An Exploration of the Intimate Economies of Bangkok free essay sample

Ara Wilson’s detailing of her exploration of Bangkok in her ethnography â€Å"The Intimate Economies of Bangkok†, I was able to become an observer of the meshing of the native culture that already existed in Bangkok with the Western culture that has been spreading into the nation for many years. Typically the concept of cultural homogenization discusses an extremely skewed power dynamic in which one regional culture (typically one that exists in countries that have been classified as developing) is taken over and dissembled by the presence of the prevalent Western culture. From Wilson’s account, I find that economies in Bangkok are not so much experiencing a homogenization, but a merging of different cultures which keeps the elements of the native culture, but reworks the rules around the global market. At the same time there is this pervasive air of hegemony which dictates that the Western way is the better way. As per usual when dealing with hegemony, many of the Thai/Sino-Thai people that are affected by this encounter are not aware of its presence. This unawareness comes in the face of continued reiteration of Western ideals that subliminally commute the message that Western commodities are better. This may explain why Western standards of beauty/organization still find their way into the lives of the people featured throughout Wilson’s in-depth portrait of Bangkok. Wilson’s ethnography also illustrates how this meeting of global capitalism and local, cultural models works in the real world. Wilson fully illustrates global capitalism’s effect on Thailand by delving into the local culture in Bangkok and talking to the people who are living in this meshed world. Wilson’s ethnography is able to provide a more complex understanding of the coming together of global capitalism due to her exploration of the interplay of global capitalism and local practices. According to Richard Robbins in his work â€Å"Global Problems and the Culture of Capitalism†: The culture of capitalism is devoted to encouraging the production and sale of commodities. For capitalists, the culture encourages the accumulation of profit; for laborers, it encourages the accumulation of wages; and for consumers, it encourages the accumulation of goods. As is the case in many countries who are introduced to culture of capitalism, Thailand experienced a boon in the interest concerning Western goods and business models. Chapter 3 of Wilson’s ethnography discusses the influx of malls that started in the 1970s and was still in place during Wilson’s time in Bangkok. Before the introduction of the culture of capitalism, malls did not exist in Thailand. Instead the Thai/Sino-Thai utilized the traditional shop-house or market place which featured a more individual approach when it came to selling items as opposed to malls having stores selling various goods all condensed and placed into a particular area. While the notion of the mall existing in Thailand may appear to represent the homogenization of the Thai marketplace, elements of traditional Thai culture ended up weaving themselves into the structure that existed within the mall. In the cases of various malls that Wilson discussed in her third chapter, the owners of the malls were sure to include structures that would be family friendly (such as theme parks, miniature zoos, and ice skating rinks). However, many of these structures, in the words of Wilson, â€Å"represented high investments, but usually low returns. Despite the disparity between the investment in these structures and the income that they yielded, business owners continued to include them in the designs for malls that were being built because the, â€Å"companies rely on concepts of family that are not timeless and traditional but emerge through and in relation to commercial discourses and institutions. † This concept of producing structures that aren’t economically viable in order to appeal to a particular market typically wouldn’t be done in the traditional Western business model. If structures aren’t viable in this traditional model, then they are typically torn down and replaced with structures that would justify the money that was initially invested in them. However, the Thai version of this â€Å"Western† business model differs from this rule of profit. In order to produce malls that are more appealing to a given market, the business owners must discover and recognize the current cultural norms that are in existence in Thailand. While the malls and the family-based structures completely deviate from tradition in the purest sense of the word, traditions all over the world have changed and evolved with the changing times and the new level of cultural exposure that exists at this time. In the case of the malls, while the idea of a mall can be recognized as being Western at their base level, in many ways they embody the current desires of the middle-class Thai/Sino-Thai population. In this case it can be argued the malls ended up representing a fusion between Western and Thai ideals. Wilson’s ethnography provides a more complex understanding of the coming together of global capitalism and local, cultural models by virtue of the detail that she goes into when recounting the stories behind the rise of the corporations along with the honest discussions that she is willing to engage in with various Thai/Sino-Thai people. Perhaps due in large part to her gender (which made it more socially acceptable for her to have continued conversations with women without any significant reputational backlash for her female informants) combined with her American-ness ( which places her outside of the limitations imposed by typical gender-dictated rules regarding deportment and behavior in Thai/Sino-Thai culture) , Wilson is able to circumnavigate the gender stratified Thai society and gain information regarding the perspectives of both males and females who are navigating through modern-day Thailand. Most of the individuals who Wilson interviews are toeing the newly developed line between traditional and â€Å"modern† modes of behavior (whether these modes are referring to romantic relationships, dealings with familial obligations, navigating through the job market). One of the many examples of such navigation around or through norms in Thai culture would be the story of Sila, a Thai tom woman who was an Avon lady. As Wilson discovered while gathering information for her ethnography: Within many Sino-Thai and Thai families, earning income and fulfilling family duties can overrule the costs of inappropriate gender or sexual behaviors†¦what most determined status in Sila’s household was fiscal, rather than normative gender, achievement. As a tom and a female, Sila could typically expect to be discriminated against and afforded less privilege then her male relatives in her family, but due to the increased emphasis in Thai culture on the role that income now plays in the Thai/Sino-Thai family structure (probably due, in large part, to the introduction of the rules of Western capitalism), Sila was still able to have status in her family. It is highly unlikely that such status would have been possible before the introduction of the capitalistic economic structure since this structure also introduced novel methods of subsistence. These subsistence methods (i. e. jobs with multinational corporations such as Amway, Avon, and Shinawatra which remains intrinsically Thai while still resembling the Western business model at surface level) provides more opportunities for those who fall outside of the â€Å"norm. † Such stories enable the tale of the joining of capitalism and Thai culture to jump off the page and become real to whoever is reading the story. Wilson’s analysis of the impact of globalization in the economy of Thailand suggests that capitalism is reworking the threads of the traditional kinship economy of Thailand, but not truly extinguishing it. Wilson postulates: Capitalist markets interact with other economies—with folk, kin, and moral economies. These alternate economies are not timeless but have transformed alongside and informed modernization in Thailand. They provide a symbolic and practical counterpoint to capitalist exchange. In this respect, I am inclined to agree with the presentation of her argument. In the final chapter of her ethnography which was entitled, â€Å"The Avon Lady, the Amway Plan, and the Making of Thai Entrepreneurs,† I was able to directly view how American corporations marketed themselves to the Thai entrepreneur. I was also able to view how, in turn, the Thai entrepreneur marketed and sold these Western commodities to their friends and family within the scope of the traditional Thai kinship-based economy. Wilson’s presentation of the market structure in Thailand during the time following the initial introduction of capitalism has led me to conclude that globalization as it is presented in Thailand has not led to cultural homogenization (which typically dictates that one culture completely yield to another and abdicate the traditional ideals). Instead globalization has produced a hegemonic notion of Western products being more valuable and desirable. While I wouldn’t presume to state that Thailand’s situation applies to all (former and current) developing nations, this notion steeped in hegemony is one which has changed the nature of the kinship based economy by introducing products that were not previously commoditized into the Thai commodity knowledge base and creating a necessity for them. While the traditional mode of economy is strained under this increased outside pressure, it is yet to yield. Instead it continually evolves within the structure that is forever changing around it.