected.

The idea of tree-structured accounting can be illustrated by the following

sketch of a tree describing the causes of global climate change.

1. The chief environmental property of concern is the level of greenhouse

gases in the atmosphere. The major anthropogenic greenhouse gases,
defined in terms of overall impact (amount in the atmosphere times im-
pact per molecule integrated over time), are carbon dioxide (CO2), chlo-
rofluorocarbons (CFCs), methane (CH4), and nitrous oxide (N2O). If the
trunk of the tree represents the greenhouse gas-producing effect of all
human activities, the limbs can represent the contributing greenhouse
gases. Table 3-1 presents the limbs during two different time periods
and a projection for a future period.

2. Both natural processes and human activities result in emissions of green-

house gases. For instance, carbon dioxide is emitted by respiration of
animals and plants, burning of biomass, burning of fossil fuels, and so
forth. If each limb of the tree represents human contributions to global
emissions of a greenhouse gas, the branches off the limbs can repre-
sent the major anthropogenic sources of a gas, that is, the major cat-
egories of human activity that release it. These are proximate human
causes of climate change, and their impact is equal to their contribution

UP Open University
 Appendix B 43

of each greenhouse gas times the gas’s radiative effect, integrated over
time. For the same emissions, the representation of impact will vary
with the date to which the impact is projected. Tables 3-2 and 3-3 allo-
cate emissions of the most important greenhouse gases during the late
1980s to human activities.

3. Major human proximate causes, such as fossil fuel burning, are con-
ducted by many actors and for many purposes: electricity generation,
motorized transport, space conditioning, industrial process heat, and so
forth. A tree branch, such as one representing fossil fuel burning, can be
divided into twigs that represent these different actors or purposes, each
of which acts as a subsidiary proximate cause, producing a proportion
of the total emissions. It is possible to make such a division in numerous
ways. Fossil fuel burning can be subdivided according to parts of the
world (countries, developed and less-developed world regions, etc.),
sectors of an economy (transportation, industrial, etc.), purposes (loco-
motion, space heating, etc.), types of actor (households, firms, govern-
ments), types of decisions determining the activity (design, purchase,
utilization of equipment), or in other ways. Different methods may prove
useful for different purposes. Table 3-4 illustrates one way to allocate the
carbon dioxide emitted from fossil fuel consumption to the major pur-
poses (end uses) of those fuels.

4. The tree structure can be elaborated further by dividing the subsidiary

proximate causes defined at the previous level into their components.
Such analysis is important for high-impact activities.

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Figure 3-1. A tree-structured representation of relative contributions of

human activities in the late 1980s to greenhouse warming. Note:
Thicknesses of limbs and branches are proportional, where numbers are
provided, to the contribution of the activity named. Where numbers are
not provided, worldwide data were not available for further disaggregation.
Even where numbers are provided, they are subject to varying degrees of
uncertainty, as noted in the text. Sources: Table 3-5, except for the
disaggregation of fossil fuel use into economic sectors, which was
calculated from U.S. Office of Technology Assessment, 1991, Table 9-1
and Figure 9-2.

Accountings such as the one represented in Figure 3-1 can help guide the
research agenda for the human causes of global change. They are critically
dependent, however, on analyses from the natural sciences to sketch the
trunk and major limbs, that is, to identify the most important environmental
effects of human action and the technologies that produce those effects.
Natural science can help social science by providing an improved picture of
the trunk and limbs, and particularly by improving estimates of the uncer-
tainties of their sizes. The uncertainties of some components are quite large

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 Appendix B 45

(see, for instance, Table 3-2. estimating the relative contributions of different
human activities to methane releases), and attention should be paid to
whether, in the full account, these uncertainties compound or cancel each
other. Research that estimates the relative impacts of proximate human
causes of global change on particular environmental changes of concern,
specifying the uncertainty of the estimates, is essential for understanding
the human dimensions of global change.

As tree diagrams move from the trunk out toward the branches and twigs,
analysis depends more on social science. For each important environmen-
tal change, there are several possible accounting trees, each consistent
with the data but highlighting different aspects of the human contribution.
Social science knowledge is needed to choose accounting procedures to
suit specific analytic purposes. Whatever accounting system is used, so-
cial scientists conducting research on the human causes of global change
should focus their attention on factors that are significant contributors to an
important global environmental change.

Limitations of Tree-Structured Accounting

Because many different tree diagrams may be consistent with the same
data, tree diagrams must be treated as having only heuristic, not explana-
tory, value. They are useful but not definitive accounts. A more serious limi-
tation of tree-structured accounts is that they do not by themselves illumi-
nate the driving forces behind the proximal causes of global change. Social
forces that have only indirect effects on the global environment, and that
may therefore be omitted from tree accounts, can have at least as much
impact as the direct effects. Consider, for instance, the rate of female labor
force participation, which affects energy use in many different ways. With
an increase in the proportion of women in the labor force, there tend to be
more automobiles and miles driven per household, increased travel by plane,
and, because of the associated decrease in household size, increased per
capita demand for residential space conditioning and household appliances
(see Schipper et al., 1989). Because these factors appear in different
branches of Figure 3-1, the figure is not useful for representing the effect of
female labor force participation on energy demand. The broader social pro-
cess—the changing role of women in many societies—has even wider ef-
fects on energy use, but is still harder to capture in the figure. Despite these
limitations, the accounting tree is useful as a preliminary check on the likely
impact of a major social variable. When such a variable has a high impact,
it is worth considering for inclusion in models of the relevant proximal causes
of global change.

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Tree-structured accounting is also limited in that it can evaluate human ac-

tivities against only some criteria of importance (such as high and wide-
spread impact), but not others (such as irreversibility). Consideration of cri-
teria of importance other than current impact may require detailed empirical
analyses of factors that look small in an accounting of current human causes
of environmental change. An example, elaborated in the next section, con-
cerns future CO2 emissions from China. If per capita income grows rapidly
there, Chinese emissions may increase enough to become tremendously
important on a world scale. To make projections, it would be very useful to
have detailed studies of the effects on emissions of increased income in
other countries that have undergone recent spurts of economic growth, such
as Taiwan and South Korea, even though these countries have no major
impact on the global carbon dioxide balance.

Explaining The Proximate Causes:

Social Driving Forces
The examples above illustrate how the proximate causes of global environ-
mental change result from a complex of social, political, economic, techno-
logical, and cultural variables, sometimes referred to as driving forces. They
also show that studies of driving forces and their relationships have been
and can be done (National Research Council, 1990b; Turner, 1989). How-
ever, little of this research has been conducted on a global scale, for at least
three important reasons: demand for such studies is a very recent phenom-
enon; relevant data at the global level are scarce; and social driving forces
may vary greatly with time and place. Consequently, much additional work is
needed to support valid global generalizations.

We distinguish five types of social variables known to affect the environ-

mental systems implicated in global change: (1) population change, (2) eco-
nomic growth, (3) technological change, (4) political-economic institutions,
and (5) attitudes and beliefs.

Vocal arguments have been made for each of these as the exclusive, or the
primary, human influence on global environmental change. In each instance,
supportive evidence exists below the global level. Evidence at the global
level, however, is generally insufficient either to demonstrate or dismiss claims
that a particular variable causes global environmental change or is more
important than some other variable.

We briefly outline the evidence supporting and qualifying claims that each
class of variable is an independent influence on global environmental change.
Our citations are not meant to be exhaustive, but rather to refer the reader to
typical sources and critiques of claims about the importance of particular

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variables. For many of the authors cited, links between key explanatory vari-
ables and global environmental change are only implicit; in such instances,
we draw out the implications for global environmental change. We also out-
line some of the key unanswered but researchable questions regarding these
driving forces.

Population Growth
Of all the possible driving forces of environmental change, none has such a
rich history in Western thinking as population growth. Starting with Malthus,
scholars have attempted to understand the effects of population growth on
resource use, social and economic welfare, and most recently the environ-
ment. Few debates in the social sciences have been so heated or protracted
as that around the impacts of population growth. Clearly, each person in a
population makes some demand on the environment and the social system
for the essentials of life—food, water, clothing, shelter, and so on. If all else
is equal, the greater the number of people, the greater the demands placed
on the environment for the provision of resources and the absorption of waste
and pollutants. Stated thus, the matter is a truism. The source of contro-
versy centers around more complex questions. Does all else remain equal
in the face of population growth? Do simple increases in numbers account
for most of the increase in environmental degradation in the modern world?
Can population growth occur without major environmental damage? If not,
is population growth a root cause of the degradation that follows, or merely
an effect of more deeply underlying causes, such as changes in technology
and social organization?

Ehrlich and others (Ehrlich, 1968; Ehrlich and Holdren, 1971, 1988; Ehrlich
et al., 1977; Ehrlich and Ehrlich, 1990) hold that population growth is the
primary force precipitating environmental degradation. They argue that the
doubling of the world’s population in about one generation accounts for a
greater proportion of the stress placed on the global environment than has
increased per capita consumption or inefficiencies in the production-con-
sumption process. They do not hold that other factors are unimportant in
placing stress on the earth’s resources and on the biosphere, only that popu-
lation growth must be considered primary, because if all other factors could
be made environmentally neutral, population growth of this magnitude would
still spur resource stress and environmental degradation. Indeed, it is ar-
gued that once population has reached a level in excess of the earth’s long-
term capacity to sustain it, even stability and zero growth at that level will
lead to future environmental degradation (Ehrlich and Ehrlich, 1990).

The critiques of this position are many. One strand of criticism argues that
technological and socioeconomic factors are primary (e.g., Coale, 1970;
Commoner, 1972; Harvey, 1974; Ridker, 1972a; Schnaiberg, 1980). Another

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criticism comes from those who argue that population, though it may be a
driving force of change, is not necessarily a driving force of degradation
(Boserup, 1981; Simon, 1981; Simon and Kahn, 1984). Rather, they view
population growth as a driving force of improvement, which increases the
capacity of society to transform the environment for the better, or as a re-
flection of society’s success in improving the environment so as to support
greater numbers. These critics offer evidence from long sweeps of history,
such as the relationships between major sociotechnical changes in society
and global increases in population (Deevey, 1960; Boserup, 1965). Others
have suggested that these population increases are also associated with
increasing global environmental change (Whitmore et al., 1991).

Since World War II, concern with rapid population growth has motivated the
U.S. government, private foundations, and multilateral aid agencies to fund
a substantial body of research on the causes of population growth. In addi-
tion to supporting individual studies, these bodies have devoted substantial
resources to institutional development by subsidizing education, professional
journals, and centers of excellence. The result has been impressive in build-
ing demography as a respected, interdisciplinary field within the social sci-
ences, and in gaining knowledge of the causes of population growth. As we
note in Chapter 7, this experience provides a useful model for advancing
interdisciplinary social science research on global change.

Research on the causes of population growth provides some useful insight

into the causes of global change and strategies to deal with them. For ex-
ample, current fertility and mortality patterns suggest that world population
will continue to increase well into the next century. But if fertility declines as
fast throughout the developing world as it has in a few developing countries,
this growth might be reduced by almost 2 billion people by the time that the
population of the developing world would otherwise have reached 8 billion
(World Bank, 1984). This research helps clarify how much growth is more
or less inevitable because of the momentum built into the age structure of
the world population.

Compared with research on the causes of population growth, very little re-
search has been devoted to understanding its consequences for environ-
mental quality. This is ironic, because it is concern with the consequences
that motivates much support for research on the causes of growth. There is
some research on the effects of population growth on economic growth and
social welfare, though the topic is still subject to some controversy (much of
this literature is summarized in National Research Council, 1986). Only a
handful of empirical studies have examined the effects of population growth
on the environment, and many of these are quite dated [e.g., Ridker, 1972b;
Fisher and Potter, 1971). As a result, it is difficult to assess just how impor-
tant population may be as a driving force. For example, in 1986 a National
Research Council study committee composed of economists and demog-

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raphers concluded that slower population growth might assist less-devel-

oped countries in developing policies and institutions to protect the environ-
ment, but could find little empirical work on the link between population growth
and environmental degradation (National Research Council, 1986).

Economic Growth
Global economic growth, defined as increases in the measured production
of the world’s goods and services, is likely to continue at a rapid rate well into
the future. The human impulse to want more of the material things of life
appears to be deep-seated, and the areas of the world in which people are
most lacking in material goods are those with the greatest—and most rap-
idly increasing—population. Assuming United Nations and World Bank pro-
jections for world population to double to about 10 billion in about 50 years,
with 90 percent or more of that growth occurring in the developing countries
of Africa, Asia, and Latin America, and assuming that per capita income
grows 2.5 percent and 1.5 percent annually in the developing and developed
countries, respectively (a low projection, in both cases, by standards of the
last several decades), global economic output would quadruple between
1990 and 2040.

Under these conditions the relative gap between per capita income in devel-
oping and developed countries would narrow, but the absolute gap would
increase substantially. To the extent that per capita income aspirations in the
developing countries are driven by comparison of their incomes with those
in developed countries, aspirations for additional income growth in the de-
veloping countries may be even stronger in 50 years than they are now.

Increased income or economic activity as measured by such indicators as

gross national product is not, of course, equivalent to increased well-being.
There is considerable debate in the economic literature on how to measure
welfare, focused on such questions as how to count things people value
that are not traded in markets and whether expenditures for pollution control
should be considered an addition or a subtraction from net welfare (e.g.,
Daly, 1986; Repetto et al., 1989). Although these questions are very impor-
tant for analyzing human-environment interactions, most current analyses
of the effects of economic growth and environmental quality are based on
conventional definitions of economic activity.

Economic activity has long been a major source of environmental change

and, for the first time in human history, economic activity is so extensive that
it produces environmental change at the global level. The key issues con-
cern the extent to which current and future economic activity will shape the
proximate causes of global change.

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The production and consumption of goods and services is bound by a fun-

damental natural law—the conservation of matter. Whatever goes into pro-
duction and consumption must come out, either as useful goods and ser-
vices or as residual waste materials. Since the conversion of inputs to use-
ful outputs is never entire, it is fair to say economic activity inevitably stresses
the environment by generating residual wastes.

Wastes must be disposed of somewhere in the environment. Economists

note that disposal presents no important social problem if it is managed to
reflect its true social costs and to be equitable in the sense that the costs
are borne by those who generate the residuals. However, true social costs
can be very difficult to determine, especially when wastes alter biogeochemi-
cal processes that are poorly understood. And when the wastes are re-
leased to the atmosphere, rivers, and oceans, it is difficult to ensure that
those who generate the waste pay the costs. The problem of defining social
cost and the separation of those who generate the costs of waste disposal
from those who bear them are the keys to the waste-induced environmental
problem (Kneese and Bower, 1979).

Economic growth also depletes the stock of nonrenewable natural resources

such as coal, oil, natural gas, and metallic minerals and, in some cases, the
stock of renewable resources as well, as when the rate of soil erosion ex-
ceeds the rate of restoration of soil and nutrients. Environmental degrada-
tion follows when extraction disturbs land or biota and when resource use
generates wastes. Economic growth may also destroy aspects of the natu-
ral landscape, for example, pristine wilderness areas or vast geological fea-
tures such as the Grand Canyon. Continued use of depletable resources
will create economic pressure to develop renewable energy resources, ex-
panded recycling, and substitute materials (see, e.g., Barnett and Morse,
1963; Smith, 1979; Simon and Kahn, 1984), but a quadrupling of the global
economy over 50 years would result in continued resource depletion.

Depletion of nonrenewable resources need not threaten long-run economic

growth if management of the resources takes adequate account of their
future value and the likelihood of finding substitutes. This condition may be
easier to meet than the conditions for managing wastes because it is much
easier to establish clear, enforceable property rights in nonrenewable re-
sources and because such property rights permit creation of markets that
provide price signals of changing resource scarcity and incentives to take
future as well as current resource values into account. Property rights are
relatively easy to establish because, unlike in the atmosphere and the oceans,
nonrenewable resources are localized, spatially well defined, and fixed in
place.

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But markets in nonrenewable resources are no panacea for the environ-

mental effects of minerals extraction or fossil energy use. Current markets
have no sure way to anticipate, and therefore reflect, the value future gen-
erations will put on the depleted resources. This is the issue of
intergenerational equity in resource management, and there are strong ar-
guments that markets cannot deal adequately with the issue (Sen, 1982;
Weiss, 1988; MacLean, 1990). The values future generations will hold can
only be guessed at, drawing on human experience so far. Given this uncer-
tainty, most analysts advocate more cautious resource management than
what current market signals indicate.

So economic growth necessarily stresses the environment directly by in-

creasing quantities of wastes and indirectly by depleting resources. How-
ever, the relationship between economic growth and environmental stress
is not fixed. The key analytic questions concern the conditions under which
a given amount of present or future economic growth produces larger or
smaller impacts on the environment.

Several conditions apply. It matters which pattern of goods and services is

produced. An economy heavily weighted toward services appears to gener-
ate fewer wastes and less resource depletion per unit of output than one
weighted toward manufactured goods. Experience so far indicates that con-
sumption patterns shift toward services as per capita income rises, sug-
gesting that the process of growth itself may induce less than proportional
increases in environmental stress. It seems that past some point, consum-
ers use their economic resources to purchase well-being that is decreas-
ingly dependent on material goods (see Inglehart, 1990). If the historic pat-
tern holds, future economic growth in the low-income developing countries
will be materials and energy intensive for quite some time before a transition
to a service economy sets in. But this projection is uncertain because of
incomplete knowledge about the causes of that transition and the ways it
might be altered by deliberate action.

Other shifts in economies can also change the relationship between eco-
nomic growth and environmental quality. Per capita use of many materials
has been declining in North America and western Europe for some time
(Herman et al., 1989). Waste management based on recycling, redesign of
production processes, and the treatment of the wastes of one process as
raw materials for another can reduce the environmental impact of economic
activity (e.g., Ayres, 1978; National Research Council, 1985; Haefele et al.,
1986; U.S. Office of Technology Assessment, 1986; Friedlander, 1989). And
an observed trend in the United States, in which the main source of pollution
has shifted from production activities to consumption activities, has effects
on the overall economy-environment relationship that are not yet clear (Ayres
and Rod, 1986; Ayres, 1978).

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The environmental effect of economic growth may also depend on forms of

political organization. The comparison of emissions of CO2 and pollutants in
Eastern and Western Europe suggests that democratic countries may be
able to deal more effectively with the effects of wastes than nondemocratic
countries. When people who feel the effects, or become concerned about
the effects on others, have ready access to political power, their concerns
may possibly have more influence on policy. If this hypothesis is correct,
then political trends toward democracy, such as in Eastern Europe, will tend
to reduce the amount of degradation resulting from economic growth there.

National policies also help determine the environmental costs of economic

growth. In many developing countries, policies have favored extensive use
of ‘’unused’’ resources and “underpopulated” land to increase national power
and improve the welfare of their citizens. Countries such as the United States,
Canada, Argentina, and Australia had such policies during rapid develop-
ment phases, and other countries have followed the example. This model of
development through frontier occupation and rapid creation of wealth re-
quired cheap food and raw materials from rural areas, an infrastructure of
roads and transport to open up these areas, and huge infusions of capital for
enterprises and settlement. An alternative development model generates
increased production per unit of land by agricultural intensification rather
than by extensive land uses such as shifting agriculture or ranching (Boserup,
1990; Turner et al., n.d.). Development of this kind can be carried out in a
sustainable manner (Conway and Barbier, 1990; Sublet and Uhl, 1990).

Technological Change
Technological change affects the global environment in three ways. First, it
leads to new ways to discover and exploit natural resources. Second, it
changes the efficiency of production and consumption processes, altering
the volume of resources required per unit of output produced, the effluents
and wastes produced, and the relative costs and hence the supply of differ-
ent goods and services. Third, different kinds of technology produce differ-
ent environmental impacts from the same process (e.g., fossil-fuel and
nuclear energy production have different effluents). Some technologies have
surprising and serious secondary impacts, as the history of refrigeration
illustrates (see also Brooks, 1986).

In one view, technological development tends to hasten resource depletion

and increase pollutant emissions. In this view, technology as currently de-
veloped is a Faustian bargain, trading current gain against future survival
(e.g., Commoner, 1970, 1972, 1977). Modern technology is seen as a much
more significant contributor to environmental degradation than either popu-

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lation or economic growth. One reason is that modern technological innova-

tion progresses much faster than knowledge about its damaging effects,
both because the effects are intrinsically difficult to understand and because
the powerful economic interests that benefit from new technologies influ-
ence research agendas to favor knowledge about the benefits over knowl-
edge about the costs (Schnaiberg, 1980).

Three arguments are advanced to oppose or qualify the Faustian theme. In

the first, technology’s contribution to environmental change is deemed rela-
tively unimportant (Ehrlich and Holdren, 1972). In the second, technological
innovation and adoption are seen as induced by other forces, particularly
demand from population (Boserup, 1981) or market forces (Ruttan, 1971)
and therefore not a driving force. The third argument is that technological
change is a net benefit to the environment because it can ameliorate envi-
ronmental damage through more efficient resource use and the lessening
of waste emissions (e.g., Simon and Kahn, 1984; also Ausubel et al., 1989;
Gray, 1989; Ruttan, 1971).

These contradictory arguments, all plausible, can be weighed only by re-

search that is specific (e.g., which technology, in which society, at what
time) and that takes into account the other major social forces that cause or
are affected by technological progress. For instance, technological progress
is affected by the relative prices of energy, materials, and labor, with inven-
tors and entrepreneurs having a built-in incentive to develop technologies
that economize on the more expensive factors of production. As a result,
technological development starting in countries with low-cost energy will be
more energy intensive than technologies developed in countries in which
energy is expensive and therefore more likely to have negative environmen-
tal effects. The effects of technology on the environments of poor countries
may reflect the fact that much of the technological innovation adopted in
poor countries originated in rich countries, which face different economic
and environmental problems. National economic policies, as well as envi-
ronmental and energy policies, can favor particular kinds of technological
innovation and thus hasten or forestall environmental degradation. In the
United States, debates about apportioning government energy research funds
between nuclear, fossil, conservation, and renewable energy development
have always been, in part, debates about the effect of these technologies on
the environment. And the environmental effects of technology look quite dif-
ferent depending on the time scale being considered or the state of environ-
mental knowledge when the analysis is done. For example, the environmen-
tal effects of refrigeration technology look much different now than they would
have looked in an analysis done in the 1950s.

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Political-Economic Institutions
It seems reasonable that the social institutions that control the exchange of
goods and services and that structure the decisions of large human groups
should have a strong influence on the effects of human activity on the global
environment. These institutions include economic and governmental institu-
tions at all levels of aggregation.

A key institution is the market. Neoclassical economic theory argues that

free markets efficiently allocate goods and services to the most valued ends.
Thus, environmental problems can be analyzed in terms of market failures,
that is, conditions that prevent markets from operating freely. Several types
of market failure are relevant to environmental problems. First, the costs of
the transactions necessary to resolve environmental problems in an optimal
fashion may be prohibitively high because of the costs of collecting informa-
tion, for example on the net present value to all affected of the future effects
of resource use (e.g., Coase, 1960; Baumol and Oates, 1988). Second is
the problem of “externalities.” Individuals not involved in buying or selling a
good or service may nevertheless be affected by the transaction, for ex-
ample, if it alters the earth’s ozone layer. But because they do not know what
the effect will be, they may not engage in transactions to maximize their
preferences. Third, government action may supersede the market (e.g.,
Burton, 1978; Coase, 1960), leading to inefficiencies, for instance, exces-
sive and uneconomic cutting in U.S. national forests, or profligate use of
coal in China due to artificially low prices and a production quota system that
gives no premium for quality. Fourth, a lack of clearly defined private prop-
erty rights may leave no one with the incentive to pay to prevent degradation.
This situation can arise because of traditional social arrangements that al-
low free access to all (Hardin, 1968) or because of the indivisible, common-
pool nature of resources such as open-access marine fisheries (Gordon,
1954) and the world atmosphere.

The analysis that traces environmental degradation to the absence of free

markets is criticized on several grounds. First, even smoothly working mar-
kets are likely to produce undesirable outcomes. Questions have been raised
regarding the theoretical assumption that a dollar has the same value re-
gardless of a party’s wealth and the morality of treating polluters and pollu-
tion recipients as symmetric and reciprocal sources of harm to one another
(Kelman, 1987; Mishan, 1971). Second, the tendency of markets to place a
higher value on possible impacts in the near future than on those in the
distant future conflicts with the goal of long-term sustainability and reduces
the rights of future generations effectively to zero (Weiss, 1988; Pearce and
Turner, 1990). Third, goods that have no price, whose production is highly
uncertain, or that are valued by nonparticipants in markets, for instance, the
survival of nonhuman species, tend to be systematically undervalued in mar-

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kets (e.g., Krutilla and Fisher, 1975). Fourth, the theory of market failures
does not compare the environmental effects of different kinds of imperfect
markets. Knowledge does not support the easy inference that the more a
market resembles theoretical perfection, the more of the benefits of free
markets it provides (Lipsey and Lancaster, 1956; Dasgupta and Heal, 1979).
This is a serious limitation because, for environmental resources such as
the stratospheric ozone layer, the only markets are imperfect.

Some analysts trace the roots of environmental problems to the system of

free-enterprise competition that underlies markets (e.g., Schnaiberg, 1980).
They argue that the capitalist, cash-based market system rewards those
who exploit the environment for maximum short-term gain, an incentive struc-
ture fundamentally at odds with conservation and long-term sustainability
and, moreover, that the capitalist class exacerbates the process through its
strong influence on public policy. The argument is sometimes illustrated
with the case of development in the Amazon.

The critique of capitalism can be criticized for relying on a global, highly

generalizing contrast between capitalist market economies and precapitalist,
subsistence, socially undifferentiated groups that presumably maintain a
delicate balance with the natural environment. It does not account for the
fact that noncapitalist societies without private property may perpetuate large-
scale environmental abuses, as in the case of the drying of the Aral Sea for
irrigation purposes in the Soviet Union (Medvedev, 1990) or the reliance on
inefficient coal burning technology in China. It does not account for labor
resistance to environmental protection when it seems to threaten loss of
jobs, such as opposition to restrictions on mining and burning Appalachian
coal. And it does not acknowledge the existence within fully integrated mar-
ket economies of stable, intensively producing family farmers and small-
holder land-use regimes that modify but do not permanently degrade their
habitat.

Some analysts trace environmental deterioration, particularly in developing

countries, to an international division between rich Western industrial and
poor Third World raw material-producing nations that fosters political-eco-
nomic dependence. Unequal terms of trade drain capital from peripheral or
satellite regions to core areas. Underdevelopment and poverty are “devel-
oped” and perpetuated by market mechanisms (Wallerstein, 1976; Frank,
1967). This analysis emphasizes the effects of foreign investment, loans,
the operations of large corporations, and quantifiable movements of capital,
labor, imports, and exports on particular changes in the environment. Again,
the Amazon case is sometimes offered as an example.

This dependency model highlights the important role of foreign capital and
extractive industries, but because it pits a monolithic global capitalism against
a similarly undifferentiated and largely passive Third World, it cannot ac-

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count for the historical specificity of particular cases or the variability in inter-
nal dynamics as systems adapt (Wolf, 1982). Dependency theorists often
overlook the role and complicity of national elites (Hecht and Cockburn, 1989).
The model has been criticized as imprecise in that the notion of unequal
terms of trade is inadequately defined. And contrary to the simple view of
dependency, pressures from international lending institutions are now be-
ginning to influence Areazonian land use in a positive way (Schmink and
Wood, 1987:50; but see Price, 1989). Some Latin American countries, such
as Costa Rica, have taken leadership in setting aside tracts of tropical for-
ests as parks and conservation areas, despite high debt levels and depen-
dence on exports to the United States [Gamez and Ugalde, 1988]. A range of
other factors in addition to dependency must be considered to account for
the variety of resource use patterns in the Third World.

The state is a major institution affecting global environmental change be-

cause state actions modify economic institutions and affect a wide range of
human actions, including those with global environmental impacts. As al-
ready noted, democratic states may be more responsive to popular pres-
sures to take action on environmental problems than nondemocratic states.
It may be more difficult in the latter for nonelite groups to get environmental
issues on national policy agendas and then to influence the legislative pro-
cess through the expression of public opinion. Another critical dimension
may be the degree of centralization of the political system. One perspective
argues that systems in which decisions are decentralized, primarily through
markets, are apt to respond more readily to resource constraints. However,
under certain circumstances, a more centralized, state-controlled form of
decision making might be better able to take a long-term and broader per-
spective.

Specific public policies can also have significant environmental consequences,

both intentionally and inadvertently. Many governments have pursued poli-
cies aimed at maximum exploitation of natural resources in pursuit of eco-
nomic growth that give environmental concerns a low priority. However, many
governments, primarily in the West, have also enacted policies to amelio-
rate the effects of industrial growth on the environment. State action can
also have large unintended effects on the environment. For example, emis-
sions of greenhouse gases and air pollutants in the United States have been
greatly affected by the many policy choices of the U.S. government that
have encouraged the use of the automobile as a form of personal transpor-
tation. Similarly, policies pursued by such federal agencies as the Army Corps
of Engineers, the Department of the Interior, and the Atomic Energy Com-
mission have affected environmental quality, even though—or perhaps be-
cause—environmental quality was not an issue in their policy deliberations.
Knowledge about why different governments develop different environmen-
tal policies is discussed in more detail in Chapter 4.

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 Appendix B 57

Attitudes and Beliefs

Widely shared cultural beliefs and attitudes can also function as root causes
of global environmental change. Many analysts focus on broad systems of
beliefs, attitudes, and values related to the valuation of material goods. An
early argument in this vein attributed the modern environmental crisis to the
separation of spirit and nature in the Judeo-Christian tradition (White, 1967);
another traces the rise of capitalism with its materialist values and social
and economic structures back to Protestant theology (Weber, 1958). The
Frankfurt school of critical theory accorded a similar role to the spread of
purely instrumental rationality (Habermas, 1970; Offe, 1985). Bias toward
growth and a hubristic disregard for physical limits, others have argued, are
today the principal driving forces (e.g., Boulding, 1971, 1974; Daly, 1977).
Some point to “humanistic” values, derived from the Enlightenment, that put
human wants ahead of nature and presume that human activity (especially
technology) can solve all problems that may arise (Ehrenfeld, 1978). Some
assert that increased environmental pressures are associated with materi-
alistic values of modern society (e.g., Brown, 1981), implying that material-
ism is amplified in the social atmosphere of the Western world. Sack (1990)
argues that environmental degradation is intimately tied to social forms and
mechanisms that have divorced the consumer from awareness of the reali-
ties of production, hence leading to irresponsible behavior that exacerbates
global change. And some analysts have traced environmental problems to a
set of values, rooted in patriarchal social systems, that identify woman and
nature and define civilization and progress in terms of the domination of
man over both (e.g., Merchant, 1980; Shiva, 1989).

Some researchers argue that a secular change in basic values is occurring

in many modern societies. Inglehart (1990) presents survey data to suggest
that across advanced industrial societies, a value transition from materialist
to postmaterialist values is occurring that has significant implications for the
ability of societies to respond to global change with mitigation strategies that
involve changes in life-style (see also Rohrschneider, 1990). Along a similar
line, Dunlap and Catton have argued that a “dominant social paradigm” that
sets human beings apart from nature encourages environmentally destruc-
tive behavior but that a “new environmental paradigm” that considers hu-
manity as part of a delicate balance of nature is emerging (Dunlap and Van
Liere, 1978, 1984; Catton, 1980; Catton and Dunlap, 1980). Other writers
claim that a change in environmental ethics is necessary to prevent global
environmental disaster (e.g., Stone, 1987; Sagoff, 1988).

Short-sighted and self-interested ways of thinking can also act as underly-

ing causes of environmental degradation. The inexorable destruction of an
exhaustible resource that is openly available to all, what Hardin (1968) called
the “tragedy of the commons,” is, at a psychological level, a logical outcome
of this sort of thinking. Individuals seeking their short-term self-interest ex-

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58 Social Science I

ploit or degrade open-access resources much faster than they would if they
acted in the longer-term or collective interest (Dawes, 1980; Edney, 1980;
Fox, 1985).

Direct challenges to these analyses are few, in part because they are com-
patible with analyses that emphasize the role of other driving forces. Cul-
tural values, short-sightedness, and self-interestedness can both cause and
respond to other major social forces, such as political-economic institutions
and technological change. For example, global expansion of capitalism is
seen by some as inextricably linked to a transformation of attitudes toward
material production (Cronon, 1983; Merchant, 1991; Worster, 1988). Econo-
mists treat market behavior as an expression of preferences, which are
ultimately attitudes, so the treatment of the environment is an indirect result
of attitudes, even in economic analysis. Where controversy tends to arise is
over the relative primacy and hierarchical ordering of attitudes and beliefs
relative to other causal factors, especially the degree to which beliefs and
attitudes can be given causal force in their own right or are products of more
fundamental forces. The empirical associations underlying some claims have
also been called into question (e.g., Tuan, 1968, on White, 1967). On the
side of human response, however, at least some sense of the autonomy of
attitudes and beliefs is implicit in every analysis that offers explicit recom-
mendations for action.

Note: Access this reading online for a full list of references cited.

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 Appendix C 59

Appendix C

UP Open University
The Tragic Success of the Human Species1

We often hear that we face an environmental crisis. Do we? Try this thought
experiment: imagine that suddenly, poof all the humans disappear but leave
behind the buildings, roads, shopping malls, stadiums, factories, skyscrap-
ers, automobiles, ships, planes, and so forth. Now imagine that three or four
centuries pass. What will have happened? Buildings will have crumbled,
vehicles will have rusted and fallen apart, plants will have grown into and
broken up roads and parking lots, much of the land will have been recolo-
nized by forests. Water, air and soil will have gradually cleaned up, endan-
gered species will once more flourish. Nature, you see, will thrive splendidly
without us.

That experiment makes it clear that we do not have an environmental crisis.

We have a crisis of human civilization. It was not until we became civilized
and took more and more of the biosphere to serve our exclusive needs that
we began to reproduce and consume at epidemic rates. Just in this century,
human numbers will have doubled twice, from one and a half billion to three
billion, to six billion. Still another doubling would carry us beyond twenty bil-
lion. But that is impossible.

Our use of resources and discharge of wastes more than doubles with each
doubling of human population. Those growth rates simply cannot continue
for two reasons: first, there simply will not be sufficient resources for all
those new humans, even at present per capita consumption rates.

Even more importantly, the emission of greenhouse gases like carbon diox-
ide, methane, nitrous oxides, and chlorofluorocarbons are beginning to
change the way the biosphere works. Scientists estimate that the earth will
warm three to nine degrees Fahrenheit in the next seven decades, perhaps
sooner. That will be sufficient to change climate patterns. We cannot be
sure that the climate will change gradually and then settle down into a new
pattern. It may oscillate unpredictably and bring unexpected catastrophe.
Climate change and loss of the ozone layer will injure ecosystems all over
the planet and reduce their productivity at the very time all those new hu-
mans will be looking for sustenance.

Equally devastating, climate instability will destroy the confidence people

need in order to invest. Entrepreneurs would have little confidence that their
business could get supplies or that their goods would have a market. Inves-
tors would fear that their stocks, bonds and loans would become worthless.

