Group Identity - Members from the organization of self supporting high school and college scholars, students from the public school Cainta Catholic College in Rizal
We told people that we were members of an organization of self supporting students from Cainta Catholic College and we showed them our scholars card and ID. We were serious and we encouraged these people to purchase our products (cookies and ballpens) or to donate, wherein the proceeds could assist the students like us. We wore simple shirts without branded logos and maong pants with worn out closed shoes/sneakers. We carried backpacks and had on our old high school ID (some with LRT cards attached). We walked around with cookies and ballpens on hand. We kept our cellphones, wallets and other visible jewelries inside our backpacks. One story we told was that our member was being raised by her grandmother and that her grandmother could no longer work anymore. Because she could not finish paying for the extracurricular fees in high school, she was not allowed to graduate nor allowed to receive her diploma. Some added that tuition fees would increase again for the next semester and that we just needed to raise enough fees to graduate on time.
Who is the identity you want to imitate? Why did you choose this identity?
We imitated self supporting students and chose this identity because (especially now that we entered college, we became exposed to these kinds of individuals) we found them common nowadays and because they were more easily relatable to us since we ourselves were also students. Self supporting students tend to be inconspicuous and usually one would only notice them if they were already being approached by these students. Hence, taking on this identity would not appear like we were just practicing for play or doing a prank. Also, we thought that it would be good for us to see the world in the perspectives of self supporting students especially since they are our age yet go through much more than what we have gone through in our lives. This would finally widen our knowledge toward how society operates and how other people treat others.
What is your identity’s function in the society?
Our identity’s function in society is to produce or buy products and sell these at a higher price. Self supporting students, either individually or in a group, make rounds regularly in places where there are lots of passers by. They approach people and offer their products or ask for donations. They also go to establishments and discretely offer people their products and explain their situation. These self supporting students use their profit from selling the products to pay for their own tuition fees to keep themselves in school.
Using the structural functionalist perspective, it can be said that the manifest function of self-supporting students is to maintain the balance in society specifically by reinforcing the divides between socioeconomic classes. This is exemplified when the interviewee mentioned that she was aware of both her position and the group members’ position in society. She, as a part of the less privileged groups, knows that she has to do what she is doing. As these people peddle their goods, they emphasize their less privileged status in comparison to their target market, which is composed of people who are or appear to be better off than them. The idea that these students’ actions delineate the borders between those in the higher classes and those in the lower classes impinges upon the social conflict perspective, but based on the point of view given by the interviewee, this theory is not as applicable as the SF perspective because she did not show any signs of hostility towards the more privileged classes. She was only concerned with what she was supposed to do according to what society dictated.
How does he/she look like?
She looked presentable but not conspicuous. She wore a decent blouse which was not worn out but had no signs of being new. She never took out any cellphones or other electronic devices. She did not have anything around her wrists or neck. She wore dark skinny jeans and simple flat shoes. She carried a school backpack but we were unfamiliar with its brand. She had her hair pulled back in a tie. In terms of skin color she was morena. Her face was clear of any blemishes and she did not wear any conspicuous make up (no eyeshadow or concealer). In another case, the self supporting student we interviewed wore regular blue skinny jeans and a faded brown polo shirt without any noticeable brand labels. She wore an ID around her neck and wore no jewelry (no earrings or necklace). She had on a simple unbranded watch looking old and worn out. Moreover, her hair was just cut straight without any hairpin or hairtie. She wore a large dirty and worn out (we could see the backpack straps were a bit broken) although the brand name was also not visible. She never brought anything out of her (like cellphones or any gadgets) and when she opened her bag to show us the pulvoron she was selling, all we saw inside her backpack was a bunch of books and disorganized papers. She was thin, around five foot tall and another morena.
How does she speak or behave? How do they talk to people? How do they laugh?
She was polite however she never showed any hint of shyness, though she was never overconfident. Her tone was moderate without signs of negative emotions. She gave out a low chuckle when we asked to take a picture of her but she never laughed loudly throughout the conversation. She gave an appropriate answer for every question but she did not add anything to lengthen the conversation. Also, we asked her about her perspective of others, particularly people like Ateneans. She remained objective and honest in answering but was not offensive whatsoever. All in all, the way she talked was very placid. She just directly gave information that the questions asked of her and did not add anything further. In the second self supporting student we interviewed inside Trinoma, she looked very inconspicuous and she slowly came and approached us with her backpack slung in front of her. She talked quietly and showed her ID before explaining that she was a self supporting student who needed to finish paying her tuition fees so that she could graduate high school and get her diploma. She said she brings out her ID because people would feel alarmed at her initial approach and that they would not believe her unless she showed some identification. She kept a serious and concerned face the whole time, and upon asking her, she was concerned because she was afraid of being called out by the security guards in the vicinity. She always said with “po and opo” and answered our questions as succinctly as possible. She seemed honest but she never spoke extensively about herself and her situation. She rarely smiled and when she did she never smiled with her teeth shown. She kept her pulvoron inside her backpack and brought it out discreetly so that nobody but us would see. Finally, despite her talking quietly, she was very determined and her voice had conviction as she answered our questions.
