SOCIOLOGICAL THEORY IN THE PHILIPPINE SETTING

Author(s): Bartlett Stoodley

Source: Philippine Sociological Review , JANUARY, 1955, Vol. 3, No. 1 (JANUARY, 1955),
pp. 15-24
Published by: Philippine Sociological Society

Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/43498008

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 JANUARY, 1955 Page 15

SOCIOLOGICAL THEORY IN THE

PHILIPPINE SETTING

Bartlett Stoodley

When I was in grammar school the pupils were often asked to

whether it was better to live in the country or the city. In these
the bucolic joys of the country were judiciously weighed aga
"cultural" and material advantages of the city. I am sure that
those days there was a nostalgia in the air - a desire to get back
"little red school house"; to escape from the "big city." Perha
what the same attitude may be found in the Philippines.1 A few
ago a Manila judge tried to convince a group of boy delinque
they should leave Manila and go back to the "pure air" of the co
I gather that he talked in vain.
The transition from a rural way of living to an urban w
living has, of course, been a central fact in Western Europe
United States. It is becoming a central fact in many other c
as well. It is not to be wondered at that some American socio
have fastened on this change as having central significance or th
pine sociology is strongly influenced by this view. In the rush
involving and following the Enlightenment, the Reformation
Industrial Revolution, the movement from rural to urban has c
look like an irreversible and inevitable process.2
In retrospect I think we can see that the rural-urban theory de
in part from the earlier social evolutionary thinking of Herbert
Spencer felt that there was an inevitable process from homogen
heterogeneity and that this process tied Darwinian evolution in w
evolution. Organisms and societies developed in the direction of ever-g
complexity.3 To Durkheim it was obvious that the human race d
inevitably develop toward greater complexity. He observed th
were many "non-literate" societies that has not changed appreciab
hundreds of years. Durkheim came to consider, however, that i
1 I should hasten to inform the reader that my observations of the P
scene have lasted but for half a year and should be judged accordingly.
It also should be emphasized at the outset that this paper is concerned
with the rural-urban frame-of-reference as the basis for a research program. Its
usefulness as a teaching device is not questioned. The writer also would like to
acknowledge the major contributions to sociology that this "school" has made.
It is possible, however, that sociology has advanced sufficiently to afford a re-
examination of some aspects of the rural-urban thought pattern.
2 Indeed, "macroscopic" studies indicate all too clearly that this movement
is universal in societies and that a "ripe" urban movement tends to be associated
with social breakdown. Sorokin associates urbanism with the disorganized "sen-
sate" period. Set Society , Culture and Personality , Harpers, 1947. Toynbee as-
sociates it with the "time of troubles." See A Study of History , London: Oxford
Press; Spengler and historical philosophers back to Ibn Kaldun have suggested the
same tendency.
3 See the treatment of Spencer in Catapusan & Catapusan, Sociology (Manila,
1953, pp. 7-9) #

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 Page 16 PHILIPPINE SOCIOLOGICAL REVIEW

in population produced an increased division

the heterogeneity that Spencer mentioned
that increasing complexity in a society produ
for that society. Social control in a complex so
nature than social control in a simple socie
views of the "naturalness" of the transition
rogeneity, Durkheim speculated that the incr
was automatically attended by an increase
population.
It was, then, through Spencer and population density that Durkheim
came to perceive the radically different social organization of a complex
as distinct from a simple society. He employed the term "mechanical
solidarity" to describe the type of social control in the simple society,
and the term "organic solidarity" to describe the type of social control
in the complex society4 The focus of the problem for Durkheim was
social control, not the increase of population density. His later works,
therefore, show an ever more sophisticated understanding of the dynamics
of social control, and this is certainly one of the basic theoretical problems
in sociology.5
In the United States we find that interests similar to those of Durk-
heim were developed by such outstanding sociologists as Summer, Cooley,
and Maine.6 Ward, Giddings, Small7 and others made important con-
heim were developed by such outstanding sociologists as Sumner, Cooley,
have been consistently in the mainstream of sociological thought. This
is in part because they attached themselves to this "crucial" problem
area. However, Sumner and Cooley did not escape some degree of
enslavement to a specific type of empirical process. They became largely
identified with the "rural" or "simple" type of social organization. In
this they are to be distinguished from Durkheim. The writer would hes-
ite to say what sociologist first discovered an interest in the process of
urbanization in the United States, but certainly Robert E. Park was
one of the leaders in this movement. With Ogburn and Burgess, Park
developed a "school" of sociology at the University of Chicago which
carried on a program of impressive research for many years. Yet that
"school," while it initiated a quest on the Durkheimian premises, "in-
verted" the Durkheimian formula. While Durkheim endeavored to sur-
mount the data with concepts, the urban sociologists of the "Chicago"
persuasion "indentured" themselves out to the data. Thus, while Durk-
heim never gave up attempting to refine his concepts and make them
more and more useful tools for the handling of data, the urban sociologists

