Survey
* Your assessment is very important for improving the workof artificial intelligence, which forms the content of this project
* Your assessment is very important for improving the workof artificial intelligence, which forms the content of this project
History of social work wikipedia , lookup
Unilineal evolution wikipedia , lookup
Law without the state wikipedia , lookup
History of the social sciences wikipedia , lookup
Social group wikipedia , lookup
Scepticism in law wikipedia , lookup
International legal theories wikipedia , lookup
1 Uta Wagner MA Anthropology Lawyer Sophienstr. 2 D 70180 Stuttgart [email protected] 11th International Conference on Thai Studies, July 2011 Social Norms in Ageing Society The paper is based on the plans for a doctor’s dissertation on Legal Pluralism in Thailand: An anthropological field study on the impacts of legal norms on social security and on intergenerational relationships, coming from customary law, religious law, traditional Siamese law, and modern civil and administrative law. Impressions of everyday life It is a personal experience, that generational relationships in Thailand work in a different way how they do in Europe. In many Western countries, social security is granted by allowances and pensions. But evident or subtle discrimination due to female sex and old age is sort of normality in everyday life. In contrast, as an elderly woman in Thailand, in general I feel respected and treated with kindness and dignity. When talking with Thai people about generational relationships you will usually get similar answers, which may sound like that: We respect our parents and our elderly. We owe them so much. They gave birth to us, gave us food, education, everything. We love them and we are proud of being able to reciprocate their good deeds by respecting and helping them in their old age. In doing this, we will accrue merit. These obligations are part of our culture. Norms and values Obviously there are norms and values which have an impact on the manner of intergenerational relationships in Thailand. Prof. SASIPAT (TU) states: „Believes, values and traditions, which come from Buddhism, are social norms in Thai society. Living with older parents, showing respect and taking care of them are considered normal way of family life and are highly commended in Thailand. On the other hand, children who neglect their parents or behave improperly to them are blamed by the society. These social norms are still strong ... “ (in Sutthichai 2008: 14) For anthropologists, legal scholars and politicians the following questions arise: What sort of special norms have the power to motivate in that way? Can their origins be distinguished in customary law, religious law, traditional Siamese law, civil law, administrative law and national plans? Catalogue of relevant norms In my Master’s Thesis on “Legal Pluralism in Generational Relationships in Thailand” I found out, determined and described a catalogue of relevant norms: 2 Customary law (uncodified norms) Seniority: The principle of seniority is a common social structure in many societies in Asia. Obviously it is reflected in Thai language. In a specific family setting elder siblings and relatives get different terms and higher status than the younger ones. The social status of a person is much more defined by seniority than by gender (FORMOSO 1990). The principle of seniority implicates the principle of bunkhun, which obliges the elderly to protect the younger. On the other hand, the younger ones have to respect the elderly. Matrilocality: The residence rule of (so called) matrilocality obliges a child, usually the youngest daughter, to live in co-residence with her parents and to care for them, when they need it in their old age. Doing so, she will gain reputation, influence and merit and receive a bigger part of the heritage. Following to BOWIE (2008) and other scholars, this residence rule is still prevailing in Thailand. Religious norms Buddhist perceptions are very important. They provide a multiple system of norms to back intergenerational solidarity. Some examples: Buddhist norms are embedded in ideas of a cosmology coming from Hindu traditions. There is a strong concept of hierarchy and seniority (TAMBIAH 1970). You can see it in the architecture of temples like Wat Arun, or described in the Trai Phum, the idea of the Three Worlds. Stories of the Lord Buddha’s former lifes, the Jataka in the Sutta of the Pali Canon and Buddhist proverbs explain the morality of gratitude and the obligation of respect to the elderly. These parables are integrated in a belief system in cycles of rebirth, Samsara and Karma, the law of action and responsibility. In everyday life thambun system gives examples for good behaviour to ameliorate your Karma. Highest thambun for boys and men is to be ordained as a monk, for female giving help to father and mother. The entire complex is underlined by Buddhist festivals and rituals – ordination ceremonies, or Songkran, the traditional New Year and Elderly’s Day, an opportunity to pay respect to the elderly. There are Old-Age-Ceremonies (TERWIEL 2001), and there is the institution of wan phra, when all generations can demonstrate appropriate behaviour in the temples. In the sermons of famous monks and in Buddhist Sunday Schools and seminars children and adults are reminded of their obligations to their parents and relatives, the good deeds they owe to them. Law of the Three Seals Kotmai tra sam duan, the traditional Siamese Law Codex of 1805, was valid until the “revolution” of 1932, when Siam was transformed in a Constitutional Monarchy. It is also called the Thammasat. The core is the sakdina-system, which provides a strong frame for concepts of hierarchy and seniority. Everybody was labelled by the amount of rai, of land one was entitled to possess. As many scholars point out, the idea of the sakdina system is still important in everyday life, in business and politics in Thailand (SCHRAMM 2002). Part of the KTSD is intergenerational solidarity, the obligation to care for the elderly. This was regulated in heritage rules which stated clearly: Those who do not care will not be heir (ISHII 1986). Laws and institutes of the modern Nation State The sections of the Civil and Commercial Code regulate financial relations among parents and children – but there are only very few cases which go to the court. The Constitution adjusts the rights of old aged people. Pensions, tax reductions, Social Security Fund and allowance 3 schemes provide a financial basis, but only for a minority of the population. The Second National Plan (2002-2021) and the