I. ABSTRACT:
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

To study what it means to be poor
Cultural factors that contributes human experience
Two cases of people, poor that turns successful and poor that remains the same
II. INTRODUCTION:
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Socio economic - as an important variable in comparing the cultures and
subcultures within a country

3 billion are suffering from low income
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790 million are undernourished and they are commonly in Asia and Pacific
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Countries that are abundance doesn’t know what the poor countries feel

GDP of the 48 poor nations combined is less than the wealth of the the rich
countries combined
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Intergenerational poverty is characterized by Lewis as struggles of survival
sociopsychological traits including a lack of privacy, alcoholism, wife beating,
violence in relationships, and values such as strong present time orientation,
inability to defer gratification and plan for the future, resignation, and fatalism

Culture of poverty - encourages the idea that poverty is due to the cultural
indifferences and challenges the economic, political, and cultural barriers, and
discrimination faced by the poor
GLIMPSE OF THE PHILIPPINES:
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Colonized in a very long time
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The disempowerment, passivity, lack of initiative, and colonial mentality
(Talisayon, 1990) in the Philippines is rooted in its long history of being under
powerful regimes.
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Has frequent happenings to natural phenomenon
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Has more Catholics
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More of Christian Malay in ethnicity
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Speaks tagalog and english
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Has 11 other languages and 87 dialects
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The economy is a mixture of agricultural, light industrial, and supporting services
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Increased ratings of poverty
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Culture of poverty in the Philippines’ life is viewed as unfavorable, i.e., most
have no aspirations and are unable to think of any. They hope that their children
get educated and they rely much on chance or luck

Graft and corruption is common
CASE STUDY:
MILA (rags to riches)
JOY (rags to rags)
Age: 48 years old, second oldest from the Age: 49 years old, 7th child of the 8
9 children
children
Parents: father serves in world war, Parents: musician father
mother has a business. When her father
died they suffered from poverty
Lives in: Province of Pampanga
Lives in: Camarines Norte
Children: 4 children
Children: 10
Married to: her taxi driver husband who
forced her to marry him
Married: her vendor husband who was a
womanizer
She studied cosmetics as instructed by
her mother. She is now married to an She wasn’t able to finish studying and
American and is now in America together that made her marry someone at a very
with her children
early age. Currently relying her future
towards her child who was studying
Similarities:
Differences:
Cultural configuration
They both lack high school diploma. They
are both resourceful and hardworking,
they both demonstrated traits of
flexibility, adaptability, creativity, and
Industry.
Mila continued her education (reading
books) while she was working while Joy
finished two years from high school and
did not bother anymore in enhancing her
learnings
Mila learned to speak english, read, and
she saves her money. She also trained
herself
to
become
a
better
cosmetologist. She was resourceful and
that made her grasp the opportunity to
migrate in US. She has a clear vision of
her future.
Joy works to earn money by using her
skills to do work but she only stay put on
selling and doing laundry. She faced
limited risks and she also didn’t have a
well planned future
Early Marriages
MILA
JOY
 Married in her teens due to  Married in her teens due to
economic and social pressures
economic and social pressures
 Mila was threatened
 Marry due to lack of alternative
options
Early marriages are common because of collectivistic and masculine orientation and
this is also common in communities with low education levels
Number of Children
MILA
JOY
 Has 4 children and decided to take  Has 10 children and believes that
birth control pills when she learned
that was the destiny given by God to
that she would only be the only one
her
who will take responsibility in taking  She was afraid to take birth control
care of her children.
pills
 She was frequently raped
 The more children she have the
more providers for the family
 Relies the future on her child
HARDWORK
MILA
JOY
 Hardworking and persevere, uses  Joy was isolated to just stay the
her skills in working
same with her skills in working
 Learned a specialized skill which
without exploring much of her
enables her to have a regular income
abilities
and support for her family
CARING OF FAMILY ORIGIN
MILA
JOY
 Helped her family as soon as she  Stopped supporting her family as
started working
soon as she married and have
 Continues supporting her family
children
even after having children
are committed to a strong family system and are highly indebted to their parents
with an intense need to give back, "utang na loob" (Talisayon, 1990; Andres, 1996).
Refusing to help the family results in a lot of guilt and shame or "hiya".
VALUING THEIR CHILDREN’S EDUCATION
MILA
JOY
 Wants that both of her children will  Relies her future only to her child
finish their education and finds a
and only wishes one of her child to
way to fulfill her dreams to them
finish the education, she regarded
her children as someone who can lift
her up from poverty
Has high aspirations for their children and they wished that they will not be the same
as them and they both provide for their finances despite their circumstances
GETTING AWAY FROM DOMESTIC VIOLENCE
MILA
JOY
 Finds any means to stay away from  Left her husband couple of times but
her husband but unfortunately
then decided to went back and
wasn’t able to do it due to the
forgive him
difficulty of the Philippine’s status  Took care of him until the end
when it comes to divorce
 Tolerates the abuses
 Tries to let her husband work and as  Experiences
martyrdom
and
soon as he stops from working she
sufferings
then proceeded to go abroad
 Never forgives her husband
Both abused by their alcoholic husband who always do gamble and womanizing.
Both are physically, emotionally and sexually abused
DREAMS
MILA
JOY
 Remarried an American, started  Wanted to get out of poverty
business and supports her family
through one of her children
 Depends no one but herself
 No other aspirations
 Relies to others instead of herself
They both dream to get away from poverty and plans to have a better future
HELP FROM OTHERS
MILA
JOY
 Her mother enrolled her to  Works as a maid
vocational school so that she will  Stayed one year and did not return
have a good income
 Luck lies from her relatives
 Has a good employer
 Siblings help her
 Attributes her husband’s departure
to find work as luck
 It was also luck that she remarried
and went to America
RELAINCE ON GOD
MILA
JOY
 She also rely for herself aside from  Says that everything she faced is
God
from God’s hand, everything was a
 Did things for herself
destiny
 Develops strategic plans
Both prayed and offered their intentions to get out of poverty
CONCLUSION:
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2 factors determine the poverty
Mila took risks and other possible resources
Joy is dependent to others and has minimal risks
highlighted individual differences that led Mila to be financially successful and
Joy to stay in an economically difficult situation.
there is no health insurance system, no unemployment support, no social
security from the government, public education is not optimal or desirable, and
there is no adequate protection from any kind of abuse.
The reality of inadequate structural or governmental support leads to reliance
on one's self, one's family, or one's God. This makes the process of getting out of
poverty seem like catching a moonbeam with one's hand.