Abuel, Neill Antonio S.

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ASSESSMENT #2
Contemporary Condition

Someone who only reads newspapers and, at best, novels by modern writers looks to
me to be a very near-sighted person who despises spectacles. He is entirely reliant on the
biases and trends of his day since he never sees or hears anything different. And what a person
thinks on his or her own, without being influenced by the opinions and experiences of others is,
at best, puny and boring. With the Philippines being dubbed the "rising tiger of Southeast Asia,"
the country has a lot of potential, according to intellectuals in both the public and commercial
sectors. However, the country has yet to face a quandary in dealing with the battle between the
two hegemonic states, the United States and China, in their attempt of economic and political
leadership in Southeast Asia; leading to the difficult decisions that ASEAN countries have yet to
face in their pursuit of globalization. Having a room full of the Philippines' most powerful people
ensured that the night ended on a high note. As each person said their farewell, Professor
Rithmire and Research Associate Dawn expressed their thanks, an event like this shows that
the Philippines can be the tiger of the Southeast Asian Region.

A funhouse mirror of our ordinary waking existence can be found in the pieces of our
latent unconscious. Scavenging among these shards is like collecting undigested bits and
pieces of viscera, of incomplete sensations that, when combined, may create a completely new
recollection of what has been and what present life is. We entrust "the media" with the duty of
returning to us what we recognize as modern life. In this sense, all forms of media are
developing.  The 321st world countries maintain their supremacy via resource tying. Instead of
generating products and resources for themselves, developing nations are economically forced
by neoliberal policies and loan conditions. To preserve their economic standing, the core
nations require an unlimited supply of raw materials and inexpensive labor from these periphery
countries. Under development in the Global South is a direct outcome of colonialism, and it is
perpetuated by the belief that poor countries can be lifted out of poverty by enabling Western
nations to contribute wealth and technology. This widespread loop is what keeps the Philippines
in a state of underdevelopment and repression. Modern imperialism is the fundamental source
of the inequalities and oppressions that stifle growth and development (David 1980).
Dependency theory refers to the dynamic of dominance of a developing country by an advanced
capitalist country.

Immanuel Wallerstein established the World Systems Theory in large part, arguing that
in economics, there are three sorts of economic nations: the core, the semi-periphery, and the
periphery. The core nations are those that control and have a dominant economic connection
with the semi-periphery and periphery. The nations on the periphery are those that are being
controlled. Between these two extremes is the semi-periphery, which includes states that have
both dominant economic ties with the periphery and less dominant ones with the core.
 The world systems theory, created by sociologist Immanuel Wallerstein, is a perspective
on world history and social development that proposes a global economic system in which some
countries profit while others suffer. Just as we cannot comprehend an individual's conduct
without reference to their surroundings, experiences, and culture, we cannot understand a
nation's economic system without reference to the global system of which they are a part. Semi-
periphery nations are located in the economic center of the world. These nations exhibit traits of
both core and peripheral countries. These are either core regions that are declining or
peripheral regions that are striving to better their economic status. These nations are
occasionally exploited by core countries, but they may also be exploited by core countries. For
example, India is heavily on on core countries for financing, while having a burgeoning
technology industry and a booming consumer market. Periphery countries are at the other
extreme of the economic spectrum. These countries lack a strong central authority and may be
influenced by other countries. These nations sell raw resources to the core countries, rely on
finance from the core countries, and have undeveloped industries. These nations also have low-
skilled, labor-intensive production, or inexpensive labor. Third-world nations are another term for
peripheral countries.

The global economic system is constantly evolving. Economic statuses vary as countries
develop their businesses and money. The world system emerged in the 1500s with the advent
of the modern world, and power has shifted from Europe to the United Kingdom to the United
States of America. Geographic expansion, recessions and growth in various economic sectors,
a shift in power (affected by wars and military operations), and the move from pre-industrial to
higher-level industrial production all influenced this transformation. The globe is split into three
sorts of countries or territories, according to global systems theory: core, periphery, and semi-
periphery. Core nations are capitalist superpowers that exploit periphery countries for labor and
raw supplies. They have a formidable military force and are not reliant on any single state or
country. They serve the interests of the wealthy and powerful. They are concentrating on higher-
skilled, capital-intensive production. Core nations are powerful, and this dominance enables
them to pay lower rates for raw materials and exploit cheap labor, perpetuating the uneven
position of core and periphery countries. Although Wallerstein abandoned the difference
between nomothetic and idiographic techniques for understanding the world early on, world-
system research is primarily qualitative. According to Wallerstein, there is an objective universe
that can be quantified, but it is a product of history, regardless of how long it has existed.
However, his techniques are mostly linked with history and interpretative sociology.
Methodologically, his work falls halfway between Marx and Weber, both of whom were major
influences on his own work.

According to dependence theory, the current Philippine government sustains American

neocolonialism by repressing its people. This is advantageous to the advanced capitalist
country since it keeps Filipinos reliant on the United States' engagement in the country. Despite
this, and as an extension of the Philippine public's pro-Americanism, President Rodrigo Duterte
has a high popularity rating of 92 percent. This urban redevelopment is being led by a modern
world-class vision, which is being realized through private-public partnerships and market-
oriented developments (Ortega 2016). This necessitates the eviction of the informal
communities that house Manila's urban poor and a substantial proportion of the working class.
These informal communities, known as barangays in allusion to pre-colonial villages, have
experienced a fast decline in recent decades as the city accommodates foreign corporations in
its urban core.