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

REVIEWS 413
Likhit Dhiravegin, Political Attitudes of the Bureaucratic Elite and
Modernization in Thailand (Thai Watana Panich, Bangkok, 1973), vi+94.
The terms 'bureaucracy' and 'elite' understandably figure prominently
in much of the general social science literature on Thailand yet
comparatively little systematic research has been published other than in
the realm of administrative science. (Riggs, Siffin, et. al.)* U nfortunately
Dr. Likhit's book does little to remedy this lack despite his treatment
of a number of topics of interest to the specialist as well as to the more
general reader.
Moreover a number of basic methodological and
analytical issues raise doubts as to the real value of this type of research
project.
The work, originally a Ph.D. dissertation in political science,
commences with a heavily footnoted theoretical introduction on the
approach used followed by a cursory and sometimes inaccurate outline of
the development of the Thai bureaucracy from 1237 A.D. to 1971. In
Chapter 3 the author presents data on the background of his sample of
high ranking civil servants in terms of father's occupation, place of
origin, age distribution, education, and membership of associations. In
Chapter 4 the political attitudes of the sample members are assessed
* References cited:
., A. Brand 1968
H.D. Evers 1966
H. D. Evers & T.H.
Si!cock 196 7
Fred W. Riggs 1966
W.J. Siffin 1966
Education and Social Mobility in Thailand
Sociologische Gids 15, 6.
'The formation of a social class structure,
urbanization, bureaucratization and social
mobility in Thailand'. Ametican Sociological
Review 3 I, 4.
Elites and Selection in T.H. Silcock, ed.
Thailand :Social and Economic Studies in Development.
Canberra-Singapore. Donald
Moore Press.
Thailand : The Moderni:wtirm of a Bureaucra·
tic Pnlity. Honolulu, East-West Center Press.
The Thai Bureaucracy: lnstitutio11al Change
and Development. Honolulu, East-West Center
Press.