Thai Peasant Personality : The Patterning of Interpersonal Behavior in the Village of Bang Chan

PHILLIPS, Herbert P.

University of California

Readers interested in the psychology of non-Western peoples will find this volume provocative in both descriptive and theoretical detail. The first book-length study of Thai psychological life, Thai Peasant Personality describes the members of a peasant community whose dominant personality traits are aimed at the maintenance of their individuality, privacy, and sense of self-regard. In addition, it offers suggestions for handling many of the theoretical and technical problems crucial to cross-cultural personality research. &nbsp; Basing his research on two years of fieldwork in the Central Plain community of Bang Chan, Herbert P. Phillips offers a systematic analysis and comparison of two kinds of data: observations of the villagers' overt behavior in workaday social encounters, and their subjective responses to a special psychological test. Readers will find particular value in his discussion of the design, translation, and implementation of psychological research methods in non-Western cultures. &nbsp; Phillips analyzes the central role of affability and play in the villagers' daily contacts, their use of politeness as a "social cosmetic," and the implications of this cosmetic for the inner lives of the Thai. He examines the villagers' readiness to become involved with others and the links that tie them together over time. &nbsp; He demonstrates how the individualistic tendencies of the Thai intrude on the stability of interpersonal relationships and how all social interactionin Bang Chan is set within a framework of cosmic unpredictability, with human volition only one of several indeterminate and uncontrollable factors in life. This "loosely structured" system of social relationships is seen to have its roots in early childhood, with strong support from both Hinayana Buddhist doctrine and the sociologically simple and undifferentiated nature of Bang Chan society. &nbsp; In presenting the psychological test results, the author examines the villagers' attitudes toward authority, dependency, and aggression; their anxieties and reactions to crises; and their dominant drives and wishes. These various issues are linked to the theoretical problem of conformity and to the basic human need for privacy and psychological isolation. <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press's mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1965.</div>

Thai Peasant Personality: The Patterning of Interpersonal Behavior in the Village of Bang Chan

Politics & Social Sciences

Social Sciences

University of California Press

Anthropology

A presentation of some of the major writings published in Thailand during the 1960s and 1970s, Modern Thai Literature is the first systematic attempt to use the contemporary literature of a complex, non-Western society to explore its cultural premises, indigenous meanings, and intellectual styles. Besides Phillips' ethnographic analysis, a large portion of the book is devoted to the writings themselves-essays, short stories, an excerpt from a novel, poems, a short play, and song lyrics.

Modern Thai Literature: With an Ethnographic Interpretation

Literature & Fiction

History & Criticism

Univ of Hawaii Pr

Catalog for an exhibition of Thai art traveling in the US featuring the work of 28 contemporary artists, with biographical information, and discussion of how each deals with the conflicting standards of their indigenous artistic traditions and those of the encroaching international culture. Annotation copyright Book News, Inc. Portland, Or.

The Integrative Art of Modern Thailand

Arts & Photography

Printed in Thailand/Distrib. by U. of Washington Press

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