Effects of Tradition on Modern Thai society

 All cultures, were traditionally, established according to social characteristics indigenous to their locations. From this viewpoint, this writer insists that societies existed before culture. Culture was acquired over time and did not grow from the ground like the tree. Thai cultural and social traditions, mostly, are admirable. Even the foreign tourist enjoys them. However, Thai tradition has certain limitations which often cannot withstand the rapid change in society. It may finally bewilder their adherents, isolate people from society and produce or sustain misconceptions about the world generally. Adherents to tradition are usually narrow-minded because they depend upon only the ideas they have been taught by tradition. This may be that they are lazy and would rather accept the information given them instead of “investigating for the truth” as taught by the Khamma whenever they encounter untraditional or specially difficult problem, they try to solve them through traditional means and, failing in this, they become bewildered. Society needs to be flexible and curious toward new concepts in order to accept them and utilize them. People who stubbornly cling to traditions while their societies change and adapt to new circumstances will finally be ignored by more modern, progressive numbers of society and feel isolated. They may feel bitter because they cannot, or will not change themselves to keep abreast of the times. Societies are perceived by all members thereof as "cold, unemotional and survival-conscious" synonymous of Nature itself. Unwillingness to adapt to change is both unnatural and self-destructive. People who conduct their lives in society must certainly weigh and balance all events before changing. In order to keep what is good and discard what is useless or improper; yet, they must certain change to remain members in that society. As before, people who tend to accept tradition instead of fact-finding may finally form wrong ideas about their environment. Traditional thinking makes them stubbornly follow what was reasonable and correct for the time when those traditions were created. However, they have followed them so long that they forgot that traditions started as relatively new ideas and became accepted. They continue to follow these traditions rather than to create new ones, more appropriate for the time. Their ideas become outdated because they are too lazy or stubborn to update them with new information and these concepts conflict with what is true at the time. It finally makes them feel wrongly about their world. Not all traditions are useless, and those which are good should be maintained. However, people nowadays too easily discard good traditions in a blind follow-the-leader trend of “ in with the new, out with the old.” This is practiced without consideration of effect and leads to coldness in society. Yet, blindly following a useless tradition is equally dangerous. The above topic was prepared, simply, to warn against either extreme-total discard of tradition, or total acceptance including some which may be harmful to one person or to everyone as a whole.

Effects of Unemployment on Thai society

The agricultural age saw a people at peace with themselves. There were no factories, no offices, on “ wanted” ads. in the newspapers and no drought pushing them into the cities as we have today. After a few misguided individuals bought or sold their land for industry, they sought work in cities or workers for their factories. As more people "flooded" in, the established group felt more anxious. Furthermore people still
“flood” into Bangkok. Modem Thai city 1ife is very nervous and insecure and unemployment can lead to dangerous consequences. Thais may resent or hate their government because they feel employment is the government's responsibility; they may fight each other in gangs to get what they want. They may also try desperately to leave the country.

Like many societies, Thai people often lay the responsibility upon their government to initiate anything. Employment is therefore considered to be a government issue rather than private sector. When the government fails to stem urban migration and unemployment, the people blame it for not protecting their interests. They may resort to politically-oriented bombing as well as mass protests and destruction to private and government property. The government may Finally resign in shame and dismay over its failure, or may flee from the disaster.

Assuming that a sector of the population lacks the initiative or resources to bomb the government, their growing frustration and resentment may inevitably induce them to form vicious gangs and fight each other for whatever they need and want. They will mass together in large numbers and wage street wars as they did in early Chicago. They may possess war weapons or whatever tools they can find to inflict pain and cause damage. Many people may finally die or be seriously wounded from the fighting.

It is equally possible to predict that the less aggressive among Thai society may try to leave the country in whichever way possible. If they are clever enough, they may try to forge passports to leave Thailand for a foreign country. Others may try to apply for positions overseas and in neighbouring countries, doing whatever is possible. The result could be mass evacuation and emigration and deserted cities.

Given that foreigners may apply here as teachers, etc. because of similar difficulties abroad, it is fairly easy to predict that imagination at least will be a major result of unemployment in Thailand. Gangs have existed for a long time and could escalate into frighteningly dangerous proportions. If urban migration continues, it will induce disaster to extents which no one wants to imagine. A state of anarchy could develop. Anything can happen, but we all hope that “ worse will not come to worst."

Men's and women's Rights in Thai society

By tradition in a male-oriented society like Thailand, men have had more rights or rather privileges than women in many respects. From then until the present, we find more men holding major offices than women such as executive officers of business and local administration. Men also have more power in family matters than women. Whereas the highest executive offices in large firms are mostly men' smaller firms may be managed by women.

More men than women Thai society hold major offices. The number of men in Parliament still outnumber women MP' s even in this more liberated age. Comparing the total male MP roster with women during the election, more especially the pro- military parties which are obviously more traditionalist had two or three male candidates to one female and she was there most likely to follow the trend. Furthermore, there are still more male district officers and police officers than there
are women. Women are traffic officers in the police department and deputy district officers in local government. However, the number of women managers to men in private business is impressive. People attribute this the intelligence of women compared to men.

The similar reason, women have less to say in family matters than their husbands. Men are still free to roam and wander while their wives must bear the responsibility and the burden for them. Men decide whether and what to sell among property ¡ncluding valuables and even children while their wives may watch helplessly. A man may gamble away his family's savings or spend it in election campaigns by dumping it in the provinces but his wife may not. In this regard, a good wife must support her husband even when saying a tearful farewell to grown children Who are sold to brothels in Bangkok or major cities.

As spoken about above, more women are managers in private business than men. They assume more important office posts while their husbands and male kin assume labour posts. Perhaps this is due to the fact that Thai men prefer labour or regard Women as incapable of hand labour, or that they are not capable of important office work like accounting and personnel management. It is a known fact that Thai women outsmart their mate counterparts so long as women receive a good education, and a higher education than men.

Whereas administration of government and large businesses remains primarily a man' s occupation, as well as being the "head of the family." Women are showing their ability an administrators in other areas. Men still outnumber women in Parliament or local government, as with male Mps in female or male district officers to female deputies. However, women are often managers of small firms in any capacity. Men take the handwork and let women handle the customers or paperwork for the firm.