Any jokes that they know?
She did not share any funny jokes when asked. Instead she said that the jokes that she shares with her friends are not of those comical kinds. These are sarcastic remarks between their group of friends that after a few moments turn out to be funny. In the second interview, she said she never shared jokes with her friends and the jokes that she could only remember were those coming from the jeepney and bus drivers and conductors she encounters during her commute daily. These jokes were usually about corrupt politicians and their never ending scandals and corruption cases.
What are their beliefs in life? What are their values?
She was another future minded individual and long term thinker. She said she does not dwell too much on the present circumstances, specifically she mentioned the ‘small trials’ (not being able to finish paying her tuition fees and supporting her other younger siblings) that she is presently going through. She had to focus on her ultimate goal, otherwise she might end up giving up. She was very persistent. She said that if people really want something, these people should just focus on that. The little trials would just happen without being noticed much and that ultimately, she would just end up being surprised about how much she has already grown. As she placed it “tatawanan mo nalang sa huli” (you would eventually just laugh about these things in the future). Also she said that these trials would never last long, and that she would only have to go through these struggles now, but would eventually move on from them all. That would always remain as her main motivation. Earlier, we mentioned that we asked her about what she thought of other people who never went through what she was going through. She said that she is aware that she is not like us, who are more privileged and have no need of selling food or school products in order to have some additional income for their educational allotment, but she also believes that what she does right now would already be considered a success as she overcomes many of the trials in that stage of her life. She perceives her present circumstance as a source of pride and confidence.
In the second student we interviewed, she was somewhat more negative than this first individual because she said that she would always experience some hardships until she would graduate college and find a stable source of income. She focused more on her situation now and stressed that it was not easy to balance work (part time jobs in school because she was a scholar and part time job selling pulvoron to support her education and allowance) and studies, sometimes she thought of giving up her studies because she wanted to focus more on finding work and income. What keeps her motivated now is her diploma which she could only get upon finishing her tuition payments. She values perseverance and states that she would not have come this far if she never worked hard for anything. She also values God highly because she says that despite her misfortune, God always manages to allow her to get through her day “nang maayos” (asking further she meant that she was able to finish her studies and get home safely). She says she does not think far into the future but is very thankful for everything that she has right now. She says she is not very optimistic but she would still try doing her best in continuing her studies (which she said she highly values) until the circumstances would not allow her to anymore (until she could not anymore pay her tuition or that she could not get another scholarship for college).
How does his or her day look like?
She described the beginning of her livelihood selling otap as something that was both embarrassing and awkward (assuming this could be the best English term for nakaka-ilang). People immediately rejected her with their hands (immediately waving and even shaking their heads) and through other bodily gestures like shaking their heads or turning their backs away. Sometimes these people walked faster than usual to pass her by quickly even before she said anything. However, since she is financially unstable, she has to push herself to continue and so later on she got used to selling otap and school supplies. The otap comes from a dealer that drops them by their school cafeteria. She together with the other self supporting students, got the idea of selling those kinds of products from this dealer. They could just top the original price by a certain amount for profit. Since then, they have been selling otap for 180 pesos for each pack, around one dozen otap. Regularly, she would purchase the otap from their cafeteria and spent her mornings selling them. Around 2:30 pm she would go to school and the next day happens at the same routine.
For the student selling pulvoron, she says she used to have morning classes and would come to their local bakery to purchase the pulvoron after classes ended. During her Fridays and Saturdays she would help out with the janitors inside the school to organize and clean up the classrooms. Afterwards, she would proceed to the bakery for the pulvoron. She would usually commute via jeepney to Trinoma/SM North Edsa/SM Marikina and sell her products at places near the food court and movie houses because according to her maraming nagtatambay sa mga ganoong lugar, lalo na kapag matapos na sila manuod ng sine. She would go back home once she sold around 8 to 10 packs (100 pesos each) or until the mall closes. Sometimes she would be lucky to finish selling the goods at around 7 pm but sometimes she would only sell around four packs a day. Currently, since she has already finished high school, but could not go to college because she does not have her diploma, she tries to sell around 15 packs of pulvoron during the afternoon, while working for their local bakery from dawn until morning.
