Thai Peasant Personality : The Patterning of Interpersonal Behavior in the Village of Bang Chan / Herbert P. Phillips.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Phillips, Herbert P., author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Peasants--Thailand.

Peasants.

Social surveys--Thailand.

Social surveys.

Bang Chan (Thailand).

Thailand--Rural conditions--Case studies.

Thailand.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (247 pages)

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

Berkeley : University of California Press, 1970.

Summary:

Readers interested in the psychology of non-Western peoples will find this volume provocative in both descriptive and theoretical detail. The first book-length study of Thai psychological life, Thai Peasant Personality describes the members of a peasant community whose dominant personality traits are aimed at the maintenance of their individuality, privacy, and sense of self-regard. In addition, it offers suggestions for handling many of the theoretical and technical problems crucial to cross-cultural personality research. Basing his research on two years of fieldwork in the Central Plain community of Bang Chan, Herbert P. Phillips offers a systematic analysis and comparison of two kinds of data: observations of the villagers' overt behavior in workaday social encounters, and their subjective responses to a special psychological test. Readers will find particular value in his discussion of the design, translation, and implementation of psychological research methods in non-Western cultures. Phillips analyzes the central role of affability and play in the villagers' daily contacts, their use of politeness as a "social cosmetic," and the implications of this cosmetic for the inner lives of the Thai. He examines the villagers' readiness to become involved with others and the links that tie them together over time. He demonstrates how the individualistic tendencies of the Thai intrude on the stability of interpersonal relationships and how all social interactionin Bang Chan is set within a framework of cosmic unpredictability, with human volition only one of several indeterminate and uncontrollable factors in life. This "loosely structured" system of social relationships is seen to have its roots in early childhood, with strong support from both Hinayana Buddhist doctrine and the sociologically simple and undifferentiated nature of Bang

Chan society. In presenting the psychological test results, the author examines the villagers' attitudes toward authority, dependency, and aggression; their anxieties and reactions to crises; and their dominant drives and wishes. These various issues are linked to the theoretical problem of conformity and to the basic human need for privacy and psychological isolation. This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press's mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1965.

Contents:

Cover

Title Page

Copyright

Dedication

Preface

Acknowledgments

Contents

Introduetlon

I. The Village of Bang Chan

Geographical and Cultural Setting

Family Life and Social Organization

Summary

II. Naturallstle Observation of Thai Personality

An Analysis of the Literature

Psychological Dimensions of Village Interaction

The Pleasures of Social Contact

Social Play

Politeness: A Social Cosmetic

The Dynamics of Loose Structure

III. Methodology in the Field

Field Research As a Social Event

Villagers' Attitudes Toward the Investigators

Investigators' Attitudes Toward the Villagers

Fashioning an SCT For Bang Chan

Construction qf the SCT

The Selection and Nature of the Sample

IV. The Sentenee Completion Teehnittue

How the SCT Works

The SCT and Cross-Cultural Research

The Selective Nature of the Responses

The Psychological Meaning of the Responses

A Working Conception of Modal Personality

V. Analysis: The SCJ''s Exploradon of Thai Personality

Attitudes Toward Authority

Predispositions to "Dependency

Orienting Toward Others

Anxiety and Reactions to Crises

Aggression: Causes and Reactions

Dominant Drives and Wishes

VI. Lessons From Thai Culture

Bibliography

Index.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

Description based on print version record.

Other Format:

Print version: Phillips, Herbert P. Thai Peasant Personality

ISBN:

9780520378681

OCLC:

1443086204