Social Classes and Class Struggle

Social Classes and Class Struggle

• Popular culture is used to address sensitive topics, including social class disparities.
• Social class refers to groups of people in a society with the same socioeconomic status.
• The middle class, called the working class, is a large, diverse group living along or above the poverty line and can afford necessities.
• This class is the backbone of the economy in many countries
• The upper class is a smaller group with means to afford luxuries, which can lead to apathy and self-centeredness.
• The lower class struggles to afford basic necessities and may resort to desperate measures; This class also experience anxiety and depression
• The three classes are remnants of earlier social classes and each country has its own social classes.
• The most famous historical social class system is the Indian (Asian) caste system.
• The Indian caste system is divided into two major groups, one being further subdivided into four sections.
• The first group of the Indian Caste system is dedicated to the service of nobility and the divine
• The second group in the Indian Caste system is dedicated to serving the common folk.
• The Filipino caste system changed, beginning with equality between men and women in the pre-colonial era.
• In the pre-colonial Filipino caste system, the datu and babaylan held the highest positions.
• The babaylan was the highest religious position held by women and homosexual men.
• The maharlika were feudal lords allied together, with vassals under the datu.
• The maginoo served under the maharlika as vassals.
• The timawa were free people serving the land, including ordinary folk, scholars, and merchants.
• The alipin caste, the lowest in the pre-colonial system, has two subgroups.
• The aliping namamahay worked the land and could gain ownership.
• The aliping saguiguilid were actual slaves, often prisoners of war.
• When the Spanish colonized the Philippines, they introduced the casta system.
• The Casta system is an incentivized system based on racial heritage, with taxes based on the race
• Muslims weren't initially classified due to their resistance, and mixed-race descendants of Indians were classified.
• Indios (Filipinos) and Aetas paid minimum base taxes.
• Sangleys paid quadruple taxes due to their Chinese ethnicity, but their skills were valuable.
• Blancos (top three classifications) were tax-exempt.
• Mestizajes paid taxes despite mixed heritage, depending on their heritage.
• Insulares, pure-blooded natural-born Filipinos, were also called Filipinos and sometimes showed empathy.
• Americanos, Spaniards born in American colonies, were tax-exempt and held influence and power.
• Peninsulares, Spaniards from the Iberian Peninsula, were tax-exempt and held the most power and influence.
• Mestizajes were a varied casta comprising four mixed heritages with their own hierarchy.
• The mestizo de Español, resulting from the intermarriage of a Filipino and a Spaniard, were tax-exempt.
• Tornatras was a term for those with mixed Español, Chinese, or Sangley blood, making their taxations confusing.
• Mestizo de Bombay, people with Filipino and Bombay (Indian) heritage, paid no taxes because Indians were not part of the casta due to Britain's brief control.
• Mestizo de Sangley, people from Filipino and Chinese descent, paid less taxes by chinese standards and more than Indios.
• Disparities would inevitably cause Class struggles

Class Struggles

• The fall of aristocracy (Russia) marked the start of the Soviet Union
• Ernesto "Che" Guevara was an icon representing counterculture and rebellion, radicalized by poverty in South America
• The Katipunan, local revolts, and the Filipino-American War represent class struggle and injustice
• During the Marcos era, cronyism and nepotism rose. Political opponents and critics were detained after the writ of habeas corpus restoration. These times can be traced back to Mendiola Massacre, Voltes V cancelation.
• Desaparecidos, crony, and Imeldific are uniquely Filipino terms

Musical and Filmic Representation of Class Struggle

• Music: Upuan by GLOC-9, Tatsulok by Bamboo, and Gangsta's Paradise by Coolio
• Films: Snowpiercer and Parasite (directed by Bong Joon-ho), El Hoyo (The Platform), and The Purge
• Musicals: Les Misérables and Miss Saigon highlight social inequalities.

Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity, and Expression

• Puberty brings self-discovery, sexual orientation, gender identity, and expression (SOGIE).
• Sex is biological, determined by gametes: male (sperm) and female (ovum).
• Intersex individuals have sex organs differing from normative ones, also known as hermaphrodites.
• Gender is a socially constructed spectrum of characteristics (World Health Organization).
• Sex is what one is born with, while gender is influenced by upbringing, environment, and self-introspection.
• Sexual orientation is one's inclination towards others, defined by romance, emotions, and sexual urges.
• Sexual orientation categories: androphilia (attraction to men/masculinity, like heterosexual women) and gynephilia (attraction to women/femininity, like straight men)
• Bisexuality is experiencing both androphilia and gynephilia
• Pansexual folks attracted to anyone
• Asexual People who are not sexually attracted to anyone
• Gender identity is self-evaluation; one’s definition of their own gender.
• Cisgender individuals identify with their biological sex (cis-male or cis-female).
• Transgender individuals identify with the "wrong" sex (transwomen or transmen).
• Genderqueer (or queer) individuals don't fit into cis or trans categories.
• Agender folks do not fit into any gender category.
• Non-binary folk do not conform to the gender or sexual orientation categories

Gender Expression

• Gender expression refers to how people express their gender through actions, mannerisms, and fashion.
• Masculinity is associated with male qualities like strength and independence.
• Femininity embraces female qualities like empathy and grace.
• Androgyny blends male and female attributes expressing gender-neutral qualities.
• One may be born male, identifies as male, expresses masculinity, and is not attracted to either men or women could be labelled an asexual cis-male
• People express who they want to be
• Gender ambiguity may arise when other people aren't as educated about the gender spectrum
• LGBTQIA+ community confronts several issues.
• Transgender people are slowly being allowed to in events
• Biggest issue of SOGIE is gender inequality
• Spain's colonization in the Philippines pushed the idea that women are supposed to serve men
• Homosexuals don't have space in the society
• Rape cases used to be solely women centered, But now more cases are reported by men as well
• In prisons violence against non-hypermasculine men

Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity, and Expression Bill (or SOGIE Bill)

• Ensures that everyone has equal human rights
• Allows one to express themselves
• Permits people to love and marry in their own ways
• Promotes being free from discrimation
• Proper usage of pronouns
• Equal opportunities and rights
• Reduce and eliminate Gender discrimination

Songs and shows about Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity, and Expression

• Issues of gender can be heard throught he songs Sirena, Ituloy Mo Lang, If You Were a Woman and Freedom!90
• Shows include: Markova: Comfort Gay , Die Beautiful (movie), Destiny Rose, Beki Boxer, The Rich Man’s Daughter

Race, Racism, and Representation

• Humans thrive on Earth and, like animals, find mates and defend territories.
• Humans uniquely define "race" as a social construct, not in biological terms.
• Race is dividing the human species into groups based on shared inherited physical and behavioral traits based on ideologies started in the West

Racism

• Racism is "the behaviors or attitudes that reflect and foster the belief that race is a fundamental determinant of human traits and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race”
• This idea stemmed from several factors, with racial science being dominantly influential

Racial Science

• Since the Age of Exploration, Europeans noticed appearance differences and conquered other peoples.
• Religious conversion was used to deter rebels.
• Humankind is split into separate, unequal races
• pseudoscientific research propagates that one race dictates all races making only one race human and others not.
• Foundation of racial science came from scientists with no knowledge about genetics
• Carolus Linnaeus, "Father of Modern Taxonomy," differentiated species, but also categorized humans into subspecies and quantified them.
• Petrus Camper believed the ancient Greeks achieved human perfection and ranked races by resemblance.
• Johan Friedrich Blumenbach coined "Caucasian," giving a racial name to white people and described that people are distinct by opportunity
• Samuel George Morton theorized intelligence correlated with brain size and measured skulls to conclude whites were superior.
• racial appropriation existed because the Europeans believed that it was their fate to lead the others away from savagery.

