Everyday Politics in the Philippines: Class and Status Relations in a Central Luzon Village

(Paperback)

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This rich study examines the everyday politics of a rice farming village in central Luzon. Contending that the faction and patron-client relationships emphasized by conventional studies are but one part of Philippine political life, Kerkvliet offers a nuanced and fascinating portrait of political relationships among villagers. The world he portrays is complex and multifaceted: in a period of flux, relations of status and class shift as traditional roles give way to new social identities. The author demonstrates how disputes over land or controversies around wages lie at the heart of political life regardless of whether they manifest themselves in the usual political arenas.

Kerkvliet shows how everyday politics illuminates contending beliefs about what is just and who has rights to particular resources. Furthermore, relationships between people in different class and status positions are far less harmonious than they might appear on the surface. Embedded in this contentious interaction are divergent ideas about how resources should be distributedthe privileged emphasize values supported by capitalism, while the poor press rights to the satisfaction of basic needs and to human dignity.

A comprehensive and masterful classic, Everyday Politics in the Philippines revises our notions of political life in the developing world. Now available again with a new preface, postscript, and updated bibliography, this updated edition will be welcomed by a broad range of social scientists.

Reviews

A groundbreaking book in Philippine politics. * American Anthropologist *
A major study that deserves to be read by all those interested not only in the Philippines but in the rapidly changing world of the peasant. * Pacific Affairs *
An important contribution to the flourishing field of peasant studies. . . . Highly recommended. * Choice Reviews *
Addresses fundamental questions about how subordinated people understand the power relations in which they are enmeshed. . . . Kerkvliet brilliantly demonstrates that ideas about justice matter a great deal to those on the brink of survival. * American Political Science Review *

Author Bio

Benedict J. Tria Kerkvliet is head of the Department of Political and Social Change, Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies at The Australian National University.