Ambivalent moralities of cooperation and corruption: Local explanations for (under)development on a Philippine island

Abstract

Concepts of development are inevitably loaded with value judgements concerning what constitutes 'proper' social and economic organisation. Focusing on the cultural politics of development on Siquijor, an island in the Central Visayas region of the Philippines, this paper explores these often tacit ideals. It considers one of the key idioms Siquijodnon use in explaining how development is brought about-cooperation-and some of its locally perceived opposites -'crab mentality', politicking and corruption-which contain powerful moral critiques of self and society. On Siquijor, local discourses of development have it that widespread poverty in the Philippines demonstrates a failing of Filipinos to live up to supposedly universal norms of ethical socio-economic conduct. However, I argue that attention to local norms of moral economy reveal the ambivalence underlying these notions of development, particularly in relation to the roles of individualism and reciprocity in socio-economic organisation.

Workplace incivility, work engagement, and turnover intentions: Multi-group analysis

“…Most of the preliminary researches on workplace incivility were conducted in the United States, and later developed in Australia (Birks et al, 2017;Loh & Loi, 2018;Warrner et al, 2016) and Canada (Smith et al, 2010). In Asia, there were several large-scale studies such as in China (Chen et al, 2018;Ma et al, 2018;Shi et al, 2018;Zhou et al, 2015), Korea (Hyun et al, 2018;Son & Jang, 2017); India (Sharma & Singh, 2016); Philippines (Bulloch, 2017), Singapore (Ho & Tan, 2018;Loh, 2015;Torres et al, 2017), and Malaysia (Arshad & Ismail, 2018;Dahri & Ab Hamid, 2018;Koon & Pun, 2018;Lim, 2016). Nearly all studies have found different forms of workplace incivility because there are differences in values or norms of politeness in different regions.…”

Exploring the Crabs in the Barrel Syndrome in Organizations

“…The “negative colonial ascription” (p. 287) of talangka or crab mentality was reinterpreted as “a call for community members to acknowledge indebtedness to others and to work for the good of the entire community and not just for themselves” (p. 287). Concerning ideas of progress in the Philippines, Bulloch (2017) suggests the crabs in a bucket or crab mentality has three overlapping motivations (p. 63):…”

The “Crabs in a Bucket” Mentality in Healthcare Personnel: A Phenomenological Study

“…This is not an extraordinary characteristic for us; because it is one of the common bad habits of many people we know well (Abrugar, 2014). The term has found particularly wide use among Filipinos, utilized to define people who drag down other people or aim to deceive them rather than letting them shine out or pursue their dreams (Soubhari and Kumar, 2014;Bulloch, 2017).…”

“…However, even if the person is aware of this, the mentality materializes as a behavioral feature (Soubhari and Kumar, 2014). According to Bulloch (2017), every crab should be left alone in their ascent to success. In this sense, the crab mentality is individual.…”

“…The motto of such persons is "if I cannot have it, neither shall you" (Abrugar, 2014). People who are afflicted with this mentality may act like a crab in the bucket, willing to drag down any other crab which takes up an attempt to climb out of it (Rajan, 2009;Bulloch, 2017). When someone envies another person, one of the natural reactions to such a situation is to drag down this person; however, this does not always happen.…”