SUFFiciENcy EcONOMy ANd GRASSROOtS DEvElOPMENt
SUFFiciENcy EcONOMy ANd GRASSROOtS DEvElOPMENt
SUFFiciENcy EcONOMy ANd GRASSROOtS DEvElOPMENt
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The Meaning of Sufficiency Economy <br />
International Conference<br />
193<br />
The Thai Social Capital of the People in <br />
Inpaeng Network, Sakonnakhon Thailand<br />
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This article is a part of a Thesis ‘The Thai social capital as a social determinant of oral health’<br />
submitted as a requirement for the degree of PhD in Dentistry Sutee Suksudaj, School of Dentistry,<br />
The University of Adelaide, Australia, May 2010<br />
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Introduction<br />
Social capital as a concept for community development<br />
Social capital is a social concept mentioned by several classic theorists. This<br />
concept traces back to the 19th century of Marx’s analysis of social class and<br />
Durkheim’s study of anomie (Portes 1998). Pierre Bourdieu, James Coleman and<br />
Robert Putnam, could be considered the most influential contemporary scholars in<br />
the field of social capital. Robert Putnam’s acclaimed book “Bowling alone: the<br />
collapse and revival of American community”, provoked the general public and<br />
politicians awareness of this issue(Putnam 2000). The notion of social capital was<br />
mentioned several times in UK Prime Minister Tony Blair’s speeches from the years<br />
2000 to 2002(Roberts and Devine 2003). It has also been introduced as a significant<br />
social development strategy by the World Bank(Woolcock and Narayan 2000). <br />
Social capital sometimes has been depicted as a magic remedy to cure several<br />
social problems. It was studied beyond the sociology field into the fields of<br />
education, political science, business and public health. The studies found the<br />
association between social capital and school attrition, academic performance, crime<br />
rate, juvenile delinquency, political participation, organisation business benefit and<br />
health status(Macinko and Starfield 2001).<br />
In the Thai context, the notion of social capital was re-introduced as one of the<br />
strategies to cope with the aftermath of the 1997 financial crisis. Shivakumar et al.<br />
proposed that Thai social capital has been depleted as a result of modern<br />
development and the financial crisis(Shivakumar et al. 1998). In 1998, King<br />
BhumibolAdulyadej officially addressed the concept of “new theory on the<br />
sufficiency economy” as a model of self-reliance that could lead to economic-