1
Milbrath, Lester W. (1998). “Living Sustainably” in Electronic Green Journal. December
1998 Special Issue 9. Retrieved 15 October 2005 from http://egj.lib.uidaho.edu/egj09/
milbrat1.html.
62 Social Science I

If the climate begins to oscillate, we will become victims of our own thrust for
economic success. Be forewarned, climate change means economic ca-
tastrophe.

By just doing what we have been doing everyday, we are unintentionally

conducting a giant planetary experiment to see how far we can perturb bio-
spheric systems before they change their patterns and drastically change
everything about our lives. By being single mindedly successful at doing
what society expects of us, we have created a civilization that is headed for
destruction. We should change the direction of our society now before we
forcibly find out the answer to that experiment. Either we learn to control our
growth in population and in economic activity or nature will control it for us.
Remember, nature’s solution is death.

What Can We Do?

Not only has modern society created this crisis, in my judgment, it is not
capable of producing a solution. It is disabled by the values it pursues. Think
of the values upheld as good in contemporary political discourse: economic
growth, consumption, efficiency, productivity, jobs, competitiveness, taking
risks, power, winning, being on top. Societies pursuing those goals cannot
avoid depleting their resources, cannot avoid degrading nature, cannot avoid
spreading poisons, and cannot avoid upsetting biospheric systems. Will we
thoughtfully transform our society to a sustainable mode, or will we stub-
bornly refuse to change and have change forced upon us by the collapse of
society’s fundamental underpinnings? Resisting change will make us vic-
tims of change. I repeat, for emphasis, resisting change will make us vic-
tims of change.

But how do we transform from our present unsustainable society to a new

sustainable society? We all know that both societies and people resist
change. No leader, not even the most powerful dictator, can simply order
change and get people to follow. My answer, I believe it is the only answer, is
that we must learn our way to a new society. But, can we learn in time?

We all know that most social learning is slow and painful, but not always;
sometimes we cross a threshold and learning comes about astonishingly
swiftly. Who among us, using what theory of social change could have pre-
dicted the sweeping changes that occurred in Eastern Europe in the fall of
1989? How many foresaw that dissolution of the Soviet Union with hardly a
shot fired? When a society has no choice but to change, it does no good to
look to the past for guidance. We cannot predict the future from the past in
these circumstances. Nature, and the imperatives of its laws, will be our
most powerful teacher as we learn our way to a new society.

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I characterize the new society that we must create as sustainable; but, what
do I mean by sustainable? A sustainable society does something more than
keep people alive; living is more that merely not dying. It is a society in which
people conduct their lives so that nature can cleanse itself and reproduce. It
husbands nature and resources so that future generations of people, and
other creatures, can enjoy a life of decent quality. More concrete manifesta-
tions of a sustainable society are spelled out in the following contrasts.

Contrasting Characteristics of A Sustainable

Society vs. Modern Industrial Society
Contrast in Goals:
1. Life in a viable ecosystem must be the core value of a sustainable soci-
ety. That means all life, not just human life. Ecosystems function splen-
didly without humans but human society would die without a viable eco-
system. Individuals seeking quality of life require a well functioning soci-
ety living in a well functioning ecosystem. That logic tells us that we
must give top priority to our ecosystem, second priority to our society;
only when the viability of those two systems is assured is it permissible
to go our own way. In contrast, leaders in modern society equate mate-
rial consumption with quality of life and allow our vital systems to deterio-
rate as we are encouraged to pursue wealth.

2. A sustainable society affirms love as a primary value. It extends love and

compassion not only to those near and dear but to people in other lands,
future generations, and other species. In contrast, modern society re-
wards power, competitiveness and domination over others. A sustain-
able society emphasizes partnership rather than domination; coopera-
tion more than competition; love more than power.

3. A sustainable society affirms justice and security as other primary val-

ues. Modern society professes to pursue those values but it often fails
because those soft values are always under assault from persons seeking
wealth and power. In my judgment, modern society will not find peace
until it eliminates the contradictions in its value structure.

4. A sustainable society encourages self- realization as the key to a fulfill-

ing live. It would help persons to become all they are capable of being
rather than encourage wealth and consumption — as is done in modern
society. Work should be redefined to become a means to self-realiza-
tion and not merely a pawn in economic competition. In our thinking we
should distinguish work from employment. Persons doing their own work,

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64 Social Science I

or non-paid contributors to family and society, should be valued as much

as those highly paid. Self-esteem should not be linked to employment
but should derive more from skill, artistry, effort, and integrity.

Reconsideration of Our Focus on Economics

1. Economic growth is a means and not an end, it cannot be our top prior-
ity. A viable ecosystem must be society’s top priority. Our current mis-
placed emphasis on growth must give way to a recognition that there
are limits to human population growth and to economic growth. If we
don’t do that, society will lose other more highly treasured values, such
as: the continued good functioning of global biogeochemical systems,
the viability of ecosystems, the continued availability of vital resources,
and the health of all creatures.

2. Recognizing limits to resources and to the ability of natural systems to

absorb pollutants, as sustainable society would make quality products
to be loved and conserved for many years. Products would be designed
to be safely disposed when their useful life is finished. Modern society
fails to recognize that urging everyone to sell and consume creates a
culture that will lead to its own painful demise.

3. A sustainable society would utilize both planning and markets as basic

information systems that supplement each other. Both are needed to
guide economic activity and public policy. It would recognize the funda-
mental inability of markets to anticipate the long-term future and to ad-
equately assign social value to public goods such as clean air and parks.
Unrestrained markets, in contrast, encourage wasteful and harmful
goods, ignore pollution, demand public subsidies, and demand favor-
able laws and regulations.

4. A sustainable society recognizes that public goods (schools, parks, en-

vironmental protection, etc.) are just as important for the quality of life as
private goods. It turns to government and other public agencies to pro-
vide them. In contract, emphasizing market solutions in modern society
encourages people to seek private wealth and results in public squalor.

Science and Technology in the Service of Society

1. Our current belief that science and technology are value-free gives the
ability to direct those forces, and to collect their benefits, over to those
who can pay for specialized talents and equipment. Therefore, science
and technology serve the values of the establishment. While continuing

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to value further development of science and technology for the good

they can do, a sustainable society would anticipate their potential for evil
and learn to develop social controls of these powerful forces.

2. Powerful new technologies can induce sweeping changes in economic

patterns, lifestyles, governance, and social values. They are even more
powerful than legislation for inducing change; we can repeal legislation
but not a powerful new technology. Therefore, a sustainable society would
not allow deployment of new technologies without careful forethought
regarding their long term impact. It would learn how to design and en-
force social controls of the deployment and use of technologies.

Social Learning as the Dynamic of Social Change

1. Societies have always learned but we can elevate social learning to a
conscious societal policy. No one has the power to order a society to
change. Meaningful and permanent social change occurs when nearly
everyone learns the necessity and the wisdom of accepting the change.
Therefore, a society hoping to survive and thrive would emphasize so-
cial leaning as its best strategy for evolving sustainable modes of behav-
ior that also lead to quality in living. In contrast, modern society, driven by
power and using market signals as its guide, cannot look ahead to deal
with problems until they become powerful immediate threats; whereas
foresighted learning could anticipate problems and avoid crisis policy
making.

2. A sustainable society must cultivate new ways to thinking. Ecological

thinking is different from thoughtways in modern society. Amazingly, most
people in modern society do not know the fundamental laws of nature
such as the first and second laws of thermodynamics. For example,
environmentalists derive four key maxims from the first law which says
that matter and energy can neither be created nor destroyed, they can
only be transformed: 1) everything must go somewhere, 2) everything is
connected to everything else, 3) we can never do merely one thing, and
4) we must continually ask, ‘and then what?’

These maxims are routinely violated in contemporary thinking and dis-

course. Every school child should learn them, yet, almost none of them
are given this instruction. A sustainable society would reaffirm and act
on the belief, one held in primitive societies, that a knowledge of nature’s
workings is basic to being educated. It would act on that belief by requir-
ing environmental education of all students as it now requires every stu-
dent to study history.

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3. Ecological thinking recognizes that the geosphere and biosphere are

systems. If people wish to properly understand the world, they must
learn how to think systematically, holistically, integratively, and in a fu-
tures mode. Everything is connected to everything else. We must learn
to anticipate second, third and fourth order consequences for any con-
templated major societal action. Modern society, in contrast, empha-
sizes simple cause-and-effect mechanistic thinking; it structurally en-
courages narrow expertise and planning in the short term. A sustainable
society must correct that distortion and accord esteem to those who
practice ecological thinking.

4. A society learning to be sustainable would redesign government to maxi-

mize its ability to learn. It would use the governmental learning process
to promote social learning. Enlisting the learning of the entire society,
would, in turn, aid governmental learning. In contrast, modern society
takes a short range perspective, prides itself on being immediately ‘prac-
tical,’ disavows the visions of ‘impractical dreamers,’ and is constantly
scrambling to deal with crisis after crisis that it did not anticipate.

5. The era when governors commanded and citizens meekly obeyed has
passed, if it ever existed. A learning sustainable society affirms the in-
herent value of persons by requiring that governors listen to citizens. A
sustainable society not only would keep itself open for public participa-
tion but also would cultivate mutual learning between officials and citi-
zens as the central task of governance. Modern society, in contrast,
routinely turns to experts, who are presumed to know better, to under-
take action without consulting the public.

6. A sustainable society would recognize that we are part of, and strongly
affected by, global systems. It would strive diligently to build an effective
planetary politics. It would encourage transnational social movements
and political parties. It would seek common cause with movements and
parties in other countries to nurture planetary social learning, leading
eventually to a world society with a world government.

Learning Our Way to a Sustainable Society

Learning our way to a new society not only is the preferred way, it is the only
way — in my judgment, there is no shortcut. Fundamental relearning cannot
occur, however, until people become aware of the need for change. So long
as contemporary society appears to be working reasonably well, and lead-
ers keep reaffirming that society is on the right tract, the mass of people will
not listen to a message urging change. For that reason, life systems on our
planet probably must get worse before they can get better. Nature will turn

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out to be our most powerful teacher. We probably will not be able to listen
until it becomes much more evident that biospheric systems no longer work
the way they used to. After a shock to wake us up, in times of great systemic
turbulence, social learning can be extraordinarily swift.

Our common journey promises to be challenging and exciting, even though

difficult. It will be much easier, and more likely successful, if we face it opti-
mistically with a deep understanding of the pace and character of social
transformation. We humans are special, not because of our reason, other
species can reason, rather it is our ability to recall the past and foresee the
future. We are the only creatures that can imagine our extinction. That spe-
cial gift of understanding places an unique moral responsibility on humans.
Once we have contemplated the future, every decision that could affect that
future becomes a moral decision. Even the decision not to act, or to decide
not to decide, becomes a moral judgment. We humans, given the ability to
anticipate the consequences of our actions, will become the conscious mind
of the biocommunity, a global mind, that will guide and hasten societal trans-
formation. Those who understand what is happening to our world are not
free to shrink from this responsibility.

UP Open University
 Unit III
Human Adaptation
 Module 4
Biological adaptation
Ma. Glenda Lopez Wui

T he module on biological adaptation is the first

of the modules we are going to take up for
the unit on human adaptation. The previous
Objectives
module detailed the relationship between the After working on this
individual and the physical environment. This module, you should be able
relationship will be further discussed in this unit. to:
We will take up how human beings adapt to their
environment and what changes happen in their 1. Explain how the process
biological and cultural make-up as a result of this of adaptation brought
process of adaptation. about the evolution of
Homo sapiens;
2. Examine the adaptive
What is Adaptation? mechanisms of earlier
hominids (those
Before we proceed with our discussion, let us first exhibiting human-like
consider some definitions of adaptation. qualities) which are
Adaptation is often defined as “the process of responsible for the
modification to suit new conditions. It includes evolution of Homo
any changes by which organisms surmount the sapiens; and
challenges to life.” A more detailed definition of 3. Examine the biological
the term from the perspective of biological changes that occur in
adaptation is the following: present-day individuals
as a result of their
adaptation to
environmental stress.
72 Social Science I

The concept of adaptation—the key mechanism in the evolutionary

process—was originally developed in the study of biological
evolution. In discussions of the relationship of organisms to their
habitats, the term “adaptation” refers to success, measured by the
ability of populations to survive and reproduce. Thus a population
of organisms is considered to have achieved an effective relationship
with a habitat — to be adapted to that habitat — if it has been able
to perpetuate its form of life. Evolution occurs because no
adaptation is permanent and because no habitat remains
unchanged. New adaptations must be developed if effective
relationships with altered habitational conditions are to be
maintained. (Cohen 1987, 140)

The concept of biological adaptation has long been identified with Charles
Darwin’s theory of evolution. The term evolution “may be defined as change
in the genetic composition of a population through time.” In his book On
the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, Charles Darwin in 1859
showed that “species evolved and were not immutable over time.” He
pointed to a mechanism—natural selection—that could explain how
evolution took place. The whole mechanism of natural selection is
explained in the so-called Darwinian tautology, “The survival of the fittest
is the survival of those best fitted to survive.” Living organisms that have
better adaptive capacities will have better chances of survival and “leave
more offspring than their rivals.” As the book explains: “The closer the
adaptation to the environment, the greater the chances of survival”
(Encyclopedia Britannica, 2002). The implication of Darwin’s theory for us
human beings is that we evolved from earlier forms; we acquired our
present physiological form after a long process of evolution.

Because it contradicts the biblical theory of creation, churches following

the Judeo-Christian tradition totally disregarded Darwin’s theory. Schools
(secular or religious) did not teach the theory for a very long time in response
to the Churches’ opposition. (Why don’t you find out if schools run by
religious groups now teach the theory?)

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 Unit III Module 4 73

Activity 4-1
In order for you to learn more about human evolution and the
various forms humans underwent before acquiring their present
form, I want you to visit the site of Encyclopedia Encarta at http:/
/encarta.msn.com/encnet/refpages/search.aspx?q=human+
evolution&Submit2=Go. After going through the site, answer the
following questions:

1. What are the earlier forms of hominids (those exhibiting human-

like qualities)?
2. What are the qualities of the hominids?
3. How did the hominids evolve into their present form as human
beings?

Human Evolution and Adaptation

Have you ever wondered what were the essential biological changes that
occurred in human beings as a result of their adaptation to their
environment? You will get ideas of these changes as we go through the
following account by Ember and Ember (1987).

Scientists believe that about five million to six million years ago, a human-
like creature came into existence. This human-like creature descended
from one of the species of apes that lived 15 million to 20 million years
ago. There were at least two varieties of hominids (those exhibiting human-
like qualities) living in sub-Saharan Africa about four million to two million
years ago. “These intermediate creatures stood about five feet (1.5 m) tall,
one weighing about 80 to 100 pounds (30 to 40 kg) and the other up to
150 pounds (68 kg). Their brains were not quite as big as that of a large
male gorilla. Though they probably could not yet stride smoothly for long
distances, they could run upright with their bodies balanced on their hind
legs.”

These primitive small-brained ape-humans were called Australopithecine.

Scientist Robert A. Dart recorded the existence of “a very early type of
hominid that was part ape, part man” in 1924. Some years later, more
australopithecine fossils were discovered. Of these, the most astonishing
find was that of Louis and Mary Leaky. Found near Leakey’s human-like
hominid were tools made out of pebbles that had been chipped to give
them a sharp cutting edge. Louis Leakey thought that this species was

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probably the first true human and so he named it Homo habilis or “handy
man”.

Leakey’s finds “provided the basis for the first coherent explanations of
how man came to evolve out of his apelike ancestors.” Why is this so?
Before we answer this, let us take up one notion held by anthropologists
before Leakey’s fossils were unearthed:

Long before Leakey unearthed his first australopithecine fossils in

1959, most anthropologists agreed that the only animals that could
be properly considered human were the ones that were able to
make and to use tools. But how had man acquired the ability to
use tools? The fashionable answer was that he had first developed
a uniquely large, complex and efficient brain. Possessed of this
extremely serviceable brain, he was able to manipulate tools (Ember
and Ember 1987).

But how did the ape-like ancestors develop large brains and eventually
learn to create tools? Let us continue with our story.

To put human’s evolutionary history in proper context, it is necessary to

realize that the australopithecines were not the earliest hominids. They
were in fact widely believed to be comparative latecomers on the scene.
Before our apelike ancestors descended from the trees, they must have
been exposed to attacks, and like male baboons and gorillas they must
have had canines to defend themselves, their females and their young.
Had they not done so then the hominids must have been wiped out.

However, the australopithecine fossils show that these ape-like creatures

did not have canines that were longer and sharper than those of modern
humans. So what happened to the canines? They eventually lost their
canines when they learned to use weapons for defense. This evolutionary
change took millions of years to occur.

Aside from the teeth, other evolutionary changes became evident in the
fingers and thumbs, in the pelvis and the leg and the foot as seen among
the australopithecines. When non-human primates first left the trees, they
must have used their hands to obtain food. By the time they foraged on
the ground, they learned to device very simple tools and eventually went
on to develop more elaborate ones, in the process acquiring fingers and
thumbs. The development of fingers and thumbs took millions of years to
evolve just as the ability to move in an erect position, bipedally, with the
body supported by the legs.

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 Unit III Module 4 75

The shift to bipedalism is very much connected to the development of

tools. With each new shift to bipedalism, the hominids’ hands were left
more free to make and to use tools. As they came to use more tools, they
had to use their legs more often for support. Hence, they experienced a
further shift towards bipedalism.

As Ember and Ember (1987) emphasized: “The hominids evolved through

a continual process of feedback, with the use of tools and their bipedal
posture acting as mutual cause and effect.”

You may ask why was it only the hominids who benefited from the
feedback interaction? What about the other primates? Chimpanzees also
manipulate simple tools such as sticks to dig out insects. Why did they not
also go on to use more complex tools? “The answer is that an evolutionary
change will only occur if it happens to fit in with an animal’s general
make-up: with its anatomy, its situation and its behavior. All three depend
very largely on where and how one gets its food. Being primarily fruit
eaters, chimpanzees were compelled to spend much of their time in the
trees. They have, in consequence, retained feet and toes suitable for
climbing, and so were unable to acquire the kind of foot which is suitable
for bipedal movement on the ground.”

Homo erectus is believed to be the predecessor of modern men. The remains

of Homo erectus have been found in Java, Europe, Africa and China. Homo
erectus was a great improvement on the australopithecine. The
australopithecines could run and probably not walk as efficiently. Homo
erectus has a striding walk like ourselves so that he could cover much
longer distance to hunt large animals. He had learned to use fire and had
developed much more effective weapons such as choppers and hand axes
with which to kill and cut open animals such as deer. Homo erectus was
much more efficient than Australopithecus because he possessed a larger
and more complex brain.

How did the larger brain and other physical changes occur in Homo erectus?
Hunting, together with bipedalism and the use of tools, was the principal
element which set him on the “evolutionary path that was to lead
ultimately, to his position of dominance over all other animals.” To quote
Ember and Ember (1987):

To kill (large animals), Homo erectus needed to make and to use

more elaborate tools, which accounts for his improved control over
his fingers and thumbs. He had to prepare his weapons for the
hunt which required foresight. To improve his weapons he had to
recall his past experiences, which required memory. And he had
also to weigh what had happened in the past against possible

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76 Social Science I

situations that might arise in the future, which called for

considerable powers of reflection. What is more he had to
cooperate closely with his fellow hunters. For while
australopithecines killed animals single-handedly or in small
groups, the hunting of large animals required far greater
cooperation, planning and mutual assistance.

As a hunter, Homo erectus therefore had to be able to communicate

elaborate information to his fellows. But he also needed a means of
communicating for other purposes which grew out of his activities as a
hunter. These activities bring us to some of the most important social
differences which came to distinguish men from all the other primates—
spoken language. In summary, important physiological changes in human
beings including brain enlargement were results of their efforts to adapt
to their environment. To quote Ember and Ember (1987):

Bipedalism, tools, hunting, language—put them all together and

the feedback process turns out to have been one of extraordinary
complexity. And so was the brain that emerged from it. As our
ancestors progressed from Australopithecus to Homo erectus and
from Homo erectus to Homo sapiens their brains grew steadily larger.
The brain cells themselves became more elaborate. These
improvements in the human brain occurred as a response to the
demands made on it. Alternatively of course, one can look at the
same phenomenon from the opposite view and say that as the
human brain improved, men and women became both more
knowledgeable and more competent. The process worked both
ways, and the result was that eventually man was able to acquire
an increasingly elaborate culture.

Activity 4-1
Time for more mental exercise.

Write a short essay on how Darwin’s theory of evolution differs

from the biblical theory of creation. Which of the two schools of
thought do you subscribe to? Why? Explain your answer.

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Table 4-1. Timeline of human evolution (Source: Ember and Ember 1993)
Time Geologic Fossil Record Archeological Major Cultural
(Years Ago) Epoch (First Appearance) Periods Developments
(Old World) (First
Appearance)

Bronze Age Cities and states; social

5500 inequality;full-time craft
(3,500 B.C.) __________ specialists

Neolithic Domesticated plants

10,000 and animals;
(8000 B.C.) __________ permanent villages

Broad-spectrum food
Mesolithic collecting; increasingly
sedentary communities;
14,000 Pleistocene Earliest humans in __________ many kinds of microliths
(12,000 B.C.) New World
Cave paintings; female
Upper Paleolithic figurines; many kinds of
blade tools
40,000 __________
Modern humans Religious beliefs
Homo sapiens (?); burials; Mousterian
sapiens Middle Paleolithic tools
200,000 Neandertal Homo
sapiens
300,000 Earliest Homo __________
sapiens (?)
700,000 Acheulian tools
1,500,000 Homo erectus
1,800,000 __________ Lower Paleolithic Hunting and/or
scavenging;
seasonal camp-sites
Oldowan tools
2,000,000 Homo habilis __________
Pliocene
Earliest stone tools
Earliest hominids
Miocene Australopithecus
5,000,000 __________
Diversification of apes
Sivapithecus
22,500,000 Dryopithecus
Proconsul
Earliest apes (?)
29,000,000 Propliopithecids,
32,000,000 e.g., Aegyptopithecus
Oligocene Earliest anthropoids
Parapithecids, e.g.,
Apidium
38,000,000 __________
Amphipithecus
50,000,000 Eocene Tetonius
53,500,000 __________

Paleocene
65,000,000 __________

Earliest primates
70,000,000 Late Cretaceous Purgatorius

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78 Social Science I

Forms of adaptation
You must have been fascinated why people from various parts of the
world look different. Why are the Africans black and the Europeans white?
Why are Americans taller and stockier compared to Asians? According
to the article Human Adaptation (1987), these differences in physical features
are the result of people’s adaptation to the diverse conditions of their
environment. The article contends that “human beings are remarkably
flexible creatures” and that “no other mammalian species can exploit as
many different environments as can Homo sapiens.” Adaptation occurs at
various levels:

1. genetic adaptation, the evolution of advantageous characteristics;

2. developmental adaptation (plasticity), the acquisition of appropriate
responses when an individual grows up in a particular environment;
3. long-term acclimatization, acquired over the years but reversible under
environmental change;
4. seasonal acclimatization, which reverses itself during the annual cycle;
and
5. short-term acclimatization, manifested in daily or irregular responses
to conditions.

Our biological responses to our environment therefore can either be long-

term or short-term (reversible or irreversible) depending on the length of
our exposure to stressful environmental conditions.

Activity 4-2
Go visit the website of Encyclopedia Encarta and find out more
about these five different types of adaptation. Be sure to read the
examples given to explain the forms of adaptation.

According to the article Human Adaptation (1987), there are different

biological changes that happen in individuals as they respond to stressful
conditions of high altitudes, temperature, or humidity extremes.
Following are the different biological changes that happen to humans as
they respond to these specific environmental conditions.

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High altitude
The “thin air” (low atmospheric oxygen pressure) at high altitudes presents
an environmental problem that could not be modified by human invention
up to the present century. Because of the strain presented by high altitudes,
some individuals who climb from sea level to an elevation of 4,000 meters
or more suffer from physical and mental fatigue, interrupted sleep,
headaches, and sometimes digestive disturbances and weight loss. Some
even die of pulmonary edema, a seeping of fluid from the lung’s capillaries
into the air spaces. So how do people living in high altitudes adjust to the
strains brought about by high altitudes? Those living in the Peruvian Andes,
for example, were found to have retarded growth. This stunting in growth
is an advantage because reduced body size means lesser oxygen
requirement. Indian boys in Peru were also found to have developed a
larger thorax and greater lung capacity (to maximize oxygen intake),
compared to coastal dwellers.

Cold temperature
Studies show that arctic forms or those living in cold temperature have
small body surface area relative to body mass (that is, they have bigger,
stockier body build). This characteristic evolved as adaptive mechanisms
to the conditions of the environment. Here’s an explanation: “Some heat
is lost in breathing, but most heat is lost in the skin (especially on the
head); therefore the surface area of the skin (and hence the size of the
individual, which largely determines surface area) is a factor in the
dissipation of heat. Body mass consists of metabolizing tissues (which
produce heat) and fat (much of it beneath the skin where it may help
insulate); hence, increases of weight cause increased heat production and
retention.” Human body size and shape generally tend to follow this rule.
That is why people living in cold climate areas generally have bigger than
average body built.

Hot temperature
Groups that inhabit the tropics are generally made up of small built
individuals. Small size increases the surface area relative to mass so that
heat can be more readily dissipated by sweating. That is why desert dwellers
are generally lean. Likewise some people of East Africa provide an
instructive example: they are very tall but slim, and their limbs are
exceptionally long.

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80 Social Science I

Another interesting factor in human adaptation is skin pigmentation.

The chief skin pigment is melanin, a dark substance that gives skin and
hair a tan, brown, or black color, depending on the amount present.
Numerous theories have been advanced why dark skin is conducive to a
hot climate. To appreciate this correlation between skin color and the
climate, let us look at the physiological effects of skin color. Among other
things, darker skin inhibits sunburn more. Aside from being painful,
sunburn interferes with the sweating response, which is the body’s defense
mechanism against a hot climate. Darker skin is also less susceptible to
skin cancer (a possible result of overexposure to the sun), and may prevent
the synthesis of too much vitamin D, which can be harmful. Pigment
prevents the sun’s ultraviolet rays from penetrating the skin to the level
where vitamin D is synthesized by their action. Regarding light skin color,
one research has shown that light skin color may be less susceptible to
cold injury. In the two world wars and in the Korean war, darker soldiers
experienced more frostbite than lightly pigmented individuals.

Another form of adaptation is nutritional adaptation. In areas where

food is scarce, individuals may experience a process of slow growth
because small size is definitely an advantage in such a situation (the body
will require fewer food intake). Another illustration of nutritional
adaptation is the case of the body adjusting to the diet dictated by culture.
For instance, the Chinese do not have milk from animals in their diet.
Because of this, there is a high rate of lactose intolerance among the
Chinese.

As regards plasticity or the acquisition of appropriate responses when an

individual grows up in a particular environment, the case of the children
of immigrants to the United States is instructive to illustrate this process
of adaptation. Researches show that children of immigrants who were
born in the US turned out to be taller and they have a bigger cephalic
index than their parents. Studies conducted on these children of immigrants
concluded that these “changes were the result of some aspect of the
American environment that tends to bring about an American type with
tall stature and medium cephalic index.”

So what is there in the US that account for the greater growth? The article
explains: “The biggest single factor is diet, and the most significant aspect
of food is neither its quality nor vitamin content but simply the quantity.
Abundant food seems to maximize potential growth and in the United
States, although diet-influencing poverty does exist in places, insufficient
food supplies are a relatively rare problem.”

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Activity 4-3
Research on other theories explaining why people look different?
Can you compare these theories with the theory just discussed?

References

Cohen, Yehudi A. “Culture as Adaptation” in Foundations of Behavioral

Sciences: A Book of Readings. 1987. Quezon City: University of the
Philippines College of Social Sciences and Philosophy, 139-163.
Ember and Ember, Anthropology: From Ape to Man in Foundations of
Behavioral Sciences: A Book of Readings. 1987. Quezon City: University
of the Philippines College of Social Sciences and Philosophy, 102-112.
Encyclopedia Britannica. 2002. UK: Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc.
Human Adaptation in Foundations of Behavioral Sciences: A Book of Readings.
1987. Quezon City: University of the Philippines College of Social
Sciences and Philosophy, 113-124.

UP Open University
 Module 5
Cultural Adaptation
Ma. Glenda Lopez Wui

A fter the module on biological adaptation, we

are now ready to take up the other aspect of
adaptation – that of cultural adaptation.
Objectives
Remember that human adaptation is as much
After working on this
cultural as it is biological.
module, you should be able
to:

What is Culture? 1. Define culture;

2. Explain how culture is
Anthropologists often define culture as “the total used as a form of
way of life of any society.” Culture likewise adaptation; and
includes “the learned behaviors as well as the 3. Examine our cultural
beliefs, attitudes and values and ideal that are practices.
characteristic of a particular society or
population.” Note that these meanings of culture
are very different from how the word is commonly used – that is, as a
“desirable quality we can acquire by attending a sufficient number of
plays and concerts and trudging through several miles of art galleries”
(Ember and Ember, 1999).

According to Ember and Ember (1999), there are several characteristics of

culture. First, culture is shared. A thought or action is not a pattern of
culture if only one person thinks and acts in a certain manner. “For a
thought or action to be considered cultural, it must be commonly shared
by some population or group of individuals. Even if some behavior is not
commonly practiced, it is cultural if most people think it is appropriate.”
Take note that when anthropologists refer to a practice as cultural, it is
84 Social Science I

possible that not everyone observes the said practice, The requirement is
simply that the majority believe in the said practice. For example, it is
cultural in our society that a man and a woman should get married first
before living together. However, we are all aware that not all couples
who are living together are married.

Second, culture is learned. For something to be considered cultural, “it must

be learned as well as shared.” For example, our diet is something that we
learned from our parents and other people around us. That is why the
foods people eat vary from culture to culture. In our society we may savor
the taste of ham but among Muslims, their religion forbids them to eat pig
meat.

Given these characteristics of culture, we can therefore say that “something

is cultural if it is a learned behavior, belief, attitude, value or ideal generally
shared by the members of a group.” You should remember that language
has a very important role to play in the transmission of culture. It is through
language (whether written or spoken) that we learn which cultural
practices to believe in and observe.

Culture is also regarded as generally adaptive. Customs that enhance

survival and the reproductive success of a society are considered adaptive
and are more likely to persist. Those that diminish the chances of survival
and reproduction of society are considered maladaptive and are not likely
to persist. “Either the people clinging to those (maladaptive) customs will
become extinct, taking the customs with them, or the customs will be
replaced, thereby possibly helping the people to survive.” We can therefore
assume that if a society has survived, then many, if not all, of its cultural
practices are adaptive, or were so at one time. Adaptive and maladaptive
cultural practices may exist in a society at the same time. But when that
particular society manages to stay for a long time, then it must have more
adaptive than maladaptive cultural traits.

It must be clarified that when we say a “custom is adaptive… we mean it

is adaptive only with respect to a specific physical and social environment.
What may be adaptive in one environment may not be adaptive in another.
Therefore when we ask why a society may have a particular custom, we
are really asking if that custom makes sense as an adaptation to that
society’s particular environmental conditions.”

Ember and Ember (1999) enumerates the following other important points
about culture as a form of adaptation.

l “Many cultural behaviors that would otherwise appear

incomprehensible to us may be understandable as a society’s response
to its environment.”

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 Unit III Module 5 85

l “Just as culture represents an adjustment to the physical environment

and to biological demands, it may also represent an adjustment to the
social environment – that is, to neighboring peoples.”

l “A given custom represents one society’s adaptation to its environment;

it does not represent all possible adaptations. Different societies may
choose different means of adjusting to the same situation.”

l “Why a society develops a particular response to a problem, rather

than some other possible response, always requires explanation. The
choice may depend largely on whether a particular response is possible,
given the existing cultural repertoire.”

l “Although we may assume that societies surviving long enough to be

described have had many more adaptive culture traits than
maladaptive traits, that does not mean that all culture traits are
adaptive.”

l “We must remember that a society is not forced to adapt its culture to
changing environmental circumstances; people may choose not to
change their customs” even in the face of changed environmental
circumstances.

Activity 5-1
Can you name which of our cultural practices are adaptive? Can
you also name some that are maladaptive? Why did you say that
the practices are adaptive or maladaptive? Remember that adaptive
customs are those that are helpful for our survival while
maladaptive are those not beneficial to our society.

Cultural Development
Focusing on the thesis that culture is a form of adaptation, Cohen (1987)
defines culture as “the artifacts, institutions, ideologies, and the total range
of customary behaviors with which a society is equipped for the
exploitation of the energy potentials of its particular habitats.” In other
words, culture is regarded as the individual’s “adaptive kit enabling him
to transcend the limitations of his genetic endowments and natural
milieus.” We therefore devise cultural practices in order to surpass the
limitations presented to us by our physical make-up and our environment.

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86 Social Science I

Cohen also notes that culture is always changing. Culture change results
from one or more of the following general factors: technological
innovations, contact between groups and the concomitant exchange of
information and techniques, population growth, and political innovations.
Of these, technological and political innovations are the most effective
mechanisms for culture change.

In relation to culture change, Cohen writes about the taxonomy of cultural

development representing the various levels of cultural adaptation. You
should bear in mind that “each strategy of adaptation creates a unique
environment (and culture) for the individual.” Individuals’ attempts to
adapt to their environment results in the different levels of cultural
development, which are:

1. hunting and gathering (or foraging),

2. horticulture
3. pastoralism
4. agriculture
5. industrialism

All these levels of cultural development represent a particular system of

production as well as a particular kind of social organization. In other
words, as the adaptation advances to the next level because of change in
the technology being utilized, corresponding changes in social relations
likewise occur. Following are descriptions of these five levels of cultural
development.

Hunting and gathering (or foraging) refers to the first level of cultural
adaptation achieved by individuals. “In its simplest form, foraging is a
technique of extracting livelihood from the environment by an almost
exclusive reliance on muscular energy” like collecting food and hunting
with bows and arrows. Most foraging societies are nomadic. Nomadic
foragers usually live in small bands that range from one to five families.

Horticulture is a level of adaptation in which people plant the food they

subsist on using a hoe or digging stick as their principal means of
production. “Horticulturalist, like foragers, rely primarily on muscular
energy but with an important difference; they are responsible for the
presence of food on which they subsist.” The settlement patterns vary
according to the different stages. In the initial stages, people may have
permanent or semi-permanent settlements, while in the more advanced
stage, densely populated villages are formed.

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 Unit III Module 5 87

Pastoralism is “devoted to gaining a livelihood from the care of large

herds of domesticated animals. Sustenance may be derived from the herds
themselves (milk, meat, blood) or from the use of domesticated animals as
instruments of production.” An important element of pastoralism is
transhumance, which is a “settlement pattern in which herders seasonally
drive their animals from lowland areas of permanent villages and fields
to highland pastures.” One can see here the mutual dependency of
individuals and domesticated animals, in which animals are pastured,
grazed, and protected.

Agriculture is a system of cultivation based on one or more of the following:

plows and draft animals, large-scale and centrally controlled irrigation
networks, and terracing. “Each of these techniques, singly or in
combination, requires a specific organization of labor to maintain and
protect its sources of energy, and each involves its own modes of
distributing resources and products. At this stage, we can also see
“specialization in production (including crafts), the development of markets
or other means of trade, urbanization, the bifurcation of rural and urban
value systems, and the like.”