Bureau of Empowerment for Older Persons implement a catalogue of schemes. But the informal care in the family remains the most important resource (SUTTHICHAI 2008). This is backed by the government by the education system in public schools, which teaches the children gratitude and respect to the elderly (MULDER 1997), and the promotion of National Holidays like Father’s Day or Mother’s Day. In this realm the deeply rooted national ideology of reverence to the Royal Family plays a crucial role and is linked to everybody’s moral concepts of social solidarity. Layered structure and intertwinement of social norms - legal pluralism and dynamics of change in social security The impression emerges that there are not only pillars of norms but a dense construction of customary, religious, historical and modern laws which are intertwined. They seem to back each other in numerous details to build a strong ground of intergenerational harmony. This is the central issue of the research method of legal pluralism and the complex dynamics of change and continuity in plural legal constellations (Franz and Keebet von BENDABECKMANN, 2006). Legal pluralism is known as the simultaneous existence of norms which may arise from various sources. It is particularly in the field of social security where religious, traditional and customary laws build the skeleton of norms of social solidarity. Up to the 1970ies the idea of international organizations was to create a totally new system of social security after the European example. Nowadays the thinking shifts to the life world of the population. The variety of legal norms and their intertwinement provide the legal basis for systems of reciprocity. „Understanding the layered structure of the relevant legal systems is of vital importance for understanding social security”. “It requires an understanding of paradoxes and ambivalences of the plural legal constellations“(Keebet von BENDABECKMANN, 2008: 129,136). Ambiguities and contradictions It is clear that the existence of rules does not automatically mean that those rules are obeyed and observed in reality. There are problems of migration, globalization, economic development, which cause ambiguities and contradictions between parents and children. Ambivalence is the prevalent concept in intergenerational relationships rather than unambiguous harmony (PILLEMER/LUESCHER, 2004). In this regard there is a strong need of social research to get an impression of the people’s attitude to norms and rules, including paradoxes and ambivalences. Benefits of research Considering the fact that in Thailand, as in far most countries of the world, the number of people in old age is rising and the number of people who are able to work is declining, and considering the problems of this worldwide demographic development, there is a need for „careful analysis of the local mechanisms of social security, the available resources and the conditions under which these might be fruitfully employed. It requires an understanding of the social security mixes that people are familiar with. It also requires taking ideological statements ... for what they are ...“ (Benda-Beckmann 2008: 136). It is particularly promising to carry out the research with anthropological methods, based on a solid knowledge of law. The results of the research will make it possible to evaluate the importance of norms in a clear and practicable way. It will facilitate administrative 4 regulations and the implementation of the bureaucratic efforts. It will most likely be able to support the decisions and plans to achieve the empowerment of intergenerational solidarity by pensions, allowances, tax reduction, education, mediation, financial and political support of NGOs and Senior- and Health Centres. The approach of legal pluralism in generational relationships is worth to become a more central analytic issue in the social anthropology of the complex society. References Benda-Beckmann Franz and Keebet von 2006 The dynamics of change and continuity in plural legal orders In: Journal of legal pluralism and unofficial law. LIT Verlag, Muenster Benda-Beckmann Keebet von 2008 Law, Development and Social Security, in: Zeitschrift für auslaendisches und internationales Arbeits- und Sozialrecht, 1-2/2008. C.F.Müller Boissevain, Jeremy 1978 Friends of Friends. Networks, Manipulators and Coalitions Basil Blackwell, Oxford Bowie, Katherine 2008 Standing in the shadows: Of matrilocality and the role of women in a village election in northern Thailand. In: American Ethnologist Vol. 35 Fischer, Hans 1996 Der Haushalt des Darius. Ueber die Ethnographie von Haushalten Dietrich Reimer Verlag, Berlin Formoso, Bernard 1990 Alliance et Séniorité. Le cas des Lao du nord-est de la Thailande In: L’Homme, Vol. 30 Numéro 115, Paris Ishii, Yoneo 1986 The Thai Thammasat In: Hooker, M.B.: Laws of South-East Asia, Vol. 1, Butterworth & Co, London Klocke-Daffa, Sabine 2001 „Wenn du hast, musst du geben“. Soziale Sicherung im Ritus und im Alltag bei den Nama von Berseba/Namibia. LIT Verlag, Muenster Knodel, John et al. 2007 Migration and Intergenerational Solidarity: Evidence from Rural Thailand Papers in Population Aging No. 2. UNFPA Thailand, Bangkok Lamnek, Siegfried 2005 Qualitative Sozialforschung Beltz Verlag, Weinheim, Basel Moore, Sally Falk 1978 Law as Process. An Anthropological Approach Routledge & Kegan Paul, London Miankerd, Wanalak 2006 Value and Expectation of Older Persons and Younger Generations (in Thai, abstract in English) SoKoWo Bangkok, Mistercopy, Bangkok Mulder, Niels 1997 Thai Images. The Culture of the Public World Silkworm Books, Chiang Mai Parkin, Robert 1997 Kinship. An Introduction to the Basic Concepts Blackwell Publishers, Oxford Pillemer, Karl Luescher, Kurt 2004 Introduction: Ambivalence in Parent-Child Relations in Later Life In: Pillemer, Karl u. Luescher, Kurt (ed.): Intergenerational Ambivalences: New Perspectives on Parent-Child Relations in Later Life. Elsevier, Oxford Sasipat Yodpet 2005 Family Caregiver of Older Persons in Thailand Paper Present in the 18th Asia-Pacific Social Work Conference, Korea Schramm, Bernd 2002 Sozialpolitik in Thailand. Die Entwicklung eines Wohlfahrtsstaates zwischen Paternalismus und Moderne. Institut für Asienkunde, Hamburg Sutthichai Jitapunkul 2008 Age Profile – Health System and Long Term Care in Thailand Ministery of Social Development and Human Security, Bangkok Tambiah, Stanley 1970 Buddhism and the Spirit Cults in North-East Thailand Cambridge University Press, Cambridge Terwiel, Barend Jan 2001 Monks and Magic: An Analysis of Religious Ceremonies in Central Thailand White Lotus Ltd, Bangkok