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

REVIEWS
397
G. William Skinner and A. Thomas Kirsch, editors, Change and Persistence
in Thai Society; Essays in Honor of Lauriston Sharp (Cornell
University Press, Ithaca and London, 1975) pp. 386.
It is difficult to know how to handle such a collection of essays,
united for the most part only by their reference to Thai society. So 1
shall concentrate on the two essays that interest me most-those by Akin
Rabibbadana and Steven Piker: then try to fit in some comments on the
nine other essays in relation to the major theme arising from Akin's and
Piker's articles, that is, the impact of economic change on traditional
values and social arrangements; and finally consider their relevance to
the current situation.
Akin's outstanding essay on "Clientship and Class Structure in
the Early Bangkok Period', starts with the historic need of the state to
use or control manpower for cultivation and war, the latter in particular
requiring the rapid mobilisation of the peasantry under members of the
nobility. Because of the scarcity of manpower in relation to abundant
land, the kingdom was perceived, not in terms of territorial sovereignty
as it developed in the West, but of a people owing allegiance to the king:
the boundaries of the state were left vague, for it was the people who
mattered. An elaborate ranking system involved the entire population,
but the basic distinction was between the phrai, the common people and
thus overwhelmmgly the peasantry, and the nai, masters or nobility.
The fundamental dichotomy between "high" and ''low" is expressed in
norms of superior-subordinate relations. These norms are realised in
the appropriate behaviour of a client towards his patron: to show
respect, comply with his wishes, fear to do anything (krengchai} that
would displease. The patron in turn, as a morally superior person-his
possession of merit is in practise recognised through his ability to
exercise power-is expected to behave in a manner which gains the
respect of his inferiors; this usually means being calm, kind, generous
and protective.
Now this formal patron-client relationship, expressed in the
reciprocal behaviour of superior and subordinate according to the
established system of stratification, increasingly became eroded by