Industrialism like the other forms of adaptation presents a unique social

organization. At this level, the organizations of social relations center on
individual’s relationship with the machine. For instance, machines are
movable in industrialism while land is not movable in agricultural setting.
“Correspondingly, man in an industrial society follows the machine; if he
can better survive and support his family by moving to a different machine
in a different locality, he does so, largely without regard to other people.
He holds his position in relation to his source of subsistence through an
impersonal system that pays for the use of his labor power, rather than
through a group of kinsmen and by inheritance.”

Activity 5-2
Examine the different cultural groups of the country. Do they share
the same level of cultural development? Why did you say that they
do or do not share the same level of cultural development? Explain
your answer.

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88 Social Science I

Political and Technological Institutions

Cohen also examines the relationship between political and technological
institutions while noting that these two are the society’s most important
means of adaptation. Here, Cohen tries to address the following questions.

“Is change in the institutional structure of society always the result

of technological change? Does the sequence of events always go in
that direction, or is it possible for institutional change to give rise
to technological change? Can the non-technological institutions of
leadership authority, and decision-making underlie in society’s
adaptations by stimulating technological change?”

As framework for the discussion, Cohen first defines “stateless societies”

and “state societies.” A state society “seems to be that of a (society), in
which a single person, by whatsoever name he may be distinguished, was
entrusted with the execution of laws, the management of the revenue,
and the command of the army. This person may be only a figurehead but
his function is essential if a state is to exist.” On the other hand, a stateless
society “is one in which the checks, balances and controls over behavior
that are among the prerequisites of all social life are exercised through
local institutions at the community level, without the intervention of
supracommunity centers of authority. Local autonomy is the key factor in
the maintenance of order and conformity and in the resolution of disputes
in stateless societies; the locus of this autonomy may be in the corporate
kin group where emphasis is on the rules of kinship relationships, in the
community territorially conceived .”

In stateless societies (“in which there is no central political organization

that unites local groups like villages, kin groups, and regional groups under
a single ruler”), technology is the focus of adaptation. In these societies
“the quest for food is the overriding force in social organization, and almost
all of their institutions are geared to the demands of the technology.” In
such societies, institutional changes are almost always the result of changes
in technology. Every change in the technology of food gathering would
result in increasing complexity in political institution as well as “changes
in family organization, religious patterns, and trade relationships.”
Technology, therefore, is responsible for changes in the society’s
institutions.

In state societies, the sequence of adaptation is reversed. The state is the

powerful institution setting the directions of technological innovations.
As Cohen points out, the development of the state “is one of the
achievements that has increased man’s freedom from the restrictions of
his habitat, because it makes possible the harnessing of more efficient

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 Unit III Module 5 89

sources of energy. The goals of a state organization are not only to centralize
decision-making and implementation but also to exploit physical energy
potentials in the service of the society as a whole.” States dictate the
invention of technologies to efficiently exploit energy potentials. Aside
from the purpose of providing for the needs of the community, states
encourage technological advancement to produce surpluses to be able to
engage in trade.

At this juncture, we can now answer the questions set forth at the start of
this section about the relationship between political institutions and
technology, on the one hand, and societal change, on the other. In the
earlier stages of cultural development, technology is a significant driver of
change in society’s institutions. In the later stages of development, however,
non-technological institutions (exemplified by the state) are powerful
agents responsible for changes in the technology harnessed by the
community.

Moreover, Cohen points out that states “cannot develop in any society or
under all conditions; they appear only in societies in which relatively
advanced levels of technological adaptation have been attained, and in
particular types of habitats.” It appears that states developed principally
in agriculture or advanced horticulture societies, while states were not
known to exist in foraging or rudimentary horticultural societies.

States are also powerful facilitators of culture change because of the

resources at their disposal. They are able to “catalyze technological
advances and changes in social relations by assigning specialists to these
tasks and by allocating economic resources for these purposes.” China’s
one-child policy is a case in point. Because of the Chinese government’s
policy of meting sanctions to couples with more than one child, the Chinese
cultural practice of having many children has been curtailed to a great
extent.

Activity 5-3
In our country, are there cultural changes that the government
wants to realize? Has the government been successful in this
endeavor? Why was it successful/unsuccessful?

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90 Social Science I

Cultural Adaptation and Cultural Adjustments

Cohen’s distinction between the concepts of cultural adaptation and
cultural adjustments provides a “conceptual framework toward a better
understanding of the structures and processes involved in cultural
evolution in the context of human adaptation.”

Cultural adaptation ”refers to major alterations in the relationship of

societies to their habitats that result in different levels of adaptation, from
foraging to industrialism.” Cultural adaptation therefore are the major
changes that happen in societies that resulted in the different levels of
cultural development.

Cultural adjustment, on the other hand, refers to the “‘homeostatic’

changes that occur within a society at a given level of adaptation; these
changes result in a better ‘fit’ or articulation between the group’s
technology and its institutions, ideologies and customary behavior.”

Cultural adjustments can also be conceptualized as back-up institutions.

“Back-up institutions are not directly or materially tied to a society’s
maintenance of an adaptive relationship with its habitat.” However, these
are “important instruments for maintaining an even tenor in daily social
life.” Examples of cultural adjustments are working to earn livelihood,
maintaining relationship with relatives, participating in social activities
like singing and dancing. None of the activities in cultural adjustments “is
actually part of the adaptive process but they back up a group’s
adaptations, inasmuch as a serious breakdown in the group’s adjustments
would affect the integrity of its adaptations.”

Cultural adjustments therefore are important components of cultural

adaptations. We are able to cope better with cultural adaptations because
of the phenomena of cultural adjustments. For instance, in numerous war
movies you must have seen how people continue to engage in practices
they observe in normal times (such as singing, dancing, and holding family
gatherings) in order to cope with the onslaught of war.

Activity 5-4
Examine Philippine society and give examples of practices that
can be classified under cultural adjustments. Do you think these
practices are indeed necessary to help us better cope with major
cultural changes?

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 Unit III Module 5 91

References

Cohen, Yehudi A. “Culture as Adaptation” in Foundations of Behavioral

Sciences: A Book of Readings. 1987. Quezon City: University of the
Philippines College of Social Sciences and Philosophy, 139-163.
Ember, Carol and Melvin Ember. 1999. Anthropology. Upper Saddle, River,
N. J. : Prentice-Hall.

UP Open University
 Module 6
Language: A Form of
Adaptation
Realidad Rolda

I n this module, our major concern is to

understand the value of language as a form
of adaptation — how well we use language to
Objectives
send or receive messages, undertake After working on this
negotiations, and persuade parents, relatives, module, you should be able
friends, peers, and even strangers to accept to:
changes in beliefs, attitudes, and behavior.
1. Explain the value of
This module has to do with the use of communication and
persuasion, reactions to signs and symbols, and analyze why and how
the evolution of words that we use in our day people communicate
to day conversations and activities. and express themselves;
2. Point out the value of
We are not concerned here with the theories persuasion. You may
and structures of language because these topics not realize it, but your
belong to the domain of linguistics. Language, typical day is largely
as a form of adaptation, especially words used influenced by people
to identify status, educational background, and persuading you or
lifestyle of speakers and receivers is more fitting trying to change your
for our discussion on human adaptation. behavior; and
3. Explain the value of
language as a form of
adaptation.
94 Social Science I

Activity 6-1
Let us see how well you understand persuasion. List down at least
10 items that you read in the newspapers, saw on television
programs, signs and billboards that changed your behavior or
attitudes toward buying certain products. Then, give your reasons
for patronizing these products.

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Comments on Activity 6-1

Remember there are no correct answers here; everything depends
on how well the advertisers are able to persuade you to patronize
their products.

1. bath soap
2. shampoo
3. Mcdonald’s food chain
4. Jollibee
5. hotdogs (a certain brand)
6. jeans (a certain brand)
7. t-shirt (a certain brand)
8. juices
9. ajax (scented)
10. fabric conditioner (a certain brand)
11. ballpens
12. instant food like mami, champorado, canton, arroz caldo
13. laundry soap
14. bread (a certain brand)
15. perfume (a certain brand)
16. mouthwash / toothpaste (a certain brand)
17. mineral water (a certain brand)
18. coffee (instant or brewed)
19. butter
20. milk

You may have listed items which are not mentioned; this only
shows the varieties of our experiences and preferences.

Why have you chosen to patronize certain products? Below are

some of the probable reasons, but you could have enumerated more.

1. Novelty – you were curious and wanted to find out whether or

not the advertisement is real or genuine. You were persuaded
and convinced, without you realizing it, by the advertisers to
patronize their products.
2. Friends have tried these products and persuaded you in turn to
try them.
3. The actors/actresses or commercial models endorsing the products
are your favorite. They persuaded you to patronize the products
they are endorsing.

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96 Social Science I

Persuasion: A Part of Language

and a Form of Adaptation
Every time you send or receive a message that affects your beliefs or
behaviors, persuasion has occurred (Johnston, 1994). Consider, for
instance, a typical day in your life when you turn on the radio, listen to a
commercial jingle being played about a new food chain product. Since
you love to eat at this food chain, you decide to convince your friend to
try this new product at lunch time. The soap and shampoo you use in
taking a bath, the jeans and T-shirt you wear afterwards, the notepad
and ballpens you bring to work, and the shoes or clogs you wear—all
these things may demonstrate that you are either the receiver or sender of
messages.

Persuasion is a “transactional process between or among persons whereby

the management of symbolic meaning reconstructs reality, resulting in a
voluntary change in beliefs, attitudes, and/or behavior.” It not only “guides
personal behavior, but also serves to establish, modify, and maintain an
entire social system” (Johnston, 1994). Without persuasion, there will be
no marriages, education, and government. In other words, there will be
no society at all. Religious leaders convince people to embrace particular
belief systems like charismatic movements, Catholicism, or Protestantism.
Likewise, political leaders persuade people to support democracy or a
dictatorial form of government. Similarly, our educational system
encourages people to learn so that changes in their behaviors, attitudes,
and values be brought about. Commerce encourages fair exchange of
products, while trading negotiation is a form of persuasion.

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 Unit III Module 6 97

SAQ 6-1 Restless Eye Puzzle

Look for at least 12 terms that we have used in the preceding
discussions. These terms are important to language.

You may look for the terms horizontally, vertically, or diagonally

and encircle them.

C O M M U N I C A T I O N N R A P
N R A N R A R P R R P O R S R P E
B P N A N R A N R A I O M P O M R
E R P R N V L N V T R O L D A A S
H R O L D A P O A R R O L D A N U
A P L A L R H I M P N R A P P M A
V R D D A R T R P R S P P M R A S
I N O E N O R C A E A R A R L I
O R O L G R E H G X N R E T U A O
R A M E U O E A N C D U N N N N N
R N M A D S N I H L P I N R E N
S A N O G S O G N A T T I T U D E
R P R N E T R E V N R R P R N R A
P P M M R R P R R G E P E P E A N
P P M O R R R R B E L I E F T E N
M P P M T S R R A N T R A B C D E
P T E L E V I S I O N R E T R A C

Check them out in ASAQ 6-1.

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98 Social Science I

ASAQ 6-1 Restless Eye Puzzle

C O M M U N I C A T I O N P
O E
B I R
E T S
H A U
A L I A
V A T S S
I N O C E S I
O G H G X E O
R E U A C U N
N A S N H L
G S G A T T I T U D E
E E V N
M G
B E L I E F

T E L E V I S I O N

If you found all the words, Excellent! A score of 9-11 means Good.
A score of 8 and below means you have to look harder next time.

Persuasion: A Process
Persuasion is a process whose beginning and end cannot be distinctly
identified. It may also have its roots in an existing personality system un-
known to the persuader (Johnston, 1994). The individual may not be aware
of his or her capacity to persuade.

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We can cite the process of influencing children to illustrate the phenomenon

of persuasion. Children of working parents are left in the care of the yayas
(caretakers). In the morning, when the children’s parents have gone to
work, the children, together with the maids listen to soap operas over the
radio. While they may not actually see men fighting or women shouting
at the top of their voices, they may “visualize” the scenes over the radio.
They may even imitate the words or tone of voice of the characters.
Children are likely to imitate what they hear or see.

It is even possible that the yayas and other domestic helpers watch television
programs in the company of their wards. It may be possible too that the
children watch television programs while the maids go on with their work
or while they talk to friends over the phone.

Without realizing it, the maids, unconsciously persuade the children to

imbibe their values and even use the words they use. Parents who go
home when their children are already asleep and leave the house for work
before their children wake up, may not even notice changes in the latter’s
behavior and values. Sometimes, it may be too late to rectify the children’s
values, behaviors, and attitude. It is impossible to determine when the
process of persuasion begins and when it ends.

Persuasion is also “dynamic and fluid” (Johnston 1994). It involves two

or more persons who are continuously engaged in the shaping of meaning,
where the sender of the message influences the target of the message. In
the case of yayas and their wards, the continuous day to day contact
between them results in persuasion. The child who finds security and
comfort with the yaya develops a more intense relationship with the latter
than with the parents. If the parents allow the child to be with the yaya
most of the time, it is most likely that the child would internalize the yaya’s
values. In this case, the yaya participates in the child’s enculturation
(informal training).

Another important concept in persuasion is transaction. This term literally

means “change action.” Transaction cannot occur “if it had no effect
beyond the given action” (Johnston 1994). In persuasion, therefore,
transaction occurs only when the message sent to the target has an effect
or impact on the receiver.

For instance, if a television advertisement influences our buying behavior,

then it has a transactional effect on us. We respond to the said
advertisement by patronizing the product. The impact of such
advertisement on the transactional nature of persuasion may even change
our lifestyle. How does this occur? A television advertisement says, for
example, that oatmeal is good for the heart and that vegetables and fruits

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100 Social Science I

are also good for one’s body. A mother may insist that everyone eats oatmeal
for breakfast at least two times a week. Vegetables and fish are served at
least two or three times a week. Initially, the children’s reactions may be
negative but because there is nothing served but oatmeal for breakfast
and vegetables and fish for dinner, they may gradually get accustomed to
these. The mother, therefore, has sent a message to the children. The
transactional nature of persuasion takes place because the action of the
mother, i.e., changing the diet of the family is received by a reaction,
negative at the start and gradual acceptance later on.

One of the most significant characteristics of persuasion is that it is

voluntary. Persuasion differs from coercion, brainwashing, and mind
control because the latter involve involuntary change in behavior as well
as in thought.

Coercion occurs when an individual perceives that there is no other choice

but to comply. For instance, an employer threatens to fire an employee
who does not work overtime. Here, the person being coerced feels that
there is no other option but to comply.

To fully brainwash an individual, that is, change a person’s thought without

consent is impossible to achieve. Social scientists think that brainwashing
cannot take effect when a person has a strong sense of self-identity. When
a person has this, he or she becomes less susceptible to radical belief change
(Johnston 1994: 12).

Self-identity is nurtured since childhood by positive mirroring of the child’s

actions, thoughts, and feelings. A secure self-identity is the result of the
child’s five freedoms:

1. The freedom to experience the present;

2. The freedom to think one’s own thoughts;
3. The freedom to feel one’s own feelings;
4. The freedom to recognize one’s own thoughts; and
5. The freedom to reach one’s own potential (Johnston 1994: 12).

All these freedoms imply that children must be given independence of

thought rather than ordering them to experience certain thoughts, desires,
and feelings.

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SAQ 6-2
Let us test how well you remember the concepts introduced in this
module.

1. Define transaction, coercion; and brainwashing.

2. What differentiates persuasion from coercion and

brainwashing?

3. What are some of the characteristics of persuasion as a process?

4. What are the five freedoms that children enjoy? What do these
freedoms imply?

Compare your answers with those in ASAQ 6-2.

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ASAQ 6-2
1. a. Literally, it means to change action. It occurs when there is
an effect or impact on the individual – the target of the
message.
b. Coercion occurs when the individual perceives that he is
left with no option but to comply.
c. Brainwashing is a form of mind control when someone is
able to control the thoughts of an individual.

2. Persuasion is voluntary whereas coercion and brainwashing

imply involuntary change of thought.

3. a. Fluid and continual

b. Dynamic
c. Voluntary

4. a. Freedom to think our own thoughts

b. Freedom to experience the present
c. Freedom to feel our own experiences
d. Freedom to recognize our own thoughts
e. Freedom to reach one’s own potential

They imply independence of thought.

Functions of Communication
Persuasion will not be possible without the use of language. Language
makes it possible to communicate your message to your target (the other
person). Arnold and Bowers (as cited by Johnston, 1994) identify ten
functions of communication when applied to persuasion. These are:

1. Developing and altering self-images (persuading others to see you in a

favorable light);
2. Communicating information (persuading others to acquire new facts,
beliefs, and opinions);
3. Changing attitudes and gaining compliance (persuading others to
change their attitude or behavior);
4. Pleasing (persuading others that we seek to please them and want
them to do things that please us);
5. Interpersonal bonding (persuading others to befriend us);

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6. Formation of small groups (persuading members to follow our

leadership);
7. Organization ( persuading others to work toward a common goal);
8. Communication of values (i.e. persuading others to adopt our values);
9. Maintenance of public values (i.e. persuading others to adopt value
standards and enforce them at a societal level); and
10. Mobilizing action for social movements ( persuading people to give
money, time, votes, and/or their lives for a social cause).

You engage in self-image persuasion when you wear your best dress/suit
for a job interview. You do an informational persuasion when you provide
your friend a different approach in the preparation of her term paper or
provide the recent data on the subject. You may even engage in attitude-
change persuasion when you ask your friend to relax while doing the
paper. Persuasion for a pleasing function may occur when you motivate
your friend to take time out from writing the paper by going with you to
a movie. Persuasion by bonding may occur when you ask that friend to
stay with you overnight so that you can help in organizing the paper.

Small group organization, on the other hand, may be possible when you
call on the members of an organization for a meeting to get their support
for your leadership; organization may be your persuasive goal if you
encourage and motivate all the members to attend the annual meeting of
the organization. A seminar, as part of the annual meeting, where political
and religious leaders and academicians are invited to discuss issues is
likely to involve value persuasion. Lastly, your wake up call on the members
of the organization to help in combating drug use, child abuse, graft and
corruption, may be considered as an action mobilization function (Johnston
1994: 22).

Symbols
Symbols are part of language and a component of persuasion. A symbol
“is something used to represent a person, place or thing, or idea” (Johnston
1994). Like communication, symbols may be both verbal and non-verbal.
Symbols are important because they enable you to communicate and send
messages to others.

Symbols have three important characteristics:

1. Symbols have cognitive functions–how symbols enable us to think;

2. Symbols have different types–how symbols vary; and
3. There is relationship between symbols and meanings (Johnston 1994:
78).

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Cognitive functions of symbols

Symbols have cognitive aspects.

1. Symbols permit people to communicate about objects that are not

present. For instance, I can tell you what I saw when I visited the
Epcot Center in Orlando, Florida, U.S.A. even if I had gone there two
years ago and even if we are conversing in the Philippines. This is
possible because the use of symbols allow people to “communicate
across barriers of time and space” (Johnston 1994: 79).

2. Symbols allow people to enrich their knowledge and understanding

of things and events. Through symbols people can create objects that
remain only in the imagination. For instance, justice is represented by
a woman who is blindfolded; the EDSA Revolution of 1986 symbolizes
freedom for many Filipinos and the restoration of democracy; and the
flag symbolizes the Filipino identity and unity. Can you think of other
symbols that exist only in our imagination?

3. Symbols allow us to engage and develop abstract thinking. For instance,

townhouses, condominiums and single detached homes are specific
examples of houses. The use of symbols allows us to create categories
by using the abstract term “house” to represent different types of living
quarters in the Philippines.

Abstraction also enables us to make comparisons within and between

categories (the difference between a townhouse and a condominium
and how they are different from other building structures found in
our country). But more importantly, abstract symbols help us make
decisions. When you see a snake coiled around a tree, your tendency
is to run and save yourself. You may not even have the time to
determine what type of snake you saw.

4. Symbols allow us to establish shared social reality. Because we belong

to one nation, we can therefore identify the same symbols and attribute
the same meanings. As Filipinos, we often share a view of reality based
on common meanings for particular symbols (Johnston, 1994: 79). For
instance, we can identify with the jeepney strike as a protest for the
continuing rise of oil prices. The Mindanao crises are not just about
differences in religious beliefs between Muslims and Christians. They
symbolize the desire of Muslims for a true and genuine autonomous
government.

Before proceeding to the other characteristics, let us test how much you
have understood what we have been discussing.

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Activity 6-2
1. Can you think of an example similar to those given in the
previous pages to illustrate the functions of communication.

2. You have read our discussion on the cognitive aspect of

communication. Can you provide examples showing these
features?

a. Symbols that enable us to communicate with others even if

the objects are not present;

b. Symbols that enable us to accumulate knowledge and

understanding;

c. Symbols that allow us to use abstract thought; and

d. Symbols that allow people to establish shared social reality.

If you read the lesson carefully, it will be very easy for you to give
concrete examples.

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Variations of Symbols
There are three forms of symbols:

1. Verbal symbols refer to the use of words and utterances which are
considered as basic units of language. Verbal symbols are valuable in
writing narratives, stories, and persuasive speaking.

2. Sensory symbols “invoke our senses to produce a vicarious experience”

(Johnston 1994). Our senses for smelling, seeing, and hearing remind
us of some absent or present concepts. For instance, the aroma of the
adobo cooked by your mother whenever you go home represents your
memories of your mother. When you hear a love song played over the
radio, you remember a romantic episode of your life.

3. Conceptual symbols represent abstract ideas. The sampaguita

symbolizes purity and chastity; purple symbolizes royalty; frog
symbolizes wealth and good luck. Conceptual symbols are often
“combined with verbal and sensory symbols” (Johnston 1994). But
the most important function of a conceptual symbol is to stimulate
and generate ideas.

Symbols and meaning

Symbols may represent various meanings depending on the motives of
the speaker. The words used and the emotional reactions they generate,
or the interpretations by the receiver and the culture in which these
symbols are understood, may determine the meanings attributed to the
symbols. There are a number of ways by which symbols can be interpreted,
because “meanings do not reside in a given symbol or the content of a
message” (Johnston 1994). The same symbols may be interpreted by
different people; hence, meanings reside in people, not in symbols or
messages. In assigning meanings to symbols, there are two guidelines that
we need to remember: “the connotative or denotative meanings of the
symbols used and the speech acts in which they are used” (Johnston 1994).

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Connotative and denotative meanings

When we consider the term home and look for its definition in the
dictionary, it means “a place where one resides; a household or life around
it.” This is the denotative meaning of the home – that is, the literal definition
(Johnston 1994: 83). But the meanings or the symbols we assign to a place
called home vary. This is the connotative meaning which may imply the
“emotional baggage that accompanies the literal definition” (Johnston
1994: 83). The connotative meanings of a home, therefore, may include:
symbols of love, warmth, and security where parents shower their children
with attention, a place where one seeks solace and comfort when one
feels lonely and depressed; a place where one can turn to in time of
problems and crises; a place where one can get emotional, financial, and
social support.

In effect, one has to remember that individuals may assign the same
denotative meanings for a symbol or word but the connotative meanings
vary among people. There are a number of connotative meanings that the
sender and receiver can create out of the symbols. Meanings do not reside
in the symbols themselves (Johnston 1994: 83).

Speech acts

Speech acts demonstrate how individuals can influence the meanings of

symbols. Examples of speech acts are making questions, statements,
requests, promises, and commands. A change in voice inflection can vary
the meanings of symbols. For instance, a change in tone can transform a
request into a command (Johnston 1994). The request to pass the rice, for
example, when said in a soft tone implies a request. But the same request
said in an angry tone and in a loud voice means that the person is angry
and therefore commanding the other person to do the act.

Among Filipino teenagers, the use of the term “ganoon?” “Oh, yah” after
hearing a speech is quite irritating. It connotes sarcasm, probably because
of the manner it is said. It is not the word itself that makes one
uncomfortable after hearing the word but the way it is said.

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SAQ 6-3
Let us find out how much you remember about our discussion:

Identify, enumerate or define the following:

Answer these questions as accurately but as briefly as possible:

1. What are the symbols which use words and utterances?

2. What is the meaning of a word?

3. What is the emotional baggage that accompanies the literal

meaning of symbols?

4. What is the meaning of the phrase: “Meanings reside in people

not in the symbol itself.”

5. Give three examples of speech acts.

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ASAQ 6-3
1. Verbal symbols
2. Denotative means literal meaning
3. Connotative
4. That people assign meanings and interpretations to different
symbols. People create meanings.
5. a. Question
b. Request
c. Command

Language and Adaptation

Language is a major adaptive advantage that differentiates Homo sapiens
from other species and has been partially responsible for the evolutionary
success of humans. It is important to remember that no one can claim that
one’s language is far more superior than others, similar to the contention
of the anthropologists that there is no such thing as a superior culture.

“The doctrine of linguistic relativity states that all known languages and
dialects are effective means of communication” (Kottak 1994). This
contradicts the contentions held by certain cultural groups such as that of
the French who consider their language more appropriate for civilized
conversation, or the British and the Americans who assert the superiority
of their language for commercial negotiations. These claims reflect cultural
rather than linguistic facts (Kottak 1994: 437). They originate in world
politics and economy rather than an inherent linguistic property. In
creating a nation state, and thereafter a world empire, the French,
Spaniards, and the Americans spread their language. Language to them
connotes power. The conquered are subordinated completely because of
the internalization not only of their language but also of their culture.
This is what cultural imperialism is all about. The conquerors impose their
language on countries they conquer. They say their main objective is to
civilize the conquered and in effect, impress upon them their language as
if their language is civilization in itself.

The present use and distribution of language are attributed to factors other
than language itself. English is the lingua franca of the British, Americans,
Australian, New Zealanders, and many South Africans because of English
colonization and conquest (Kottak 1994). The success of this colonization
has nothing to do with language but weapons, ships, commerce, and socio-
political organization play decisive roles.

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Languages, are flexible, capable of adopting new terms, borrowing words

from foreign language, integrating these in the vocabulary and in the
process creating new impressions. Languages are able to adjust to rapid
cultural changes. But the core of a language remains intact in spite of the
revolutionary changes that the speakers might have undergone.

Gender Speech Contrasts

Gender is a cultural rather than biological difference. Culture therefore,
defines differences between males and females, not only in the status and
roles they assume in society but also the language/vocabulary they utter
or use in their day to day activities.

Men’s vocabularies and tone of voice are different from those of women.
It is often acceptable for men to say vulgar words and even invectives
because they are men. This is condoned by society because men must be
virile and macho. They must show force and power not only in their
behavior but also in speech. Women, on the other hand, must at all times
be modest and discreet not only in their actions but also in the kinds of
words they use when conversing with someone in public. They must choose
their words and must always speak in a low voice and tone. They must
not attract attention. Again, these expectations are cultural and not
attributed to language per se.

The vocabularies of both men and women do reflect their family

background, breeding, and educational training. In some families, there
are no gender speech contrasts in that both males and females are expected
to use polite words, particularly in the presence of their parents, older
relatives, and friends of their parents. This is to demonstrate deference to
older people. However, when in the company of their peers, they may
utter invectives and speak in loud voices – not that they disregard propriety
but this behavior can be tolerated because they are with their friends.
Similarly, older people are expected to behave properly and mince their
words, particularly when their young children are around because to the
latter, they are role models.

Based on research I conducted among urban poor dwellers in four slum

communities in Metro Manila, I observed the lack of gender speech contrasts
among the dwellers even in terms of generation differences (involving old
and young people). Men speak loudly and use invectives when calling
children or when talking with friends. This is done to assert power and
dominance not only over children but also their peers. This is a defense
mechanism particularly for the jobless. They want to impress that being

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economically dependent on their wives will not mean subordination of

their power as heads of their families. Some women speak in loud voices
too because they are the principal breadwinners of their respective families.
They engage in verbal tussles with their husbands. They shout litanies of
their husbands’ sins of omission particularly their inabilities to support
their families. They do not mince words so that family secrets are known
to the entire community. Other women, however, do not have the guts to
hurl invectives at their husbands, in spite of the fact that they are the
main economic providers of the family. Often, they are physically,
emotionally, and “verbally” battered.

Children as young as seven or eight years old would readily shout curse
words when they feel cheated by playmates or when their friends are
putting one over them. Perhaps, this is a form of adaptation, in that early
on children are made to understand that in order to survive, they need to
be assertive. Language is one of the ways by which they can communicate
their rights. The kind of language used and the speech acts employed can
bring across the right message from the point of view of the sender.

The vocabulary used in certain areas like the slum communities, lend or
contribute to the uniqueness of the place and the residents as well. Among
the slum dwellers, they use the term pokpok to refer to girls with loose
moral character. Have you heard this term spoken or mentioned by your
friends in the community? If you have, then perhaps, I may be wrong in
concluding that this term is exclusively used by the slum dwellers.

It has been said that people in a subcuture will have the tendency to use
vocabularies not found in the national language. The word pokpok, as
mentioned earlier, I suppose is not known to everyone of you. Even the
terms waswit, watiwat (meaning spouse – husband or wife) are not part of
the vocabulary of the Filipino language.

I presume that the term pokpok as used by the slum dwellers serve as some
kind of an informal means of social control. This term is a warning to girls
that should they defy cultural norm, the term will be applied to them.
They will be ostracized and become the subject of gossip in the community.
Again, such an unsavory term extends to parents who are unable to
enculturate their children properly. The terms watiwat and waswit, I
suppose, are terms of endearment and not derogatory by themselves.
Although, in more formal conversation and interviews held in the
community, maybahay (wife) is a reference term for the wife and aking tao
(roughly translated, my man) refers to the husband. The term maybahay is
an appropriate term for a housewife, being a homemaker with domestic
responsibilities.

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If the slum dwellers or urban poor constitute a subculture, youth, women,

the educated class, the middle class, gays, and showbiz personalities also
have their own subcultures. They too have their own lingos – unique
languages which also enable them to communicate, negotiate, and socialize
among themselves. The youth, for instance, have their own vocabulary.
What is interesting about the words used by the youth is the fact that they
have gone through periods of change or evolution. As Kottak puts it, “only
when features of speech acquire social meaning are they imitated. If they
are valued, they spread” (Kottak 1994).

Activity 6-4
1. List down some of the terms that you and your friends
commonly use in your daily conversation.

2. Find out if some of these terms are used by your parents and
older relatives. Do you find any difference between the terms
that you and your friends use and those used by the elders?
Why do you think the terms used are different?

3. Observe your brothers, male cousins, and father in their

relationships with the opposite sex. Have you noticed any
gender speech contrasts, similar to those I mentioned in the
module? What are these differences?

Write all your answers in a separate sheet. Remember there are no

correct answers because they are based on your observation. Your
answers can enrich our discussion.

Summary
This module introduced you to language. However, I refrained from
covering everything since my intention is for you to have an idea about
how a person uses language as an adaptive strategy.

Persuasion, as a form of sending and receiving messages, has been included

because humans are influenced by it. Television and radio advertisements,
and billboards are familiar to all of us. Unconsciously, humans respond to
these advertisements by patronizing the products being endorsed.

Sociolinguistics,* in its elementary level, was also included in our discussion

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in order to cite examples that are familiar to you. In the module, I preferred
to present cases which are found in the Philippines and the sociolinguistic
aspects are the most appropriate examples.

References

Diamond, Jared M. 1997. Reinventions of Human Language. In Through

the Looking Glass. Readings in Anthropology. David Carlson and Vaughn
M. Bryant (eds.) New York: McGraw Hill and Co.
Kottak, Conrad Phillip. 1994. Anthropology: The Exploration of Human
Diversity. New York: McGraw Hill & Co.
Johnston, Deidre D. 1994. The Art and Science of Persuasion. New York:
Brown and Benchmark.

*
Sociolinguistics is the study of the effect of any and all aspects of society, including
cultural norms, expectations, and context, on the way language is used (http://
www.reference.com, accessed November 23, 2005).

UP Open University
 Unit IV
Socialization
 Module 7
Social Stratification
Ma. Glenda Lopez Wui and Realidad Rolda

A s mentioned in the previous module,

changes in social relations appear as a
society develops technologically. Attendant
Objectives
to this growing complexity in social relations After working on this
is the increasing differentiation of members module, you should be able
based on sex, physical strength, and skills to:
among others. Hence, you can see for
example that individuals in industrial 1. Discuss the concept of
societies are more differentiated than those and theories on social
in horticultural societies. The result of this stratification;
differentiation is inequality. “Social 2. Explain why social
inequality exists when people’s access to stratification persists;
social rewards (such as money influence, or and
respect) is determined by their personal or 3. Discuss examples of
group characteristics”(Robertson, 1981). social stratification in
Philippine society.
We hope this module will stimulate your
interest in examining social inequalities in Philippine society. The study of
social stratification is important because if you look at history, “social
stratification has been a source of tension, revolutions, and social change.
It has generated bloody conflict between slave and master, peasant and
noble, worker and capitalist, poor and rich”(Robertson, 1981). Sociologists
are particularly interested in the study of social stratification not only
because it can lead to conflict and change but also because every aspect of
our lives is related to our standing in the social hierarchy. For instance
“our scores on IQ tests, our educational achievements, the size of our
118 Social Science I

families, our standards of nutrition and health care, the likelihood that
we will be imprisoned or committed to a mental institution, our tastes in
literature and art”(Robertson, 1981), are all related to our status in the
social hierarchy.

Activity 7-1
Before we proceed with our discussion, go visit the website of
Wikipedia at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_stratification,
and answer the following questions:

1. What is social stratification?

2. What are the four main principles related to social stratification?

1. Social stratification is a sociological term for the hierarchical

arrangement of social classes, castes, and strata within a society. While
these hierarchies are not universal to all societies, they are the norm
among state-level cultures (as distinguished from hunter-gatherers or
other social arrangements).

2. The four main principles related to social stratification are:

a. Stratification is a trait of the society, not the individual. No one

person creates stratification even though it shapes all of us.

b. Social stratification persists through generations. In most stratified

societies, children will always belong to the same class, caste or
social strata as their parents. However, in western societies this
has started to change due to the introduction of more social mobility
or the movement from one status to another.

c. Stratification is extremely variable in how it orders people. Most

cultures place at least some emphasis on economic standing
(wealth), but some consider religious or social standing to be more
important.

d. Stratification is instrumental in the belief-forming process.

Stratification not only places some people above others, it provides
legitimacy for the claim. This point will be elaborated later on when
we take up Marx’s notion of ideology.

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Characteristics of Social Stratification

Aside from those enumerated earlier, Tumin offers the following attributes
of social stratification (1967:13):

1. It is social, i.e. patterned in character.

2. It is ancient, it is found in all societies.
3. It is ubiquitous.
4. It is diverse in form.
5. It is consequential.

The social patterning of stratification is definitely oriented on social rather

than biological differences. While primitive and other societies recognize
age, sex, intelligence, and physical strength as some of the bases for
assigning more power, prestige, and property to certain individuals, the
emphasis here is more on “having the socially defined, right kind and
amount of education, training, skills, personality character, and the like”
(Tumin 1967).

