Normalization Through Tabling

The Partnership for Pre-Professional Pilipinos(P4) is an organization whose mission is dedicated to the advancement of Pilipinos in law and business. P4 is made up of Partners, who are P4’s leaders, and Associates, who are the general members of P4. The Partners work year round to make P4’s mission a reality, while fostering the Associates to follow their example. P4 represents a microcosm of the greater Pil-community on campus, being one of the eight Pil-orgs. Each Pil-org has their own agendas as set out in their mission statements, which are achieved through the development of norms that each member of an organization is supposed to abide by. One of the norms, that is consistent across all Pil-orgs including P4, is that every member is required to table on Sproul for at least an hour every week. Foucault’s theory of normalization is illustrated through the simple task of tabling since members are regulated to conform to this expectation.

P4 Partners ensure that Associates are normalized into performing their duty of tabling, which Foucault would recognize as corrective training used to discipline individuals who deviate from norms. Norms are “explicitly laid down by a set of regulations” and when broken, corrective punishment ensues(Foucault,p.179). At the beginning of every semester, the Partners explain the public relations and marketing benefits of tabling to Associates and also the tabling etiquette that everyone should follow. For instance, members must sign-in on a sheet during their tabling hours to show that they were present. When an Associate fails to follow any of the tabling expectations, one of the Partners personally reprimands the deviant to make the Associate “feel the offence he/she has committed(Foucault,p.178).” By confronting Associates, their behavior is corrected and norms are still upheld. Associates are not disciplined solely through punishment, but also through rewards.

Partners use different motivation tools and rewards that depict Foucault’s belief in the importance of having both positive and negative sanctions to foster normalization, while also creating hierarchy. Foucault believes in the system of “gratification-punishment,” focusing particularly on using incentives to encourage individuals to follow the norms(Foucault,p.180). Partners convince Associates of the importance of tabling for their own professional development in networking and marketing. Tabling is quantified in a kind of “punitive balance sheet” which ranks and “marks the gaps” between individuals, showing which individuals are more disciplined(Foucualt,pp.180-181). Partners have a tendency to show favoritism towards Associates who table more than the standard two hours per week, and who dedicate much more time and energy than other Associates.

Foucault’s theory of normalization does not account for the motivating factors behind each individual that makes them obedient to power. Through the example of tabling with P4, there is not a significant reason that would make individuals want to table. The real reason why Associates table, is for their own personal benefit. All Associates hope to become Partners, which is a leadership position they could put on their resumes. By tabling and following other P4 norms, they gain the favor of current Partners which works in their favor when next years’ Partners are chosen.

Normalization is important because it helps regulate society, just as normalization is used to manage the performance of members in an organization, like P4.

ISANG BAGSAK!

“Isang bagsak!” cried a large circle of Pilipinos and Pilipino Americans. The students of the Pilipino community (Pil-community) at UC Berkeley often conclude their events with a unity clap ending in the Tagalog exclamation “Isang bagsak!” The translation means, “One down, one fall!” representing the solidarity of the group as they clap in unison. When one falls, the whole group falls. Similarly the group will rise together as well. The Pil-community possesses a strong solidarity stemming from not only the shared Pilipino identities of all eight Pilipino organizations (Pil-orgs) but also the complementary differences brought by each Pil-org to the Pil-community. The Pil-community represents Durkheim’s theory of solidarity comprising of both the mechanical and organic solidarity needed to govern the interests of this cultural and ethnic institution.

The Pil-community possesses Durkeheim’s idea of solidarity which is an unquestionable moral good that forms the collective consciousness of a healthy society(p.6). There are two types of solidarity that must coexist: mechanical and organic. Mechanical solidarity is when entities unite over a common interest, so they move together as one because of their similarities(p.22). The Pil-community believes that they are all treated the same way by the rest of society because of their ethnicity, so Pilipinos unite so that they are strong together instead of weak alone. In mechanical solidarity, “individual consciousness is simply a dependency of the collective type(p.84),” indicating that collective consciousness is greater than individual consciousness. For instance, every spring the Pil-community collectively campaigns and successfully elects a Pilipino Senator to ensure Pilipino representation in the ASUC. With each Pilipino voting for a communally chosen senator, individuals are not deciding his/her own vote; they are allowing the Pil-community to decide. Members of the Pil-community share a Pilipino identity but they each have their own different interests which the Pil-community accounts for as well.

The Pil-community is comprised of eight pil-orgs embodying Durkheim’s second form of solidarity: organic solidarity. Organic solidarity comes from the division of labor, where “each organ has its own special characteristics (p.85)” working dependent upon each other. Each pil-org represents a different function specializing in the many interests of the Pil-community. The eight functions of each organization are: 1)politics/culture, 2)business/law, 3)science/engineer, 4)health, 5)arts, 6)womyn’s(women’s) rights, 7)religion/faith, and 8)academics/education. With organic solidarity, individual consciousness is greater than collective consciousness(p.85). Every pil-org serves a purpose, stripping no one of his/her individuality, instead they complement each other strengthening the Pil-community with the broad range of skills that every individual possesses. Durkheim’s theory of solidarity explains much of the strength of the Pil-community but Durkheim cannot account for some members of the Pil-community.

Not everyone in the Pil-community is Pilipino, yet they still feel a strong affinity with the Pil-community. Durkheim’s theory of solidarity cannot explain why there are so many non-Pilipinos in the Pil-community because he does not recognize that similarities transcend shared identities. Everyone in the Pil-community advocates for the rights of Pilipinos even though they may not ethnically identify with them.

The Pil-community combines mechanical and organic solidarity, producing a cultural institution that is united by their similarities and differences. Everyone in the Pil-community often shares the Pilipino identity but everyone shares the same beliefs. Every pil-org serves different functions for the Pil-community making it more efficient and stronger. The solidarity emanating throughout the Pil-community strengthens not just the institution itself but every individual as well. “Isang Bagsak! One down, One fall!”

Dictatorship of the Proletarian Pilipinos

The institution I chose is the student Pilipino community (Pil-community) at the University of California, Berkeley. The Pil-community at Berkeley is a microcosm of Pilipino students who are unified under their shared culture and ethnicity. I believe the Pil-community at Cal would fall under a cultural and political category given that the Pil-community is first and foremost Pilipino and that in itself stands as a political statement. I chose this institution because I find myself caught in this complicated web of social rules that I am expected to follow, being one of the Pil-community leaders as a board member of one of the Pilipino organizations (Pil-org). One major social rule that the Pil-community follows is that if you are Pilipino you are automatically part of the Pil-community, and there is an unspoken expectation that since you are Pilipino you must be "active" in the community; meaning, you should be associating closely with the rest of the Pil-community or you may be considered an outcast.

The Pil-community is comprised of eight Pilipino student organizations each fulfilling a different niche, which enhances the little world that these Pilipino students create for themselves on the Cal campus. Marx would note how each organization "specializes" in different things but he would be pleased to know that the more dominant Pil-orgs are the politically active Pil-orgs, which fight for the injustices of Pilipinos and Pilipino-Americans. There are three Pil-orgs that may be seen as the "bourgeois" organizations since three of them are the pre-professional organizations (pre-pros); one specializing in law and business, another with a healthcare focus, and lastly one with an engineering/science concentration. All of the pre-pros foster career preparation into these capitalist positions. Sometimes these bourgeois-like organizations are seen in a negative light since members from these organizations are seen as being self-interested in their careers instead of being politically active for the Pil-community. Marx would also detect a certain amount of exploitation being made by some of the larger Pil-orgs over the smaller ones since they possess the resources that the smaller ones lack.