This volume examines contemporary Thailand. It captures aspects of Thai society that have changed dramatically over the past years and that have turned Thailand into a society that is different from what most people outside the country know and expect. The social transition of Thailand has been marked by economic growth, population restructuring, social and cultural development, political movements, and many reforms including the national health care system. The book covers the social, cultural, and economic changes as well as political situations. It discusses both historical contexts and emerging issues. It includes chapters on social and public health concerns, and on ethnicity, gender, sexuality and social class. Most chapters use information from empirical-based and historical research. They describe real life experiences of the contributors and Thai people who participated in the research.

INTRODUCTION Starting from the 1950s, Thailand had experienced unprecedented economic boom in the nation’s history until the 1980s. The average annual growth in the 1960s was 8%, 7%in the 1970s, and 4-6% in the beginning of the 1980s [1]. Thai people, especially those who are in the nation’s capital, Bangkok, enjoyed the economic boom and started to have “modernized” lifestyle. However, behind the scene of the national economic success, rural villages were forced to face predicament because of the urbancentered industrial economy based on neo-liberal economic beliefs. In light of the historical context of the relationship between Thai community and the high-powered state authority, examining one specific community which is struggling to find a way of development in the globalized world today will be of great help to understand the contemporary notion of rural development in Thailand. In this paper, focus is centered on a village called Mae Kampong, which has been under great influence of the Royal project and the Government in terms of development, and yet has a great deal of potential for achieving a selfreliant way of community governance because of its traits as a traditional agrarian rural community. This paper aims to examine the socio-cultural changes that occurred in the village over the course of the contemporary development and ultimately the outlook of community self-sufficiency and selfreliance, deploying a realistic and empirical approach to look at the Thailand’s contemporary phenomena happening in the rural communities. Mae Kampong is the third village of seven villages in Huai Kaew sub-district, Mae On district, Chiang Mai province, Northern Thailand, known as a major producer of Northern Thai traditional tea product called Mieng. It is located east of Chiang Mai province, about 50 kilometers from the city, average 1,300 meters above the sea level. It has been about 100 years since the first generation of this village that had been searching for suitable places for tea cultivation came from nearby areas to settle in the location and started to form the community. Now, the village has 134 households and 374 people in total. The village consists of six clusters, Pang Nok, Pang Klang, Pang Khon, Pang Ton, Pan Nai No.1, and Pang Nai No.2.

This book features research papers that examine a host of contemporary issues in Thailand. Coverage includes culture, gender violence, tourism, human trafficking, environmental and ecological issues, sustainability and the sufficiency economy, the (mis)handling of elephants, and more. It features a sociological and anthropological perspective with a dash of communication for sustainable social change. The papers investigate the various phases of communication technology and its impact on cultural change in the country. They explore the use of social networks and privacy issues as well as ethical journalism in the contexts of Thai Buddhism, Thai culture, and other enabling environmental factors. The contributors focus on documentary research of both quantitative and qualitative data on Thai social change as a consequence of globalization and digital technology. They first provide a general overview of social media and communication in the country. Next, the authors go on to explore the specifics of digital communication. This includes a look at its impact on the various ways of Thai communication given politico-economic and religious influences.

In globalizing Asia, sexual mores and gender roles are in constant flux. How have economic shifts and social changes altered and reconfigured the cultural meanings of gender and sexuality in the region? How have the changing political economy and social milieu influenced and shaped the inner workings and micro-politics of family structure, gender relationships, intimate romance, transactional sex, and sexual behaviors? This volume offers up-to-date, grounded, critical analysis of the complex intersections of gender, sexuality, and political economy across a diverse array of Asian societies: China, Japan, Cambodia, Vietnam, India, Pakistan, Hong Kong, Thailand, and Taiwan. Based on intense ethnographic fieldwork, the chapters disentangle the ways in which gendered and sexual experiences are impinged upon by state policies, economic realities, cultural ideologies, and social hierarchies. Whether highlighting intimate relationships between elite businessmen and their mistresses in China; nightclub performances by Thai men in Bangkok; single women’s views of romance, motherhood, and marriage in Hong Kong, Shanghai, and Tokyo; or male same-sex relationships in Pakistan—each chapter centers around the stories of the gendered subjects themselves and how they are shaped by outside forces. Taken together they provide a provocative entrée into the cultural politics of gender and sexuality in Asia. By foregrounding cross-cultural ethnographic research, this volume sheds light on how configurations of gender and sexuality are constituted, negotiated, contested, transformed, and at times, perpetuated and reproduced in private, intimate experiences. It will be of particular interest to students and scholars in anthropology, sociology, political science, and women’s and LGBTQ studies.

This timely volume brings together various issues in Muslim consumer cultures and provides a comprehensive account of Muslim tourism and tourist behaviour. Islam is a major international religion and Muslims are a majority of the population in many countries in Asia, the Middle East and North Africa. The growth of a substantial middle class, the development of Islamic consumer cultures, rising Muslim market consumption in non-Muslim majority destinations and the growing significance of intra-Muslim traffic and rising outbound tourism expenditure in emerging Muslim markets have all contributed to substantial interest in Muslim tourism. However, travel by Muslims is about far more than the Hajj and Umrah, as important as they are as acts of devotion. Instead, although often portrayed in the West as a monolithic religion, Muslim travel and leisure behaviour is very diverse, with different traditions and cultures leading to a range of expressions of tourism-related consumption culture and practices. Drawing on a range of empirical studies undertaken in different social and economic contexts and countries, this book provides a well-balanced portrayal of the Muslim tourism experience and practices. This book makes a substantial contribution to an improved understanding of Muslim travel culture and will be required reading for anyone interested in this fast-growing market.

This book explores the issue of poverty reduction within mainland Southeast Asia with a specific focus on the impact of the private sector and tourism. Covering Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam, and Yunnan, the book discusses how success in poverty reduction has come about largely through innovation in the private sector, foreign investment and the move toward more market based economic policies as opposed to foreign aid, or interventions by international development programs, to reduce poverty in the region.