DEMOCRATIC POLITICAL SYSTEM COMPREHENSION ACCORDING TO BUDDHISM OF PEOPLE AT BAN LAENG SUB-DISTRICT, MUANG DISTRICT, RAYONG PROVINCE

Abstract

Objectives of this research paper were: 1. To study the democratic political system knowledge and understanding level of people 2. To compare democratic political system knowledge and understanding according to personal factors, and 3. To study problems and to make suggestions to enhance democratic political system knowledge and understanding, conducted by the mixed research methods.  The quantitative research data were collected from 380 samples with questionnaires from the populations of Ban Laeng Sub-District, and analyzed by frequency, percentage, mean and standard deviation. The qualitative research data were collected by in-depth interviewing 9 key informants and with a structured in-depth interview script. Data were analyzed using descriptive interpretation.

The results of the research were found that: 1. People at Ban Laeng Su-District, Mueang District, Rayong Province had a high level of democratic political system knowledge and understanding at the average of  =4.18.  The sovereignty side had the highest average. Followed by fraternity, equality, and rights and freedoms, respectively. 2. People with different levels of education, occupation, and income had political understanding with a statistically significant level at 0.05. There was no statistically significant difference in political knowledge and understanding in democracy.  People's political cognition was not affected by their gender or age. Therefore, the hypothesis that gender or age affected political cognition was not accepted. 3. Problems encountered included a lack of interest in political activities and a lack of understanding of political rights and duties. The solution was to encourage people to study and understand their rights and freedoms. and participate more in the political process according to Panna, wisdom 3.