The Thai Middle Class and the Dynamics and Power of Conservative Ideology in Thai Society and Politics

The Thai middle class have long been dominated by and benefited from a conservative ideology. Middle-class intellectuals have not only reproduced the ideology rooted in the meaning of the “Thai nation” and “Thainess” that was established in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries but have changed its meaning and created new conceptions of it. Various artistic and cultural practices have resulted in conservative ideology having an impact on the mental and emotional makeup of the middle class in general. Although the new way of life introduced by globalization and capitalization has created new ideas, value systems, and emotions that are more liberal and democratic, it has not completely replaced the conservative ideology among the middle class. The middle class therefore manifest many ideological contradictions.