4 See also of course Toennies, Ferdinand, Fundamental Concepts of Sociology

(New York: American Book Co., 1940, pp. 37-39).
R For the earlier treatment see The Division of Labor in Society (N.Y.: The
Macmillan Co., 1933), and for later treatment see The Elementary Forms of the
Religious Life (Glencoe, Illinois: The Free Press, 1947).
6 Folkways, Sumner, William G. (Boston: Ginn and Co., 1906)
Social Organization, Cooley. Charles H. (Scribner, 1912)
Ancient Law, Main, Henry (London: J. Murray, 1861)
1 Dynamic Sociology , Ward Lester F. (NY: Appleton-Crofts, 1883)
Principles of Sociology (NY: The Macmillan Co., 1896)
The Study of Society , Small, Albion W. et al. (American Book, 1894)

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 JANUARY, 1955 Page 17

in the United States tend

aspects of the empirical p
were stretched in their app
ters8 to aboriginal tribes i
rural-urban continuum, ho
descriptions in very circ
state, "Sociologists' studies o
absence. Most of the litera
observations as do have soc
tered in a sea of irrelevant materials."10
As I have said, rural-urban sociology has produced excellent empir-
ical studies. It has led to fruitful ecological analyses of various types.11
But it is not in itself a conceptual scheme for the analysis of social
phenomena. It did not carry on the Durkheimian quest. And when
this orientation becomes generalized into a way of sociological thought
it may rob the investigator of the power to see new aspects of data,
of the ability to approach research creatively. I should like to examine
some concrete ways in which this point-of-view may limit the horizon
of the investigator.
1 . The Danger of Determinism. Macroscopic studies such as those
of Sorokin, Spengler and Toynbee have indicated that, in the societies
they have studied, the growth of cities has invariably been associated with
the growth of disorganization and social break-down. Sorokin takes the
view that this break-down does not necessarily signal the "decease" of a
society but rather the disruption of a "socio-cultural supersystem."12
Spengler, on the other hand, felt that this development heralded a kind
of "organic" death for the society.13 Toynbee has inclined somewhat to
the Spengler view but is hopeful that the Western culture area may
escape the fate of the other societies he has studied.14
We can say, then, that the growth of the city and later the "mega-
lopolis"15 tends to be associated with social disorganization. But none
of the students of this process have maintained that it takes place in
precisely the same way. If we are to gain a more precise understanding
8 See his Suicide (Translated by John A. Spaulding and George Simpson)
(Glencoe, 111.: The Free Press, 1951)
9 See his The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life (translated by Joseph
W. Swain) (Glencoe, 111.: The Free Press, 1947)
10 Smith, T. Lynn, and McMahan, C.A. Urban Life (NY: Dryden Press, 1951,
p. 106)
11 See Zorbaugh, Harvey W. The Gold Coast and the Slum (University of
Chicago Press, 1929) ; Hoyt, Homer, "Forces of Urban Centralization and De-
centralization" ( American Journal of Sociology 46, May 1941, pp. 843-852) ;
Faris, Robert E. L. "Demography of Urban Psychotics with Special Reference
to Shizophrenia" ( American Sociological Review , 3. April 1938, pp. 203-212);
Beers, Howard W. and Heflin, C. Rural People in the City (Kentucky Agricultural
Experiment Station Bulletin 478, Lexington, 1945); Cavan, Ruth Shonle, Suicide
(University of Chicago Press, 1928).
12 See Sorokin, P. Social and Cultural Dynamics (NY: American Book Co.,
1937-1941. Especially Vol. I)
13 See Spengler, O. The Decline of the West (NY: Knopf, 1932)
14 See Toynbee, op cit.
15Lewis Mumford's term. The Culture of Cities (NY: Harcourt Brace, 1938)

