The Journal of the Siam Society Vol. LXIV, Part 1-2, 1976 - Khamkoo

222 Amara Pongsapich
Another possible occupational move is between semi-skilled and
skilled industries.
Many of these workers who transfer in this way are
of Chinese descent whose grandparents were farmers of one kind or
another. The shift to semi-skilled and skilled industries started in
generation + 1. A small percentage of the informants report that their
fathers were craftsmen and their mothers were dress-makers (crafts}.
None of the informants reported any of their grandparents working in
either of these industries. An occupational change from unskilled farm
labor to semi-skilled or skilled labor shows a shift in occupational scale.
These people have been trained in their present occupation and are quite
satisfied with their jobs.
and/or training.
Most of them do not wish for more education
The third type of occupational shift evident from our study is the
shift of female workers into the prestigious category. Twenty-four
percent of the female informants occupy this occupational stratum.
However, only 10.1% of all the informants reported that their fathers
were prestigious workers and only 1.7% of the informants reported that
their mothers were prestigious workers.
Industrialization and Social Mobility
Social mobility and migration
People who would have belonged to the rural lower class if
occupational choice were not available may migrate to town where
occupational opportunities are diverse and not limited to agricultural
labor. Textor ( 1961) and Meinkoth (1962) have studied migrants who
moved to Bangkok from the Northeast. From this study it can be seen
that young migrants from Northeast Thailand tend to be less educated
and belong to the unskilled group. Young people from Central Thailand
tend to be better educated and many of them belong to the white collar
group, though some migrants belong to the unskilled group. Many of
the semi-skilledjskilled workers have migrated from other districts in
Chonburi Province. Many of tbem are. young people of Chinese descent,
who moved into town to be trained in skilled occupations. Most of
them preferred to be apprentices instead of working as unskilled .labor