6.

Implication of the use of frameworks of

analysis based on consensus theory and
coercion theory in understanding social
reality
6.1 Example A: Operations continue at a local
garments firm where owner-manager does
not pay minimum wage to workers inspite
of the fact that the business is profitable
and owner-manager is accumulating
personal assets.
> Interpretation 1: Garments firm operates for
the shared goal of material prosperity for all;
unfortunately, below minimum wage is the
market wage that reflects the low level of
productivity of the workers and the need of the
firm to remain competitive; owner receives all
business profits because of her entrepreneurial skills and initiative and because she
risked her savings in investing in the firm.
> Interpretation 2: Situation reflects the
exploitation of workers, who labor to make the
business enterprise productive, and are denied
a more equitable share in its fruits; material
prosperity for all is prosperity only for the
owner-manager.

6.2 Example B: Lawyer renders highly-skilled

services and earns income 100 times
larger than that of an average clerk of the
law firm.
> Interpretation 1: High income of the lawyer is
the result of the special skills he contributes
towards the attainment of the shared goals and
values of society.
> Interpretation 2: High income of the lawyer is
the result of the willingness of rich clients to
pay for his special skillswhich are used to
preserve their interests at the expense of those
of more vulnerable groups

6.3 Example C: Rich absentee landlord earns

rent from inherited land planted to coconut
while farmer who works on the land
continues to live at subsistence level.
> Interpretation 1: Landlord deserves rent
because her ancestor had worked to acquire
the land she inherited, and now she is making
it available for coconut planting--both she and
the farmer benefit.
> Interpretation 2: Payment of rent keeps
farmer, who labors on the land, at a
subsistence level of income, like it has done to
his ancestors from generation to generation.

Contrasting the Development Roles of Business, Government and Civil Society

BUSINESS
(mainstream market-oriented
profit organizations)

GOVERNMENT
(national and local government
organizations)

> acquires resources through

exchange: producing goods
and services for the market

> acquires resources through

exercise of legitimate coercion

> acquires resources through

appeal to shared values

> enforces rules to preserve

public order and security;
regulates market activity for
common good (by reducing negative externalities of market activity &
promoting sustainable development &
more broad-based participation in
wealth creation); commands
collective reallocation of
societys resources to meet
otherwise unmet needs (progressive taxation for provision of
public goods & basic social services)

> provides fora for articulation

and advocacy of values of
people; source of organized
political pressure from below and
catalyst of system change
(advocates for good governance and
sustainable human development);
delivers services to address
needs unmet by business and
government; promotes culture
of citizenship (strengthening of
moral and social fiber of society)

> primary source of creative

entrepreneurship & efficiencyproducing technological
innovation; primary role in
wealth and employment
creation through value-added
activities; responds to needs
for goods and services
determined by the market;
source of surplus for government and civil society
programs (through taxes and
CSR funds)
> narrow profit-seeking;
concentration of economic
wealth & power; marginalization of vulnerable sectors

> elite-dominated patronage

politics; abuse of power;
chronic corruption and
bureaucratic inefficiency

CIVIL SOCIETY
(civic / voluntary organizations)

> unsustainable interventions;

corruption, inefficiency and
political cooptation; cause of
political instability

6.4 Example D: Advertisement on TV features

latest model of a Japanese luxury car.
> Interpretation 1: Advertisements operate for
the benefit of both producers and consumers;
by generating demand for goods and
services, they promote economic growth and
material prosperity for all in society.
> Interpretation 2: Advertisements promote a
consumeristic/ materialistic lifestyle which
actually only the elite can afford and which
promotes production for luxury consumption
rather than for the more basic needs of people.

6.5 Example E: Members of Congress push

for amendments to the Constitution in order
to effect change from a presidential to a
parliamentary system of government
> Interpretation 1: Initiative of lawmakers if
successful will contribute to governance reform
and political stability which is necessary for the
countrys economic development.
> Interpretation 2: Initiative of lawmakers if
successful will allow them to stay in power and
continue to promote their narrow interests at
expense of the common good.

7. Elements of a reading of the Philippine

national situation with a primarily
consensus perspective of economic
neoliberalism
7.1 Basic national problem: persistence of problem
of mass poverty due to a lack of social cohesion
in Philippine society and an inefficient economic
system (characterized by inefficient protected
industries, low productivity and endemic
unemployment/ underemployment)
> Need therefore for unity and discipline to
achieved the shared goal of economic
growth and poverty alleviation
7.2 Competitive markets and private enterprise
should be engines of economic growth
(assumption: free markets work for benefit of all
in society; trickle-down effect
ensures that the poor will also benefit in the
long-term)
> Accelerated assimilation of the Philippine
economy into the global economy, through
trade and investment liberalization, is
beneficial for Filipinos (liberalization
promotes efficiency and provides capital and
markets)
7.3 State is corrupt and inefficient: it should be
reformed but its role in society should be

limited and should not hamper operation of

markets
> Role of state: ensure stable business climate,
maintain peace and order, provide minimum
public goods (infrastructure, etc.)
7.4 Liberal and rational-scientific culture associated
with modern industrial society of developed
nationsand being fostered by globalization
enhances Filipino culture and traditional Filipino
values

8. Elements of a reading of the Philippine

national situation with a primarily coercion
perspective of economic neoliberalism
8.1 Basic national problem: Inequitable distribution
of wealth and power (= control over societys
resources) in Philippine society and in the
global village to which the country is rapidly
being assimilated; consequent lack of
participation of majority in fruits of economic
growth
> Need for alternative, broad-based
development strategies that are more
equitable (because they target the poor as
the primary beneficiaries and actors of
economic growth) and sustainable (because
they protect the environment)
8.2 Equity-led sustainable development is
preferable to the growth-led economic
development currently being promoted by the
government (the former would place greater
emphasis on rural development, production for
the domestic market, domestic savings
mobilization and local control of resources)
> Assumption: free markets and accelerated
assimilation into global economy will not
promote common good as much as it will
preserve the interests of economic elites,
both domestically and internationally
8.3 State is corrupt and inefficient because it
operates on the principles of patronage politics
that preserves interests of local elites: state must
be reformed and maintain an active and
complementary role to the market as promoter of
the common good
> The latter made possible through the
advocacy of civil society
> Additional roles of state: greater use of
redistributive taxation, provision of social
safety nets for disadvantaged groups
8.4 Globalization is creating a homogenous global
culture that promotes the consumeristic and
individualistic Western lifestyle
> Cooperativism, conservationism and preservation of local cultures as alternative values