The setting up of norms and rules, particularly in the distribution of

rewards in any community is important in explaining the social aspect of
stratification. Norms and rules not only serve as guidelines but also provide
uniform criteria, particularly in the distribution of rewards and recognition.
A fair and objective evaluation of an employee’s performance may be
provided through a just set of criteria for promotion even if equality is an
impossibility. Moreover, if people are firm and consistent in respecting
norms and rules in evaluating people’s performances for possible
recognition, there is no cause for members to object or even question the
decision. These norms and rules are set for everyone to recognize and
follow and are therefore, also important in the social patterning of
stratification.

Social stratification is as old as society itself. No matter how primitive the

group is, there existed a way or procedure for differentiating the members
from each other. Age and sex are used universally as the basis for social
differentiation, but the skills and abilities, and capabilities of the individuals
are also recognized and are therefore used as indices for stratification.
Among the primitive groups, however, stratification is not well defined;
there is social differentiation but not division into strata (e.g. economic
class).

Some historical as well as archeological data attest to the presence of

stratification as early as 12,000 to 15,000 years ago with the origin of
preindustrial cities. The rural people were classified as farmers and were
therefore responsible for agricultural work, while the landlords who owned

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the land that the farmers tilled stayed in the city where they rubbed elbows
with the elite. Thus, they were accorded the same prestige as the latter
because of the real property they possessed. The lifestyle of the urbanites
was different from that of the rural residents, manifesting the presence of
stratification in the past.

The ubiquity of stratification is somehow related to the concept of antiquity

in that it has persisted through time. Stratification is not only evident in
the classification of people into different strata like the elite, middle class,
the lower class, the urban poor, the haves and the have nots, but of nations
too as they are categorized as First World, Second World, and Third World
countries.

The diversity of form and amount of stratification is embodied in such

terms as class, caste, and estate (Tumin 1967). In these terms are found
the various rights, obligations, norms and expectations of the group. People
are not only grouped according to these categories but their classification
into ethnic groups also contributes to differential treatment from other
groups. Some ethnic groups are considered superior to others and therefore
not only powerful but also prestigious.

Tumin classified the consequentiality of stratification into: life chances

and lifestyles (1967:18). He defined life chances as those things which
have reference to the rates and incidences of “infant mortality, longevity,
physical and mental illness, childlessness, marital conflict, separation, and
divorce’ (Tumin 1967:18). Lifestyles, on the other hand, refer to the type
of houses and the community where one resides; the kind of recreational
activities that one engages in; the books, magazines, cultural presentations
that one gets exposed to; and the kinds of dresses and shoes that one
wears. These are some of the ways by which one’s lifestyle can be rated as
good and even better than the others. For Tumin, “life chances are much
more involuntary and impersonally determined, while lifestyles reflect
differences in preferences, tastes, and values” (1967:18).

The problematique of social class

Social class “describes the relationships between people in hierarchical
societies or cultures.” In sociology, there are different schools of thought
on what constitute social class, but “when sociologists speak of `class’ in
modern society they usually mean economically-based classes.”
Discussions on social class usually focus on how “social classes with more
power usually subordinate classes with less power” (http://
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_stratification). To know more about the
topic, let us study the sociological discourses of Karl Marx and Max Weber
on social class.

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Marx defined a class as “all those people who share a common relationship
to the means of economic production.” He classified people according to
those belonging to the dominant and subordinate classes. Found in the
dominant class are “those who own and control the means of production—
shareholders, feudal landowners, or the owners of property such as
factories and capital.” Those belonging to the subordinate class are people
who work for the dominant class, namely the slaves, peasants, or industrial
laborers. In addition to inequality, the relationship between the classes is
characterized by exploitation “because the dominant class takes unfair
advantage of the subordinate one.” Although the workers are able to
produce surplus wealth (in the form of goods and services) or more than
what they need for their basic needs, however, they do not benefit at all
from the surplus. Only those who own the means of production ‘profit’
from the surplus. According to Marx, this “is the essence of exploitation
and the main source of conflict between the classes that has occurred
throughout history” (Robertson, 1981).

Sociologists still find Marx’s analysis useful up to this day especially when
they use the concept of class “to refer to a category of people who has
control over and access to economic resources.” But the analysis can be
problematic when applied to present-day advanced industrial societies,
which have become much different from the industrial societies that Marx
wrote about.

For instance, large corporations now manage most industries, “which are
owned by thousands or even hundreds of thousands of stockholders but
are controlled by salaried managers.” This therefore separates the
ownership and control of the means of production. This arrangement has
given rise to a “new class” of executives, technicians, scientists and other
professionals. However, since these people “who control the means of
production do not own it, Marx’s definition does not help very much in
determining their social class” (Robertson, 1981). The following are other
problematic cases that do not satisfactorily fit into the Marxist analysis of
social class.

What is the social class of a dropout, who owns or controls the

means of production but does not work? What is the social class of
an impoverished member of the European aristocracy, who enjoys
high social prestige because of ancestry rather than any relationship
to the means of production? … In Cambridge, Massachusetts,
police officers are paid more than assistant professors at Harvard
University in the same city. How do we assess the relative statuses
when the police officers have more income but considerably less
prestige and influence than the professors? (Robertson, 1981)

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Max Weber’s analysis addresses these gaps in Marx’s class distinction.

His approach is “multi-dimensional” wherein the single concept of class
is broken into “three distinct but related elements.” These three are:
political status or power, economic status or wealth, and social status or
prestige. A person may have political power but little wealth, or may be
very wealthy but have no prestige, or may enjoy prestige but impoverished.
In deciding the social class of the person, we should therefore rank her or
him in all three dimensions. Although power, wealth and prestige can be
independent of each other, they are usually closely associated in reality
for the reason that one can be used to acquire the other. For instance,
wealth can be used to acquire power or prestige.

However, although prestige is closely linked to the income of workers in

different occupations, there are exceptions. For instance, in prestige ratings
of different professions, it was found out that although teachers and
ministers earn relatively low incomes, they tend “to draw their prestige
from their professional identity and educational achievement rather than
their income” (Robertson, 1981). Is this true in Philippine society?

Kinds of Social Stratification

Systems of stratification differ from one society to another. The way
contemporary society is stratified is different from the way feudal
European (with its lords, clergy or peasants) or the way pre-colonial
Philippine society was stratified (with its maharlika or nobles and alipin or
slaves). A system of stratification may be either closed or open.

Closed system
In a closed system, the boundaries are clearly drawn and people cannot
change their statuses because these are usually determined at birth. The
lifelong status is usually ascribed based on skin color or ancestry. The
closed system of stratification is also called a caste system. Because the
statuses are determined at birth, they are obviously the same as one’s
parents’. Statuses in a closed system are ascribed because they are given
to people based on classification that they cannot control. A common
characteristic of caste systems is that they are endogamous, which means
that intermarriage between classes are not allowed. Endogamy keeps the
classification between the strata because “it prevents the confusion that
would arise if a person were born to parents of different castes” (Robertson,
1981). Another characteristic of the caste system is that people are grouped
according to their occupations.

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Caste-based societies as broadly understood existed in South Africa during

the era of apartheid, the practice of slavery in the antebellum (before the
civil war) South of the United States, and colonial Latin America under
Spanish and Portuguese rule. The most well-known caste system today is
the Indian Varna system. Caste is not unique to Hinduism. Apart from
India, caste systems are still evident in other parts of South Asia, and
some countries in Africa have equivalents of the Varna system’s
untouchables (Dalit) among their population (http://en.wikipedia.org/
wiki/Caste_system).

Activity 7-2
To find out more about India’s caste system, go to the Wikipedia
Encyclopedia’s website at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Caste_system, and answer the following:

1. What is the Indian caste system? What are the different classes
in the caste?
2. How is stratification practiced in the system?
3. What are the actions of the Indian government regarding the
caste system?

1. Indian caste system is basically a simple division of society into four

castes or Varnas (Brahmin, Kshatriya, Vaishya and Sudra) arranged
according to their function in Indian society. The four varnas by which
the function of Indian society has been grouped cannot be identified
with the color of the human skin (although Varna literally means
“color”), but by its “quality” or functions in the pan-Indian sense.
Beyond these four castes were the panchamas (or fifths). These groups
were regarded as impure due to their traditional occupations of
handling impure substances and therefore were “Untouchable” (Dalit)
outcastes until a few decades ago.

2. Matrimony between members of different castes is still looked down

upon. Hence, intercaste marriages are very rare. Atrocities are also at
times committed against members of lower caste especially in many
economically backward states and isolated rural districts.

3. The Indian government legally forbids the practice of caste-based

discrimination. The historic lower castes are provided opportunities
through a system called “reservations,” in which they are provided
with quotas in jobs and education. Between 20-25% of all opportunities
in higher education are reserved for the so called “scheduled castes”
and other “backward castes.”

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Open system
In an open system, the boundaries between the strata are not as defined as
those in the closed system. One’s status does not usually depend on the parents
but the “economic position of the social class“ (Robertson, 1981). Moreover,
people are not formally restricted to marry outside their classes. Status in a
class society is partly achieved for “it depends to some extent on characteristics
over which the individual has some control” (Robertson, 1981).

The open type of stratification is also called a class system. Class systems
exist in many agricultural and industrial societies. In agricultural societies,
such as those found in feudal Europe and presently in many third world
countries, there are usually two main classes: the wealthy class of
landowners and the poor class of peasants. In industrial societies, there
are usually three main classes: “an elite upper class, a fairly large middle
class of professionals and skilled white-collar workers, and a large working
class of less skilled workers” (Robertson, 1981).

However, despite the presence of greater social mobility, there is still a

great deal of ascribed status in an open system. Even in the most open
systems, “some people are trapped in a particular class because of
characteristics, such as skin color or the poverty of their parents, over
which they have no control” (Robertson, 1981).

Activity 7-3
Examine the Philippines’ system of stratification. Do you agree
that even though the Philippines basically exhibits the open system,
ascribed status is still very much observed? Why?

Why are societies stratified?

Sociologists usually refer to two perspectives—functionalist and conflict
—to explain why stratification occurs. Recently, a third perspective—the
evolutionary approach, which combines some elements of the two—was
formulated to explain why societies are stratified.

Functionalist theory argues that “elements in culture and social structure

have effects, or functions, that contribute to the stability and survival of
society as a whole. Functionalists therefore argue that if stratification is
universal, it must have some useful function in maintaining societies”
(Robertson, 1981).

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Kingley Davis and Wilbert Moore (1945) wrote about the functions of
stratification using the functionalist approach. According to Davis and
Moore, for society to function effectively, it must be able to attract talented
people to fulfill important roles. “The roles that require scarce talents or
lengthy training usually involve stress, considerable sacrifice, and heavy
responsibilities.” These roles must therefore offer power, prestige, or some
combination of the three to provide incentives for individuals to take them.
This unequal distribution of social rewards inevitably results in social
stratification.

But critics brand the theory as not being in touch with reality. For example,
inheritors of family fortunes who do not work and have no value to society
are rewarded. Movie stars, who arguably have less value to society, earn
more than a country’s president, whose role is much more important. The
functionalist approach is most problematic in caste societies where social
status is inherited rather than achieved. In caste societies, “social
stratification does not function to ensure that the ablest people train for
and fill the most important roles. It functions to ensure that most people
stay where they are” (Robertson, 1981).

Conflict theorists totally reject the functionalist view of society as a

“balanced system whose various features contribute to overall social
stability.” The conflict perspective, following Marx’s view, regard history
as “essentially the story of class conflict between the exploiters and the
exploited” wherein social stratification is “created and maintained by one
group in order to protect and enhance its economic interests. Stratification
exists because the rich and powerful are determined to preserve their
advantages” (Robertson, 1981).

Marx’s theory, however, has been discredited by some sociologists because

of some predictions that did not come to pass. For instance, revolutions
did not take place in highly industrialized societies like England but took
place in advanced agricultural societies like China, Russia and Cuba. In
addition, communism in these countries did not work for the welfare of
the masses, contrary to what Marx envisioned. Also, he did not foresee
that capitalists would be replaced by corporations or that industrialism
would give rise to the middle class.

In recent times, however, there is renewed interest in Marx’s theory. In

spite of his failed prophesies, Marx’s insights cannot just be dismissed, in
particular the insight “that conflict over scarce resources leads to the
creation of caste and class systems and that in every case the interests of
the dominant class are served by the ideology and the power of the state”
(Robertson, 1981). From the conflict perspective, therefore, stratification
is not a functional necessity at all.

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Gerhard Lenski attempted to synthesize the functionalist and conflict

perspectives. In essence, Lenski argues that “the basic resources a society
needs in order to survive are allocated in the way the functionalists claim
they are—that is, to match scarce talents with important roles. But Lenski
maintains that society’s surplus resources—those not needed for survival—
are distributed through conflict among competing groups” (Robertson,
1981). The theory also posits that: “Since the demand for most of the
things that people want exceeds the supply, there will in all societies
inevitably be some conflict over the distribution of these rewards. And
because people are unequally equipped for the competitive struggle, social
inequalities will also be functional for society” (Robertson, 1981).

Lenski also traces the evolution of social stratification, illustrating how

the form it takes is related to the society’s means of production. In hunting
and gathering societies, stratification is absent. As society advances to the
next level of development, stratification becomes more pronounced. The
gap between the rich and poor is very pronounced in the early stages of
industrialism. This gap, however, narrows in advanced industrial societies.
This is because “in the more advanced industrial societies…, the rate of
social mobility increases as a variety of new jobs is created. The lower
class shrinks in size, and the middle class expands rapidly because the
entire society shares, however unequally, the great wealth that
industrialism produces” (Robertson, 1981).

Lenski nonetheless accepts that there may be exemptions in the general

trend he outlined. He notes that “independent factors such as external
threats or the role of particular leaders may have an impact on the way
stratification systems evolve. In general however he believes that the long
term trend in all industrial societies will be toward less inequality”
(Robertson, 1981). Do you agree?

Activity 7-4
Which of the three theories can you use to explain why stratification
is present Philippine society? Explain your answer.

Why stratification persists

Based on the Marxist analysis, the system survives because the majority of
people view it as legitimate —meaning, it is valid and justified. Although
the elite can apply force to maintain inequality, most stratification systems

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survive without the use of force. This is because “the inequality is usually
taken for granted and regarded as `natural’ by all concerned. The
legitimacy of the system rests on its habitual, unthinking acceptance by
the people—the subordinate as well as the dominant strata” (Robertson,
1981).

Ideology is used to justify a political or social system. Ideology is defined

as “a set of beliefs that explains and justifies a given social system”
(Robertson, 1981). It was Karl Marx who explained the role of ideologies
in legitimating social stratification, by arguing thus:

The dominant ideology in any society is always the ideology of the

ruling class, and it always justifies that class’ economic interests.
Of course, other ideologies may exist in a society, but none of them
can ever become dominant or widely accepted unless the class
that holds it, and whose interests it justifies, becomes the controlling
class (Robertson, 1981).

So how does the subordinate group accept the legitimacy of the system?
Marx attributed this acceptance to the phenomenon called false
consciousness or the “subjective understanding that does not accord with
the objective facts of one’s situation.” Because of false consciousness, the
oppressed class is unable to realize that “the life chances of its individual
members are linked to their common circumstances as an exploited group.
Instead, they attribute their low status to fate, luck, the will of God, or
other factors beyond their control.” But when does the subordinate class
begin to question the legitimacy of the exploitative system? This can only
happen if they gain class consciousness or “an objective awareness of
their common exploitation by the dominant stratum.” With this, the
subordinate class will “develop a new ideology, one that justifies their
own interests and consequently seems revolutionary to the dominant class.”
Class conflict ensues after this.

In modern societies, Robertson (1981) discusses other means of legitimizing

stratification by examining American society. The American ideology
legitimizes stratification through the system of providing incentives and
rewards. The class system is “legitimated by the belief (though not the
fact) that people have an equal opportunity to improve their status.”
Through hard work, everyone has the equal chance to improve his or her
lot. Those who remain poor have only themselves or bad luck to blame.
The American who becomes a “failure” does not blame the system itself.
Can you relate with the American ideology? Is this also prevalent in the
Philippines?

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Do you still remember our lesson on sociological imagination? Sociological

imagination enables us to understand the connection between personal
problems and larger social issues. If we relate the concept to our lesson
here, we can say that sociological imagination can help us critically examine
the legitimization of ideologies. An individual who has sociological
imagination will not out rightly dismiss ‘failures’ to personal inadequacies
but would rather relate the problem to larger social issues. With the
capability to appreciate the connection, the individual is able to critically
examine and will not readily embrace ideologies that perpetuate
stratification.

Activity 7-5
Examine our system of stratification. How is stratification
legitimized in Philippine society? Can you apply the Marxist notion
of ideology in your analysis? Explain.

References

Davis, Kingley & Wilbert E. Moore. 1945. Some Principles of Stratification.

In American Sociological Review Volume 18(4), cited in Robertson, Ian.
1981. Sociology 2nd ed. New York: Worth Publishers, Inc.
Robertson, Ian. 1981. Sociology 2nd ed. New York: Worth Publishers, Inc.
Tumin, Melvin. 1967. Social Stratification. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey:
Prentice-Hall, Inc.
Wikipedia Encyclopedia website at http://en.wikipedia.org.

UP Open University
 Module 8
Aims of Socialization
Elizabeth Ventura
with Ma. Glenda Lopez Wui

A fter the previous unit on adaptation

where we studied how individuals
adapt to their environment and the effects
Objectives
of the adaptation process on the individual, After working on this
you are now ready for the subject of module, you should be able
socialization. In this unit on socialization to:
you will study how people learn about the
way of life of society and how they acquire 1. Explain socialization;
their personalities in the process. 2. Identify the aims of
socialization in Philippine
The human personality is a compromise society;
between the individual’s own impulses and 3. Explain the role of each
the demands and interests of other people. agent of socialization; and
These demands of other people are 4. Discuss cases to
represented collectively by the institutions demonstrate how the
and cultural patterns to which the process of socialization
individual is exposed, and the process works.
whereby his or her own impulses are
compromised by these forces is referred to
as the socialization process.

Socialization is the “process of social interaction through which people

acquire personality and learn the way of life of their society.” Socialization
is the vital link between individual and society. It is likewise essential for
the survival of individual and society. Why is this so? This is because it is
through socialization that the individual learns the “norms, values,
130 Social Science I

language, skills, beliefs, and other patterns of thought and action that are
essential for social living.” At the same time, socialization enables society
to “reproduce itself socially as well as biologically, thus ensuring its
continuity from generation to generation” (Robertson 1981).

The individual personality is an important outcome of socialization.

Personality “refers to the fairly stable patterns of thought, feeling and
action that are typical of an individual.” An individual’s personality is
primarily a product of socialization. Although individuals may be born
with the potential to become a math genius or an entertainer, what they
will actually become is a result of socialization.

Social interaction takes place in the context of the norms and values of a
culture. Hence, the content of socialization and the personality types that
are admired and imitated vary from culture to culture. Likewise, there
are characteristic personality traits in every society. These specific traits
come about because of the “common experience of socialization” which
is unique in every culture. Can you identify personality traits that are
unique in specific cultures, say among the Chinese or the Britons?

Nonetheless, each person in every society is different. The socialization

process that occurs within the sub-cultures of family, friends, class, race,
religion, and region accounts for this variation. Hence, even though we
are born and live in a society, the values and norms of our sub-cultures
have greater influence on the eventual outcome of our personality traits.
We can therefore say that the socialization process “helps to explain both
the general similarities in personality and social behavior within a society
and the many differences that exist between one person and another”
(Robertson 1981).

Activity 8-1
Can you identify personality traits that are common among
Filipinos? Which of these traits do you posses? Which of these traits
you do not possess?

Remember that although traits that are distinctly Filipino can be

identified, you may still deviate from these traits because of your
distinct experiences within your sub-cultures.

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Aims of Socialization
In every culture, socialization has specific aims which may be summarized
as follows:

1. To impart the aspirations of society

By aspirations, we mean what we as a people would like to achieve
(for example, freedom, democracy, prosperity, social justice, etc.).

2. To teach the fulfillment of roles

For example, in order to fulfill your role as a student, son or daughter
you have to be aware of expectations and acceptable behavior
associated with these roles. Interactions within the family and
educational institutions convey these expectations and provide support
for their fulfillment.

3. To impart skills important for society

Basic education aims to increase levels of literacy (understanding what
you read, and communication your ideas) as well as numeracy
(knowing how to deal with quantities or numbers). These basic skills
are key elements in becoming a productive member of society. Specific
skills for the professions are provided by particular types of educational
institutions.

4. To teach the fundamentals of life in society

During socialization, the individual is linked to society. Social and
cultural heritage is transmitted, enabling the individual to function
smoothly in specific social settings. This can be as minor as knowing
how to eat with a spoon and fork and discussing appropriate topics
during certain social occasions, or something as major as how to survive
stressful situations.

The specific aims or goals of socialization carried out by specific agents in

Filipino society and culture are summarized in an article by Ventura (1991):

The goals of socialization in the secure and generally benign

environments offered by rural communities are quite clear—to
teach the child to be “respectful, obedient to parents, identify
strongly with his family, be a good neighbor and if possible improve
his economic state.” In the urban studies, similar findings are
reported. Domingo (1961) and Lagmay (1983) comment that in a
semi-urban community like Cruz-na-Ligas, the goal of child-
training is to produce unaggressive, respectful, obedient, and self-
reliant individuals. Distinguishing between low and middle income
groups, Anastacio (1983) reports that the poorer parents teach
their children to accept hardships in life, be thrifty, preserve

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harmonious family relationships, and improve their economic

condition. In his book, Slum as a Way of Life, Jocano (1975) also
stresses that the children in the community studies are socialized
into the realities of the neighborhood, practically being left on their
own as early as one year. The middle-income parents, on the other
hand, stress self-reliance and achievement as primary goals. Both
groups in the Anastacio study also emphasize obedience,
industriousness, and helpfulness. Summarizing the data on rural
and urban socialization goals, it appears that the ideal Filipino
child is primarily one who has excellent interpersonal skills both
in relation to authority figures as well as peers. He must also possess
a second cluster of traits revolving around achievement, self-
reliance, and industriousness.

Empirical studies show that Filipino children are indeed socialized

early into social perceptiveness or pakiramdam. Jasmin Acuña’s
studies (1981) point out that rural children score higher on social
inference compared to their urban counterparts. Moreover,
Jimenez’s study (1976) on moral judgment involving urban children
showed that regardless of age, all emphasize intentions more than
consequences in evaluating moral dilemmas. A variable that
appears to be closely related to the socialization of intentionality is
language. All of the major Philippine languages are conjugated to
emphasize intentions or non-intention. For example, “binato” is
certainly very different from “nabato.”

The article quoted above identifies specific socialization goals emphasized

by Filipino parents. Social class and community settings are factors which
may contribute to variations or differences in identifying and pursuing
socialization goals. Cultural factors such as values (pakiramdam and an
emphasis on the importance of getting along well with others) and language
also form part of the context of socialization. You can relate these points
to the idea mentioned earlier that variations in our personalities result
from the differences in the socialization goals emphasized by our sub-
cultures.

SAQ 8-1
What does Philippine society aspire for? Get a copy of the 1987
Philippine Constitution and list down the aspirations stated in the
Preamble.

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ASAQ 8-1
The Constitution states that the Filipino people aim “to build a just
and humane society and establish a Government that shall embody
our ideals and aspirations, promote the common good, conserve
and develop our patrimony, and secure to ourselves the blessings
of independence and democracy under the rule of law and a regime
of truth, justice, freedom, love, equality and peace…” (Constitution
of the Philippines, 1987)

SAQ 8-2
According to the Summary on child-rearing studies, what goals or
aims of socialization do Filipino parents emphasize?

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ASAQ 8-2
• be respectful
• be obedient to parents
• identify strongly with the family
• be self-reliant
• improve your economic state
• be peace-loving
• be thrifty
• accept hardships
• be helpful
• be industrious

If your answers include the items above, you have correctly

identified common Filipino parents’ goals.

Activity 8-2
How about your own parents’ goals and aspirations in their
children’s socialization? List them down and afterwards compare
your list above.

The Role of Socialization Agents

Who or what social institution is responsible for carrying out the goals of
socialization? Instilling society’s aspirations in every individual is primarily
addressed by governmental and educational institutions. The fulfillment
of roles is basically the responsibility of the family. But educational and
religious institutions as well as one’s peers also help in achieving this aim.
Education as an institution is tasked with the transmission of skills
important to society while teaching the fundamentals of life is jointly done
by all of the agents of socialization.

If we look at each of the socialization agents, it is clear that they provide a

context or setting in which the individual learns roles, values, and attitudes
and eventually emerges with a self or personality. Let us now examine
the spheres of influence of socialization agents.

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The Family
First, let us discuss the family. It is universally accepted that the family
provides the most important setting of socialization. Compared to lower
animals, human beings have a long person of dependency. This situation
provides the context for the tutelage of parents or the older generation.
From infancy to childhood, through adolescence and adulthood, the family
has a primary influence on the transmission of culture, the development
of gender identity, and the shaping of personality.

The family also provides a social position for the child which becomes
part of the context of his/her development. For example, are you an only
child? An only son or only daughter? the first-born? the youngest? the
first grandchild of both your maternal and paternal grandparents? Are
you a middle child or the third, fourth or tenth in the family? Whatever
your answer is, your social position in the family contributes to the way
other members react to you and influences the direction of your self or
personality development.

Part of the context of the family as an agent of socialization is the social

class to which the parents belong. In the Philippines, data suggest
characteristics of child-rearing within certain social classes.

As an example, let us review some local findings on the role of the family
in child-rearing (Ventura, 1991):

“A consistent finding in both rural and urban studies is the primary

function of the mother as care-giver especially during infancy. In
later stages of development, the father, grandmother, aunts, uncles
and older siblings have a share in care taking tasks. Depending on
the socioeconomic status of the family, yayas become involved in
child-care sometimes from birth up to ten years of age. In the CYRC
(1974) studies among urban groups, an analysis was made of the
percentage of time spent with the child among the different care-
givers. Children were found to spend more time with their mothers
and still preferred to be with her. Aunts and grandmothers spent
more time with the child compared with fathers. As long as it was
a relative giving substitute care, they were given the right to
discipline the child.”

Jocano notes in his study of a slum area that the parents show
affective concern in infancy with a shift towards authoritarianism
in childhood. Children perceive the mother as being easily swayed
while the father is seen as a strict disciplinarian. In Lagmay’s
follow-up study on Cruz-na-Ligas, she reports that the mother, as

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primary care-giver, is seen as nurturant and affectionate. In the

rural studies, Flores points out that the mother usually takes care
of the infant, with the father contributing some help in feeding
and putting the child to sleep. Studies on rural and low-income
urban groups also stress the help given by older siblings. Thus,
mothers are reported to desire a girl for the first born so that there
would be a ready helper for child-care and household
responsibilities.

The significant role of the mother and the family will be shown again
when we discuss the theories of socialization in the next module.

The school
Today, children as young as two or two and a half start going to what has
come to be called “pre-school”. Kids in their late teens, have probably
been in school for about four-fifths of their lives. Given this time span, it is
easy to appreciate how the school can provide a significant context for
socialization. Parents try to choose schools whose professed goals for
educating the child are consistent with their own. Thus the school serves
to reinforce the socialization that the individual receives at home. However,
the school also has its own goals. Its primary task is to teach children a
rather wide range of skills and information. It also has a “hidden
curriculum”. The emphasis on achievement and credit is attached to the
value given to high grades. Somehow this imparts competitiveness among
students. Fortunately a sense of fairness, honesty, and integrity is also
part of the hidden curriculum. The student is expected to imbibe and live
these values to balance his/her value for competition and success.

Needless to say, the home and the school may not always be consistent
with respect to goals and processes of socialization. When this happens
the child experiences conflict, necessitating coordination between these
two agents of socialization.

The school is likewise seen as an important tool of government in teaching

values that it wants its citizens to imbibe. One way of transmitting these
values is through government-approved textbooks used in public schools.
In a study of social studies textbooks used in public schools at the elementary
and high school levels in the Philippines, Segovia (1997) examined how
the concepts of citizenship and democracy are taught to students. Let us
read the following excerpt from Segovia’s study:

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Citizenship is defined as the relationship of the individual to the

state, that is, to be a citizen is to be part of the state. The citizen has
to abide by the legal rules that define the relationship, such as
claims on rights, services and protection in return for which the
state demands allegiance, loyalty, and the performance of duties
and responsibilities, including the defense of the state. While rights
are integral to the concept of citizenship, every time these are
discussed in the textbooks a lengthier discussion of duties and
citizenship follows, suggesting the government as the giver of these
rights. Hence, the quid pro quo presentation of rights and
responsibilities.

As the school children progress to the last three years of the

elementary grades towards high school, the discussion of
citizenship is increasingly focused on government expectations of
its citizens in the development of moral, social, economic and
political duties and responsibilities. The students are reminded that
as the nation’s elected leaders will be chosen by them, this delegated
power is the result of the exercise of their right to vote. This is, in
the near future, the student’s responsibility that will eventually
determine the kind of government the country will have.

Activity 8-2
1. Look for other studies on socialization in schools. Summarize
their findings.

2. Examine the textbooks of your children or nephews and nieces.

Analyze what values they reflect and underscore.

The peer group

As the individual matures, the circle of significant others expands beyond
the family. In late childhood and adolescence, the peer group, which
generally shares common interests and goals with the individual, becomes
increasingly important. For the individual, the peer group may offer the
context in which autonomy is first experienced. New behavior becomes
possible and adult supervision, if at all present, is minimal. As a result,
conflict with parents or the school may take place.

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It is also in the peer group where an individual may begin to learn the
social role of a good leader or a good follower, thus anticipating adult
roles in society.

Mass media
One of the strongest influences on socialization today is mass media. The
dissemination of print media may be limited to a certain extent, but not so
with radio and television. The internet is likewise becoming more and
more accessible.

Like the peer group, socialization through mass media is not always with
adult supervision. Because it is generally not interactive, the individual is
usually left alone to process the information. Unfortunately, the content
presented by television, for instance, may not always be an accurate
representation of reality. This is not to say that television is inherently a
bad influence. In fact, it is recognized as a powerful tool in educating
both the young and the old. It can capture the attention and imagination
of the viewer and if there is someone to help process what might be vague
or what may be in conflict with existing values and norms, television can
be a most effective tool for teaching.

So how does Philippine television fare in imparting admirable traits and

values to our children? To answer this, we can cite here the results of a
survey called the “Anak TV Youth Vote” conducted nationwide last
October 2002 among 334,078 randomly chosen Filipino youths (193,646
“kids” aged 6 to 12 and 140,432 “teens” aged 13-18). The survey probed
the respondents about their favorite television personalities and programs.
Commenting on the results of the survey, sociologist Randy David wrote
(June 2003):

It is quite obvious that Filipino kids are hooked on the so-called

“teleseryes” and noontime shows that the rest of the family watches.
The top 3 favorite TV programs of Filipino kids nationwide are not
meant for children: “Bituin,” “Sana ay Ikaw na Nga,” and
“Masayang Tanghali Bayan.” These programs routinely feature
content not suitable for children. Two of the main hosts of ”MTB,”
a two-hour daily noontime show, were recently suspended for
obscene language and behavior on camera. “Wansapanataym”
and “Sineskwela,” the children’s programs, are a distant fourth
and fifth.

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My personal sense of the situation we face today tells me that the

TV industry in our country has betrayed the interests of the Filipino
child by packing those viewing hours that in other societies are
reserved for children’s programs with a torrential supply of
mindless shows and telenovelas meant for more mature audiences.
It has also violated these interests by a sin of omission—by failing
to support the production of innovative children’s programs that
purposely reflect the best values and traits of our culture.

Do you agree with David’s observation?

In sum, the agents of socialization are institutions or individuals tasked to

carry out the goals of socialization. As mentioned above, this category
includes the family, school, peers, government, educational institutions
and mass media. The translation of aims into outcomes by specific agents
of socialization is made possible through specific processes.

Activity 8-3
Have you heard the term antisocial personality? People who have
an antisocial personality have little feeling for anyone except
themselves and seem to experience little guilt or remorse regardless
of how much suffering their behavior may cause others. Other
cha-racteristics of the antisocial person (sociopath, in short) include
a great facility for lying, a need for thrills and excitement with
little concern for possible injury, and an ability to alter behavior as
a consequence of punishment.

Based on the above definition, pick an antisocial person you know

very well. The person can be real or fictional. Describe his or her
behavior. What could have caused the development of such a
personality? Which socialization agent must have been responsible
for it? Be ready to discuss this with your classmates. If this topic
interests you, you may read ahead to Module 10 where this is
discussed further.

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Summary
This module gives you a bird’s eye view of the socialization process—its
aims and how it is carried out by the agents responsible for its
accomplishment. Armed with an understanding of how the process works,
you are now ready to move on to a discussion of a person’s acquisition of
personality.

In a previous section of this course we clarified the meaning of socialization.

Incorporated in this definition is the notion that there is a specific purpose
as well as outcome for each socialization process. This module is focused
on these two important elements of socialization.

References

David, Randy. 2003. Our Children’s TV Idols. In Philippine Daily Inquirer,

June 29.
Robertson, Ian. 1981. Sociology. N.Y.: Worth Publishers.
Segovia, Lorna. 1997. Perspectives on Democracy and Citizenship in
Elementary and High School Textbooks. In Philippine Democracy
Agenda Vol. 1, Maria Serena Diokno, Ed. Quezon City: UP Third World
Studies Center.

UP Open University
 Module 9
The Acquisition of Personality
Elizabeth Ventura

T he major outcome of socialization is the self

or personality. Technically, personality
refers to the stable organization of thoughts,
Objectives
feelings, and behavior that an individual After working on this module,
exhibits over time and in various situations. you should be able to:
Although there has been a lot of debate over
the relative importance of heredity and 1. Explain the concept of self
environment in the acquisition of personality, and personality;
it is now generally accepted that it is a social 2. Relate the acquisition of
product which has a biological basis. personality to specific
processes;
To guide you in understanding the acquisition 3. Explain selected theories of
of the self or personality, write down 20 personality acquisition;
answers to the question, “Who am I?” and
4. Apply the theories toward
In answering this question, you probably an understanding of
mentioned your name, age, gender, nationality, oneself.
religion or your socio-demographic
characteristics in your answers. Maybe you also
included some adjectives describing your
physical and psychological attributes (e.g., tall, fat, intelligent, aggressive,
etc.). Whatever your answers are, these indicate certain aspects of yourself.
But you are certainly more than just 20 items! Your personality is not a
mere listing of traits; it is the stable organization of such traits and the
experience of yourself as self, distinct from others.
142 Social Science I

The foregoing activity may have helped you take stock of yourself. But
how did you come to have such a view of yourself? There are theories of
personality acquisition which try to answer this question. We will now
examine three of them.

Cooley and the Looking-Glass Self

Charles Horton Cooley, a pioneer American social psychologist, believed
that upon birth, the individual is totally unaware of the self. There is no
distinction between the self and the environment. As maturity progresses
the infant begins to discern persons and perceive that they behave toward
him/her in a particular way. As a result of these interactions, the child
becomes aware of his/her own distinctiveness and the self emerges. For
Cooley, there can be no “I” if there is no “they.”

