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

402 REVIEWS
and career concern to that of challenging authority, probing abuses and
demanding redress of grievances on a nation-wide scale-although the
current degree of militancy may well subside. Yet despite this evidence
of change the history of Thai society in the last two or three decades
may provide another answer: the absorption of "new blood" by a
rejuvenated military-bureaucratic-technocratic elite, rather than the
reverse.
This prompts a related question.
Are not the values of superiorsubordinate
relations and the practice of reciprocal arrangements of
mutual (though unequal) benefit the "form", that is to say the style in
which things are done and people interact, rather than the substance,
which is basically a matter of power (institutionalised, but ultimately
resting on superior force) and possession (the preferential allocation of
goods and services)? Of course, the organisation of power and of
possesssion is not necessartly monolithic, and may even be differentiated,
but in general power and possession are either interlocking, at one end
of the scale, or else overlap, at the other, more "pluralistic", end. Indeed
A kin's discussion of the transition from formal patron-client relations
(according to the then stratification system) to informal relations,
reflecting new sources of wealth and new kinds of power, would appear
to support this contention. To take the argument further: there is no
need to suppose the imminent demise of deference, respect, protection
and assistance in contemporary Thailand, given that these traditionally
sanctioned attitudes and practices are functionally ejjective: that is, they
provide a recognised and acceptable way of legitimising authority
(provided the latter does ''protect" and "assist") and, at the same time,
of ensuring a certain distribution ("trickle down") of material benefits
from superiors to subordinates. Certainly the degree of benefit may be
contested--as shown by labour unions' and farmers' demands-but the
principle remains.
Such is the case today-in spite of the divesse and contrary trends
of student populism, communist-led insurgencies, and growing political
consciousness both at national and local levels. But it is the rural
situation which in the long term presents the most ominous challenge,