Conclusion

Abstract

During more than 40 years of national development planning, Thai society went through rapid change. Those who were in charge of social engineering by the nation state pursued economic development as the main driving force to increase material and social wealth. They also expected that this force would also bring positive political and cultural transformation of their society that would reflect the idealism of modernity. At the time of the 1997 Asian Economic Crisis, the development had been achieved as far as it was measured by monetary value at the national level. Before the coup of September 2006, political revision was also achieved to a certain extent as intermittent military regimes were brought to book and democratic conversion was seen, not least, in advancement of women’s rights, especially in the areas of health and education. However, the cost of these achievements at the national level was high at the individual level, and those who paid the cost were concentrated in the lower strata of society: girls and young women of landless or small-scale farmers of the north and the northeast rural areas and of labouring families of towns.