SUFFiciENcy EcONOMy ANd GRASSROOtS DEvElOPMENt

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228 The Meaning of Sufficiency Economy International Conference shown their willingness to take risks by borrowing significantly for entrepreneurial investments. Finally, they have significantly increased their demand for more and better education. By these measures villagers would clearly appear to have embraced capitalist development. What is striking, however, is how many people from the village return to live after they have worked for extended periods away. They are drawn back by the social and religious practices that continue to be highly meaningful for them. These practices are strongly rooted in the Buddhist culture of those born and raised in the village. They are most manifest in the support provided by those living in the village or those paying return visits for the wat, the Buddhist temple-monastery as well as for the new forest monastery and in their cooperative participation in rituals held at these two places. Villagers also cooperate on managing government-provided loan funds, on a forest reclamation project established near the new forest monastery, and on maintaining basic services in the community. Cooperation is particularly evident in the relations between resident and non-resident members of the same families. Earnings from non-farm work are often remitted to the village family members not only to provide for basic needs but also to make possible development of local enterprises. In turn, food produced in the village and housing is often provided for those returning to the village for temporary or longer periods. My research supports my conclusion of two decades ago that the model of the economy provided by rural communities in northeastern Thailand is still one that combines both capitalist (rational choice) and sufficiency-based (moral choice) stances. In a previous paper I had shown that: “Although [Northeastern Thai] peasants seek through rational calculation to maximize the well being of themselves and their families, they are constrained in so doing by the particular politicaleconomic conditions within which they live and also by the particular world of meaning in which their actions make sense. This world is a moral universe in which individual desires, to employ Buddhist language, are to be brought under control by moral reflection on whether one’s actions cause suffering to others.” The economic life of villagers in northeastern Thailand is a product of this dialectic between their embracing of capitalism and their continued commitment to Buddhist morality. Perhaps others in Thailand could take a lesson from such villagers.
The Meaning of Sufficiency Economy International Conference 229 References Cited Buddhadãsa Bhikkhu (Phutthathãt Phikkhu). 1970. In Samsãra Exists Nibbãna. tr. by Thawee Sribunruang. Bangkok: Sublime Mission. . 1986. Thammikasangkhomniyom/Dhammic Socialism, Donald K. Swearer, ed. and tr. (Bangkok: Munnithi Komonkhimthong,); Chatthip Nartsupha, and others. 1981. Setthasãt kap prawatsãt Thai (Economy and Thai History). Bangkok: S?ngsan, 2524 . 1984. Sêtthakit Mûbãn Thai nai Adãt (The Thai Village Economy in the Past). Bangkok: Sãngsan, 2527. . 1999. The Thai Village Economy in the Past. Translated by Chris Baker and Pasuk Phongpaichit. Chiang Mai: Silkworm Books. . 2005. Naeokhit Setthakit Chumnchon (Perspective on Community Economy ). Bangkok: Chulalongkorn University Bookstore. Glassman, Jim. 2004. Thailand at the Margins: Internationalization of the State and the Transformation of Labour. Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press. Jackson, Peter A. 1988. Buddhadasa – A Buddhist Thinker for the Modern World. Bangkok: Siam Society. Keyes, Charles F. 1983. “Economic Action and Buddhist Morality in a Thai Village, Journal of Asian Studies, 42.3:851-68. . 1990. “Buddhist Practical Morality in a Changing Agrarian World: A Case fr om Northeastern Thailand, in Attitudes toward Wealth and Poverty in Theravada Buddhism. Donald K. Swearer and Russell Sizemore, eds. Columbia, S.C.: University of South Carolina Press. Pp. 170-189. . 1991a. “The Proposed World of the School: Thai Villagers Entry into a Bure aucratic State System,” In Reshaping Local Worlds: Rural Education and Cultural Change in Southeast Asia. Charles F. Keyes, ed. New Haven: Yale University Southeast Asian Studies. Pp. 87-138. . 1991b. “Buddhist Detachment and Worldly Gain: The Economic Ethic of Northeastern Thai Villagers,” in Yü müang Thai: ruam botkhwãm thãng sangkhom pha pen kiat dãê Sãstrãcãn Sanê Cãmrik (“In Thailand: Collected Essays in Honor of Professor Saneh Chammarik). Chaiwat Satha- Anand, ed. Special issue of Ratthas?ts?n (Journal of Political Science, Thammasat University), 16.1-2:271-98. Lefferts, H. Leedom. 1974. “Ban Dong Phong: Land Tenure and Social Organization in a Northeastern Thai Community,” Unpublished Ph.D. Dissertation, Department of Anthropology, University of Colorado.
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SUFFiciENcy EcONOMy ANd GRASSROOtS DEvElOPMENt

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