The Concrete Embodiment of Hierarchy in Thailand’s Society and Its Analysis

DOI

10.2991/assehr.k.191217.263How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Thai language, concept of social hierarchy, Brahmanism, Divine Right of Kings

Abstract

Thai society has a strict hierarchy, which reflects in the absolute obedience especially to the king and the royal family, ranging from the civil and military officials to the civilians. In front of the king and the royal family, the kneeling ceremony must also be carried out, which is the highest etiquette in Thailand. In addition, Thai language can be divided into general terms, Buddhist terms and royal terms. General terms are Thai people’s daily terms. Buddhist terms are related to Buddhist, Buddhism and monks. Royal terms are exclusively used by the king and royal family. For example, Royal terms are used for eating, wearing, living, traveling, using, or life circle and body parts, etc. It can be seen from the above-mentioned language and behavior that Thailand is a strictly hierarchical country, and the specific reason for Thailand’s hierarchy is mainly influenced by Brahmanism and Buddhism. Since the democratic revolution in 1932, Thailand’s political system has changed from autocratic monarchy to constitutionalism, which is an inevitable process of social development and progress. In other words, the Thai society is developing towards the trend of diversification. However, the idea of “Divine Right of Kings” has been deeply rooted in the heart of the people, thus the etiquette of kneeling and the culture of using Royal terms exist till today.

Copyright

© 2020, the Authors. Published by Atlantis Press.

Open Access

This is an open access article distributed under the CC BY-NC license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/).

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Zhaoyang Duan
PY  - 2020
DA  - 2020/02/14
TI  - The Concrete Embodiment of Hierarchy in Thailand’s Society and Its Analysis
BT  - Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Education, Language, Art and Inter-cultural Communication (ICELAIC 2019)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 887
EP  - 890
SN  - 2352-5398
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/assehr.k.191217.263
DO  - 10.2991/assehr.k.191217.263
ID  - Duan2020
ER  -