Any sociological + personal reflections? How did it feel being another identity for a day?
Sociologically, there are several factors which might have affected the reactions of our respondents. We went back to the two secretaries whom we sold our cookies to, and we interviewed them (unfortunately, we could not interview the other respondents we had since they are students and don’t stay in departments). The first secretary said that she primarily wanted to buy our products because she felt pity for us, and it was a simple way of helping us. She did not want to give details on how much she earns, but she said that P50 for cookies was a small amount, and that as long as it was to help those who need it, it was OK to give without regret. She never thought about it until we asked, but she said that maybe being a Catholic and being imbued with its teaching (such as the Golden Rule, or the idea of sharing our blessings to those who needs it most, and that we are all brothers and sisters and we should love one another) might have affected her decision to give, just like what Mr. Rolando Gripaldo mentioned in his work entitled Roman Catholicism and the Filipino Culture - that religion is a way of life and it practically shapes our identity through the practices brought by the religion itself. Personally, if it were us, the value of helping and sharing to the needy would also be our first reason to donate, especially if we have/can donate, because we know how hard it is to be in their position. In one of his experiments, Paul Piff finds that this feeling of compassion is one reason why those in the lower social classes donate more than those in the higher social classes. This could also be a reason why the secretary helped us, since secretaries are blue collar workers.
Another observation we took note of was the degree of sympathy the respondents showed. All of them spoke to us in a very gentle and polite tone, and some of them declined politely by saying they didn't have any spare change at the moment most probably because of our situation. The female secretaries looked at our faces as they spoke with us about our situation. They asked us questions about ourselves, and did not hesitate to buy our cookies. She even called her co-worker to buy cookies from us. On the other hand, male respondents tended to look elsewhere, avoiding a face-to-face conversation, and nodded while we narrated our story to them. Most of them were not willing to buy our products. However, there were also some female students who did not buy from us. According to Keith Tester, these types of stories appeal to the females rather than the males, because "men seem to see situations in abstract terms whereas women tend to identify with stories that are made more personal."
Personally, we also felt awkward and a little sheepish, just like the self-supporting student we interviewed. Aside from the fact that we had no experience of doing this sort of act, it was also nakakailang because we are not used to asking other people for money in order to support our needs or studies. Based on experience, it is true that people are more willing to buy and pay higher prices if it were for a cause. We know this because selling baked products and school materials in campus was normal since many organizations in Ateneo raise funds through these kinds of fundraising activities (bake sales and pledging). However, it feels different if you are selling for yourself, despite the fact that the proceeds would go towards your tuition fees (considered a decent cause). In addition to that, if we put ourselves in the shoes of the self- supporting students, selling outside the campus could have been scary. It would have been troubling because of the probability that the people you would encounter might not be as respectful and understanding as the students and faculty members you would meet inside the school. We related this feeling to the idea of stigmatization in Alice Fothergill’s The Stigma of Charity: Gender, Class, and Disaster Assistance, wherein we were talking and acting like our identities, but we knew in our minds that we were still normal Atenean students who did not have to sell products to pay off our tuition fees. Like the women in the said article, we could not fully accept in us that we were really self supporting students. This is evident with the self supporting students because as mentioned above, they felt stigmatized (people shooing them away) because of their situation even though people never heard what they wanted to say.
References:
Gripaldo, Rolando M., Ph.D. "Roman Catholicism and the Filipino Culture (2009)."Academia.edu. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Oct. 2014.
Fothergill, A. "The Stigma of Charity: Gender, Class, and Disaster Assistance." Blackwell Publishing. 30 Dec. 2009. Web. 11 Oct 2014.
"Having Less, Giving More: The Influence of Social Class on Prosocial Behavior."University of Toronto. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Oct. 2014.
Stern, Ken. "Why the Rich Don't Give to Charity." The Atlantic. Atlantic Media Company, 20 Mar. 2013. Web. 11 Oct. 2014.
"A Sociologist's perspective on Children In Need." University of Hull. N.p., 13 Nov. 2008. Web. 11 Oct. 2014.
"The rich are different from you and me."The Economist. The Economist Newspaper, 31 July 2010. Web. 11 Oct. 2014.
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