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This article focuses on the power relations of the powerful and the powerless.

Basically, Scott is saying that both groups ( the powerful and the powerless ) act in
one way when they are together and in another way when they are by themselves.
To put it simply, the powerless acts in one way when in the presence of the powerful
- say, by conforming to what the powerful tells the former to do and in another way
in the absence of the powerful. Scott refers to the former behavior as the public
transcript and to the latter as the hidden transcript ".

The hidden transcript may be known by the powerful to exist but, nevertheless, still
denied access to it by the powerless. On the other hand, a public transcript can be
easily accessed by the powerful precisely because it is the manner by which the
oppressed acts in public. The hidden transcript is, in simpler terms, the manner by
which the oppressed people think as opposed to what they actually do.

In this work, Scott also undermines the concept of false consciousness which states
that the elite ( the powerful ) generates consent and passivity by the systematic
misrepresentation of dominant social relations in the consciousness of the
subordinate class. Scott asseverates that compliance by the powerless does not
translate to consent; that there is merely public deference motivated by fear of
retaliation. In order to ascertain whether there is consent and passivity, it is
important that one looks into the hidden transcript and not the public transcript.

A classic example of this is when the former President Ferdinand Marcos declared
martial law in the Philippines. The general public acts with deference - that is, they
abide or comply with the whims of the former president - in public for fear that they
might earn his ire which could result to their unexplained disappearance or death.
This compliance by the public cannot, however, be translated to mean that the
general public consented to the dominance exerted by the former President. In
ascertaining whether consent was present, we have to look into the individual
thoughts of the oppressed or what Scott calls as the hidden transcript. We then
determine whether the compliance is one with consent or one motivated purely by
fear of retaliation. If the answer is the former, then consent is present- otherwise,
there is merely compliance.

Scott also discussed that resistance is formed or created when the hidden transcript
becomes part of the public transcript. Taking the above example, the former
President Ferdinand Marcos was ousted from his office when the number of
resistance continued to surge up leading to what we now call as the People Power.
Looking at it closely, at first, the resistance was only in the minds of the oppressed
( hidden transcript ) because at that point of time they still could not muster the
courage to publicly oppose the dictator. Years after the declaration of Martial Law,
we can fairly say that the oppressed citizens started forming their individual take of
the oppression or dominance exerted because of the overtness of the extreme
inequality in terms of power but the same remained only in their respective minds.
When some of the oppressed citizens started voicing out what they initially confined
within themselves, they learned that most of the citizens belonging in their group
felt the same way as them. One thing lead to another and caused the, initially,
small resistance to surge up in terms of number which then resulted to the ousting
of the dictator.

Relating Scotts work to another article, our written history is generally considered
as public transcript. This is a matter of common sense as history itself depicts what
the people actually did or what actually transpired as opposed to what they actually
thought. It is an impossibility for a historian or a mere observer to interpret the
abstract thoughts or sentiments of the people. Another point which makes history a
public transcript stems from the fact that the elites usually controlled the manner
by which history was written. An example of this is the Philippine history during the
Spanish colonization. Most of the written accounts during this time were favorable
to the Spaniards ( Oppressors ) despite of the known abuses or atrocities
committed to the populace. The reason is quite simple, they controlled whatever
would be written down as history and naturally, they would want to make
themselves look good. That being said, It is possible that written history be written
from the point of view of the oppressed and may therefore be considered as a
hidden transcript.

As a conclusion, there always exists a certain form of socio-cultural or political

classes in a given society. Some people will always sit at the top of the hierarchy
and the rest below them. This social construct is, whether we agree to it or not, a
fact of life. One cannot simply deny its existence, when it is staring all of us in the
face. In other words, socio-cultural or political classes are inevitable in every society
out there; they are indispensable in the maintenance of order and peace. While
socio-cultural or political classes have advantages - one of which is the maintenance
of peace and order such a concept is nevertheless still prone to abuses by the
elites, the powerful or the dominant. This article sheds a light on the relationship of
the dominant and the subordinate and offers ideas on how such a relationship can
exist in mutually desirable or beneficial manner.