Thai social critic, states Thai society has suffered cultural schizophrenia as Thais are
trapped in a double bind between Westernization and their own traditional culture.
According to him, being traditional Thai means being authoritarian, being prag-
matic, and being subservient as part of a patronage system. These characteristics are
opposite to being egalitarian, self-reliant, and ideological according to universal
principles. Techapira calls the hybridized way of Thais adjusting themselves to
universal principles but still maintaining some Thai characteristics a relativistic
movement.
Baker and Phongpaichit ( 2005 : 150–164) write that in this period, the USA
mainly supported economic development, educational development, and bureau-
cratic infrastructure building for the promotion of development. The USA also
provided funding tofight communism during the cold war period. Thailand could
be seen as part of an informal US empire in this period and accepted the Social and
Economic Development Plan from the Free World Leaders (Thongchai 2001 : 37).
As a result of economic development, Thai–Chinese entrepreneurial groups were in
control of the economy. It is fair to say that Thailand in this globalization period
follows the Modernization paradigm, which sees the industrialized Western soci-
eties as the ultimate goal of development. As explained earlier, Thais worship
spirits as part of their animistic beliefs since the archaic globalization. Urbanization
and migration as part of Westernization have caused the booming of the
urban-based spirit-medium cults in the past few decades as a moral and psycho-
logical refuge for the capitalistic desire of the urban population (Kitiarsa 2012 :16–
17, 146). Two noteworthy points are (1) the rural spirit mediums are normally
female who assert themselves from the subordination in the Thai patriarchal system
to possess power above laymen but lower than Buddhist monks, and (2) the urban
spirit cults incorporate the Chinese and Hindu cults, not the American nor the
European ones due to the inaccessibility of less educated rural spirit mediums and
the surveillance of the Sangha to limit the hybridization form to the trio of
Buddhism–Hinduism–animism (Kitiarsa 2012 :52–54, 147). Mahamakuta and
Mahachulalongkorn Rajawittayalai were established as Buddhist universities in
1946 and 1947, the teaching and learning emphasized rote learning of
Buddha-Dhamma (teachings of Buddha in Pali).
Consumerism associated with hybridized forms of Buddhism, supernaturalism,
and animism can be seen in the growth of the expensive amulets and talisman
industry, which involved famous magic monks (see Formoso 2000 : 99,
Suntravanich 2005 quoted in Prachachart 2003 : 13). Magic monks, according to
Kitiarsa’s study (Kitiarsa 2012 :39–40), are those who perform all or some of the
following: eliminating of bad omens/strengthen good fate (sado khro);
fortune-telling (du duang); spraying or bathing a person with blessed water to ward
off bad luck and protect the person from bad spirits (rot nam mon); enhancing the
longevity and well-being (to ayu/suep chata); expelling or exorcising bad spirits (lai
phi/khap pop); setting up a guardian spirit’s house or altar (yok san phra phum);
blessing a new car or new properties (choem rot/ban/sammak ngan); and providing
tips for lotto numbers (bai huay/hai chok hai lap). Pluralism of popular Buddhism is
attested to by the emergence of more than 100 cults and sects of animism–
1.2 Thai Buddhism in the Phases of Globalization 7