Cooley labeled his theory the “looking-glass self.” The looking glass or
mirror is society. As the individual continues to interact with others
(parents, friends, teachers), he/she makes inferences about himself which
are based on his/her perceptions of how others view him/her. Briefly
put, the process goes through three stages. First after behaving in a
particular way the individual imagines how his/her behavior appears to
others, then thinks about how they evaluated that behavior. Finally, he/
she uses these evaluations to gain an idea of the self. The self-concept then
is derived from what is reflected by society. By seeing how others react we
learn that we are good at some things and not at others, we are liked or
disliked, we are respected or not. According to Cooley, depending on the
reflections that we see, we experience either pride or shame. For him, the
self concepts formed in childhood last longer than those acquired later in
life. Therefore, the reflections that the individual sees during childhood
are of critical importance.

We need to note, however, that these reflections may be inaccurate. A

child can be vulnerable to wrong inferences about the way others evaluate
his/her behavior. As a result, an unrealistically positive or negative self
concept can develop. Whether the reflection is realistic or not, Cooley
believes that it is through the looking glass that we learn our sense of
identity.

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George Herbert Mead and

Symbolic Interaction
Now that you are acquainted with Cooley, we can discuss George Herbert
Mead’s concept of symbolic interaction which elaborates on the Looking-
Glass Self. Symbolic interaction refers to the way people relate to each
other using symbols—not only through language but also with the use of
gestures, facial expressions, and other forms of non-verbal communication.

Like Cooley, Mead believes that the self emerges from social interaction.
According to him, symbolic interaction is nonverbal at the beginning. For
example, when the infant is hungry and cries, the mother responds. Such
types of symbolic interaction prepare individuals for more meaningful
future interaction through the use of language. For Mead, symbolic
interaction precedes language, consciousness of self and mind. As soon as
the child acquires language, his/her actions (e.g., crying for food) are
replaced by ideas (I’m hungry, I want food). Thus, symbolic interaction
becomes closely associated with language.

Mead stresses that an extremely important product of socialization is the

capacity to anticipate what society expects from us and to try and adjust
our behavior in that direction. This capacity is enhanced by role-taking,
imagining or actually trying out the role of others. This has also been
called perspective-taking—seeing things or events from the viewpoint of
others. By so doing, we become capable of thinking about ourselves as
others think about us. For example, when a boy in a fit of frustration, hits
another child, he gets immediate feedback from the mother: a frown and
a scolding, telling him that what he has done is bad and for him to think
about how hurt the other child must be. The boy acquires information
about the act as well as his mother’s attitude towards aggression. He also
gets to realize, by imagining himself in the place of the victim, how bad he
must appear to the other child as well as his mother. Through such daily
symbolic interaction, the child becomes more and more capable of thinking
about himself as others think about him.

At first, the child is able to internalize the expectations only of those with
whom he/she has actual interactions. Mead uses the term significant
others to refer to the specific individuals whose expectations the child
internalizes.

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144 Social Science I

To clarify the term “internalize”, let us look at a specific example. If your

parents expect you to do well in your studies, and you have internalized
this expectation, you will now direct yourself to behave in ways that would
be consistent with this expectation. You study every day, you strive to top
the exam, you balance your activities so these will not interfere with our
school work. Most of all, you feel good when you see your self behaving
this way. To internalize means to view and believe in expectations as if
they are your very own.

Eventually, the individual gains the perspective of society as a whole and

learns to internalize the expectations of the generalized other. In this
case, it is now the attitudes and perspectives of society that become the
basis for self-evaluation. Once a child gains this capacity, it is expected
that he/she has internalized the folkways, norms, and values of society.

How does the child achieve this level of internalization? Mead points out
that it is generally through role playing. Playing house provides children
the opportunity to act out the role of parents and gain their perspectives.
They learn how they must behave in order to anticipate the reactions of
others. As they act out and “pretend,” they learn the value of being a
nurturant parent who must also scold and punish at times. For Mead,
role-taking is necessary if the individual wants to succeed in anticipating
responses of others and adjusting his/her own behavior accordingly. But
for him, socialization is lifelong and never perfect. Related to this point
are his concepts of “I” and “Me.” The “I” is relatively unsocialized,
impulsive, self-centered while the “Me” is more attuned to society, quite
conscious of expectations, norms, and values. Most of the time, the “Me”
controls behavior but he “I” sometimes appears as when we break rules
or give in to our impulses.

As you can see, Mead’s theory elaborates on Cooley’s looking-glass self.

Both of them emphasize that there can be no self without society or social
experience but Mead described in greater detail how perspective-taking
through role playing results in the socialized self that he calls the “Me”.
He also believes that socialization is never perfect; thus there is the “I”
which is self-centered, impulsive, and spontaneous. The development of
the self involves internalizing expectations—first those of the particular
significant others and later, those of society as a whole.

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Activity 9-1
Reflect on one aspect of yourself that you consider important
(central to your self concept). Who “mirrored” this idea about
yourself? How was it mirrored? How old were you when you first
realized that you had this aspect of yourself? Try applying the
concepts of “particular other” and “generalized other” to your
case.

Activity 9-2
Mead’s theory also discusses the concepts of the “I” (the
spontaneous, self-interested, impulsive, unsocialized self) and the
“Me” (the socialized self that is conscious of social norms, values,
and expectations). According to Mead although the “Me” is
dominant, the “I” sometimes appears as when we break some rules
and expectations of others. Do you agree with Mead? Can you
cite instances in your life when your “I” became dominant over
your “Me”? Do you think it is important that the “Me” is dominant
over the “I”? Why?

Erik Erikson and The Eight Stages

of Human Development
Like Cooley and Mead, Erik Erikson recognizes the importance of early
experiences and the influence of society on the development of the self
and personality. His unique contribution to our understanding of
personality is his formulation of the idea of psychosocial crises that
characterize eight stages in the lifespan.

Before I present the eight stages I would like you to take note of the phrase
psychosocial crises. Erikson’s use of the term signals for us his basic
conceptualization that as human beings interact with their social
environment, crises arise. These crises are the results of inherent
characteristics of social situations as well as those of the developing
individual. The resolution of these crises is important for the integration
of personality.

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Based on his observation of children and adults, Erik Erikson identified a

sequence of changes which serves as the core of his theory of personality.

First, development of the self is facilitated or hindered by the social

environment. For example, if a nurturing parent is part of the social
environment, development is facilitated; if the parent is negligent or
abusive, then growth is hindered.

Second, the psychosocial crises during the eight stages represent periods
of vulnerability as well as opportunity for growth. Depending upon
resolutions of previous crises and present social support systems, the crises
can be resolved positively or negatively. For example if an infant grows
up with a highly unpredictable mother, this situation will affect his/her
confidence in his/her ability to make choices and do the right thing. On
the other hand, if the infant grows up in a predictable and generally
pleasant social environment, it will be much easier for him/her to feel
autonomous.

Third, during each stage, the development of social feelings such as trust,
intimacy, and shame have to be considered. The resolution or non-
resolution of a crisis at a certain stage of development brings about feelings
that are the result of social interaction. For example, the ability to commit
oneself to a relationship may result in the experience of intimacy. There is
always a social context for the development of these feelings.

Fourth, possibilities for change exist throughout the life cycle. The birth of
a grandchild can be a social event which can change a person in his/her
middle age, perhaps making him/her more focused on others rather than
him/herself.

Fifth, adolescence is a period of conflict where all previous crises (if

unresolved) impinge on the current problem of searching for an identity.
If a person is doubtful about his/her abilities, this person would have
some difficulty developing a sense of identity. According to Erikson,
adolescence is the most crucial period in a person’s development and
requires the resolution of all previous conflicts. What these previous
conflicts are will be explained when we examine Erikson’s stages of
development.

Sixth, like Cooley and Mead, Erikson believes that the person can objectify
himself or herself; that is, he/she can view what he/she is and what he/
she has gone through, like an outsider. He/She recognizes particular
patterns that indicate a sense of self and a maturing identity. It is this self
recognition that triggers an identity crisis. Why? Self-recognition or facing
who you are, according to Erikson, is such a profound aspect of

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 Unit IV Module 9 147

development. It requires time for assimilation and assaying or assessment.

In the end, your place in adult society becomes possible because you have
assessed your options, attitudes, behavior, and preferences.

Seventh, Erikson introduces the concept of psychosocial moratorium as

a mechanism for dealing with identity crisis. This refers to a period of
experimentation with roles and finding a place in adult society. For
instance, if you have decided to shift to another course to see how your
own abilities and interests might fit in, Erikson would say that this is part
of your psychosocial moratorium.

Finally, although Erikson acknowledged the role of inner laws of

development, he thinks that other people always influence the shape and
direction of development. To use the language you learned in the previous
section, Erikson recognizes the role of socialization agents.

SAQ 9-1
Answer the following questions about Erikson’s theory.

Fill in each blank with the right word/phrase.

1-2. The occurrence of psychosocial crisis are periods of

______________ and ______________.

3, 4, 5. One result of psychosocial crisis is the occurrence of social

feelings such as______________, ______________, and
______________.

6. Self-recognition or confronting who you are is the

beginning of ___________.

7. The period when one experiments with roles and tries to

find a place in society is called _____________.

8. According to Erikson, _____________ is the period of

greatest conflict.

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ASAQ 9-1
1. vulnerability
2. opportunity
3. shame
4. trust
5. intimacy
6. identity crisis
7. psychosocial moratorium
8. adolescence.

If you got all the answers, give yourself a pat on the back and a
mark of 100%!

If you made 1 or 2 mistakes, smile and give yourself a 95%!

If you made 3 or more mistakes, go back and read the section

again before proceeding to the last part of Erikson’s theory.

The table below outlines the stages of the development of the self as
discussed by Erikson:

Age/ Stage Psychosocial Crisis

1st year Trust vs. Mistrust

2nd year Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt
3rd to 5th year Initiative vs. Guilt
6th year through puberty Industry vs. Inferiority
Adolescence Identity vs. Role Confusion
Early Adulthood Intimacy vs. Isolation
Middle Age Generativity vs. Stagnation
Old Age Integrity vs. Despair

During the first year of life, the infant is completely dependent on adults—
usually the mother—for care, comfort, and nurturance. If these are
provided quite predictably, the infant develops a trusting attitude towards
others and his/her world in general. On the other hand, in the absence of
a predictable and caring adult, the child learns that he/she cannot trust
or depend reliably on others. This basic trust or mistrust carries over to
the next stage, which involves the psychosocial crisis of autonomy vs.
shame and doubt.

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 Unit IV Module 9 149

Now, what is the developmental task during this stage? It is toilet training.
(Let us assume, for the sake of consistency, that it is the mother who is
responsible for child care.) If the mother is harsh and strict about this,
perhaps scolding and calling the child names, this process results in the
development of shame and doubt. A lenient and supportive mother
engenders feelings of autonomy, the ability to control and to make choices.

At this point, you may have surmised that parents are probably consistent
in their child-rearing styles. You are correct. Also most probably, the parent
who induces mistrust is also one who encourages the development of
shame and doubt. Relate this now to our discussion on socialization in
the first module. Cooley, Mead, and Erikson emphasize the importance of
infancy, early childhood, and the role of the family in the socialization of
the self.

From the third to the fifth year, the child wants to know more about his/
her environment. He/She explores and initiates activities, enjoying
discovering the fact that he/she can do new things. If parents prohibit
and restrict activities, Erikson believes that the child experiences guilt for
his/her attempts to explore his/her world. During the latency period, the
child faces a crisis between industry and inferiority. When the child’s
attempts to learn are reinforced, he/she develops industry; if ridiculed or
discouraged about his/her abilities, the child ends up losing interest in
the tasks before him/her and develops a sense of inferiority.

Well, imagine now someone who has arrived at the stage of adolescence.
If he/she has learned to trust others, is autonomous and self-controlled,
has initiative and a sense of accomplishment, the psychosocial crisis of
this period (identify versus role confusion) will be more readily resolved.
He/She will get to see him/her self as a unique and integrated person. On
the other hand, if he/she has a lingering unresolved crisis, he/she may
become confused about who he/she is and what he/she wants out of life.

Let me point out that even with the relative absence of previous unresolved
conflicts, gaining a sense of identity in adolescence is still a challenge. It is
the period when you try to put everything together—or the different aspects
of yourself—sexual, personal, achievement goals, or ideology. All these
take place under a certain degree of social pressure from family, friends,
and other significant individuals. It is a time to search and define yourself
as well as to redefine social relationships.

Looking at the next sequence, Erikson identifies the psychosocial crises of

intimacy vs. isolation as the mark of early adulthood. It is the period when
the young adult can make deep and lasting commitments in his/her
relationships. In the absence of this commitment, the development of

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feelings of isolation, of being alone in this world, develop. In middle age,

generativity vs. stagnation takes place. If adults enjoy having and caring
for children and/or devoting themselves to their work and the welfare of
others, they have resolved the crisis in favor of generativity—doing things
for the welfare of the next generation. However, if they do not care what
happens to others and are concerned only about themselves, they move
towards stagnation.

The final integration occurs in old age. When one looks back and reflects
on the meaningfulness of life and accepts the end with dignity, Erikson
believes that integrity has been achieved. When the reflection brings about
feelings of remorse, regret, and bitterness about unaccomplished goals
and futures, then despair pervades one’s existence.

Erikson’s theory tells us that the sense of self is a product of social interaction
as well as an internal processing. The outcomes of each stage of
development have an influence on succeeding stages, emphasizing the
importance of primary socialization in the context of the family.

Activity 9-3
Applying Erikson’s theory of the eight stages of development, can
you identify which stage you are in at present? Can you relate to
what Erikson says about the current stage you are in?

Sigmund Freud’s Theory

of Personality Development

Listen to my short taped lecture on Sigmund Freud’s

theory of personality development.

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Summary
Through the years, psychologists have proposed many definitions of
personality. The main components of these definitions may be summarized
as follows:

1. An individual’s personality is an abstraction formulated by theorist

and not merely a description of the individual’s behavior.

2. An individual’s personality refers to a series of events that ideally span

the person’s lifetime. “The history of the personality is the personality.”

3. A definition of personality should reflect the enduring and recurring

elements of behavior as well as the novel and unique.

4. Personality is the organizing or governing agent of the individual. Its

functions are to integrate the conflicts and constraints to which the
individual is exposed, to satisfy the individual’s needs, and to make
plans for the attainment of future goals.

5. Personality is located in the brain: “no brain, no personality” (Hall,

C.S. and Lindzey, G., 1978).

References

Cooley, Charles Horton. 1922. Human Nature and the Social Order. New
York, Chicago: C. Scribner’s Sons.
Erikson, Erik. 1950. Childhood and Society. New York: Norton.
Hall, Calvin S. and Gardner Lindzey. 1978. Theories of Personality 3rd ed.
New York: Wiley.
Mead, George Herbert. 1934. Mind, Self and Society: From the Standpoint of
a Social Behaviorist. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.

UP Open University
 Module 10
Deviance
Elizabeth Ventura
with Ma. Glenda Lopez Wui

Y ou are in the middle of a traffic jam and

you know you will be late for your
appointment. Someone drives through a red
Objectives
light. You see a vagrant, a “taong grasa” After working on this
walking around. The newspaper says that a module, you should be able
girl has been raped, a famous person has been to:
sued for bigamy, a bank has been robbed, a
government employee has been dismissed for 1. Explain the meaning of
graft and corruption. Almost everyday, you deviance;
encounter one or more of the above 2. Discuss theories of
experiences, which signal to you that there is deviance;
something wrong. 3. Illustrate the functions
and effects of deviance
If in the previous module, we have on society as a whole;
communicated the notion that the and
socialization process results in the creation of 4. Examine how deviance
a social being, fully attuned with and manifests in Philippine
conforming to the roles and expectations of society.
society, we will now discuss instances when
people deviate from such norms and
expectations.
154 Social Science I

Deviance
As the foregoing examples illustrate, deviations from social norms can
range from being late for appointments, to being mentally ill, to committing
something as abhorrent as rape, murder, or corruption. Let us now
examine how these deviations come about and what heir effects are on
society.

Before going into the causes and effects of deviance, let us be clear about
what deviance means. Implicit in the notion of deviance is a reference
point. This reference point are the norms of society. The deviations from
the norm may be minor (such as using a ball gown to school or being late
for an appointment) or major (rape, incest, murder). When deviations are
minor, people usually do not react strongly. For example, if you are late
for appointments these days, you are readily excused if the reason is traffic.
You are still expected as a properly socialized member of society to be
prompt in keeping appointments, but you will not be jailed or fined for
violating this rule. On the other hand, murder and rape are considered
heinous crimes and receive the strongest sanctions from society.

From these two examples, I would like to draw your attention to certain
aspects of deviance. First, it involves any deviation from the norm. Second,
the deviation is negatively valued by a large number of people. Third, it
can be a minor or a major deviation. Fourth, as a consequence of these
deviations, sanctions are applied and are generally in proportion to the
degree of deviation. Thus, being late for an appointment may be met with
a frown while murder or rape usually involves the maximum penalty. In
this module, we will focus more on the latter type of deviations. We will
concentrate on what society views as quite offensive, those violations that
carry a stigma. By stigma, we mean the markers or labels that distinguish
deviants from the rest of the group and which connote social disgrace.
Being jailed, using a prisoner’s uniform, or disqualification from holding
public office are examples of contemporary ways of stigmatizing an
offender. In the past, some societies compelled offenders to walk around
with labels indicating the offenses they had committed hanging from their
necks. Today, your local supermarket does something similar when they
post pictures of shoplifters on their windows or walls.

Before we leave this section, let us clarify some aspects of the definition of
deviance. First, deviance is relative. No act is inherently deviant; it only
becomes deviant after being labeled as such. Hence, what is deviant may
vary from one generation to the next, from one culture to another. What
is considered deviant depends on who is defining it and the ability to
make that definition stick. For example, rebels against the government
may be considered deviant by government but those who believe in them

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consider them as heroes. In fact, labels that are given for the same behavior
may vary depending upon the specific context in which the behavior takes
place. For example, shooting the enemy during war is considered
acceptable, but shooting someone during an altercation in ordinary
circumstances is deviant.

Moreover, an act may elicit different reactions depending on the social

status of the person concerned. A poor man who exposes himself to the
public might be charged by the police with indecency and disruption of
public order. But when a corporation president does the same act, he
might be branded as suffering from a nervous breakdown and thus be
referred to a psychiatrist for treatment.

SAQ 10-1
Here are examples of deviant behavior. Classify each into major
or minor deviance by writing an X under the appropriate column.
Then opposite each, write the corresponding sanction.

Type of Deviance Type of Deviation Stigma/Sanction

Major Minor

1. driving through
a red light

2. rape

3. bigamy

4. robbery

5. graft and corruption

6. “taong grasa”

7. being late for an

appointment

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ASAQ 10-1
Type of Deviance Type of Deviation Stigma/Sanction
Major Minor

1. driving through
a red light x fine

2. rape x death penalty

3. bigamy x jail term

4. robbery x jail term

5. graft and corruption x jail term

6. “taong grasa” x stigma

7. being late for an

appointment x frown, but readily excused

Take note that the situation of the taong grasa is a major deviation but
does not receive sanctions. However, society stigmatizes the person with
the label of taong grasa. When we discuss anomie theory we will go back
to this case.

Deviance: Functions and Dysfunctions

Strange as this may sound to you, deviance has a function for society.
According to Emile Durkheim, a certain amount of deviance is necessary
for society to function. Deviance serves to clarify social norms. That is,
through comparison and contrast, members of society gain a better
perspective of what is permissible behavior. By stigmatizing thieves and
rapists, for example, society reaffirms existing norms and values and sends
a signal to those who might be inclined to behave in the same manner.

Deviance also serves to strengthen the feeling of oneness among conformists,

contributing in a way to the strengthening of social integration. For
example, when there is a public outcry against someone who commits
incest, it is a demonstration of society’s unified stand against this crime.

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Durkheim emphasized the function of deviance as a tool to strengthen

solidarity so much so that if there were no deviants, they might have to be
invented. The early American Puritans, for example, invented deviants in
the form of witches, thereby affirming their moral fortitude and solidarity.

Deviance also functions as an alarm system for society. If the number of

deviants increases or a new form of deviance appears, then it is a warning
that something is awry. An examination of norms and existing social
controls may be necessary. An example is the drug problem. When statistics
indicate that there is an increase in the number of drug users, then there
will be an attempt to try a new form of social control.

(Sometime ago, a Metro Manila mayor adopted as a form of social control

the painting of signs on the houses of suspected drug users to stigmatize
them. However, this was stopped when some quarters protested that this
violates the human rights of suspected drug users.)

Another function of deviance is that it may serve as a source of social

change. Jose Rizal and our other heroes were stigmatized as “traitors”
during their time for defying the Spaniards. But because of their “deviant”
acts, social change in the form of gaining our independence from the
Spaniards’ 300-year rule came about.

Moreover, in line with the concept of deviance as source of social change

is the idea that what is deviant today may be conformist tomorrow. A
case in point is the women’s liberation movement. In the early years of the
movement, its leaders were scorned as either lesbians or a bunch of sexually
frustrated women. However, the deviant way of thinking espoused by
the movement has now become the norm. In fact, in some modern social
groups, women who take on traditional sex roles are regarded as
somewhat deviant.

Can you cite examples of behavior or actions in our society which were
regarded as deviant before but are now regarded as “conformist”?

If deviance has all of these functions, why does society react so strongly
and negatively against deviance? Well, for one, it disrupts social order.
People are upset; more importantly, the execution of their social roles is
interrupted. As a consequence, conflict between deviants and non-deviants
takes place. Generally, life becomes less predictable.

Because deviants have to be caught and punished, time, effort and money
are expended for this purpose. The government allots billions of pesos in
its annual budget to maintain a functioning criminal justice system—money
which could be better spent on poverty alleviation programs.

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Another effect of deviance is its destruction of the sense of security and

trust that we have in one another. The general expectation is that people
will observe norms and rules, but when they do not, this creates tension
and anxiety.

Deviance can also encourage the non-observance of rules and norms as

can be seen when the criminal justice system in a country fails to function
effectively. When people get away with murder, deceit or corruption, a
sense of normlessness may prevail and people may come to believe that
this is inevitable because it has become part of their way of life. Hence,
they choose to become participants themselves. A clear example is the
“lagay” system, or “grease money.” It stems from the belief that official
papers needing signatures of people in a government office will not move
unless there is money to “grease the palm” of each signatory. Believing
this, a person may actually not think twice anymore before parting with
his or her money for each signature. When this happens, the giver himself
or herself becomes part of the deviant group.

At this point, I want you to remember that deviance is not intrinsically

good or bad. Depending on the circumstances, it can be useful or
threatening. Moreover, deviance is not a rare or temporary phenomenon;
it is an inevitable product of social living.

Theories of Deviance
Although it is generally accepted that deviance is a complex phenomenon,
there are several theories that try to explain it.

Biological explanations
First, let us take a look at the search for biological explanations. The first
studies which tried to identify biological factors in deviance, such as body
type (e.g., a mesomorph or muscular, athletic male was considered more
likely to become a criminal), were not substantiated by subsequent
researches. More recently, however, there has been some support for the
theory of a genetic influence on criminal behavior. Specifically, studies
involving twins show that the concordance rate for criminality is twice as
high for identical twins compared to fraternal twins. Moreover, studies of
some adopted children who have exhibited criminal behavior show that
such behavior can be traced more to their biological fathers than their
adoptive fathers. It appears then that criminal behavior may be partly
genetically influenced.

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Another factor which has a biological basis is a low level of arousability. It

appears that those who exhibit delinquent or deviant behavior do not
react with anxiety (physiologically, this is manifested as heightened
galvanic skin response) when punished or threatened with aversive stimuli.
Thus, they do not learn to avoid punishing experiences.

Do these findings suggest that some persons are born deviant? Although
there may be a biological predisposition, the environment in which the
child grows will either promote or deter the development of deviance. In
the next section, we will take a look at psychological and sociological
formulations concerning deviance.

Psychological explanations
Psychological theorizing of deviance generally focuses on personality and
environmental factors. As a case in point, we will discuss the antisocial
personality.

The antisocial personality is considered as a personality disorder stemming

from a dogged pursuit of desires while totally disregarding other people’s
needs and welfare. This basic lack of empathy for others is coupled with a
lack of shame or guilt for one’s deviant behavior. The antisocial personality
lacks a conscience. Other characteristics include a propensity for lying, a
need for excitement, and impulsivity. Usually, the antisocial personality
is charming and a glib talker, readily manipulating other people. The
typical con artist who charms his/her way into other people’s confidence,
eventually defrauding them of their worldly goods, is an example of an
antisocial personality.

How does one develop an antisocial personality? Psychologists have

formulated an explanation which involves a combination of thinking styles,
neuropsychological, and parental factors. Children with antisocial
tendencies exhibit attention deficit problems and are unable to inhibit their
impulses. Thus, they indulge in disruptive behavior. As a consequence,
peers, teachers and parents tend to reject and punish them, which only
leads to more disruptive behavior. This cycle of impulsivity (misbehavior—
punishment—rejection—misbehavior) reinforces their antisocial
tendencies, originally rooted in attention deficit and impulsivity.

A very important factor in the development of deviance is the way parents

handle a child with antisocial tendencies. Studies show that one of the
most important predictors of deviance is parental supervision. Specifically,
absence of supervision or poor supervision are strongly related to the
development of delinquent behavior. Parental uninvolvement (e.g.,

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160 Social Science I

frequent absence or ignoring the child) is also known to be a risk factor.

This is especially true for parents who are physically or psychologically
absent but who punish violently when the child transgresses.

Perhaps as a result of negative parenting behavior, children with the

predisposition for deviance are known to have a different thinking style.
They interpret social interactions in a way that promote aggression.
Accidentally bumping them, for instance, is perceived as intentional
aggression. They assume that other children or adults are aggressing
towards them. Thus, they are more likely to behave aggressively in response.

In summary, we can say that deviant behavior may have biological basis
but it is the interaction with environmental factors (such as parenting
style) and personality factors (thinking style) that finally determines its
manifestation.

SAQ 10-2
Answer the following questions regarding the psychological
explanations for deviance.

1. The two major characteristics of the antisocial personality are

a.
b.

2. Children with antisocial tendencies exhibit

a.
b.

3. Parents of children with antisocial tendencies have parenting

practices which include
a.
b.

4. Describe the thinking style of children with a predisposition

for deviance.

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ASAQ 10-2
1. a. lack of empathy
b. inability to feel shame and guilt

2. a. impulsivity
b. attention deficit problems

3. a. lack of or poor supervision

b. univolvement with their children
c. severe punishment

4. Children with a predisposition for deviance generally interpret

social interactions in a way that promotes aggression. They
assume that people are aggressing against them and are ready
to retaliate.

If you answered all four questions correctly, = please proceed to

the next section.

If you answered 3 correctly, = this is good. You can proceed to the

next section.

If you got only 1 or 2 items correctly, please re-red the previous

section.

Sociological explanations
Unlike the psychological perspective, sociological explanations do not focus
on the question of why people adopt the deviant practices that they do.
Rather the sociological explanations try to understand “why deviance
arises at all, why it follows specific patterns, and why some acts rather
than others are defined as deviant in the first place.” Three theories,
namely, anomie, labeling and cultural transmission, have been offered
by sociologists to explain the phenomenon of deviance.

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Anomie theory

Basically, anomie is the bewildered state or condition of an individual

who exists in a society where norms are absent or conflicting. It was
originally described by Emile Durkheim in the 19th century but has been
adopted by Robert Merton to explain deviance.

Merton redefines anomie as the condition that results from discrepancies

between societal goals and the ability to achieve these in socially acceptable
ways. He views deviant behavior as one of the consequences of such a
discrepancy. For example, if a society places a premium on economic
success but there are no jobs (or other legitimate means of earning a
livelihood) available, then people resort to criminal ways of achieving that
goal. Merton then places emphasis on the existing social structures which
impede the achievement of goals.

The strength of Merton’s approach is that “it locates the source of deviance
squarely within the culture and social structures, not in the failure of
individual deviants.” Merton suggests that people may respond to the
discrepancies between the approved goals and the ability to achieve these
in socially acceptable ways in one of five different ways depending on
one’s acceptance or rejection of the goals or the means:

1. Conformity. Conformity takes place when an individual accepts

societal goals and sticks to socially approved ways of achieving these.
For example, you accept the goal of becoming rich one day. You pursue
this goal by working hard, saving money, and investing your money
in legitimate business.

2. Ritualism. This is considered as the mildest form of deviance. People

do not basically believe in a goal but still act in ways that are consistent
with achieving those goals. What results is a ritualistic or mechanical
way of behaving as when someone insists on the obsessive
implementation of rules, thereby losing sight of the objectives of the
rules which they were designed to achieve.

An example would be the mechanical implementation of rules

regarding disqualification from a degree program. If a student fails
certain courses in one semester, this could mean his/her being dropped
from the program. However, a closer look at the student’s records
may show an excellent performance except for that particular semester.
An obsession with rules may obscure a higher goal, which is to help
the student develop his or her potentials.

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3. Innovation. Considered the most common type of deviance, innovation

refers to the use of socially unacceptable means of achieving socially
accepted goals. For example, to achieve the goal of economic success
some government officials use the socially disapproved means of graft
and corruption.

4. Retreatism. In retreatism, people totally abandon society’s goals and

the acceptable ways of achieving them. The “taong grasa” we talked
about at the beginning of this module and the chronic drug dependent
person are examples of cases of retreatism.

5. Rebellion. In rebellion there is also a rejection of society’s goals and

the means to achieve them. In addition, there is a substitution of other
goals and means which would totally alter the existing ones. You can
relate this definition to the goals of the national democratic movement
which rejects capital accumulation to achieve wealth while introducing
revolution to achieve social equality.

SAQ 10-3
Below is a matrix of goals and means. Identify the corresponding
behavior for each cell, according to Merton’s Anomie Theory:

Goals

Accept Reject

Accept A B
Means
Reject C D

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ASAQ 10-3
A accepts both goals and means = Conformity
B accepts means, reject goals = Ritualism
C rejects means, accept goals = Innovation
D 1. rejects goals and means = Retreatism
2. rejects goals and means = Rebellion
and substitutes with new
goals and means

If you got 5 out of 5, excellent!

If you got 4 out of 5, very good.
If you got 1-3 out of 5, please go back and read more carefully the
discussion on Anomie Theory.

Merton’s theory can account for the existence of gangs and different forms
of deviant behavior. The existence of gangs in economically depressed
areas may be explained by anomie theory. However, the theory basically
does not consider the possibility that deviance is sometimes defined by
those who have the power to label and to make the label stick. If you will
recall at the beginning of the module, we mentioned this particular point.
The next theory is based on this idea.

Labeling theory

Labeling theory emphasizes the process that makes an individual or an

act deviant. According to this theory, everyone has transgressed or violated
some social norm at one time or another. People sometimes lie; taxpayers
cheat on their income tax or misdeclare assets and liabilities; and people
get into fights, or are attracted to others when they are already married.
This is called primary deviance. As long as no one else knows that these
acts have been committed, people who commit them are not labeled
deviant. But as soon as they are discovered, they undergo a “degradation
ceremony” where they are exposed, punished, rejected, or shamed. When
they are labeled as cheats, liars, adulterer or bullies, people come to accept
this consciously or unconsciously as part of their self-concept. They then
behave in ways that are consistent with this new concept. At this point,
secondary deviance takes place. According to labeling theory deviants
may be shunned or avoided by “normal” people and may therefore be
forced to associate more with other deviants. Once labeled, other people
look at the deviant’s behavior in the context of that label, further reinforcing
their notions about the person.

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Let us take a hypothetical example of what could easily take place in any
home. An adolescent receives many rules and instructions from the parents.
Violations of one, two or all of the rules may take place at one time or
another. The parents may never find out, but if they do and label their
child as rebellious and disobedient, labeling theory would predict that the
adolescent’s self-concept will now include rebelliousness. The child would
then live up to this label.

Labeling theory also takes into account the relative power of the one labeling
vis-à-vis the one being labeled. Those who have less social or economic
status are often the object of labeling, stigma, or extreme forms of sanctions.
As Robertson (1981) pointed out:

People with high social, economic, and political resources have a high
ability to resist charges of deviance; a high ability to resist sanctions such
as arrest, conviction and imprisonment; and a high ability to impose
conviction, and imprisonment; and a high ability to impose the actual
rules that define deviance. Conversely, those with lesser have a lower
ability to achieve these things.

For example, a corporate executive whose decisions result in environmental

destruction is rarely labeled as deviant, unlike someone who commits petty
theft or someone who begs in the streets, even though the acts of the
former leads to far greater consequences than the acts of the later. These
“inconsistent judgments” can be explained “only by the fact that the
prevailing interpretations of reality in any society are those of the people
who hold social, political, and economic power; they are able to impose
absolute definitions on what is really a relative matter.”

Do you agree with this theory? Can you cite instances in our society where
the definition of deviance is dependent on the social, economic, and political
resources of the person being labeled and the person doing the labeling?

Let us now discuss cultural transmission theory as an explanation for the

existence of deviance.

Cultural transmission theory

Have you ever wondered why certain areas in urban centers are known
to be havens of deviance or criminality? Generations of residents in this
area come and go, but deviance prevails. According to cultural
transmission theory, this happens because deviance has become the
residents’ way of life. It exists as a cultural pattern which is transmitted to
the young as well as to new residents.

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The theory assumes that deviance, like “normal” behavior, is learned from
other people. In the context of a deviant community, a young person
imbibes reasons why violating the law is better than obeying it. When
family members or close friends serve as models for criminal behavior,
then transmission of the culture of deviance is facilitated. Exposure to this
way of life from birth makes a resident readily adapt to it. This is especially
true if there have been no interactions with conformists. Once the values
and norms are internalized, a sense of security and stability is developed.
Loyalty to the deviant group contributes to this.

As we can see, cultural transmission theory explains how deviance is

learned. It also implies that “nobody is born with the knowledge, the
techniques or the justification that are available to the deviant.”

Another implication of the cultural transmission theory is that deviance

will be more common in large societies with a range of sub-cultures. In a
small traditional community with a homogenous culture, the inhabitants
have little difficulty in passing on to succeeding generations the same norms
and values. Hence, deviance, particularly crime, in such a setting is rare.
In a society with various sub-cultures, people may have greater loyalty to
their sub-culture than to the common culture even though society members
consider the sub-cultural norms as deviant.

Activity 10-1
Examine one community in the Philippines where criminal behavior
is prevalent. Apply the cultural transmission theory to explain why
such deviant behavior is prevalent in that community.

Each of the theories we have discussed provides insights into different

aspects of deviance. We need to use all of them to have a comprehensive
view when explaining the phenomenon of deviance.

Reference

Robertson, Ian. 1981. Sociology. N.Y.: Worth Publishers.

UP Open University
 Unit V
Social Change
 Module 11
Examining Social Change
Ma. Glenda Lopez Wui

“
E verything changes.” So said the ancient
Greek Philosopher Heraclitus. He also
said no individual crosses the same river
Objectives
twice, for he/she is neither the same person After working on this
nor is the river the same. The principle of module, you should be able
change applies to every phenomenon we are to:
aware of—from the behavior of heavenly
bodies in the universe, to the life processes of 1. Explain the concept and
living organisms, to the individual theories of social
personality. Societies change as well. You change;
were made aware of this in our earlier 2. Identify sources of
discussion on the different stages of change; and
development that societies undergo. In this 3. Examine change in
unit, we will examine how change in societies Philippine society.
come about.

