BINHI

As I went through my BINHI Activity in Ebai’s Cafe and Pastry, I was able to put myself in the shoes of people who work in the service area in society. Through conversing with the people who worked there, I was able to gather certain bits and pieces about them such as how they ended up in Ebai’s, their current situation in life, among other things.Through these conversations, I was able to get a glimpse of what type of people they were, their lifestyles, upbringing and the like. Essentially, I was able to observe their habitus in play. Based on my personal observations and the information gathered from my conversations with the workers at Ebai’s, certain things can be inferred regarding their habitus. Firstly, their current lifestyle. All of the waitresses and chefs, or at least those whom I was to talk to, lived rather frugally. An example of this was their collective choice of just relying on the free food given to them by ebai’s at the end of the day to avoid having to spend to buy food from somewhere else. They all mentioned how they came from a poor economic background, with some of them currently acting as breadwinners of their respective families. One thing that surprised me the most was the fact that even with the relatively low salary, they still choose to work for Ebai’s, not because they want to, but because they said they already felt content, “okay na to, basta may trabaho” they would often say. Another act that was consistent throughout my stay there was their choice of language, which was practically dominated by Filipino, they would joke around with me by trying to speak in English and this was later explained by one waitress, Ate Jenny, that this is because many of them were not able to study. Their collective habitus may be explained by their upbringing, past social location, and current social location. Their frugal lifestyle may be a manifestation of how they were raised by their parents, which is they continue to exhibit to this day. Secondly, their habitus is a reflection of their past, and present social location. Since they came from poor economic backgrounds and are still in the same field along with others who are working there, their habitus is continually perpetuating. Their dispositions are widely based off their social class, which is seen in their attitude towards their work, their contentment with how things are, even their choice of language can be a reflection of their poor economic and educational background. I can only assume that this is because of their lack of economic capital or financial resources that led to them having these preferences because more often that not, the lack of resources causes the constraint of certain actions and closes of opportunities/possibilities, which explains why they think they can no longer move up the ladder and their satisfaction with their job. This can also go back to child rearing of poor families, who are less likely to pursue and more likely to conform and be submissive. In comparison, my habitus can be considered opposite to them. I am well off when it comes to financial resources as I am able to buy wants rather than needs and not having to have to worry about where I’ll get the money to pay. I am not a believer in contentment, which was how my parents raised me to be. Many opportunities are open to me simply because I have more capital in different fields, for example, my education. My economic capital allowed me to enroll in a prestigious school like the Ateneo. And by being with people in the same field as me with similar habitus, I am continually perpetuating the social structures that formed my habitus to begin with, similar to how the workers in Ebai’s have similar economic backgrounds and by continually being with others who reflect those similar backgrounds, they have retained and perpetuated the circumstances that birthed them. My habitus is an embodiment of my social location, specifically in the economic sphere. Being raised in a middle to upper class family, I am more likely to be more assertive and provided more opportunities, linking back to my educational background and my child rearing. I was able to reflect on these and came to realize that in my opinion, the social structures around you is the biggest factor on the formation of your habitus and that it is difficult to change and evolve your habitus if the current social structures and people around you perpetuate habitus similar to yours. Without stepping into different fields, your habitus will somewhat become stagnant.