neo-marxist on poverty

a contest entry

POVERTY OF THE MIND

 

NEO-MARXIST PHILOSOPHY

 

     I am a product of a third world country. I have seen and witnessed how poverty affects majority of my fellowmen. For a person who is attached to the Neo-Marxist philosophy, poverty is an old unresolved issue until now. “Neo-Marxism is a broad term encompassing twentieth-century approaches that amend or extend Marxism and Marxist theory, typically by incorporating elements from other intellectual traditions such as critical theory, psychoanalysis or existentialism. “¹

 

     The critical theory or popularly known as the Frankfurt School is famous for the key issues involving the Marxist philosophy. “ It involves the critique of modernity and capitalist society”.²

wherein popular issues like social emancipation, pedagogy of the poor, political ideas on mass culture, and commodification were being discussed and argued.  Psychoanalysis, on the other hand is a term coined by Sigmund Freud wherein it is regarded as a method of investigating and treating personality disorders which is used in psychotherapy. If we remember his iceberg theory, he believed that the mind is made up of three levels: the conscious, the subconscious and the unconscious. We often recalled that dreams are made by our subconscious levels.

 

Existentialism is a philosophical school founded by French philosopher, Jean Paul Sartre wherein there is a belief that Existence comes first before Essence and that is why choices are made based on the will of a person.

 

     If I combine these three components of Neo-Marxist philosophy and relate it with Poverty, I will come up with only one answer. Poverty is not by choice, but by the will of a state. From the time we were born, the decision in terms of how to live our life is not ruled by destiny or by other sources, it is what is dictated by the state. If you are born poor, you will grow up poor and if you are born rich, then you will grow up rich. From the onset of one’s life, social status has been a major factor on how to live one’s life. It is always ruled by the material resources possessed. Poverty is the effect of a wide marginal difference of resources between the rich and the poor. Tracing back to Weber’s 3Ps theory; Power, Prestige and Property. A rich person will possess a higher 3Ps than a poor person. In terms of rights, the rich is superior, therefore his influence is wider and that he has a larger portion of resources as compared to the poor.

 

     We have the Marxist philosophy of the Economies of Scale as a primary evidence of it, Karl Marx had been able to identify only two social classes, the bourgeoisie (elite) and the proletariat (masses), he was able to distinguish social inequality, the exploitation, alienation of labour and oppression through the observations he had made at a factory in Germany.  He, himself came from the upper class but was able to make an in depth study of the social issues with the help of his friend Friedrich Engels. They were able to publish two books namely Das Kapital and Dialectical Materialism. From these books they were able to come up with an ideology which proves to be utopian by nature but nonetheless adopted by powerful nations such as China, Poland, North Korea to name a few and who wouldn’t be familiar with Socialism as a form of government or political system?

 

     As what is happening in my country, Poverty is still an unresolved issue, it is the overall effect of many causes such as unemployment, high crime rate, population issue, religion, drugs and lifestyle. “The per capita income of the Gross Domestic Product is equivalent to $3.893 only wherein the GDP growth is only at 6.6%.”⁴  With this figure, my country is still underdeveloped. When you visit the metropolis, the first thing that will catch your attention are the slum areas surrounding the skyscrapers.  These slum areas are the most tangible evidence of the disparity between the rich and the poor. The sustainable development which was part of the platform of past fifteen presidents including the incumbent one is just an advertisement, a part of the propaganda tactics.

 

     First factor is population, because of unemployment and underemployment especially with the ENDO (end of contract) buzzing in the business industries, it proves to be beneficial for the employers because with ENDO, there is no chance of regularization which means no security benefits will be given and a disadvantage to the poor because of the absence of medical and housing insurances. Because of lack of employment opportunities caused by lack of education, lack of skills and lack of power backers ( we call them here white horse) the poor people resort to crimes such as petty theft, larceny, robbery to drug peddling and prostitution to make ends meet.  Because of poverty, some poor people suffer from mental disorders such as depression, social anxiety disorder, psychosis and schizophrenia to name a few. The mental hospitals in my country are few in number so with counselling centres and shelters. Because of this predicament, a high incidence of crime follows “as proven by the 100,668 index crimes in 2017.”⁴ Common reason is Drugs and that is also what prompted the incumbent president to launch the “Oplan Tokhang” which is a crusade against Drugs, the drug lords and the drug cartels which resulted to extra judicial killings which made our president be famous in international organizations because of human rights violation.