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Page 18 PHILIPPINE SOCIOLOGICAL REVIEW

of this tendency we must come to closer grip

a microscopic or close-range analysis. This const
jobs of the contemporary sociologist.
The best approach to this job is not by binding oneself to a
specific type of empirical process and assuming that it is the prototype
of all such processes. American sociologists of the rural-urban persuasion
have proved at least as ethnocentric and provincial as other sociologists
and have tended to equate what goes on in the United States with
what goes on in the rest of the world, and occasionally they have appeared
to equate what goes on in Chicago with what goes on in the universe.
This myopia has made these studies remarkably ahistorical and signally
bare of cross-cultural fertilization.16
American urban developments have constituted an immense field for
descriptive sociology. It is my feeling that this body of work has con-
stituted an important point-of-reference for Philippine sociologists. And
it is in the pervasive influence of this American tradition on Philippine
social scientists that the danger of determinism lies. We are likely to
assume that Philippine urbanism will be congruent with American ur-
banism, and that the factors of importance in American urbanism will
be equally important in Philippine urbanism. A corollary of this is
that factors in the Philippine setting that have no ready counterpart
in the American setting must be dismissed as irrelevant or permitted
to wander around, in a specific piece of analysis, as rather vaguely dis-
turbing "loose ends."
It appears to the v/riter that this tendency in scientific thinking is
unfortunate, so far as it exists, because it repeats the assumption of the
layman in this society. Thus there is mutual re-enforcement. In Philip-
pine society at large there has, of course, been a great diffusion of
American culture patterns. It has led some Filipinos to assume that
their society will march to the same goals in the same way as American
society. This has had some significance for personality orientation too.
For some Filipinos appear to have committed themselves, psychologically,
to American orientations and as a result present symptoms of being
"marginal men."17
Under these circumstances it is the more important that social scientists
in the Philippines divorce themselves from over-close identification with
American social processes so that they can the easier perceive the significant
novel elements in Philippine society. Philippine sociologists must, in short,
supply to the American rural-urban perspective the cross-cultural perspec-
tive which it lacks. By discovering in precisely what respects Manila
is not Chicago and the emergent Filipino business man is not the "typical"

16 The writer inspected a representative bibliography in this area. It is cited

in Smith and McMahan, Urban Life , op. cit. and consists of 382 items. 26 or
7% of these items appear to have some cross-cultural material. There were 108
specific studies cited and 8 of these, or 7 r/c, were studies of other societies. An
exception to this tendency is found in Loomis, Charles P. and Beegle, J. Allan,
Rural Social Systems (NY: Prentice-Hall Inc. 1950) which has a much wider
empirical base. It is clearly exceptional in this respect. The writer is indebted
to Richard W. Coller for bringing this book to his attention.
17 Robert E. Park developed this concept. See "Human Migration and the
Marginal Man." ( American Journal of Sociology XXXIII 1927 pp. 881-893).

