Decoding the Elementary Forms of Social Exchange in Philippine Politics

Considering the interplay of cost and reward as the basis of human interaction, this research is designed to elaborate on the nature and structure of social exchanges in Philippine politics. It is assumed that the appropriation of rewards and benefits impacts the actor’s behavior or the behavior is modified (Baldwin and Baldwin, 1986 p. 6) based on the understanding of past and anticipated consequences. The cost and benefit analysis are used to render a thorough analysis of the social behavior between and among political actors in the Philippines. It is argued that the virtue of a theory depends on its capacity to generate assumptions about the social world. Thus, this research, attempts to test the five propositions perceived by Homans (1961) as the foundations of sociability. These propositions were validated to generate a scientific blueprint of the dynamics of human interaction as participants strive to achieve a balance in the ecology of power relations. The project seeks to elaborate on how social bonds are built, maintained, or broken in politics. Qualitative research techniques were employed to explore and explain the phenomenon using the narratives of elected officials, party officers, political advisers, and leaders of politically inclined organizations that supported politicians during the election season. Interestingly, this study theorizes about the basis of political interaction in the country by looking into the costs and benefits of politics, the occasions when actors get punished or rewarded, consequences when actors failed to value the reward accumulated from a political interaction, misappropriation of rewards and punishments, and what drives actors to choose one response over other alternative course of actions.