Patrick Jory's exciting new book A History of Manners and Civility in Thailand begins with the following anecdote (p. 1): Nearly a century ago, at a train station in Bangkok, a minor government official, Nai Jongjaiphak, struggled to load a trunk through a train window. He and his family were leaving town for a holiday at the beach. A passing aristocrat, a descendant of King Mongkut, reprimanded him: he should load his luggage through the train door instead. The aristocrat was angry not because it was improper to hoist a trunk through a window, but because a commoner dared to lift it over the head of a noble. When his admonition was ignored, the aristocrat grabbed Jongjaiphak, his associate punched him, and a scuffle ensued. After the dust settled, the aristocrat submitted a formal complaint to the king, who had the poor official dismissed from his position. The incident made all the newspapers. Less than four years later, Jory notes, the absolute monarchy came to an end.
At first glance, this story may seem to reflect a bygone era. But the crux of the conflict—class-inflected allegations of impropriety—still animates Thailand's public sphere today. In recent years, for example, critics have leveled accusations against both conservative and populist prime ministers for sitting in chairs rather than prostrating themselves on the floor in front of the king. Populists charged Abhisit Vejjajiva with elite privilege and royal favoritism; conservatives accused Yingluck Shinawatra of crass impudence and surreptitious republicanism. Controversies like these always seem to prompt certain questions: Must youth defer to elders? Should political discourse be restrained? Is royalty really above criticism? Should institutions like courts and universities take sides? And, ultimately, what kinds of “uncivil” behavior cross the line?
In this eye-opening book, Jory demonstrates that anxieties over “civility” have risen and fallen in concert with the social, economic, and political upheavals that have wracked Thailand over the past two centuries. Contrary to assumptions that Thai norms of politeness are ancient and static, Jory shows how pliable they have been in the hands of royalist reformers, commoner bureaucrats, and the rising middle class. Theoretically, he draws especially on Norbert Elias, who applied class analysis to European manners (arguing that conceptions of “civilized” behavior shifted over time as the aristocracy slowly weakened and the bourgeoisie gained ground). Jory views shifts in Thai manners as broadly comparable to—though somewhat later than—shifts in Europe. But Jory sides with Nidhi Eeoseewong in arguing that Thailand's nineteenth-century transformations were primarily generated by internal social and economic factors—not by “Western influence.” Each of the book's chapters connects social and economic transformations in Thailand to shifting understandings of what it means to be well behaved.
Buddhist texts such as the Vinaya had long prescribed proper conduct for monks—indirectly shaping the manners of laypeople as well. But Siam's increasingly commercial orientation during the long nineteenth century prompted Buddhists to emphasize behavior that Jory terms “bourgeois.” Good conduct was no longer predominantly a matter of performing one's place in a strict social hierarchy. Self-restraint, prosperity, and the proper management of one's interpersonal relationships were increasingly seen as reflections of one's inner morality. At the same time, royalty sought to present themselves to the outside world as enlightened modernizers by moderating rules of deportment (especially prostration), at least in public. Both developments reduced the social distance between nobility and commoners (chapters 1–2).
Under King Chulalongkorn (r. 1868–1910), the feudal-like manpower system was abolished, powerful noble families were sidelined, and a modern bureaucracy and military were established. Drawing predominantly from commoners, but awkwardly including aristocrats as well, the bureaucracy became the target audience of a wave of manners manuals that asserted that anyone could be a phu di—a “gentleperson”—regardless of wealth and social rank. Drawing on the concept of the “bourgeois Buddhist” as well as Victorian sources, these manuals promoted frankness over obsequiousness, tranquility over passion, and modesty over ostentation (chapter 3).
These trends accelerated under the People's Party governments following the 1932 revolution. Aristocrats no longer enjoyed such a rarefied status; anyone could be a phu di if they followed certain rules of conduct, which increasingly drew from international trends like wearing hats and saying “thank you.” Although Jory makes the case rather subtly, women found themselves under special pressure to adhere to new codes of polite Thai femininity. The archetype of the well-mannered woman, found in novels, manners manuals, and women's magazines, shifted rapidly in this period from the court lady to the bourgeois housewife (chapters 4–5).
The Cold War coincided with a resurgence of respect for the royal court. Although this was actively promoted by military strongmen, American agents, and the old elite, it was Thailand's growing middle classes (especially Chinese, under pressure to assimilate) and villagers (newly exposed to a conservative curriculum in primary schools) who embraced loyalty to the monarchy as the preeminent marker of Thainess. A special vocabulary for speaking of and to royalty was taught to schoolchildren, for example, and prostration—to pay respect to schoolteachers and parents as well as royalty—made a comeback. Manners once again entailed submission (chapter 6).
This book is about changing discourses related to civility, behavior, and manners. It is not really about whether Thai people practice what they preach (except for some comments on prominent political figures, including the current monarch). I had to disappoint a friend of mine who, seeing me carrying Jory's book, asked whether the author discusses the deplorable behavior of Thai drivers (he does not). But the preaching may be more significant than the practice, anyway. The term phu di (which never lost its association with the upper class) no longer signifies the well-mannered “gentleperson” (chapter 7). It is weaponized by conservatives to differentiate themselves from the populist riffraff whom they see as ruining the country—as well as by reformers to mock those conservatives. After reading Jory's book, it is clear that Thai discourses on proper conduct have been political from the beginning.