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 JANUARY, 1955 Page 19

American business man, t

fecundate the American rural-urban tradition.
It may be that the conclusions of the macroscopic scholars are well-
founded, that the urban trend is also a trend toward disorganization.
Durkheim tends to corroborate this hypothesis. He found that "organic
solidarity" did not necessarily develop with an increase in the division of
labor. This led him to the study of certain "pathological" forms of
social organization, the so-called "anomie" forms.18 The urban socio-
logists in the United States have also amply confirmed this point-of-view.
Studies of American cities are very largely studies of some aspect of
social disorganization such as divorce, juvenile delinquency or mental
disorder. So far therefore as the Philippine sociologist binds himself to
the urbanization process as determinate, he limits his horizon to a process
of increasing social disorganization.
However, one of the hopes of the twentieth century is that our
knowledge of social dynamics will enable us to counteract this tendency
and reverse the historical process. This job is not for the sociologists,
the political scientists, the economists or the psychologists alone. But the
social scientist has an obligation to make some contribution toward the
social "planning" of this century. It appears to the writer that the
sociologist can make this contribution more easily if he frees himself
from fealty to the urbanization process and extends his interests to all
varieties of social interaction. In this way his concepts will come to
surmount a specific empirical process and gain wider usefulness in fields
like personality, small group relations and social control.
2. Difficulties in Concept Building. The rural-urban "school" has
emphasized classification concepts for the "pigeon-holing' of human
groups rather than "analytical" concepts for the sorting out of the salient
characteristics of human groups.19 We can take the "secondary group
as an example. This concept refers to a whole bundle of characteristics
and is often used to classify human groups. Sociologists dealing with this
concept have often had some definite group in mind and they have fre-
quently said important things about it. But because they have had
some definite group in mind they have often been careless and im-
pressionistic" about the qualities that they attribute to it. It is the
empirical whole that has claimed their attention. In this general field
we have some remarkable studies of "groups." There are secondary groups
and primary groups, mobs, crowds, and audiences, formal and informal
groups, in-groups and out-groups. The classifications have gone briskly
on but the distinctions between these groups have been fuzzy and often
a matter of personal preference. It is no wonder that Loomis and Beegle
have rather unkind things to say about these concepts. They call them
"sponge" concepts. They add, "Many types are in use. However, their
practical utility has been questioned. It is not difficult to understand
why many sociologists and anthropologists who are required to assist in

18 Anomie means literally "lack of law."

*9 An analytical concept concentrates on one aspect oí an object, l^ensny,
length are analytical concepts. Societies have sacred, traditional, formal, emo-
tional etc. aspects and these are analytical concepts. The writer argues that
we should sharpen and integrate these concepts into a conceptual system.

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Page 20 PHILIPPINE SOCIOLOGICAL REVIEW

directing human affairs can see little or no valu

cepts as Gemeinschaft and Gesellschaft, mechanic
solidarity, sacred and secular society, Apollonian
folk and civilization, primary and secondary gro
(contractual) and compulsory interaction." 20 How
that such terms may be useful when "...they
elements specified, and their over-all Gestalt qu
jective terms ..." 21
The difficulties in clarifying some of these terms can be seen in
the work of Loomis and Beegle. As one of their variables they assume
a "solidary-antagonistic" continuum. However, they are not clear about
the nature of this continuum. They state that " . . wrangling, fighting,
and controversy within the system can be used as measures of solidarity
or antagonism." 22 They also tell us that, " . . as used here, group solidarity
is synonymous with group morale." 23 Group morale exists, the authors
tell us, " . . when all members of the system are in accord with its ends,
agree upon its bases of attaining status, have confidence in its leaders,
conform to its norms, and are willing and ready to make great sacrifices
to defend the system." 24
It seems to the writer that Loomis and Beegle have combined two
elements in their continuum. They have emphasized the congeniality of
the interaction on the one hand, and they have emphasized the binding
power of social norms on the other. It is doubtful if a social group
can be scored on both of these criteria at the same type without con-
fusion. For a group that is subject to binding norms is not necessarily
and in that very degree a group in which there is amiable interaction.
It is clear that the American family is subject to binding norms. It is
also clear that the American family is characterized by interaction which
has been described as "antagonistic cooperation."
Loomis and Beegle relate the "solidary" end of this continuum with
the "familistic" or "gemeinschaft" type of social group. And they relate
the "antagonistic" end of the continuum with the "contractual" or "gesell-
schaft" type of social group. Yet it is certainly true that many types
of "secondary groups" are freer of antagonism than many "primary groups."
A movie audience is characterized by little or no antagonistic interaction.
Does this make it a familistic group? This point has been made merely
to emphasize the difficulty of sharpening the variables that have been
associated with the rural-urban school. Philippine sociologists working in
this rich sociological setting will undoubtedly make contributions to the
sharpening of these analytical variables.25
3 . The Possibility of Over-Simplification of the Data. We are all
familiar . with the studies indicating the degree to which verbal orienta-
20 Loomis and Beegle. Rural Social Systems (NY: Prentice-Hall, 195U) p. y.
21 Ibid p. 10
22 Ibid p. 796
23 Ibid p. 797
u Ibid p. 9
25 The writer thinks there is little or no future for the Loomis-Beegle ideal
type" analysis adapted from Max Weber. Their "types" are at the non-existent
ends of the continuum. Being fictions they escape much criticism but it is doubtful
if they have much use.