Two reading materials are attached to this module, that of Ian Robertson
on “Social Change and Modernization” and Christine Preston on “Social
Continuity and Change, and Social Theory.” You have to read these
materials after the module.

Social change is the alteration in patterns of culture, social structure, and

social behavior over time. Although some societies are more resistant to
change than others, no society can completely resist change. However,
the rate, nature, and direction of change vary from culture to culture.
Hence, social change could be:
170 Social Science I

• slow, gradual, incremental, and evolutionary; in this it might be barely

noticeable;
• fast, radical, sudden and revolutionary; it might even take people by
surprise;
• wide in scope, affecting almost all people in a society; and
• limited in scope, affecting only a small number of people. (http://
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_change)

The phenomenon of social change is difficult to study. When we talk of

social change, questions such as the following may cross your mind: Does
social change happen at random or does it follow a pattern? What caused
civilizations to flourish and what caused them to collapse? Why did
industrialization first developed in Europe rather than in India even though
civilization is believed to have first appeared in the latter?

Social scientists have identified two reasons why the study of social change
is difficult. One, to understand social change, we first need to understand
social order or stability or statics. “We cannot know precisely why or
how societies change until we know precisely why and how they form
relatively stable units in the first place” (Robertson 1981). We know for a
fact that societies do not simply disintegrate even though they are made
up of diverse groups and individuals. However, the theories that have
been put forward do not seem to adequately explain social order and
cohesion.

The second reason why it is difficult to study social change is that many
factors are involved in the phenomenon. Each society is unique and so
various interaction factors—environmental, technological, personal,
cultural, political, religious, economic, and the like—can cause it to change.
Moreover, because each society is unique, we cannot predict change in
one society based on the experiences of another.

Notwithstanding the difficulties cited above, sociologists have sought to

understand the intricacies and causes of social change. They have offered
several explanations or theories on social change, as follows.

Sources of Change
According to sociologists, several factors interact to cause change in society.

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Physical environment
Interaction between the physical environment and social forces could bring
about social change. Societies that are located at geographic crossroads
have been centers of change. On the other hand, change tends to be very
slow in isolated societies such as those found in the Arctic region or in
deep jungles.

Population
A significant change in the population could likewise affect social life. An
alarming increase in population could put a lot of strain on society’s
resources, resulting in social disorganization and competition over the
scarce resources. Where few or no jobs are available, poverty and crime
come about. This is evident in the Philippines where unabated population
growth has resulted in a host of problems, such as malnutrition, lack of
access to education, and crime.

Population size likewise affects social relationships. In a small community,

people are closely-knit and are able to forge more personal relationships
with each other. As population grows in size, relationships among people
become impersonal.

Ideas
Ideas or ideologies may lead to social change. For example, the concepts
of “liberty, equality, and fraternity” of the French revolution influenced
political events not only in that country but also in other countries like the
Philippines.

There are those who maintain that it usually takes a considerable period
of time before ideas gain a firm foothold. For this reason, social change
can be motivated by the rediscovery of the ideas of thinkers of past
generations. For example, although Karl Marx had little effect on his
generation, his ideas has had a lot of impact on the succeeding generations.

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Events
According to sociologist Robert Nisbet, events are “random, unpredictable
happenings that affect the course of social change” (Robertson 1981). An
example is the assassination of Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino, which caused
significant changes in the social, political, and economic landscapes of
the Philippines. Ninoy’s assassination inspired the Filipinos to protest
against the abuses of the Marcos dictatorship. The protest actions
eventually led to the People Power Revolution of 1986, which put an end
to the Marcos dictatorship.

Nisbet pointed out that it is not an event alone that brings about social
change. It may be that the system is ripe for the change and the event only
triggered the occurrence of change. We can go back to the example of
Ninoy’s assassination to elaborate on this point. Corruption, cronyism,
and massive human rights violations had steadily weakened Marcos’s
hold on power. Ninoy’s assassination was simply the straw that broke the
camel’s back; it caused the people to finally rise up against the dictatorship.

Cultural innovation
There are three sources of cultural innovation: discovery, invention, and
diffusion.

1. A discovery is “the perception of an aspect of reality that already

exists.” Examples are the discovery of the planet Mars, the circulation
of the blood, and continents. Discovery can be a source of social change
only when it is put to use. For example, the ancient Greeks already
knew the principle of the steam engine way back in 100 AD as
evidenced by a toy they built in Alexandria. But it was only after nearly
1700 years after it was first discovered that the principle of the steam
engine was put to use and thus able to generate social change through
the development of mechanized transport by rail and sea.

2. An invention is “the combination or the use of new or existing

knowledge to produce something that did not exist before.” Inventions
may be either material (e.g., personal computers, aircraft) or social
(e.g., elections, slavery). All inventions are based on existing
knowledge, discoveries, and inventions. The existing store of knowledge
can dictate the rate of invention in our society. Hence, more inventions
were made in recent centuries than in the past because we have more
knowledge to build on than did our “primitive” ancestors.

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3. The process of diffusion “involves the spread of cultural elements—

both material artifacts and ideas—from one society to another.” A
number of scientists see diffusion as a main source of social change.
The availability of new forms of information technology such as the
Internet and cable television facilitates the diffusion of material
innovation and ideas much faster at present than in the past centuries.

Societies selectively accept elements from other cultures. Material

innovations are usually more easily accepted than new norms, values, or
beliefs. Also, innovations that are compatible to the society’s culture are
more easily adopted. For example, Muslim countries may readily accept
material innovations from the Americans but not their religion.

Human action
Social movements or collective behavior, rather than individual action,
may lead to social change. According to sociologists, the changes that an
individual seems to have caused to happen can be attributed to deeper
social forces other than the individual. For example, World War II cannot
be attributed simply to the ambitious actions of Adolf Hitler. If Germany
had not been under social, ethic, and economic strain at that time, Hitler
might not have risen to power and implemented his policies.

In contrast, social movements are important sources of change. Social

movements are a type of group action. They are large informal groupings
of individuals and/or organizations focused on specific political or social
issues or on carrying out a social change (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Social_movement). Examples of social movements are those on women’s
liberation, civil rights, national independence, religious conversion, and
so on. Institutions that determine national policies, such as governments,
are likewise vital facilitators of change. Can you name changes in our
country’s recent history that were facilitated either by social movements
or by the government?

Technology
The introduction of a new technology could change our way of life and
social behavior. Notice how the introduction of personal computers,
cellular phones, television, and automobiles have significantly altered our
way of life. If you recall our lesson in Unit III, we discussed how the
introduction of new technology for food production significantly altered
society’s way of life.

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174 Social Science I

At this point you may ask, which of the factors are more significant in
social change than the others? There is no simple answer to the question
as the concept of social change is a complex matter. Change cannot be
attributed to one factor alone but to several factors instead.

Theories of Social Change

After reading about the possible sources of social change, let us now take
a look at the theories on social change. These can be grouped into four
categories, namely: evolutionary, cyclical, functional, and conflict theories.

Evolutionary theories
Evolutionary theories are based on the idea that “societies gradually
develop from simple beginnings into more complex forms.” Proponents
of this theory rely on anthropological and historical evidence showing
how simple societies developed from the hunting and gathering stage, to
the agricultural, and finally to the industrial stage.

Two schools of thought—the unilinear and multilinear—were developed

under the evolutionary theory. According to the unilinear theory, human
societies evolved in one line of development. Thinkers who subscribe to
this view likewise believed that “change” always means “progress”. They
see change in society as an indication that it is moving to higher levels of
civilization.

The multilinear theory of evolution, on the other hand, upholds the view
that societies move from simple to complex forms but that change takes
place in many different ways and does not follow exactly the same direction
in all societies. In addition, for the multilinear theorists, “change” does
not necessarily mean progress.

Activity 11-1
The article of Ian Robertson mentions that the multilinear theory
of evolution was developed to address criticisms against the
unilinear theory. Read carefully the criticisms against the unilinear
theory of evolution. Be prepared to discuss this in our next study
session.

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 Unit V Module 11 175

Cyclical theories
The ravages of World War I and the social inequities produced by
industrialization early in the 20th century led thinkers to question whether
“change” always means “progress”. Cyclical theories of social change
emerged in response to such question. Cyclical theories contend that
societies follow the “cyclical nature of change as displayed in the rise and
fall of civilizations” (Robertson 1981).

One of the early proponents of the theory was a German school teacher,
Osward Spenger, who in 1918 published The Decline of the West. According
to Spenger: “The fate of civilizations was a matter of destiny. Each
civilization is like a biological organism that has a similar life cycle: birth,
maturity, old age, and death. All creative activity takes place in the early
stages of the cycle; as the civilization matures, it loses its original inspiration,
becomes more materialistic, and declines” (Robertson 1981). Wars,
conflicts, and social breakdown signal the start of the decay of western
civilization.

Another cyclical theorist was British historian Arnold Toynbee. He,

however, had a more optimistic view of things. Drawing insights from his
study of 21 civilizations, his work A Study of History focuses on the concepts
of “challenges” and “response”. According to Toynbee, all societies face
challenges. An effective response to these challenges can assure their
continued existence, while inability to successfully respond to such
challenges can lead to their extinction. Toynbee also contends that: “History
is a series of cycles of decay and growth, but each new civilization is able
to borrow from other cultures and to learn from their mistakes. It is
therefore possible for each new cycle to offer higher levels of achievement”
(Robertson 1981).

Toynbee’s theory, however, is criticized for its inability to explain why

some societies were able to overcome the challenges they encountered
and others were not, or why a society is able to respond effectively to a
certain challenge but is unable to respond as effectively to another
challenge.

Functionalist theories
The sociologist Emile Durkheim was the first to apply the functionalist
perspective by examining how several aspects of society contribute to the
maintenance of public order.

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176 Social Science I

Structural functionalism takes the view that society consists of parts (e.g.
school, family, police, hospitals, and farms), each of which have their
own functions and work together to promote social stability (http://
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Functionalism_%28sociology%29). For example,
the school has the function of transmitting knowledge to the younger
generation, while the family fulfills the function of reproduction. Talcott
Parsons later developed a theory on social order based on functionalist
theory.

So how does Parsons’ theory go? Parsons’ early writings focused on social
order, while the latter ones focused on social change in response to criticisms
that his theory did not account for the problem of social change. According
to Parsons,

Society consists of interdependent parts, each of which helps to

maintain the stability of the entire system. Cultural patterns,
particularly shared norms and beliefs, hold the society together.
Because these patterns are inherently conservative, they also serve
to resist radical changes. Society is able to absorb disruptive forces
because it is constantly straining for equilibrium or balance
(Robertson 1981).

Parsons’ earlier major work, The Social Systems, thus focused on social
statics (social order and stability) rather than social dynamics. In his work,
changes are regarded as dysfunctions that disrupt the smooth working of
society. American sociologists widely accepted Parsons’ work throughout
the 1940s and 1950s when cohesion and stability defined their society.
But other sociologists began to question Parsons’ theory in light of the
conflicts America experienced in the late 1950s throughout the 1960s (e.g.,
the Cold War, the Vietnam War). Sociologist C. Wright Mills, for instance,
“questioned whether a theory of equilibrium and stability is relevant to
societies that are in a state of constant change and social change”
(Robertson 1981). To confront this problem, Parsons attempted to include
social change in his later writings.

In his theory of social change, Parsons regarded change “not as something

that disrupts the social equilibrium but as something that alters it, such
that a qualitatively new equilibrium results” (Robertson 1981). He identified
two sources of change: change may come from outside through contact
with other societies; or it may come from within “through adjustments
that must be made to resolve strains within the system.”

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 Unit V Module 11 177

To discuss social change, Parsons developed a theory of evolutionary

change that was based in many ways on biological theories of evolution.
His theory states:

The process of differentiation involves the adaptive upgrading of

social subsystems over the course of evolution. In other words,
evolution involves the creation of new subsystems that are better
able than their predecessors to adapt to changing environments.
In essence, the new subsystems become more highly specialized
and therefore more differentiated (http://highered.mcgraw-
hill.com/sites/0072824301/student_view0/chapter15/
chapter_summary.html).

Parsons also contended that as societies become more complex, the tasks
of its institutions become more differentiated. In simple societies,
institutions are undifferentiated such that one institution fulfills different
functions. The family, for instance, is responsible for reproduction,
education, economic production, and socialization. A process of
differentiation takes place as society becomes more complex. For example,
schools and corporations emerge to take over functions previously fulfilled
by the family.

Other functionalists acknowledge that tensions may cause social change

even in harmonious social systems. For instance, Merton wrote that the
“strain, contradiction, and discrepancy between the component parts of
social structure” may provoke social change (Robertson 1981). In this,
however, Merton is borrowing ideas from the conflict theories of change.

Conflict theories
Social change results from the tensions between competing interests in
society. This is the thesis of the conflict theories of social change, whose
most eloquent exponent was Karl Marx. Marx once declared, “Violence is
the midwife of history.” Mao Tse-tung, one of the founders of the Chinese
Communist Party and one whose ideas were clearly grounded in the
conflict perspective, said, “Change comes from the barrel of a gun.”

“All history is the history of class conflict,” Marx and Engels wrote in The
Communist Manifesto. “History is the story of conflict between the
exploitating and the exploited classes.” This conflict repeats itself again
and again until the workers overthrow capitalism and a socialist state is
created. Socialism precedes the last social arrangement, communism, which
is characterized by a classless society.

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178 Social Science I

Conflict theorists see society as being essentially dynamic, not static. They
regard conflict as a normal process. They also posit that the existing
conditions in society provide the seeds for social change. For example, the
unjust conditions during the Spanish occupation provided the impetus
for the staging of the Philippine revolution.

Later social conflict theorists focused on conflict between groups other

than social classes. One sociologist, Georg Simmel, while examining conflict
between groups claimed that, “Conflict binds people together in
interaction; although hate and envy may drive them apart, they cannot
enter into conflict without interacting with their opponents. Moreover,
conflict encourages people of similar interests to bind together to achieve
their objectives” (Robertson 1981).

Moreover, Ralf Darendorf argued that the contention “history is the history
of class conflict” is an unjustifiable oversimplification. Other than social
classes, conflicts are likewise evident between racial groups, nations,
political parties, religious groups, among others. Conflicts between these
groups, according to Darendorf, also result in social change.

Consider conflict in Philippine society. Do you agree that conflict is evident

not only between social classes? If yes, do you agree that the conflicts in
other groups can also be sources of social change? Cite examples to
substantiate your answers.

Activity 11-2
The article of Ian Robertson evaluates each of the theories on social
change. Write an essay on the strengths and weaknesses of each
of the theory. Be ready to discuss this in our next study session.

SAQ 11-1
Based on the article of Christine Preston, what events of human
history created the “great transformations” in the West according
to Polanyi? What transformations were brought about by these
events?

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 Unit V Module 11 179

Modernization
Modernization is the foremost example of social change in the modern
world. “Modernization is the process of economic and social change that
is brought about by the introduction of the industrial mode of production
into a pre-industrial society.” The process of modernization is widely
pursued in the world today as less developed nations follow the pattern
laid down by advanced industrial societies. Modernization can bring
changes in nearly all aspects of social life, undermining traditional forms
of social relations and organization and replacing them with new ones.
Less developed countries that have embarked on rapid modernization
projects often experience “a tug of war between the forces of modernization
and the sentiments of tradition,” which results in social disorganization.
Among others, this social organization is manifested in the following: the
presence of millenarian religious movements, officials whose entry to
government is made not on merit or performance but through pakikisama,
and the assertion of ethnic identity vis-à-vis national identity.

The effects of modernization can be felt virtually in every area of society—

in culture, personal values, social groups, social stratification, social
inequalities, the family, education, religion, science, economy, politics,
population and health, ecology and urbanization. To know more about
the effects of modernization in these areas of life, read the article by Ian
Robertson.

References

Preston, Christine. 2000. Social Continuity and Change, and Social Theory.
Available at http://hsc.csu.edu.au/pta/scansw/preston.html.
Accessed on February 4, 2006.
Robertson, Ian. 1981. Sociology 2nd ed. New York: Worth Publishers, Inc.
http://highered.mcgraw-hill.com/sites/0072824301/student_view0/
chapter15/chapter_summary.html. Accessed on February 4, 2006.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Functionalism_%28sociology%29.
Accessed on February 4, 2006.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_movement. Accessed on February
4, 2006.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_change. Accessed on February 4,
2006.

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Appendix D
Social Continuity and
Change, and Social Theory
by Christine Preston (Nagle College)
for Society and Culture Inservice, 12th August 2000
Available at http://hsc.csu.edu.au/pta/scansw/preston.html.
Accessed on February 4, 2006.)

I will begin by defining social and cultural continuity and change. The
term ‘social change’ is a term used within sociology and applies to modi-
fications in social relationships or culture (the term ‘cultural change’ is
the term used within anthropology). Since society and culture are inter-
dependent, ‘sociocultural change’ is a more accepted term. The study of
sociocultural change is the systematic study of variation in social and cul-
tural ‘systems’. There are inherent methodological problems of identifica-
tion and measurement of change, and rarely does one cause produce one
effect. All societies are involved in a process of social change, however,
this change may be so incremental that the members of the society are
hardly aware of it. People living in very traditional societies would be in
this category. Societies are characterised by change: the rate of change,
the processes of change, and the directions of change.

The actions of individuals, organisations and social movements have an

impact on society and may become the catalyst for social change. The
actions of individuals, however, occur within the context of culture, insti-
tutions and power structures inherited from the past, and usually, for
these individuals to effect dramatic social change, the society itself is ‘ripe’
for change.

Broad social trends, for example, shifts in population, urbanisation,

industrialisation and bureaucratisation, can lead to significant social
change. In the past, this has been associated with modernisation, the pro-
cess whereby a society moves from traditional, less developed modes of
production (like small-scale agriculture) to technologically advanced in-
dustrial modes of production. Trends like population growth and
urbanisation have a significant impact on other aspects of society, like
social structure, institutions and culture. Nineteenth and early Twentieth
Century social theorists focused fairly extensively on modernisation, but
they tended to present on oversimplified “grand narrative” which resulted
from heavily ideological interpretations of the contrast between tradition
and modernisation. They also attempted to externalise absolutes, “social
laws” as they saw them, and they argued that these social laws were
operative in structurally similar societies.
184 Social Science I

Social continuity cannot simply be defined as the absence of social change,

that is, things remaining the same, because social change is a continual
process in all societies. Nothing “remains the same”. However, within
societies there are structures which are inherently resistant to change,
and in this sense, we can talk about them as being social continuities.
Individuals within societies need social continuities to a lesser or greater
extent, depending on significant factors like age, gender, education, ac-
cess to power, wealth, vested interest, etc. Even “rock-solid” institutions
like the family, the law, and religions are subject to change, even though
they represent social continuity. There has always been ‘family’ and it is
still the foundational institution for society and the primary agent of
socialisation, however the composition of ‘family’ has changed in recent
years, leading to different kinds of families and different socialisation ex-
periences for their members. The same ideas can be applied to law and
religion.

Social and cultural continuities can be likened to individuals’ habits - com-

fortable patterns of behaviour that give individuals a sense of security
and personal control - a haven or a respite in a sea of social and cultural
change. There is a high correlation between the rate of social and cultural
change and resistance to that change. In times when members of a society
feel that change is ‘out of control’, it is likely that the desire for continuity
becomes more extreme, resulting in backward-looking idealisations of the
past.

While social change is itself a continuity, certain periods of human history

have created “great transformations” (Polanyi 1973). The Industrial Revo-
lution and the French Revolution created one such Great Transformation.
Polanyi saw it as beginning in the 17th and 18th centuries and continuing
today, characterised by:

• the rise of a capitalist, global economy and growth in production and

wealth
• a ‘scientific revolution’ - new ways of thinking about causation, mov-
ing from religious to secular
• a new concept of time, population growth, immigration and
urbanisation, a political move to ‘nation’, which involved governments
expanding their control to social, economic and cultural life, followed
by the extension of that control to other, less advanced” countries
(colonialism/imperialism) either through military conquest or trade
conquest and today, perhaps, characterised by conquest
through communication (eg. the Americanisation or westernisation
of culture).

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According to Bessant and Watts (1999: 20):

“A key sign of the magnitude of the changes in that first Great

Transformation is found in the ways people continued talking
about the experience of loss, ‘the world we have lost’. Phrases like
‘the death of God’, ‘demise of the family, and the ‘loss of commu-
nity’ reflect the long-standing feelings of bereavement and loss that
accompanied the modernising experience.

Polanyi would argue that similar feelings of loss and bereavement are
expressed, in similar terms, today in our post-modern society where rapid,
often dramatic change has become almost the norm.

Although many individuals, for example, Marx, Toennies, Comte and

Spencer developed different versions of what Comte called ‘sociology’,
the ‘science of society’, it wasn’t until the late 1 9th century that sociology
was established as an academic discipline. Social theories came out of this
‘new’ discipline, as attempts to explain, or account for, social change.
Social theories were, and still are today, products of their times and are
characterised to a greater or lesser extent by the prevailing views and
ideologies of their eras. When studying social theories, and using one or
more of them in an attempt to explain social and cultural change, it is
important to recognise this fact about them and to be conscious, if not
critical, of the biases, values and assumptions inherent in them.
Sociological theory can be roughly divided into periods during which dif-
ferent schools of theoretical thought tended to be dominant:

• from the late Nineteenth/early Twentieth Century until the 1 92Os,

while Sociology was establishing itself as an academic discipline in Its
own right (there was, at the same time, a development of Anthropol-
ogy) ‘Social Darwinism’, early evolutionary theory, which was func-
tionalist in its perspective, was a dominant school of thought
• the 1940s -1960s was the era of ‘Structural Functionalism’ (Parsons,
Spencer, Durkheim and Comte)
• by the mid-1 960s (1 960s - 1 980s), Marxism, Weberian sociology,
Feminism and Symbolic Interactionism were dominant
• most recently, Post-Modernism (also called Post-Structuralism) has
tended to dominate sociological thinking.

This division isn’t absolute in that different schools of sociological thought

agreed with, disagreed with, borrowed and rejected aspects of each other’s
premises. Even within the different schools of thought, there is accep-
tance and rejection of other proponents’ ideas.

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186 Social Science I

An Overview of Some Social Theories

Early Evolutionary Theory This theory of social change was based on the
assumption that all societies develop from simple, ‘small-scale’ beginnings
into more complex industrial and post-industrial societies. This develop-
ment process was thought to be unilinear, that is, there was one line of
development from simple to complex. It also assumed that the changes
inherent in this development were all ‘progress’. This theory emerged
around the time Charles Darwin was publishing his theories on the origin
of species; that biological species evolved from the simple to the complex
and that there was ‘survival of the fittest’. Evolutionary theorists applied
these ideas to societies - a concept which fitted very comfortably with this
colonial era when Britain and other colonising countries were heavily
involved in bringing their “superior” advanced form of society to more
“primitive” societies, in exchange for their raw materials, trade goods,
etc. Ethnocentrism was rife during this period and early Evolutionary
theorists reflected the prevailing ideology, legitimising, through their theo-
retical explanation of social change, the political and economic ambitions
of the colonial powers. Early evolutionary theory described change, rather
than explained it and ignored the many patterns of development which
were occurring - which were, in reality, as diverse as the countries them-
selves.

While Early Evolutionary Theory became discredited once anthropologi-

cal data was published describing the diversity of change in modernising
societies, Modern Evolutionary Theory still exists. This more updated ver-
sion sees sociocultural evolution as the tendency for social structures to
become more complex over time. It also acknowledges that this process in
multilinear and that change occurs in different ways and at different rates.
Modem Evolutionary Theory concedes that change is not always neces-
sarily progress, and that it will not inevitably produce greater happiness
for all the people concerned. Unlike Early Evolutionary Theory, Modern
Evolutionary Theory does attempt to explain change, arguing that the
main source of change is a shift in subsistence/production, each change
resulting in greater productivity, which in turn leads to greater economic
surplus and thus more distributable wealth. This leads to improved living
standards, population growth, cultural diversity and further development.
Functionalist Theory (often called Structural Functionalism): Functional-
ist theory assumes, on the whole, that as societies develop, they become
increasingly more complex and interdependent. Functionalist theory em-
phasizes social order rather than social change. Talcott Parsons viewed
society as consisting of interdependent parts which work together to main-
tain the equilibrium of the whole, rather like the human body with its
interdependent organs working for the health of the entire organism. Key

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 Appendix D 187

concepts of this theory are those of differentiation and integration. Differ-

entiation occurs as society becomes more complex but the new institu-
tions must be integrated with each other into the whole. In other words,
change occurs (differentiation of institutions, for example, to take over
functions of previously non-differentiated institutions) but structures
within society change or emerge to compensate. The new structures are
integrated to ensure the smooth functioning of society. Social order re-
quires that members of society work towards achieving order and stabil-
ity within the society and Functionalist Theory asserts that this is the most
desirable social state for people. The assumptions are:

• all members accept their roles o all members accept the moral values
of their society
• ‘social order’ is achieved through complex processes of socialisation,
education and sanctions
• history is seen as a series of phases through which societies progress.
Each phase is characterized by an increase in rationality
• ‘social facts’ can be studied as ‘objective facts’ or ‘social laws’

Limitations of this theory are that it really only attempts to explain insti-
tutional change. During the decades of the 1940s and 1950s, which were
relatively placid, the functionalist view of society as a balanced system
that integrated small but necessary changes was quite consistent with the
times. However this social theory quickly lost credibility because it proved
inadequate to explain the rapid upheaval and social unrest of the late 50s
and 60s. Like Early Evolutionary theory, it assumes that change is progress,
although there are disagreements between Functionalist theorists.

Conflict Theory - Marxism (Marx and Engels)

Marxism also saw itself as offering a ‘scientific account’ of change but, in

opposition to Functionalism, this focused on the premise that radical change
was inevitable in society. Marxism argued that the potential for change
was built into the basic structures of society, the relationships between
social classes, which Marx saw as being intrinsic to the social relations of
production. According to Marx, eventually society reaches a point where
its own organization creates a barrier to further economic growth and at
that point, crisis precipitates a revolutionary transformation of the soci-
ety, for example, from feudalism to capitalism, or from capitalism to so-
cialism. Marxists believed that social order was maintained through
socialisation, education and ideology. Thus control is maintained to suit
the vested interests of powerful groups and as the interests of these groups
change, so does society. Change is therefore ongoing until crisis point is
reached and transformation occurs. While Marx focused on class conflict

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188 Social Science I

specifically, modem conflict theorists have broadened their explanation

of change to social conflict generally. While Conflict Theory is useful in
explaining significant events in history and ongoing changing patterns of
race and gender relations, it struggles to adequately explain the dramatic
impact of technological development on society or the changes to family
organisation.

Symbolic Interactionism

Symbolic Interactionism developed as an alternative to Functicnalism,

emphasising that social interaction is symbolic in nature and that social
reality is constructed by the people participating in it, rather than by ‘ex-
ternal laws’ (Herbert Blumer; Peter Berger). This concept follows the
Weberian premise that ‘social reality’ is different from ‘natural reality’
because it is symbolic and socially constructed. Because Structural
Interactionism sees social reality as neither objective nor external (as the
natural world is) they reject the idea that social reality is objective and
needs to be studied as such. Symbolic Interactionists argue that people
give meaning to events and objects and that those people agree about
these meanings. It becomes irrelevant what is ‘really’ happening, because
the participants are engaged in interpretive processes and it is these that
shape their perceptions of the world. (Participant Observation is a favourite
research method of Symbolic Interactionists.)

Post-Modernist Social Theory

(also called Post-Structuralism)

Post-Modernism argues that both social reality and knowledge is socially

constructed. Post-Modernism rejects ‘general’ or overarching explanations
of change, which rely on the premise of a single total social system or
assumptions about class or gender power. PostModernists see power as
dispersed and localised, rather than hierarchical and directed from the
top down. For Post-Modernists, there are many ‘knowledges’ and ‘ways
of knowing’, multiple sets of moral rules and ethics, which people in soci-
ety tap into at their local level. Authority structures may attempt to assert
their knowledge and way of doing things) but they do this, not from any
intellectual or moral authority, but through political strategies of coercion
(ridicule, exclusion), leading to the use of their definition of ‘normal’ to
define what is ‘abnormal’. At the micro-level, the out-group is defined by
definition of the in-group. Micropower is located within institutions, which
use language and practices to control people. Post-Modernists view soci-
ety, therefore, not as a total system but as an aggregation of fragments.

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 Appendix D 189

They see post-modern society as the next phase after modern, post-indus-
trial society, so in this sense Post-Modernists are viewing social change in
terms of stages that societies go through. In terms of social theory, they
confine their analysis to post-industrial societies and rarely attempt to
analyse the whole of society, preferring to focus on its component parts,
such as institutions like the family, prisons, hospitals etc.

Recent social theorists, for example, Anthony Giddens (1990), see a cru-
cial distinction between pre-modern and modern societies based on our
dependence on increasingly complex and extended social relationships.
These rely on ‘expert systems’ with which we have no face-to-face rela-
tionship. In the past, people relied on, or were dependent on, the people
with whom they had the closest relationships, for example, spouses, fam-
ily etc. In modern society, we are increasingly becoming independent within
traditional relationships (for example, women pursuing a career path con-
currently with their husbands) while becoming increasingly dependent
on people with whom we have no relationship (for example, when we
catch a plane, we are dependent on the ‘expertise’ of pilots, ground crews,
traffic controllers etc.)

Other recent social theory especially the discussion coming out of America,
focuses on forms of collective behaviour as a force for change. While this
discussion isn’t necessarily formalised as social theory, it is perhaps worth-
while to look at the role of social movements in the change process. For
this purpose, “social movement” is defined as a large number of people
who come together as part of an organised effort to bring about, or resist,
social change. Institutionalised forms of political action are usually im-
portant to these groups in the achievement of their goals. There are sev-
eral types of these movements, ranging from Reformist or Revolutionary
groups, through to Reactionary movements (resisting change rather than
working towards change). Study of social movements has ranged from
micro-level studies, which examine the motives and aspirations of indi-
viduals within these movements, to organisational-level studies. Resource
Mobilisation Theory argues that a social movement cannot be sustained
simply by discontent with existing structures. The social movement must
manipulate discontent and efficiently manage it through the aggregation
and distribution of resources (money and labour). For a social movement
to succeed, there must be an adequate resource base. This can come from
participants directly or ‘sponsors’- people or groups outside the social
movement who may be sympathetic to the ‘cause’ (conscience support-
ers), share common goals with the social group, or have a vested interest
in the social movement’s success. The social movement must have organisers
who can garner this resource support and organise the participants and
their activities, utilising existing social infrastructure to achieve the goals
of the movement. Resource Mobilisation Theory emphasises the interac-

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190 Social Science I

tion between resource availability, the goal preferences of the movement

and the entrepreneurial activities of the organisers in mobilising partici-
pants and supporters.

A central fact of recent social theory is the movement away from

overarching, ‘grand’ theory towards the partial, the fragmented. It has
been, and still is, problematic to try and construct theories which attempt
to explain everything - the relationship between social change and all
aspects of society. The ‘grand theories’ of the past arose out of the ideolo-
gies of their periods - it may be said in the future that ‘fragmentation’
theories like Post-Modernism have come out of what is increasingly be-
coming the ‘me’ era. Social theories aren’t instruments or tools by which
people can examine societies and cultures; they are themselves ‘culture’,
the products of the life experiences and locations and cultural milieu of
their proponents. They rely on perspectives, they are open-ended; they
are metaphors for societies (Beilharz: 1992). Nevertheless, social theory is
important because it attempts to address the human condition in change.
Theories generalise, but this does not mean that they should totalise or
systematise. Social theory offers a way of operating in the world, helping
us clarify norms and values, political and economic understanding and
the relationships of these things.

References

Beilharz, P. (ed.): Social Theory Guide to Central Thinkers Allen & Unwin,
NSW, 1892.
Bessant, J. ~ Watts, R.: Sociology Australia Allen & Unwin, NSW 1999
Giddens, A: The Consequences of Modernity Polity Press, Cambridge,
1 990.
Polanyi, K.: The Great Transformation Octagon Books, New York, 1973.

UP Open University
 Unit VI
Research Process and
Methodology in the Social
Sciences
 Module 12
Introduction to the Research
Process and Methodologies in
the Social Sciences
Ma. Glenda Lopez Wui

T he first and most important step in

finding solution to a social problem is to
study it. To come up with correct solutions
Objectives
to the problem, the study should be thorough After working on this
and systematic. Researchers observe certain module, you should be able
processes and methodologies when to:
conducting their studies to arrive at correct
recommendations for the problems at hand. 1. Explain research
In this last module for our course, we will strategy and method;
take up the research process and 2. Enumerate the strengths
methodologies used in the social sciences. and weaknesses of each
The discussion in this module is based on the research method
article by Anthony Giddens entitled discussed; and
“Working with Sociology: Methods and 3. Write a research
Research”. A copy of the article is attached proposal.
to this module.

Several aspects are involved in doing research, namely:

Research procedure or strategy relates to how the research is planned

and carried out. This means choosing the appropriate method of research
and working out how to apply it to the area of study.
194 Social Science I

Research methodology has to do with the logic of interpreting results

and analyzing findings.

Research methods are the actual techniques of investigation used to study

the social world. They include the use of questionnaires, interviews,
participant observation or fieldwork within a community being studied,
together with the interpretation of official statistics and historical
documents.

Research Strategy
The research strategy basically outlines the different stages involved in
conducting research. And what are these stages? Read on to find out.

The research problem

All research starts with a research problem. According to Giddens, good
researches are those that address problems that are also puzzles. Puzzle-
solving research aims to explain “why events happen as they do, rather
than accepting them at their face value.” Examples of research questions
in these kinds of studies are:

Why do Filipinos vote incompetent people to office?

Why do some elements in the military launch coup d’ etats?
Why is corruption pervasive in government?

One research project may lead to another; hence, research problems are
usually borne out of researches raising issues that were not earlier
addressed. You may get ideas for your research from reading studies that
are published in books or journals or from your awareness of issues
gripping society.

Reviewing the evidence

The next step in the research process is the review of evidence or of the
literature on studies done earlier on the subject matter. The researcher
could get ideas from the work of others, which could help him/her clarify
issues in the prospective research. He/She could also get ideas about the
appropriate research methods that should be used.

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 Unit VI Module 12 195

Making the research problem precise

The next step is making a clear formulation of the research problem. The
review of related studies can help in this process. After reading relevant
materials, the researcher’s hunches about the nature of the problem can
now be formulated into a definite hypothesis. A hypothesis is “a guess
about the relationship between the phenomena” to be studied. An example
of a hypothesis is:

One’s economic class determines one’s educational attainment.

For your research to be effective, make sure that your hypothesis is

formulated in such a way that it can be tested by the information to be
gathered.

Working at a research design

The next concern of the researcher is how to collect the information needed.
The research method to be chosen largely depends on the overall objectives
of the study and aspects of behavior to be analyzed. A survey might be
suitable to a particular study while observational study might be more
appropriate in another.

