Towards a History of Thailand’s "Civilizing Process"

• In Event: Exploring the History of Manners in Thailand

Abstract

This paper proposes a schema that accounts for the historical development of Thai manners. The hypothesis is that there are four broad periods that are crucial to the formation of modern codes of appropriate behavior in Thailand: the “age of colonialism” in the second half of nineteenth century, when the Thai court was forced to adapt to the European standards of behaviour, in particular the ideal of the “English gentleman”, due to colonial pressures; the “age of revolution” dating from around the first decade of the twentieth century to the beginning of the Cold War, which witnessed a reaction against courtly protocols, the growing popularity of more egalitarian models of social interaction, and a flooding into Siam (as it was then known) of various models of Western manners, from notions of the “gentleman” to etiquette for the modern woman. This period culminated with the overthrow of the Absolute Monarchy in 1932 and the establishment of a constitutional nationalist regime; the “age of reaction” starting from the late 1950s, when royalist culture made a comeback under a military dictatorship and conservative, courtly ideals of behavior were elevated as the standard for Thai citizens to emulate; and the “age of development”, when rapid economic development, the spread of the mass media, the expansion of the private sector, and the influence of liberal ideas, challenged the conservative status quo.

Author

• Patrick Jory, University of Queensland