Stupid and Lazy: Thai Elite Discourses on Rural Poverty Amid the Clash of American Ideals and Chinese Culture, 1957–1971
Keywords:
stupid and lazy, discourse of poverty, rural, Thai elites, American ideology and Chinese cultureAbstract
This article examines that discourse of “stupidity” and “laziness” that were produced by the Thai elite to explain the problem of poverty of people in the rural country, which arose from a clash of American ideology and Chinese culture by relying on the framework of discourse as a basis for explanation. The study found that the stupidity discourse from the lack of education of rural people, which is the origin of the poverty problem, was produced by the Thai elite. On one side, it is a consequence of the influence of thought about development toward modernization from the United States in the Cold War era. On the other side, it is also a result of the attention to education of the Chinese people in Thailand, which brought about their business success and their families. At the same time, the stupidity resulting from a lack of education was also linked by the Thai elite to the issue of a rejection of modern production technology, as well as the infiltration of communists in rural areas. As for the laziness discourse of rural people, which is an undesirable habit for national development, it arose from the perception of the Thai elite toward the culture of diligence in pursuing a career of the Chinese people, which made them wealthy and rich, as much as accepting the success of America from the perseverance of the American people.
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