Carrying out the research

While carrying out the research, it is very possible that you will encounter
unforeseen difficulties. The person whom you need to interview may refuse
an interview, or documents may be harder to obtain than you originally
thought. The researcher must be prepared for these possible difficulties
and be skilled enough to improvise.

Interpreting the results

Interpreting the materials or information gathered in relation to the
research problem is not at all easy. While answers may be provided for
the research questions, some studies in the end turn out to be less
conclusive. Again, correct interpretation of the results largely depends on
the skills of the researcher.

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196 Social Science I

Reporting research findings

The research findings may be published in books or journals. The research
report “provides an account of the nature of the research and seeks to
justify whatever conclusions are drawn.” It also indicates the questions
that remain unanswered, which could be topics for further research.

General Methodology
Causal relationship
The analysis of cause and effect is one of the problems that should be
tackled in research. A causal relationship between two events or situations
is “one in which one event or situation produces another.”

Causation is different from correlation. “Correlation means the existence

of a regular relationship between two sets of occurrences or variables.” A
variable is an aspect along which individuals or groups vary. Examples of
variables commonly studied by social scientists are age, income, educational
attainment, occupation, and social class. It is not the case that when two
variables are closely correlated, then one causes the other. For example in
the Philippines, you can see that the continuing increase in the number of
out-of-school youth is a phenomenon we experience alongside the increase
in the number of teachers migrating abroad to work as domestic helpers.
Although they occur simultaneously, it is not the case that one causes the
other. Can you think of other examples that are correlated but do not
have a causal relationship?

In examining a causal relationship, we need to distinguish between

independent and dependent variables. “An independent variable is one
which produces an effect on another variable; the variable affected is the
dependent one.” For example, you may want to study the relationship
between the level of educational achievement and occupational success,
and thus put forward the hypothesis: “The better the grades an individual
gets in school, the more well-paid the job he/she is likely eventually to
obtain.” In this example, academic achievement is the independent variable
and occupational income is the dependent variable. Take note, however,
that the distinction depends on the direction of the causal relationship we
want to analyze. Hence, a variable that is the dependent variable in a
particular study could also be the independent variable in another study.

UP Open University
 Unit VI Module 12 197

Research Methods
After learning the processes involved in doing research, you may now
ask, “What are the methods used in conducting research?”. You will find
out that there are actually several, and the selection of the method to be
used largely depends on the overall design and objectives of the study.

Fieldwork
In fieldwork or participant observation, “the investigator lives with a group
or community being studied, and perhaps takes an active part in their
activities.” As cited by Giddens, an example of fieldwork research is the
one conducted by Irving Goffman in his study of the behavior of people in
mental asylums. During the conduct of his research, Goffman spent several
months working as an assistant athletic director in a mental hospital.
Anthropologists often make use of this method in their researches.

In conducting fieldwork, it is very important that the researcher gain the

trust and confidence of the community he/she is going to study and be
able to sustain this for a period of time to obtain worthwhile results. The
researcher must also adjust to the living conditions of the community
especially when studying a culture that is different from his/her own.

Compared to other research methods, fieldwork “provides much richer

information about social life.” Fieldwork is practically the only method to
be utilized when studying a community whose culture is largely unknown
to outsiders. We are able to understand why a people in a community
with a different culture act the way they do only after we learn how
things work “from the inside.”

Fieldwork also has its limitations: “only fairly small groups or communities
can be studied; and much depends on the skill of the researcher in gaining
the confidence of the individuals involved.” If the researcher is unable to
get the trust of the community, it is very likely that the research will not
take off at all.

Surveys
Although fieldwork is “best suited for in-depth studies of social life,” it is
challenged by the problem of how to generalize the results of the study
because it deals only with a limited number of people. Generalization is
less of a problem in survey research because there are significantly more

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198 Social Science I

respondents in a survey than there are in fieldwork. Examples of surveys

regularly conducted in the Philippines are those of the Social Weather
Stations and Pulse Asia. Every time national elections draw closer, you
can hear more of these pollsters’ surveys on the preferred candidates of
the electorate.

Two types of questionnaires are used in surveys. One has a standardized

set of questions, where “only a fixed range of responses is possible”—for
instance, Yes/No/Don’t know, or Very Likely/Likely/Unlikely/Very
Unlikely. Because only few categories are involved in fixed choice surveys,
responses are “easy to compare and tabulate,” but the information they
yield “is likely to be restricted in scope.”

The other type of questionnaire is open-ended. Because the respondents

are given opportunities to express their views in their own words and are
not limited to ticking fixed responses, open-ended questionnaires yield
richer information than the standardized questionnaires. Nonetheless, the
lack of standardization makes it difficult to compare the responses.

Survey questions need to be carefully constructed. Vague questions like

“What do you think of the government?” should be avoided. We should
also be careful of leading questions such as those starting with “Do you
agree that…?” as these invite agreement from the respondent. Refer to
Giddens for other examples of poorly framed survey questions.

Pilot studies are usually conducted in survey research to pick up problems

(for example in questionnaire formulation) not foreseen by the researcher.
“A pilot study is a trial run in which a questionnaire is completed by just
a few people.” With the pilot run, difficulties encountered can be addressed
before the actual survey is conducted.

Although surveys are interested in studying a large number of people, it is

impossible to study all of these people directly. Hence, researchers
concentrate on a small proportion of the population—that is, a sample of
the total. To ensure that the sample is typical of the population, it should
have a representative sample of the total population. Due to the
complexity of choosing a representative sample, statisticians have devised
means of selecting the correct size and composition of the respondents.
One such procedure is random sampling, “in which a sample is chosen
so that every member of the population has the same probability of being
included.” To obtain a random sample, each member of the population is
usually given a number, and then a computer is used to “generate random
numbers, from which the sample is derived—for instance by picking every
tenth number in a random series.”

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 Unit VI Module 12 199

Documentary research
Documentary research is the “systematic use of printed or written materials
for investigation.” Because fieldwork and survey research also involve
scrutiny of documentary materials, documentary research is therefore in
a way one of the most widely used methods of data gathering. Documents
most often consulted are public and private records, such as government
documents (official statistics on population, crime, marriage and divorce,
rates of unemployment), church records, letters, and judicial records. The
documents may also include previous researches done in the area to be
investigated.

Experiments
In experiments, “the researcher directly controls the relevant variables.
An experiment can in fact be defined as an attempt, within artificial
conditions established by the investigator, to test the influence of one or
more variables on others.” Although widely used in the natural sciences,
the use of experimentation in the social sciences is limited. This is because
in experiments, only small groups of individuals can be brought into the
laboratory setting, and “people know that they are being studied and
may behave differently from normal.” Nonetheless, the experimental
method can be very useful for particular studies conducted in psychology
and sociology like the one cited in Giddens’ article.

Interviews
The interview method is similar to the survey method, since both methods
make use of questionnaires. But interviews may not involve large number
of respondents as surveys do. Using a questionnaire for an interview is
oftentimes called “formal or controlled,” while in a less structured
interview, the interviewee is “allowed to talk freely about various aspects
of a topic.” Richer information is generated from an extended interview
but responses are more difficult to rigorously compare than in a structured
interview. Researchers can interview key informants to generate important
information for their studies.

Life histories
Life histories are “biographical materials assembled about particular
individuals—usually as recounted by themselves.” These are particularly
important when the study is concerned with “connections between

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200 Social Science I

psychological development and social processes.” In addition to the

memories of individuals involved, other documents such as letters,
contemporary reports, or newspaper descriptions, are used to add to or
validate the information provided.

Diaries
Diaries are used when the researcher want to have a record of the daily
activities of individuals in a specific social environment. Fieldwork and
surveys may not be able to record the daily activities of individuals. A
diary addresses this limitation. Again, information generated from diaries
is used alongside data gathered using other methods.

Conversation analysis
Conversation analysis is the study of “how conversations are carried on
in real life settings.” With the use of tape records and videos, the audible
characteristics or facial expressions and gestures in a conversational
exchange can be recorded for the study. Studies involving conversation
analysis that have been published in recent years are able to offer a variety
of insights into the nature of human interaction.

Triangulation
Triangulation is the process of combining several methods in one research,
utilizing each method to “supplement and check on the others.” Because
each research method has its advantages and limitations, it is very useful
to combine several methods when conducting research.

Activity 12-1
Fill in the table below by writing down the advantages and
disadvantages of each research method. Refer to Giddens’ article
for the answers.

Research Method Advantages Disadvantages

UP Open University
 Unit VI Module 12 201

Activity 12-2
As your final output in this course, you will write a proposal for
the conduct of a research on a specific social issue. For your research
proposal topic, you should choose one of the social issues
confronting our society today.

You need to do extensive reading and library research on a certain

issue to enable you to write an adequate research proposal for the
course. Remember that writing a good research proposal is the
very first step before a good study on an issue can be undertaken.
The exercise of writing a research proposal will likewise make you
experience the first stages in conducting research.

If you go by what is outlined in the Research Strategy, the process

of writing a research proposal will include the formulation of a
research problem and all the steps until working at a research design.
The review of evidence or literature is very important for the
proposal you are going to write. It is through your reading of the
previous researches done on your chosen topic that you can have
sufficient understanding of the matter and be able to formulate a
clear statement of the problem, including the methodology to be
used in the study. Your research proposal should be made up of
the following parts:

1. Background of the study

2. Statement of the problem/Objectives of the study
3. Significance of the study
4. Review of Related Literature
5. Methodology
a. the research method to be used
b. the respondents
c. the instruments or questionnaires to be used in the study
(append this to your proposal)

6. References

For more information on how to write a research proposal, go visit

the Internet sites http://www.meaning.ca/articles/
writing_research_ proposal_may02.htm for the article on “How
to write a research proposal”, and http://www.wisc.edu/
writing/Handbook/PlanResearch Paper.html#discovering for the
article on “Planning and writing a research paper”.

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202 Social Science I

Activity 12-2 continued

Your research proposal should be typewritten (single-spaced) on

no less than five pages. Be sure to document or cite your sources or
references properly. Do not plagiarize. If you plagiarize, this can
lead to your failing the course. Plagiarism is defined as “the
presentation of someone else’s ideas, words, or artistic/scientific/
technical work as one’s own creation. A student who copies or
paraphrases published or on-line material, or another person’s
research, without properly identifying the source(s) is committing
plagiarism” (http://www.bmcc.cuny.edu/academics/grades/
rules/plagiarism.html). I will post in the IVLE the guidelines on
how to properly cite sources. Also, take note that aside from the
hard copy, I will require you to submit an electronic file of your
proposal to enable me to easily check whether portions of your
paper were lifted from the Internet.

Lastly, take note of the three items that you need to include in
your methodology. Your methodology should be appropriate to
the objectives and overall design of your proposed research.

“When the Poor is on Trial: A Social Psychological Interpretation”

(see attached) is an example of a research proposal that can serve
as your guide. You can also consult other proposals made for theses
and dissertations or other research studies. Although the sample
proposal includes a Theoretical Framework, you need not do this
for your proposal. Also, the methodology of the sample proposal
discusses how the data gathering was conducted. Your
methodology will obviously not look like this because you have
not conducted your study yet.

UP Open University
 Unit VI Module 12 203

References

Giddens, Anthony. 1997. Sociology. United Kingdom: Polity Press.

Lopez, Ma. Glenda S. 1999. When the Poor is on Trial: A Social Psychological
Interpretation. Unpublished M.A. Thesis. University of the Philippines-
Diliman, Quezon City.
http://www.meaning.ca/articles/writing_research_
proposal_may02.htm. Accessed on February 4, 2006.
http://www.wisc.edu/writing/Handbook/PlanResearchPaper.
html#discovering. Accessed on February 4, 2006.

UP Open University
Appendix E
When the Poor is on Trial:
A Social Psychological
Interpretation
Ma. Glenda S. Lopez

I. Introduction

In 1997, the nation was treated with media reports about the convic-
tion of Congressman Romeo Jalosjos, a member of a wealthy and
prominent clan from Mindanao, on charges of raping a minor. Also,
about four years earlier, Mayor Antonio Sanchez of Calauan, Laguna
was convicted by a Regional Trial Court for the rape and murder of a
college student. Daily newspapers and local television stations ran
stories about the two cases for several days, treating them either as
headline or front page stories.

The interest generated by these events can be attributed to the fact

that these are unusual stories for the public because these involved the
conviction of the rich. In contrast to stories about the rich and power-
ful being prosecuted for criminal offenses, what is common for them
are those about the poor undergoing legal prosecution.

If newspaper reports were to be used as basis, it would be possible for

us to generalize that majority of those who are convicted of crimes
belong to the lower class. In fact, if we examine the economic status of
the five death row inmates whose convictions were affirmed by the
Supreme Court as of March 1997, we will come across the fact that all
of them are economically disadvantaged. The first of the convicts
whose death penalty was affirmed, Leo Pilo Echagaray, was a fish
vendor, while the other four do not have permanent jobs. Putting the
blame on his being poor for his fate, one of the convicts, Pablo Andan,
in an interview published in a national daily newspaper lamented:
“Our only crime was that we were not born rich.” Expressing his
disappointment with the justice system, he added: “(T)here is no one
here among us who belong to a wealthy family. We could not afford a
good lawyer — that’s why we ended up here.”1

1
Norman Bordadora, “Death Convicts Hope for Reversal of Fortune,“ Philippine Daily In-
quirer, March 10, 1997, p. 1.
208 Social Science I

Although statement of this kind is cited, it is not the intention of the

research to merely attribute the conviction of the inmates to their pov-
erty. For sure, the presence of a good lawyer on the side of the accused
could spell a lot of difference on the outcome of a case, but there are a
lot of other factors, like the weight of the evidence presented against
the accused, that should be considered in analyzing a case. The pur-
pose, rather, of this research in presenting the said view is to capture
what is seemingly the dominant opinion of the indigent about their
conviction.

Nonetheless, although the allegations of the poor convicts may not be

entirely true, it is, however, a reality that the poor cannot readily ac-
cess the services of private lawyers because of the professional fees
charged by most of them for their services. As a result, most of the
indigent accused end up being defended by a counsel de officio.

Counsel de officio are government lawyers appointed by the court to

defend an accused who cannot afford the services of a private lawyer.
The duty of the court, nonetheless, does not end with the appoint-
ment of the counsel de officio; it must also see to it that the latter
perform meritoriously, “because failure to do so constitutes a revers-
ible error.”2 Moreover, a lawyer cannot refuse the assignment to de-
fend an indigent accused when the court appoints him as counsel de
officio without turning false to his oath. “[T]he Code of Legal Ethics
states that a lawyer assigned as a counsel for an indigent prisoner
ought not to be excused for any trivial reason and should always exert
his best effort in his behalf.”3

2
U.S. v. Gimeno, 1 Phil. 236, 237 (1902), cited in William M. Bayhon, Legal Ethics for
Practitioners, in Jorge R. Coquia, Legal Profession (Quezon City: Rex Bookstore, 1993), p.
221.
3
Canons of Professional Ethics, Canon 4, cited in Bayhon, in Coquia, p. 221.

UP Open University
 Appendix E 209

The provision of a lawyer to a poor litigant is in accordance with the

right to counsel4 of the accused as stipulated in our Constitution. Ar-
ticle 3 Section 12 of the Philippine Constitutions states:

Any person under investigation for the commission of an of-

fense shall have the right to be informed of his right to remain
silent and to have competent and independent counsel prefer-
ably of his own choice. If the person cannot afford the services of
counsel, he must be provided with one. These rights cannot be
waived except in writing and in the presence of counsel. (un-
derscoring provided)

Importantly, the Constitution also provides that “no person shall be

denied free access to the court by reason of poverty.”5

However, there is a lot of uncertainty regarding the effectiveness of

counsel de officio, as evidenced by the presence of convictions that
were either reverted to the lower court for further review or reversed
by the Supreme Court because of their lackluster performance in de-
fending the accused.6

4
The importance of the right to counsel of the accused was discussed by Chief Justice
Moran in People v. Holgado. He wrote: “In criminal cases there can be no fair hearing
unless the accused be given an opportunity to be heard by counsel. The right to be heard
would be of little avail if it does not include the right to be heard by counsel. Even the most
intelligent or educated man may have no skill in the science of law, particularly in the rules
of procedure, and without counsel, he may be convicted not because he is guilty but
because he does not know how to establish his innocence. And this can happen more
easily to persons who are ignorant and uneducated.”, quoted in Isagani Cruz, Constitu-
tional Law (Quezon City: Central Lawbook Publishing Co., Inc., 1993), p. 316.
5
Constitution, Article IV, Section 23, cited in Bayhon, in Coquia, p.221.
6
Examples of these cases are People v. Magsi and People v. Malunsing, cited in Cruz, p.
317.

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210 Social Science I

One study illustrating the seeming inability of the public defender (or
the counsel de officio) to defend meritoriously his indigent client in
court was conducted in the United States. The study noted that the
“the relationship between the defender and the prosecutor is much
closer than that between the defender and his client.” On why this so,
the research explained:

(I)n line with the concept of “bargain justice”... that most cases
are settled by a plea of guilty, ... the public defender rarely
prepares to try cases in the conventionally-understood sense
of seeking to win. Rather, his efforts are concentrated on se-
curing an appropriate “deal,” the possibilities for which are
more or less routinely established through past dealing with
the cooperating prosecutors.7

Our laws likewise provide that the need of the accused for a counsel
does not only begin during the trial but even before he is “taken into
custody and placed under investigation for the commission of the
crime.”8 The inability of the suspect, which is usually the case with
the poor, to avail himself of the services of a lawyer during the inves-
tigation often results in the transgression of his rights. Hence, we of-
ten hear stories about a poor accused being tortured, forcing him to
admit to the commission of a crime.

The administration of our bail system is another feature of our crimi-

nal justice system where discrimination against the poor is manifested.9
Unlike the rich, the poor often end up in prison while awaiting trial
because of their inability to put up money for bail. Although Ronald
Goldfarb had the American bail system as subject, his following analysis
is insightful because of the similarity of our bail system with the United
States’:

7
David Sudnow, “Normal Crimes: Sociological Features of the Penal Code in a Public
Defender Office,” Social Problems, Vol. 12 (Winter 1965), pp. 255-276, cited by Edwin M.
Schur, Law and Society (New York: Random House, Inc., 1968), p. 160.
8
Cruz, p.315. This provision is also articulated in Article 3 Section 12 of the Philippine
Constitution.
9
Provision on bail is cited in Article 3 Section 13 of the Philippine Constitution which states:
“All persons except those charged with offenses punishable by reclusion perpetua when
evidence of guilt is strong, shall before conviction, be bailable by sufficient sureties, or be
released on recognizance as may be provided by law. The right to bail shall not be im-
paired even when the writ of habeas corpus is suspended. Excessive bail shall not be
required.”

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 Appendix E 211

Millions of men and women are, through the American bail

system, held each year in “ransom” in American jails, commit-
ted to prison cells often for prolonged periods before trial. Be-
cause they are poor or friendless, they may spend days, weeks,
or months in confinement, often to be acquitted of wrongdo-
ing in the end. A man is accused of stealing a few dollars from
a subway change-booth, spends six months in jail before trial,
and is finally acquitted...His only crime is poverty — he could
not afford the $105 fee for a bondsman to put up the $2,500
bond set by the judge...Yet a man with means, accused of far
more serious crimes and eventually to be found guilty, may
have to spend no time in jail and wait comfortably at home for
his trial to begin.10

Moreover, others believe that the court system itself, because of the
need of the accused for resources to defend his case in court, is out-
rightly militating against poor litigants. As a professor of Yale Univer-
sity pointed out:

Actually of course, the courts are available in proportion to

one’s ability to pay for their use, but legal theory has little to
say about this stark reality. The lawmen know that the courts
are accessible only to those able to bear the expense of litiga-
tion, but legal theory treats this fact as an unfortunate acci-
dent rather than a fundamental characteristic of the legal in-
stitution.11

A more complete picture of the predicament experienced by poor liti-

gants nonetheless cannot be painted if we do not put into context the
role of lawyers in our criminal justice system and society in general. A
discussion on this is therefore in order.

10
Ronald Goldfarb, Ransom: A Critique of the American Bail System (New York: Harper
and Row, 1965), p. 1, quoted in Edwin M. Schur, Law and Society: A Sociological View (New
York: Random House, 1968), p. 162.
11
Prof. Edward S. Robinson, Law and Lawyers (Yale University, 1935), cited in Coquia, p.
49.

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212 Social Science I

Role of lawyers
The legal profession is accorded with the responsibility to provide in-
terpretations of and institute rules necessary to the structure and pro-
cess of societal relations.12 The legal profession is especially crucial in
terms of providing authoritative interpretations of “conduct that are
imposed on the public through its appropriate institutional struc-
tures.”13 Given their responsibility to interpret the law, members of
the legal profession should therefore see to it that their interpretive
skills do not only benefit the affluent but also the poor and the disad-
vantaged in order to address the problem of inequities and injustice in
our society.

he most compelling reason for the existence of the legal profession is

to see to it that justice is realized within the law. Its immediate goal is
to promote compliance with law, while its ultimate goal is to promote
justice. Elaborating on this, former Chief Justice Roberto Concepcion
stated:

[L]aw is a norm of conduct designed for the common good,

either promulgated by competent authority or — in common
law jurisdictions — generally accepted or recognized as obliga-
tory. The common good cannot, however, be advanced with-
out justice for, as Chateaurbriand has aptly put it: “Justice is
the bread of the nation, the people are always hungry for it.”
In short, law is but a means to attain justice. Lawyers are en-
dowed with legal skills to help ensure that every man gets his
due, within the framework of the law.14

In defining the most crucial role of the legal profession, emphasis is

given more on promotion rather than maintenance of justice. This is
because in order for the legal profession to respond more effectively to
“societal demands…(it) must not only be vigilant in maintaining law
and order, it must also be the primary instrument of reform as major
upheavals occur in society.” Thus, the “legal profession must never be
taken as a conservative force.”15

12
Manuel F. Bonifacio and Merlin Magallona, A Framework for the Study of the Legal Profes-
sion: Some Socio-legal Issues (unpublished).
13
Ibid.
14
Former Chief Justice Roberto Concepcion, former Chairman of the IBP National Legal
Aid Committee, delivered this keynote address at the opening session of the First Confer-
ence of Law Deans sponsored by the U.P. Law Center and held at the Sulo Hotel on April
22-24, 1976, published in Coquia, pp. 183-184.
15
Manuel Bonifacio, The Study of the Legal Profession: A Preliminary Framework, (Unpub-
lished), p. 1.

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 Appendix E 213

As an instrument of reform, the legal profession must be able to facili-

tate changes in certain elements of the legal system that are no longer
responsive to the demands of a changing society. Hence, in general,
“the legal profession performs a vanguard role in society because it
not only serves as an instrument of regulation and control, but also as
an instrument of development.” Corollarily, law should not be used
as a tool for domination but as an instrument for the realization of
human potentials. “Law therefore is, in the final analysis,
emancipatory.” 16

Upon closer analysis, however, the legal profession seems unable to

perform its role as a catalyst when times call for reforms in our legal
environment. There seems to be an “interpretive lag” in the profes-
sion. It has not made major interpretive adjustment to respond to
emerging socio-legal concerns.17 One of the reasons cited for the con-
servative nature of the legal profession is the kind of legal education
received by would-be lawyers in our country. As Espiritu explained:

Much of what currently passes for instruction are mere de-

scriptions or normative analyses of legal doctrines and institu-
tions, bereft of any conscious effort to develop a more system-
atic understanding of the role of law in the processes of social
change and development. Law is studied as an independent
established discipline and tends to ignore the role of social and
economic forces in the development of specific legal regimes
and the reciprocal influence of such legal regimes on society.
The unconscious assumption is that the ultimate function of
law is to maintain existing social institutions in a sort of time-
less status quo.18

There are other factors that are offered as explanations why the legal
profession has been remiss in performing its major social mission. One
of these is the perception among members of the legal profession that
their main responsibility is to win the case of their client. As a conse-
quence, parties in a dispute are seen as adversaries. Viewed in this
manner, disputants are thus removed from the context of the social
milieu and are not anymore seen as persons. The relationship, there-
fore, between the lawyer and client becomes transactional in nature.
“What binds the two is a contract. This makes the legal service objec-

16
Ibid., pp. 3-4.
17
Bonifacio and Magallona.
18
Augusto Caesar Espiritu, “Reforms in Graduate Legal Education,” Philippine Law Jour-
nal, V.56, 2nd quarter, June 1981, p. 202.

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214 Social Science I

tive, rational and impersonal. This has resulted in the bureaucratiza-

tion of the legal profession. The practice of law has become deperson-
alized, mechanical and therefore dehumanized. The practitioners of
law have become desensitized to the realities of the human condi-
tion.”19

Another criticism leveled against the practice of law is that it “has

unwittingly led to the support of the status quo.” This is explained by
the fact that the paying client becomes the focus of attention of the
profession since the legal service is the major source of income of law-
yers. Hence, legal practice inadvertently becomes an instrument “to
advance the cause of the paying client.” There is then, as Sison puts it,
an admission of:

[C]lass bias in the legal system and legal profession for these
have become supporters of the ruling class.... the legal system
is an adjuster of social values in society. But this adjustment is
done mostly by the members of the ruling class. I do not think
the masses participate at all. Hence, there is class bias in the
legal system and the legal profession being simply the adminis-
trative arm of the ruling class in making choices among social
values to be observed in society.20

The pecuniary interest of the legal profession has adversely affected

its performance in the conduct of its larger societal goal. For instance,
lawyers are expected to protect the victims of oppression and injus-
tice. These victims turn out to be, on closer examination, the weak and
the indigent who usually constitute the bulk of our population. Their
oppression usually stems from their inability to procure the services of
lawyers when they need them. As one writer noted: “Those citizens
that are termed `exploited’ under capitalism usually turn out to be,
under rigorous examination, citizens that are not able to retain law-
yers.”21 The inability of some legal practitioners to extend services to
the poor and the needy has been the object of scathing criticism lev-
eled against the profession. Following is an example of such commen-
tary:

19
Bonifacio, pp. 4-5.
20
Carmelo V. Sison, as cited in Bonfacio, p. 5.
21
Ferdinand Lundberg, The Legal Profession: A Social Phenomenon, in Harper’s Maga-
zine, December 1938, cited in Coquia, p. 69.

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 Appendix E 215

[A] very large part of what is called social injustice exists be-
cause the legal profession has not shouldered the responsibili-
ties that go with the privilege it enjoys. In theory it is charged
with the task of seeing that all men obtain justice, and not only
those men who have the price to pay for it.22

Ideally, lawyers should be ready to provide legal services to the weak

and indigent without insisting on a fee.23 Their role to provide justice
should not be rationed or made available only to those who have the
resources to obtain it. Of course, lawyers can still continue devoting
their skills and talents to their private and paying clients but they must
also find ways to spare some of their skills and talents for the prob-
lems of the poor.24 Such is important not only because it benefits the
lower classes, but also because it serves the interests of social justice as
well as the interests of social stability and tranquility.25 Although spo-
ken outside our country many years ago, the following declaration
about the consequences of a legal system that discriminates on the
basis of economic class cannot be said to be totally inapplicable in our
context:

It is the wide disparity between the ability of the richer and poorer
classes to utilize the machinery of the law which is at bottom, the
cause of … unrest and instability.26

A number of commentaries on the legal profession points to the inad-

equate moral moorings among lawyers as the cause of their seeming
inability to accomplish the noble cause of their profession. The impor-
tance of integrating into the lives of lawyers the ethical prerequisite of
their profession is succinctly captured in the following words of Former
Associate Justice of Supreme Court J.B.L. Reyes:

22
bid., pp. 67-68.
23
Wade, Public Responsibilities of the Learned Professions (21 Louisiana Law Review
130, 1960), cited in Coquia, p. 33.
24
William J. Brennan, Jr., Former Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, The Re-
sponsibilities of the Legal Profession, cited in Coquia, p.159.
25
Ibid., p. 69.
26
Reginald Heber Smith, Justice and the Poor (1919), cited in Coquia, p. 49.

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216 Social Science I

The ethics of law practice cannot be those of the open market.

Law touches too wide a range of human values, and is beset
by too many temptations, to admit of any but the highest stan-
dards of conduct. From the ranks of lawyers will be drawn
judges and prosecutors, legislators and presidents who will
decide the destiny of the nation and of the citizens. No one can
escape shivering at the thought that some time in the future
his own life or liberty may hinge upon an individual unable to
discriminate between what is profitable and what is right, what
is expedient and what is just; or whose main interest in life is
survival or preferment.27

Although moral training may not be entirely learned in school, the

role of law schools in turning out high-minded lawyers, “who can
treasure the principle of morality and refinement in conduct and a
developed sense of responsibility,” cannot be discounted. Justice Reyes
particularly emphasized the importance of law school training in the
“cultivation and consolidation of moral character, civic courage, and
ethical principles” among law graduates.28 Upon examination of the
kind of lawyers that are turned in by law schools, however, Justice
Reyes averred that they appear to have failed in providing the neces-
sary training to hone the professional ethics of their students. In his
assessment of the ethical training of lawyers, Justice Reyes wrote:

(T)he law schools appear to have failed to kindle in the hearts

of their wards a resolute dedication to the rule of law and fair
play, as well as the conviction that every lawyer is, and must
remain, an integral part of the administration of justice. That
failure is written large in the court records – evasion of the
sworn duty to defend the poor and defenseless on the flimsiest
of excuses; resort to technicalities and delay – that convert liti-
gations into wars of attrition; groundless suits and appeals;
abandonment of clients without the courtesy of a notice to them
or the court. And outside the courthouses, how many lawyers
seek to palliate their failures by charging prejudice or base mo-
tives on the part of the judges? How many of them, placed in
positions of power, have practiced self-restraint, respect and
tolerance of others, and subordination of self-interest? Are we

27
Justice J.B.L. Reyes, Objectives of Legal Education in Present-Day Philippine Society,
Paper read at the Opening Session of the symposium on Legal education 1963, cited in
Coquia, pp. 116.
28
Justice J.B.L. Reyes, cited in Coquia, pp. 116-117.

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 Appendix E 217

not treated to the sad spectacle of lawyers in official positions

praising themselves for their compliance with the law of the
land and the orders of courts, as if it all were a matter of grace
and tolerance on their part, and not of inescapable sworn
duty?29

One of the reasons that is cited for this failure is the nature of the
present law curricula which “devote only a minuscule portion to pro-
fessional ethics – those moral rules without which the practitioners
would become just licensed freebooters.” Legal ethics is offered as a
subject in law school not more than two hours per week in the last
semester of the eight that compose the law course proper. The impor-
tance of more time devoted to the study of legal ethics lies in the tru-
ism that: “Ethical training grows progressively weaker unless care-
fully nurtured and regularly reinvigorated by exercise, precept, and
example.”30

The adverse effects of a lack of strong ethical moorings among law

practitioners was further emphasized in the Self-Appraisal speech of
eminent Filipino Lawyer, Senator and Statesman Quintin Paredes:

How often have we, by our masterly tactics of delay, twisted

and thwarted justice to suit our own and our client’s
purposes?…As the wheels of justice are held back by deliber-
ate delaying strategies of lawyers, people grow more and more
discouraged to litigate in court, and more and more encour-
aged to take the law in their own hands… As a result, we, the
lawyers, have helped corrode the people’s faith and trust in
the Rule of Law as a means of procuring justice…The cardinal
principle of law that he who is with unclean hands cannot
invoke the law in his favor should have a parallel in the con-
cept that he who is a guardian of the law should be a respecter
of the law…Lawyers and judges should work for the speedy
administration of justice to restore public conviction that there
is no substitute for the rule of law in getting protection of rights
and redress.31

29
Ibid.
30
Ibid., 117-118.
31
Sen. Quintin Paredes, cited by J.B.L. Reyes in Coquia, pp. 124-125.

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218 Social Science I

In spite of these criticisms, however, the importance of the legal pro-

fession cannot be discounted. The following rejoinder to the
reproachment thrown against the legal profession may capture the
essence of the continued existence of the profession:

For whatever may be said against the legal profession as a

whole, the necessities of our complex civilized society will al-
ways need the services of law-trained men who have the grasps
of social problems and who dominate the forces of social con-
trol. And as long as organized society exists on the face of the
earth, as long as men are governed by laws enforced for their
own benefit and for the good of all, as long as we have govern-
ment of laws and not of men, so long will lawyers be needed
for the peace and happiness of man.32

A. Problems

The predicament encountered by the poor in our criminal justice sys-

tem, as initially outlined in the preceding discussion, prompted the
conceptualization of this research. The study thus aims to examine
the social and psychological issues and problems encountered by poor
litigants in criminal cases by looking into the interaction that takes
place between the lawyer and the client. It is hoped that by examining
this process several insights that could explain why poor litigants en-
counter problems during their trial may be brought to light.

The research will also explore the perceptions and attitudes of law-
yers regarding the conduct of criminal cases involving poor litigants,
especially the disadvantages and inequities experienced by this sector
in our criminal justice system.

The research therefore aims to address the following problems:

1. What is the nature and dynamics of the relationship/interaction be-

tween the lawyer and the poor litigant? What are the bases and con-
sequences of this interaction?

2. To what extent is the behavior of the lawyer a deviation from his pro-
fessional calling?

32
Editor’s note to Ferdinand Lundber’s article, The Legal Profession: A Social Phenomena,
cited in Coquia, pp. 48-49.

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 Appendix E 219

3. What issues and problems are encountered by poor litigants? What

factors account for these?

4. How do lawyers perceive the conduct of criminal cases involving poor

litigants? What are the problems experienced by the indigent accused?
What do they think of the de officio system?

B. Objectives

The study will have the following objectives:

1. Examine the interaction between lawyers and their indigent clients;

2. Explore how lawyers perform their role as members of the legal pro-
fession;

3. Explain why the poor experience patterns of discrimination in our

criminal justice system; and

4. Examine the perceptions and attitudes of lawyers regarding the con-

duct of criminal cases involving poor litigants as well as their percep-
tion of the de officio system.

C. Theoretical Framework

Sociological jurisprudence

The central issue that is addressed by sociological jurisprudence is the

relationship between law and the general social norms. One of the pio-
neers of this school of thought is Austrian jurist Eugen Erlich. As illus-
trated in his major work, Fundamental Principles of the Sociology of Law,33
he became known for his distinction between the “positive law” (or the
formal law) and the “living law” or the “social law” grounded in the
“inner circle of associations.” According to one interpreter of Erlich, this
inner circle of association is similar to what anthropologists call “culture
pattern.” 34

33
E. Erlich, The Fundamental Principles of the Sociology of Law (1913), trans. By W. Moll
(Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1936), cited in Schur, p. 37.
34
F. S. C. Northrop, The Complexity of Legal and Ethical Experience (Boston: Little Brown,
1959), pp. 248-249, cited in Schur, p. 37.