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 JANUARY, 1955 Page 21

tion may influence the p

necessary, even vital, prop
of "data." But theory also
attention, in this way, upo
So when we develop our c
such as the rural-urban pro
of reality over other asp
"thought- way" and his em
influence the analysis of
has been seen in the perspe
tension producing qualities
the Eastern Anthropological
paper arguing that some an
tation, had failed to note
sonality formation. The sam
Although they emphasize th
view it with alarm as a kind of second fall from the innocence of
primary group living. Only a handful of American sociologists have
examined the affirmative aspects of secondary group experience.27
When the American rural-urban perspective is transplanted the partial
myopia attached to it may be aggravated. The limitations we have dis-
cussed will remain. But in addition the method may actually conceal
important social processes in the new environment. I should like to
mention certain areas of the Philippine scene which I think may have
been partially neglected for this reason.
A. The indigenous culture. In the United States the indigenous
culture (that of the American Indian) has had but little effect on the
dominant culture which was carried from Europe and England.28 Even
the casual observer in the Philippines, however, must be struck by the
fact that important cultural elements in this society are derived not
from the invading Spanish or American cultures but from the culture
of the "aboriginal" Filipino. On this original culture two monolithic
invasions have deposited solid cultural layers. I would think that these

26 See "An Experimental Study of the Effect of Language on the Reproduction

of Visually Perceived Form" Carmichael et al. Journal of Experimental Psychology
February 1932 Vol. 15 pp. 73-86.
27 From the macroscopic point-of-view the "functions of the city have been
analysed from the beginning. R. D. McKensiVs The Metropolitan Community
NY and London 1933 is a good example of this kind of approach. But more
microscopic analysis of groups and individuals in the "impersonal" city have
strongly tended to document the disorganized aspects of city living. The researches
of Robert E. L. Faris, and Faris with H. Warren Dunham, in the ecology of
urban mental disorders is just one example. Mary Bosworth Treudley's work
on ethnic groups is an example of the more "affirmative" approach. See "An
Ethnic Group's View of the American Middle Class" American Sociological Review ,
11 (Dec. 1946) pp. 715-724, and "Formal Organization and the American-
ization Process, with Special Reference to the Greeks of Boston," American
Sociological Review , 14 (Feb. 1949) pp. 44-53.
28 It is interesting to speculate on the popularity of Indian stories for children
in the United States. It does not appear that the Indian cultures are com-
municated however. The Indian is merely a vehicle for the communication of
American culture elements.

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Page 22 PHILIPPINE SOCIOLOGICAL REVIEW

developments are almost unique and that they h

on social structure and personality formation in
B. Catholicism. The United States has, from
a predominantly Protestant country. It was "fou
many of its privately endowed schools and colleg
with the avowed purpose of strengthening the
seated characteristics of American society ste
Reformation and from forces closely related to
the Industrial Revolution and the Enlightenmen
developed the political and social equalitarian ide
in the American and French Revolutions.
The Spanish culture was not a carrier of these ideas. It was rather
a carrier of feudal ideas. The disturbing "modern" ideas fomenting in
central and northern Europe and England were diffused largely through
Filipinos who traveled and studied on the Continent. These influences
entered the Philippines, en masse, of course, from the United States at
the close of the nineteenth century. By all means the most important
cultural bequest to the Philippines from Spain was Catholicism. Cath-
olicism has had a solid, pervasive influence on all branches of Philippine
social structure. It has affected the culture profoundly by the establishing
of important norms. It would appear that Philippine society is just as
definitely and significantly Catholic as American society is Protestant.
It seems to the writer that the implications of this fact require concen-
trated study by Philippine sociologists. The prospect of "Catholic cap-
italism," for instance, is of the utmost sociological interest and significance.
Studies in this field would throw important light on Max Weber's work
on the motivations for capitalistic endeavor.30 It is not often that actual
events afford such an ideal experimental situation.
C. An Economically Dominant Cultural Minority. The United States
experienced a massive immigration of about 25 million Europeans in the
nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The Philippines, in modern
times, has experienced no such tide of immigration. In the United States,
however, no single ethnic group arose to a position of economic dominance.
In the Philippines, however, a small invasion of Chinese has resulted in
the creation of a dominant economic minority. Studies of the social or-
ganization, economic and political power, cultural orientations and per-
sonality adjustments of this strategic ethnic group are of the utmost
importance.
D. Class and Culture. In every society we can expect to find a
hierarchical arrangement of large segments of the population in what
we call class strata. Although the characteristics of these strata differ
in "feudal" and "modern" societies, it is nevertheless true that there
is a tendency for the upper strata to obtain a disproportionate percentage
of social and political power and of material rewards. In the United
States the upper class is severely atrophied. The concentration of social,