Racial and Cultural Appropriation of Indigenous People

• Appropriation is taking something for one's gain without permission.
• racial appropriation is subjugating one race for a specific purpose such as the slavery.
• the issue of racial slavery is evident in the Black Lives Matter (BLM) Movement
• African-Americans receive the worst oppression since their ancestry can be traced back to slavery
• Since America's Civil war, there has been a high increase in black oppression such as segregation of African-Americans in schools and universities
• redlining fostered segregating people of color vs white people.
• the segregation of African Americans vs Whites is still an on going subject
• Jim Crow policies" didn't abolish equality
• Hate crimes increased toward African Americans after sexual oreitntaion and religion
• racial appropriation is exemplified in Hidden Figures, Django Unchained, and 12 Years a Slave.
• Spanish and indigenous tribes had many conflicts leading Spanish people taking land for themselves and having natives toil
• Indigenous people either left and fleed to the mountains

Indigenous Groups from Luzon and Mindanao

• Two names to classify idigenous people: Igorot and Lumad
• Igorot indigenous peoples in Luzon
• In Abra - Tinguian
• In Apayao - Bontoc - Gaddang - Isneg - Kalinga
• In Benguet - Ibaloi - Kankanaey
• In Ifugao - Ifugao
• In Isabela - Gaddang - Kalinga
• In Mountain Province - Bontoc
• In Nueva Vizcaya - Ilongot
• Lumad indigenous peoples
• In Bangsamoro Tiruray
• CARAGA
  • Banwaon
  • Talandig
  • Manobo
    • Kamigin
    • Mamanwa
• In Davao - Guiangga - Manobo - Ata -Tagabawa
  • Tagakaolo or Tagakaulo
  • Mandaya
  • Mansaka
• In Kalagan - T'boli
• Bukidnon - Manobo - Ata
• soCCSKSARGEN - Blaan - Higaonon - Mamanwa - Manobo
• Dulangan
• Tasaday
• Kulaman
• Sangil
• Zamboanga Peninsula Subanon
• undefined abode -Magguangan - Manobo
• Bagobo - Clata - Tagabawa
  • Ubo
• Eastern Aetas Visayas
• Mangyans
• Badjaos in Palawan
• The indigenous peoples continue to preserve their cultures
• However, with civilization it had rapid development
• With rapid growth and rapid advancement the indigenous people struggled to keep up
• The need to defend led to ancestral lands becoming forests and mountains
• These struggles were fought with businesses required to exploit such resources and lands
• mutual contracts help engage in fair business practices -Other businesses engage through and push indigenous peoples to fight back for land.
• These conflicts led the government to place areas under militarization.

Lumad Killings and Appropiation

• These events can become disastrous which is seen through the Lumad Killings racial appropriation spanned many generations
• These topics are reflected in music like in ASIN as well known Masdan Mo Ang Kapaligiran , bayan ko music
• This topic is highlighted in The film Buong and Babay Halas
• Cultural appropriation is another use and disrespect objects and demeans the history the topic stems from

Whitewashed Entertainment

• Whitewashing in visuals entertainment often takes white individuals to be people of color.
• The film Breakfast and Tiffany's casted white actor mickey rooney
• Johnny Depp as the Inidian in In the movie The Lone Ranger
• Minority model- After asian began migrating many countries struggled to keep their culture.
• Asians were called The Yellow Peril

Intellectual Property, Artifacts, Dances

• In fashion and clothing Gucci sold tubans at high prices as an accessory however it is meant to be a sign of devotion
• One such is also language
• White people make an issue regarding rock or music when black people created rock
• They start food based businesses such as samgyupsal bar without realizing that it is traditionally a korean snack
• Religious symbols- such as swastika Decorations are often placed and misnamed as an ethnic term Traditional rituals are often ridiculed while homeopathy crystal healing etc are still a factor Makeup such as Fox eye which is often mocked towards asian communities Hair - conrows when on whites is okay but historically it signifies black culture Tattoos such as chinese - are often mocked from lack in knowledge

Peace Studies Ideals

• White people were responsible for it but because there were not enough it was always targeted.

Peace Studies

• Since the 21st century many countries and people have begun to study prevent/resolve violence and war.
• Peace studies is an interdisciplinary mix that cements itself in political sciences, sociology, history ect
• to give ways to prevent violent and resolve conflict
• and to build a more peaceful and understanding society
• In popular culture some countercultures and ideologies such as hippies/The punk movement try and advocate towards these ideals.