 

     If we look at the convicted prisoners, majority belongs to the lower class, driven by social problems , they resorted to crimes and with the absence of good lawyers because of lack of finances. They have to contend their lives and rights to the Public Attorney’s Office (PAO) which handles pro bono cases but because of backlog of cold cases, they cannot defend all their clients willingly and justly. Unjust convictions took place in both civil and criminal cases. When a rich person commits a crime, it paints a different picture because he can afford the best litigator in town, chances are he will be acquitted of his crime such as the famous case of Hubert Webb, a son of a former senator who raped and killed a mother with her two daughters ( Vizconde Massacre). The crime happened in  2010 and Webb was acquitted seven years later due to skin allergy. He was granted the presidential pardon.

 

     The lifestyle is another  factor to consider when you try to describe what Poverty is like in my country. The rich or the upper class has all the material resources, they enjoy the best luxuries in life having the most number of properties, cars and money while the poor struggles to put food in the table and a lot of them suffer from malnourishment and starvation. They live in the slums, has hygiene problems and does not have good education. Sad to say, most of them grow up to be social deviants because of the upbringing they have and the kind of community they interact with. Only a minimal percentage ( 2%) has evolve from being poor to rich (like Manny Pacquiao). But a maximum percentage (98%) is still on the lower class range even until death.

 

      When Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels were able to trace the causes behind poverty during that time, it was Industrial Revolution in 1850s in Europe, there was alienation of labour, because there was the evolvement of industries and factories, the workers were not paid justly with the hours of labour as what ergonomics and time-motion study were all about. A perfect example was the Hawthorne Study which paved way for the first classical theory on capitalism wherein it goes against the tenets of what socialism is all about. So the two philosophers and idealists suggested that there should be an emancipation of the proletariat meaning social change can only take place when a bloody revolution led by the proletariat will win over the ruling class or the elite. After the revolution, there will be a new society which is now termed as socialism or a socialist form of government where everything will be controlled by the state paving a way for the highest form of it which is Communism where no private property will exist  therefore there is now equality between the rich and the poor.

 

     Now for the Neo-Marxists theory led by Herbert Marcuse, the emancipation of the poor continues, with the uplifting of social justice and human rights in every poor person. It will only be done if the law is to be changed that is for a promotion of a civil and humane society and that is the reason why Critical Theory, Psychoanalysis and Existentialism are being incorporated in this philosophy. But Marxist or Neo-Marxist as it is, still remains a utopian dream.

 

      With my country as an example, no matter how many social revolutions will happen, there will be no emancipation of the poor happening because the ruling class or the elite is the law and will always be the law unless there is a better option like anarchy, then maybe there will be a change after all.

 

 

 

Endnotes:

1.    www.wikipedia.com

2.    http://www.iep.utm.edu/frankfur/

3.    www.wikipedia.com

4.    www.rappler.com/nation

 

Reviews

[barleygirl]

This is an excellent essay! I've been on this website for 2 years & I can't remember ever reading such a piece posted here! I love that you do not rant about anything, but instead, support your ideas with a ton of level-headed examples from history & the present times. I believe I've read you recently & guessed that you must be from the Philippines. In the USA, what most consider to be "poor" I believe would be "middle class" to many other countries as you've described poverty here. On facebook, I saw this posting & unfriended the person who posted it: "rich people are rich becuz they live like they're poor and poor people are poor becuz they live like they are rich." This inequity problem is growing worse all over the world. I love that you show us your point of view with such thorough attention to details! Please continue educating all of us on such things you are concerned about. (((HUGS))) Fondly, Margie

[sette]

actually margie had a hard time writing this essay, i was challenged by the contest and the fact that i want to show a different side to poverty not as a cause but as an effect using neo-marxism as the main philosophy. thanks for the appreciation and the wonderful review if you know what it really means to me, my country is not perfect so with the government, i am doing little things which may or may not mean a lot but still as compared to doing nothing. when i read about my country in international magazines and newspapers it seems they are just presenting the negative sides of the leader and his deeds, his foul mouth is one problem why he is banned socially but still one way or another he is just doing his job. thanks and many thanks again, this piece is an important one to me huggggsssss to you.

[Pete]

great piece. i'm thinking of Syria as i read. all of the points you outline going on there now. the ruling class/party has a moral obligation for the welfare of the people. bread before politics.

"For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required," - Luke 12:48

[sette]

yes syria and my country is facing the same obstacles politically and economically what makes it different is that syria has the machinery to start and end a war my country has nothing. thanks my friend for the appreciation and the nice review.