29 The Manila papers recently carried an item reporting that the Rockefeller
Foundation had made a grant of some millions of dollars for the benefit of
Protestant seminaries in the United States.
30 See The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism (translated by Talcott
Parsons) London: Allen and Unwin Ltd. 1930.

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JANUARY, 1955 Page 23

political and economic po

"upper-middle" class. It h
States, therefore, to increa
can attain "upper-middle" s
that exists at that point.
In the Philippines an imp
times. This upper class g
by association with a repr
upper class were, of cours
evidence from the works
who aspired to this upper
and adopt Spanish cultur
come to end, it appears t
elements of Spanish cultur
On the other hand, Am
into and encouraged the g
the two dominant classes a
what extent have European
fused through the middle
the upper class? To what
formation of a strategica
extent is it oriented to ev
consequent absorption of
will be vital to the furth
and through the class stru
tical process.
E. The rural culture and
States we consider that we
urban culture. This movem
practical consequences of
the first two decades of t
we can now talk of "rural
Philippines, the dominant
Philippines speak of goin
if ever heard in the Unite
country" for a vacation, n
West farmers of the corn
living. But studies have sho
urban orientations. They a
Although the United S
31 See in this connection "T
Horowitz, E. L., 1936 Archive
points out how the Negro ca
this "climate of opinion" in t
32 Most interesting and import
I need refer only to the Hard
Additional data is being comp
of a research project by the
of John de Young. Gatapusan
ful body of material in their
33 See "Rural Survivals in Am
Vol. VIII No. 4 Dec. 1943, p. 379.

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Page 24 PHILIPPINE SOCIOLOGICAL REVIEW

nineteenth century, it also had a strong ''rati

from post-Enlightenment influences. In addition,
States were frequently individuals who had becom
own social groups at home. Social and persona
involved in the immigration process itself and w
process of Western expansion.
The rural culture of the Philippines was not ex
influences mentioned above. It represents a s
It may be assumed that this rural culture will stron
and that, on the other hand, change that is eff
with a high incidence of social disorganization.
ization" here deserves then to be studied most c
theoretical insights that can be developed from
ularly important because the national governme
planning program for social change. The obj
balanced type of economy with large-scale and s
with special emphasis on village industries. Ther
on preserving the rural culture. For the socio
interesting and important question. We can put
form. Is it possible to increase industrializat
labor and maintain mechanical solidarity? I
in this field in the United States. But Japan, in
prior to World War II, and India, in her attemp
Ghandi formula, are examples of experiments in
F. Strategic position of the Filipino family
the American middle-class family has been "
been reduced to parents and children. It attr
tional loyalty in the United States but its realis
minimized. The Filipino family, on the other
in size but it also exerts a controlling influence
members. It attracts loyalty and it exacts sel
stands as a strong bulwark against the "individua
with urbanization. The "ladder type" of auth
Filipino family forms a strong contrast to the
in the American family, and must be of deci
formation of basic personality types. The Filipi
be of utmost importance in culture change, in th
and in economic and class organization.35
Conclusion. This paper has suggested that t
tion" in the United States does not furnish an ad
for a research program in the Philippines. Ce
"thought-way" have been discussed as follow
conceptual inadequacy, (c) data bias. The writer
for the formulation of analytic variables that co
for the study of rural-urban processes but other
He has also mentioned fields for research which
more attention than has been granted them.

34 See "The Folk Society" Redfield, Robert Americ

LII (1947) pp. 293-308.
35 The writer hopes to make the Filipino family the subject of a later paper.

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