Military educational institutions and their role in the reproduction of inequality in the Philippines

Abstract

The class profile of the cadets joining the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) has changed dramatically in the past 50 years. Gone are the days when children of the elite and upper-classes were still attracted to military service. None other than the current Superintendent of the PMA, General Leopoldo Maligalig (AFP) admitted that the majority of the cadets joining the Academy are from low-middle to very low-income families. Despite their working-class “habitus,” however, the entry of these cadets into the military “field” initially through the PMA and later-on through various training institutions within the military organization enable them to acquire the lifestyle and perspectives associated with a distinct military “habitus.” As was very clearly illustrated by Bourdieu in his analysis of the French educational system, this chapter argues that the military educational system through its unique system of instruction, the bureaucratic system of administration, not to mention the highly regimented daily activities, rituals, and traditions all contribute to the reproduction of a hierarchical military institution in the Philippines, where the symbolic and cultural capital of a segment of PMAers translate into economic and political capital for themselves and their progeny. As history has proven since the Marcos years, the military has now a part of the ruling and dominant class. In a sense, PMA education within the military “field” in the Philippines has provided an avenue for upward social mobility.

This chapter is a preliminary step toward a more systematic study of how PMA education reinforces a military habitus (e.g., hierarchy, organization and networks, culture) that put those who share this habitus in the trajectory of the middle classes, if not the elite. It explores what has happened to selected members of the PMA 1991 graduating class since graduation and how, from their perspective, their education in the Academy has contributed to the social mobility (or immobility) of their families.

Citation

Advincula-Lopez, L.V. (2009), "Military educational institutions and their role in the reproduction of inequality in the Philippines", Caforio, G. (Ed.) Advances in Military Sociology: Essays in Honor of Charles C. Moskos (Contributions to Conflict Management, Peace Economics and Development, Vol. 12 Part 2), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 307-325. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1572-8323(2009)000012B018