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220 Social Science I

Ehrlich’s formulation addresses the problem of the existence of a gulf be-

tween what is legally imposed and the general social norms. Accordingly,
the positive law could only be effective if it is consistent with the living
law. Similar with this formulation is the view that “a law is only mean-
ingful within the context of social values.”35 As such, problems may arise
if the laws implemented are not attuned to the general social norms. As
Mac Iver and Page put it: “a law which attacks a widespread custom,
eventhough a majority support it, both lacks a ground of support that is
essential to its effective operation and creates a force of resistance that
endangers its authority.”36

Ehrlich likewise stressed that “the center of gravity of legal development

lies not in legislation, nor in juristic science, nor in judicial decision, but in
society itself.” A law could not provide control if the wider social base for
control is absent. Similarly, order in society is “grounded in the social
acceptance of certain rules for living, not on sheer compulsion by the state.”
The work of Ehrlich was able to direct the attention of legal analysts to
the larger social world. “It was here rather than in legal documents, doc-
trines, even courtrooms that the forces governing legal phenomena could
be found.”37

Another thinker who worked along the line of sociological jurisprudence

is Roscoe Pound.38 At the core of Pound’s sociological jurisprudence is his
call to study law as it actually is — the “law in action” which he distin-
guished from the law in the books. A leading student of Pound noted that
this distinction “is applicable across the entire realm of legal substance
and procedure.” As such, “(i)t encompasses not only the question of
whether the enacted law is in line with prevailing behavior patterns
(Erhlich’s living law), but extends to other discrepancies as well, for ex-
ample, those between what the courts say and what they actually do,
and between the express aim of a statute and its actual effects.”39

35
Bonifacio, p.6.
36
Robert MacIver and Charles H. Page, Society: An Introductory Analysis (London:
Macmillan, 1950), p.179, cited in Schur, p. 7.
37
Schur, p. 37.
38
Roscoe Pound’s major works included Outlines of Lectures on Jurisprudence (1903);
The Spirit of the Common Law (1922); and Interpretations of Legal History (1923), cited
in Shur, p. 39.
39
Julius Stone, The Province and Function of Law (Cambridge: Harvard University Press,
1961), pp. 406-408, cited in Schur, p. 39.

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 Appendix E 221

Social Interaction

The patterns of discrimination experienced by poor litigants may be fur-

ther illuminated if the interaction between the lawyer and the client is
examined more closely. In order to analyze the interaction that takes place
between the two, symbolic interactionism, a school of thought pioneered
by George Herbert Mead, will be used as a framework of analysis.

Symbolic interactionism is a perspective on the social world that focuses

on interaction as a unit of analysis.40 As a sociological approach, it stresses
the importance of symbols and meanings in human interaction.41 Sym-
bolic interactionists are particularly interested in the subjective meanings
we attach to symbols. “Symbols are social objects used to represent (or
`stand in for,’ `take the place of’) whatever people agree they shall repre-
sent.” Words, physical artifacts, and physical actions (the word rose, a
white flag, and a clenched fist) are considered as symbols. Communica-
tion becomes possible because of the consensus as to the meaning of sym-
bols. Human beings learn symbols as well as their meanings through in-
teraction. 42

According to Mead, a social interaction is symbolic when the participants

“interpret each other’s gestures and act on the basis of the meaning yielded
by the interpretation.” Interpreting a smiling face as signifying that a per-
son is happy constitutes symbolic interaction.

Symbolic interaction involves interpretation, or ascertaining the

meaning of the actions or remark of the other person, and defini-
tion, or conveying indications to another person as to how he is to
act. Human association consists of a process of such interpretation
and definition. Through this process, the participants fit their own
acts to the ongoing acts of one another and guide others in doing
so. 43

40
Barbara Katz Rothman, “Symbolic Interaction,” in Henry Etzkowitz and Ronald M. Glassman,
The Renascence of Sociological Theory: Classical and Contemporary (Itasca, Illinois: F. E.
Peacock Publishers, Inc., 1991), p. 151.
41
David Popeneo, Sociology (Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice Hall, Inc., 1983) p.
105 and Joel M. Charon, Sociology: A Conceptual Framework (Boston: Allyn and Bacon,
1989) pp. 285-287.
42
George Ritzer, Contemporary Sociological Theory (Singapore: McGraw-Hill Book Co.,
1988), p. 183 and Rothman, p. 152-153.
43
Herbert Blumer, “Sociological Implications of the Thought of George Herbert Mead,” in
Gregory P. Stone and Harvey A. Farberman, Social Psychology Through Symbolic Interac-
tion (Waltham, Massachusetts: Xerox College Publishing, 1970), p. 285.

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222 Social Science I

To respond to the meaning or intention of the symbol requires interpre-

tive process: people respond to the imagined meanings of others. Before
we can respond to a symbol, we must first be aware of it and then be able
to decide what it means. The meaning of a symbol depends on how the
other understands its use. We will be able to understand the meaning
attached to the symbol by imagining ourselves to be the other. We know
what the other means by the symbol because we are also users of these
symbols. The process of imagining ourselves to be the other is what Mead
labeled as “taking the role of the other.”44 Moreover, by taking the role of
the other, we will be able to understand what other people do or intend to
do. Because of our ability to read symbolic gestures, “we can imagine
ourselves in their place, we can take their perspectives, and sense what
they are likely to do.”45

Another perspective on how meaning is established in social interaction

is offered by Gregory Stone. According to him, role-taking or taking the
role of the other only partially explains the process. The process of estab-
lishing a meaningful discourse is heuristically better conceptualized as
identification. The term identification involves two processes: identifica-
tion of and identification with. Role-taking is a variant of the latter process.
But before identification with is established, there must first be the identifi-
cation of participants. Appearance usually facilitates the identification of
participants and is often accomplished silently or non-verbally. The im-
portance of establishing age in social transaction can be cited to illustrate
this point. There are vocabularies that are only for adults and languages
that are solely for children. Identification of the other’s age must initially
be established before the proper language is selected for the upcoming
discourse. The other’s age is known to us through appearance. As such,
the identification of the participants is established through appearance.
“Appearance sets the stage for, permits, sustains and delimits the possi-
bilities of discourse by underwriting the possibilities of meaningful discus-
sion.” It is usually communicated through non-verbal symbols such as
gestures, grooming, clothing and location.46

Our ability to read symbolic gestures also allows us to formulate ideas

about ourselves. We get an image of ourselves by reading the gestures of
others when we communicate with them. The gestures of others, there-
fore, serve as mirrors in which we see ourselves reflected. They become

44
Rothman, p. 154.
45
Jonathan H. Turner, Sociology: Concepts and Uses (New York: McGraw Hill, Inc., 1994), p.
63
46
Gregory P. Stone, “Appearance and the Self,” in Stone and Farberman, p. 396-397.

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 Appendix E 223

what Cooley called “looking glass self:” we get an image of ourselves

from others. Also, in every situation, we try to project a more stable and
enduring image of ourselves. Each of us has self-conception. We try to
interpret the gestures of others and see if these are consistent with our
self-conception. “Thus our actions in most situations reveal a consistency
as we seek to sustain our conception of ourselves as a certain kind of
person.”47

Human beings consciously organize their gestures so that they can present
themselves to others in a certain light and obtain their desired responses
from others. Thus, all of us are performers who manipulate the emission
of gestures both from others and ourselves. This view of interaction is
called dramaturgy, a term popularized by Erving Goffman.48 Like the
symbolic interactionists, Goffman was interested about the self as a con-
cept defined by others. His sociology focuses on the forms that members
of society use to convince others about their presentation of self.49

Using the analogy of theater and stage, Goffman identified the frontstage
and backstage regions of interaction. On the frontstage, people consciously
orchestrate their gestures in order to bring out the desired responses from
others – these responses should conform to their self-conception and the
normative demands of the situation. In the backstage region, people put
down their respective fronts and relax a bit. It is here that they enjoy some
privacy with companions who share their knowledge of the rigors of go-
ing frontstage. Our interaction, most of the time, is made up of our move-
ment back and forth between the frontstage and backstage.50

According to Goffman, another important aspect of dramaturgy is im-

pression management, “where we orchestrate gestures, staging props,
and body position to present a front.” We do impression management in
order to present a particular self to our audience and make them respond
in a certain way.51 We, therefore, manage our gestures and make use of
available props when we go on frontstage. “Such management gives each
person’s behavior a consistency and facilitates the alignment of behav-
iors.”52

47
Turner, p. 63-64.
48
Ibid., p. 65.
49
Andrea Fontana, “The Mask and Beyond: The Enigmatic Sociology of Erving Goffman,“ in
Jack D. Douglas, Introduction to the Sociologies of Everyday Life (Boston, Massachusetts:
Allyn and Bacon, Inc.), p. 63.
50
Turner, p. 65.
51
Popeneo, p. 108.
52
Turner, p. 66.

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224 Social Science I

Moreover, in the frontstage, the audience identifies with the performer

items of expressive equipment that they expect the latter to bring along
with him into the setting. For instance, a nun is expected to wear her
habit, have certain instruments and so on. Goffman subdivided the per-
sonal front into appearance and manner. Appearance refers to items that
tell us about the performer’s social status (for example, a nurse’s uniform).
Manner orients us about the role the performer expects to play in the
situation (for instance, demeanor and physical mannerisms). “A brusque
manner and a meek manner indicate quite different kinds of perfor-
mances.” In general, appearance and manner are expected to be consis-
tent throughout the interaction.53

Status Congruency

At this juncture, the research will try to relate the concept of impression
management to the interaction that takes place between the poor litigant
and his lawyer. The relationship that exists between the two is character-
ized as status incongruent, i.e., one player in the relationship is accorded
a higher status than the other. Status is defined as “the worth of a person
as estimated by a group or a class of persons. The estimate of worth is
determined by the extent to which his attributes or characteristics are
perceived to contribute to the shared values and needs of the group or
class of persons.” The more valuable the attributes of the person to the
group, the higher his status become.54

Status congruency is achieved “if players in the interaction are accorded

the same status.” While status incongruency is realized when there are
differences in the status of the players. In interpersonal relationships it is
often the case that when status congruency is high (because the actors are
accorded more or less the same status), there is increasing “harmonious,
trusting and cooperative behavior” among the members.55 In contrast, a
relationship marred by high status difference is often threatened by con-
flict. If actors then are able to equally contribute to the needs of the group,
then there will be less conflict in their relationship owing to the fact that
they are accorded equal status.

53
Ritzer, p. 188.
54
Paul F. Secord and Carl W. Backman, Social Psychology (New York: Mac Graw Hill Book
Company, 1964), pp. 294-295.
55
Stuart Adams, “Status Congruency as a Variable in Small Group Performance,” in Social
Forces, 32 (October 1953) p. 16-17.

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 Appendix E 225

The lawyer-client relationship is initially characterized by the presence of

status incongruency. The higher status of the lawyer is primarily brought
about by his possession of a skill, which is regarded as valuable by both
the litigant and the lawyer to their relationship. The lawyer’s skill is more
valuable to the litigant because he has greater need for it. Given the high
status difference in the lawyer-client relationship, it is then possible that
disharmony could set in the interaction.

Not all lawyer-client relationship however is marked with status

incongruency. In the case of the well-to-do litigants, their ability to pay
for the services of their counsels could result in the disappearance of sta-
tus differentiation. The status of the well-to-do client is vastly improved
because of his capability to contribute a resource to the relationship (i.e.,
monetary remuneration) which is also perceived by the lawyer as valu-
able. Because of the absence of status incongruency, the private lawyer-
client relationship is therefore less characterized by conflict than the rela-
tionship of the poor litigants with their lawyers. Status difference is more
manifested in the public attorney-poor litigant interaction because the
lawyer is the only one who is able make a valuable contribution to the
relationship. The inability of the poor to contribute a resource (i.e., pay-
ment for the legal service) vastly diminishes his status in the relationship.

The presentation of the selves of the lawyer and client when they interact
with each other could be better understood if analyzed against the back-
drop of either the status congruency or incongruency that characterizes
their relationship. The presentation of the selves is managed by the actors
in order to achieve their objectives in the interaction. In the case of the
well-to-do client and his lawyer, both have to do impression management
to obtain their goals in the relationship. The well-to-do litigant presents a
not so submissive behavior when dealing with his lawyer – he initiates
interaction and constantly asks questions about his case – in order to con-
vey that he expects an efficient performance from his counsel. In turn, the
lawyer presents an efficient and accommodating self to his client – he
constantly gets in touch with his client and entertains his questions when-
ever he confers with the latter. In order to get the benefits they expect
from their interaction they have to act in such a way that would not
displease each other.

This is not the case with the poor litigants however. Their inability to pay
for the services of their counsels put them in a disadvantaged position in
the relationship. They cannot make demands on their lawyers and would
not converse with them unless the latter initiates the interaction. In terms
of impression management, the poor litigant needs to exert more effort
than his lawyer. The narration of some of the poor litigants that their
lawyers do not even take notice of or converse with them when they see

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226 Social Science I

each other in court is an illustration of the lawyer not exerting any effort
at all for his impression management when dealing with his poor client.
The poor litigant however needs to manage and adjust his appearance in
order to draw and attract the lawyer’s attention to his predicament. Most
of the poor litigants maintain a subdued demeanor when dealing with
their counsels. They try not to be abrasive since this could make their
lawyers less sympathetic to their predicament. Hence, most of them do
not even approach their lawyers even if they have pressing questions on
their minds. The inability of their lawyers to attend to and converse with
them is a cause of resentment among the poor litigants: an illustration of
the view that interpersonal conflict could be more evident in a relation-
ship where status difference is present. It should be noted however that
not all status incongruent relationship is marred by conflict as evidenced
by the narration of some poor litigants that they are satisfied with their
counsels.

Status congruency or incongruency could also affect the flow of commu-

nication between persons. Robert Bales is one of the social scientists who
studied the subject matter using a method called interaction process analy-
sis. According to his study, those who mostly initiate interaction or com-
munication are those who are high on status.56 Also, the content of the
communications differs according to the respective statuses of the com-
municators. “High status communicators more often give information and
opinion associated with high status, whereas the responses of the low-
status persons are passive involving such responses as agreement, dis-
agreement, and request for information.” Moreover, high status persons
tend to direct their communication to other high-status persons, “while
low-status persons, less at ease within the interaction, inhibit their re-
sponses.” Actors also experience rewards and costs from their communi-
cative activity. Rewards could be in the form of self-enhancement on the
part of low-status persons. “When a low-status person is communicating
with a high status person, others are likely to classify him as an equal or
near-equal of the high-status person.” Costs could likely be experienced
in communication upward because persons are never sure that the high-
status person will behave in a rewarding fashion. Being rebuffed or pub-
licly ignored is costly because it confirms low status. “Among equals, how-
ever, each has sufficient counter-power to ensure equality of exchange.”57

56
Their status is reflected in the fact that they are perceived to have the best ideas and to
guide the discussion effectively. Secord and Backman, p.309.
57
Secord and Backman, p. 309-314.

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 Appendix E 227

In the case of the lawyer-poor litigant relationship, the high-status lawyer

often initiate the communicative activity while the low-status poor liti-
gant is often passive. In contrast, the equality of exchange is present in the
relationship of the equally high-status lawyer and rich litigant. The poor
litigant is inhibited from initiating communication because of the cost they
may incur from being ignored if they do so. This flow of communication
between the lawyer and poor litigant nonetheless could have implication
on how the defense is conducted. Since the poor litigant often does not
share his own interpretation, only the lawyer’s interpretation is therefore
considered in the case. This could have negative repercussion in the con-
duct of the defense because the litigant may have information valuable to
the case but were not considered by the lawyer.

Approach of the study

The discussion on sociological jurisprudence was provided by the research

in order to orient the reader about the assumption of the study that con-
trary to what is stated in our statutes, poor litigants do experience dis-
crimination in our criminal justice system. Although there are laws in our
country that protect poor litigants from discrimination, these are not ob-
served in some cases. This discrimination against the poor is manifested,
for example, in their inability to readily access the services of private law-
yers. Hence, they often end up being defended by counsel de officio whose
performance are sometimes not at par with that of their private counter-
parts.

The discrepancy between what is stated in our statutes regarding the pro-
tection of poor litigants against discrimination and that which is actually
happening may be brought about by the difference between what our
laws state and the practices and beliefs held by those in the legal profes-
sion and even the poor litigants themselves.

On the one hand, poor litigants, because of their limited knowledge of the
law and legal processes, often do not assert their rights when discrimi-
nated. One prominent example of this is the absence of a counsel on their
side during the investigation of their cases.

On the other hand, it is generally not the practice among private lawyers
to readily assist pauper litigants. The pecuniary interests of legal practi-
tioners usually prevent them from performing their sworn duty to defend
an indigent accused. Since most lawyers derive their income from paying
clients, this sector inevitably becomes the focus of their attention. Justice
J.B.L. Reyes cited this as one of the problems besetting the legal profession
(“evasion of the sworn duty to defend the poor and defenseless on the
flimsiest of excuses”).

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228 Social Science I

Applying the tenets of symbolic interactionism and dramaturgy in the

analysis of the interaction between the lawyer and the client, the researcher
will give special attention to how the participants present themselves to
and interpret the actions of the other. The study will also look into how
the lawyers and indigent accused present their selves in the context of the
status incongruency that characterizes their relationship. By examining
the behavior of the participants during the interaction, the research hopes
to provide insights on the patterns of discrimination experienced by poor
litigants.

D. Significance of the Study

Although problems are experienced by poor litigants in the trial of their

cases, this topic has not been tackled by researchers in the Philippines.
The research therefore attempts to fill this gap by making a study about
the subject. Also, the study hopes to make a contribution to the field of
sociology of law in our country by analyzing the behavior of poor liti-
gants and the lawyers during their interaction. Through this, the study
hopes to draw insights on patterns of discrimination as experienced by
poor litigants. Lastly, the research hopes to contribute to the sensitization
of the legal profession and our criminal justice system as a whole to the
needs of poor litigants by documenting the travails encountered by this
sector in our legal system.

E. Review of Related Literature

One study dealing with sociology of law was conducted by Arnelo

Vejerano for his M.A. thesis in sociology. Entitled A Sociology of the Philip-
pine Supreme Court Decisions: 1946 - 1985,58 Vejerano’s thesis examined
how the Supreme Court decided on landmark constitutional law cases
from 1946 to 1985. It looked into the factors that helped impinge on the
Court’s decision-making process in the context of the prevailing social
and political conditions at the time the decisions were made.

Vejerano argued that the Supreme Court is a political institution, hence,

it operates within the ambit of political process. The Court’s decision-
making process is not only confined to mechanical jurisprudence. It de-
rives its decisions not only from formal and legal rules but could also be

58
Arnelo Vejerano, A Sociology of the Philippine Supreme Court’s Decisions, 1946-1985
(Unpublished M.A. thesis submitted to the Department of Sociology, CSSP, U.P. Diliman,
Q.C.), July 1991.

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 Appendix E 229

influenced by the prevailing social and political environment and the exi-
gencies it has to consider. This is especially manifested when it renders
decisions on constitutional law cases. Thus, it is susceptible to the envi-
ronment of stress when deciding on such cases. This environment of stress
is brought about by the efforts of the Court to strike a balance between the
legal merits of a case — examining it in light of legal doctrines, prece-
dents, statutory provisions, axiological principles, and provisions of the
Constitution – and the social and political exigencies at the time the deci-
sion is being made.

Among the constitutional law cases examined by the thesis are the col-
laboration issue and parity rights during the early years of the republic,
those against the Left during the times of Quirino and Magsaysay and the
imposition of Martial law during the Marcos regime.

Another study dealing with law and society is the work of Prof. Perfecto
Fernandez, Custom Law in Pre-Conquest Philippines.59 The study aims to
present a comprehensive and systematic analysis of the major elements of
pre-conquest custom law in the Philippines. Using Erlich as reference,
Fernandez stated that it is possible that the “living law” of the people
may have a different content from the official law. This is almost certainly
the case in new states like the Philippines where “the official legal orders
did not evolve but were essentially transplantations from advanced legal
system imposed by colonial regimes.”

The divergence between the “living law” of the people and our mostly
foreign-derived or -inspired official law can be likely seen in traditional
societies. Fernandez wrote that although a scientific investigation is still
needed to point out the specific differences between the two, a study on
pre-conquest custom law is a useful starting point in such investigation
because “of the basic culture patterns in traditional societies, the most
persistent and enduring are those in custom law.” A better understand-
ing of pre-conquest custom law will therefore equip us with more appro-
priate tools in analyzing the major institutions, principles, practices and
techniques of contemporary “living law.”

As for the contribution of the study, Fernandez remarked that a better

understanding of the custom law and consequently the “living law” of
the people will be “useful in dealing with problems confronting the effort
to make the official law an effective component of the national

59
Perfecto V. Fernandez, Custom Law in Pre-Conquest Philippines (Quezon City: U.P. Law
Center, 1976).

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230 Social Science I

tradition...(O)bstacles to such effort arising from divergence or conflict

with the `living law’ may be identified and remedied through appropri-
ate adjustments.”

Moreover, important lessons may be derived from custom law by utiliz-

ing its practices and techniques in the administration of official law. For
example, misdemeanors and petty crimes in the rural communities may
well be handled through community methods of conciliation, mediation,
and settlement effected through community pressures.

Utilizing materials mostly written by Spanish chroniclers such as Morga,

Plasensia, Loarca and Chirino, among the aspects of pre-conquest cus-
tom law discussed in the book were on inter-barangay relations, servi-
tude and dependency, household and domestic relations, property and
contracts, punishment imposed on crimes, and remedies and procedures.

Another work dealing with the relationship between the “living law” of
the people and the official law is Katarungang Pambarangay by Prof. Alfredo
Tadiar and Prof. Cecilio Pe.60 The book discusses the provisions stipu-
lated in the Katarungang Pambarangay law and the rationale behind its
formulation. The Katarungang Pambarangay establishes a system of ami-
cably settling disputes at the barangay level. It recognizes the fact that
“amicably settling disputes among family and barangay members at the
barangay level without judicial recourse” is a time-honored tradition in
the Philippines and is at the root of Filipino culture. The law therefore
seeks to accomplish “the perpetuation and official recognition” of this
tradition and “to formally organize and institutionalize a system,“ based
on this tradition of amicably settling disputes at the barangay level. Also,
the law was conceived with the end-in-view of decongesting the court
dockets, thereby promoting the speedy administration of justice.

To illustrate how the Filipino culture of amicably settling disputes is re-

flected in the Katarungang Pambarangay law, the book contrasted some
of its aspects against formal adjudication. What follows is a discussion of
some of these differences and other features of the law.

In a formal adjudication process, an impartial and disinterested judge is

of crucial importance to the whole process in order to prevent the latter
from prejudging the case by reason of his bias, relationship to a party or
other improper motives.61

60
Alfredo F. Tadiar and Cecilio L. Pe, Katarungang Pambarangay: Dynamics of Compul-
sory Conciliation (Manila: UST Press, 1979).
61
To ensure such integrity, the Rules (Rule 137, Section 1, Rules of Court) disqualify a
judge from “trying a case that involves matters which he or his wife or child is financially
interested in, or where he is related, by blood or affinity, to either party litigant or their
counsel within a certain degree.”

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 Appendix E 231

In contrast, this concept of judicial impartiality and disinterestedness is

not of such importance to the conciliational process. This is because, un-
like in the judicial process, the desired outcome of conciliation is not a
“judgment or decision imposed upon the parties but a settlement freely
agreed by them.” As matter of fact, the relationship of the conciliator
with a litigant is seen as a contributory factor that can contribute toward
the realization of settlement. This is exemplified, for instance, in the case
of a barangay captain who “can exert his moral ascendancy over his rela-
tives to induce them to settle with or give concession to the other party.”

Moreover, the general atmosphere in a judicial trial is “cold and imper-

sonal formality.” 62 However, in a conciliation method, a warm and
friendly air of informality is encouraged since persuasion rather than com-
pulsion is the instrument used in this process. “This is designed to disarm
the parties of their rancor and bitterness and thereby induce them to ami-
cably settle their differences.”

Also, lawyers’ participation in the conciliation process is prohibited. This

is partly because lawyers are trained to be combative in trial procedures.
The authors argued that “conciliation, if it is to succeed, must be non-
adversary, stressing the common points of mutual interest rather than the
issue of divergence.” As such, the lawyer’s adversarial skills are seen more
as “obstructive rather than facilitative of effecting a compromise settle-
ment of the parties.”

F. Methodology

The main respondents for the research are detention prisoners from the
Quezon City jail, their lawyers, judges, and members of the legal profes-
sion who have rendered legal aid. Key informants also provided impor-
tant insights for the research. The topics covered in the interviews of the
litigants and their lawyers are the same except for two topics. These two
are about the legal education, which was directed only to the lawyers
and the cost of litigation, which was asked only of the litigants. The sub-
ject matter of the interviews includes the perception of the trial/case, eco-
nomics of the case, attitudes toward the litigant/lawyer, and social re-
sponsibility of lawyers. The interviews with the judges cover the prob-
lems encountered by poor litigants in our criminal justice system and an
assessment of the state of legal education in the country.

62
The two-fold reason for the intended effect of solemnity is: “firstly, it seeks to create a
church aura in a `temple of justice’ that would make lying unthinkable and thereby enhance
truthfulness and the accuracy of fact-finding; and, secondly, to impress the seriousness of
a trial that may result in depriving a litigant of his liberty, property and even his life.”

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232 Social Science I

A survey was conducted among members of the bar who have rendered
legal aid. The questions asked of them include their opinion of legal aid
and pro bono cases, administration of justice and legal education in the
Philippines.

Definition of variables

Litigant - although this term refers to both the parties in a lawsuit, namely
the complainant and the accused, the study uses the term litigant to refer
to the accused only.

Public Attorneys – government lawyers who are either with the Public
Attorney’s Office (PAO) or the Public Assistance and Legal Aid Office
(PALAO) and are giving legal service for free.

Legal aid lawyers – refers to private lawyers who have rendered at least
one legal service for free. The legal service may be in the form of giving
legal advice or representing the litigants in court. These litigants may ei-
ther be the complainant or the accused in the lawsuit.

Research Methods Used

The research employed both the qualitative and quantitative methods of

research in gathering the data. For the qualitative method, the research
made use of key informants and interview procedures. The quantitative
method was used for the survey that was administered to private lawyers
who have rendered legal aid.

The key informants utilized for the research include the secretary general
of KABISIG (the organization of all the inmates at the Quezon City jail),
the head of the Public Attorney’s Office, the coordinator of the Integrated
Bar of the Philippines (IBP) Legal Aid Committee - Quezon City chapter,
professors at the University of the Philippines College of Law and a U.P.
law student. These key informants proved to be very helpful in providing
the researcher background information about the two groups, namely
the detention prisoners and members of the Bar, which are the subjects of
the study. Key informants from the legal profession also helped the re-
searcher identify the respondents who could give important insights for
the research. Aside from providing the researcher information about the
situations of the inmates inside the jail, the detention prisoner key infor-
mant also introduced the researcher to the inmates. This facilitated the
building of initial rapport between the respondents and the researcher.

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 Appendix E 233

The research made use of the interview method in drawing out informa-
tion from the inmates and their lawyers, and the judges. The interviews
were done from April to September 1998. The form of the interviews were
unstructured in the sense that these were not limited by pre-determined
questions, and that the respondents were allowed to talk about new ideas
that pursue the objectives of the research. These new ideas which added
to the richness of the data could not have been drawn out from the re-
spondents if the format of the interviews was rigidly structured.

Research design

a. Respondents for the Interviews

In order to realize one of the objectives of the research, which is to

probe the lawyer-client relationship, the research was designed in such
a way that the lawyers of the litigant respondents were also inter-
viewed for the study.

The litigant respondents were selected in consideration of the charac-

teristics of the population of inmates at the Quezon City jail. Accord-
ing to the secretary general of the Kabisig, about 90% of the prisoners
currently detained at the Q.C. jail are represented by public attorneys
in their cases. Hence, to represent this statistics, of the 32 litigants
interviewed for the study, the majority or 21 are handled by public
attorneys while 11 retain private counsels. Among the respondents
handled by public attorneys, except for one who is handled by a law-
yer from the Public Attorneys Legal Aid Office (PALAO), all are rep-
resented by those from the Public Attorney’s Office (PAO).

The litigant respondents were also chosen based on the crimes they
are charged with. Again, they were chosen in such a way that the
composition of the total population of inmates is represented. Accord-
ing to a document obtained from the office of the Bureau of Jail Man-
agement and Penology - Quezon City jail, the total number of inmates
at the time of the fieldwork was 1,310. The distribution according to
the classification of the crimes are as follows: crimes against property,
461 (35.19%), crimes against person, 444 (33.8%), drug-related cases,
186 (14.19%), crimes against chastity, 21 (2.06%), crimes against mo-
rale and public order, 46 (3.51%), and all other crimes/ violation of
ordinances and P.D.s, 146 (11.14%). (See Annex A for more details
about the offenses the detention prisoners are charged with.) In the
case of the respondents, the offenses they are accused of are as fol-
lows:

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234 Social Science I

Crimes against property 14

Robbery 7
Robbery 3
Robbery with homicide
Robbery and carnapping 1
Robbery in band and carnapping 1
Highway robbery 1
Carnapping63 and murder 1
Qualified theft 1
Malicious mischief 1
Illegal recruitment 2
Estafa 2

Crimes against person 11

Murder 6
Kidnapping 2
Frustrated muder 1
Kidnapping with frustrated murder
and carnapping 1
Rape 1

Crimes against morale and public order 3

Violation of P.D. 1602 1
Vagrancy 1
Illegal possession of firearms 1

Crimes against chastity 2

Attempted rape 1
Acts of lasciviousness 1

Drug-related cases 2
Violation of R.A 6425 (illegal drugs) 2

Total 32

63
For the purposes of the research, carnapping is classified here as crime against prop-
erty although it is not penalized under the Revised Penal Code but under R.A. 6539 or Anti-
Carnapping Act of 1972 as amended, in view of the fact that like the other offenses classi-
fied as crime against property, kidnapping is committed with intent to gain.

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 Appendix E 235

Similar with the total population, the type of crime with which most of
the litigant respondents are accused of fall under the category of crimes
against property (14). Following closely are those classified under crimes
against person (11). Crimes against morale and public order (3), crimes
against chastity (2), and drug-related cases (2) had lesser representation
since they represent only a fraction of the total population.

It should be noted too that among the total population, the majority of
those whose offenses fall under crimes against property and crimes against
person are charged with robbery (237) and murder (146), respectively. In
the research, these offenses are also the ones that are mostly represented
under the two mentioned categories.

The research also drew the respondents in consideration of the character-

istic of the general population of the inmates regarding their gender. Offi-
cial statistics show that there are a total of 1,210 male inmates while there
are 149 female inmates at the Quezon City jail. For the research, more
males (25) were interviewed than females (7).

Regarding the lawyers, a total of 14 lawyers representing some of the

litigant respondents were interviewed for the study. Of these, 11 are pri-
vate attorneys while three are private lawyers. In the case of the judges,
the four who were interviewed, two males and two females, come from
Regional Trial Court branches in Quezon City.

b. Respondents for the Survey

The respondents of the survey are members of the Bar who have ren-
dered legal aid. The original plan for the research was to conduct a
survey to a randomly selected sample of lawyers in a district in Quezon
City. This is partly to gauge the proportion of lawyers who render
legal aid in a district and at the same time assess their opinion about
extending legal assistance to the needy. However, this was later cast
aside because similar surveys were already conducted in certain areas
in the country.64 Time and budgetary constraints are also important
considerations regarding the decision to limit the sample.

64
Examples of such studies are: A Survey of the Legal Profession in the Philippines: Focus
on Region IV by Manuel Flores Bonifacio and Merlin M. Magallona (Quezon City: U.P. Law
Center, 1982), and Monitoring the State of the Judiciary and the Legal Profession by Mahar
Mangahas, Antonio G.M. La Viña, Steven Rood, Athena Lydia Casambre and Dennis M.
Arroyo (Social Weather Stations, 1996).

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236 Social Science I

The lawyer respondents for the research were drawn from three legal
aid groups, namely the IBP Legal Assistance Office in Quezon City,
Free Legal Assistance Group and the University of the Philippines
Office of the Legal Aid. The questionnaires were mailed to the lawyer
respondents. Out of the 18 questionnaires sent to the IBP legal aid
lawyers, 13 were accomplished. The names of the 18 legal aid lawyers
were drawn from the accomplishment reports of the IBP- Quezon
City chapter for the last two years listing the names of their members
who have extended assistance to poor litigants. Four out of the five
questionnaires sent to the U.P. Legal Aid were returned. While among
the FLAG lawyers, out of ten questionnaires, four were accomplished.
So, out of the 33 questionnaires that were sent out, 21 were accom-
plished, thereby achieving a return rate of 64%.

Process of the Interview

The key informant, Raymund Narag, secretary general of the inmates’

organization Kabisig, helped the researcher identify prospective detain-
ees to be interviewed for the study. He also introduced the researcher to
the detainees. This introduction helped a lot in making the detainees feel
at ease with the researcher. It likewise effaced the initial doubts harbored
by the interviewees about the purpose of the research.

Most of the interviews last about an hour. But there were interviews that
lasted about two hours as some saw their conversation with the researcher
as outlet in which they could pour out their problems. Long conversa-
tions were held more in the case of women than the men as the former
more easily open up than the latter. In the case of the lawyers, interviews
with them were shorter than those of the litigants (usually lasting about
45 minutes) primarily because of their work schedule. It is worth noting
that all the lawyers enthusiastically shared their thoughts and ideas on
the topic of the research.

Limitations of the Study

One of the limitations of the study is that not all the lawyers of the litigant
respondents were interviewed for the study. One of the lawyers handling
the inmates has resigned from PAO (without the inmate knowing it) at
the time the researcher sought him for an interview. Also, among those
who were not interviewed are three PAO lawyers who met their clients
only once, that is, during the arraignment in which their clients pleaded
guilty to the charges. Another PAO lawyer was not interviewed because

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 Appendix E 237

he met his client only twice because the complaint against his client was
eventually withdrawn. The researcher decided to exclude these lawyers
because they might not be able to give a thorough assessment of their
impressions of their clients or the circumstances of the cases given the
limited time they represented the litigants. Based on the experience of the
researcher, some PAO lawyers even take time to recall their clients being
referred to in spite of the fact that they have been handling these litigants
for months.

Moreover, four other PAO lawyers were not interviewed because they
were already interviewed regarding the cases of other respondent liti-
gants. The researcher decided not to interview the same lawyer regarding
two clients for fear that this might take him away from his work for too
long. The shortest interview among the lawyers took 30 minutes while
the longest for one hour. There is also the apprehension that they might
not be able to fully concentrate on one litigant if they are commenting on
two clients.

Another problem encountered is the difficulty of setting appointments

with the lawyers especially in the case of private counsels. In spite of the
frequent calls made by the researcher to their respective offices, the inter-
views failed to push through because of their busy schedules.

Regarding the survey, although the questionnaires were mailed or given

personally to the lawyer-respondents two months before the deadline,
many still failed to accomplish the questionnaires. For those who were
not able to return the questionnaires on or before the deadline, the re-
searcher followed them up to remind them of the survey or schedule an
interview with them. This worked for some but not to all of the respon-
dents. Some of the lawyer respondents said that they do not have the time
to accomplish the questionnaires themselves or grant an interview. While
a number of the respondents cannot be contacted through their phone
number that is listed in their respective legal aid organizations. Also, some
respondents cannot be located because they have moved to new addresses.

UP Open University