6 - Royalist Reaction

Summary

This chapter documents the conservative reaction against the progressive, middle-class models of good manners that had prevailed since the overthrow of the absolute monarchy in 1932. The 1950s had witnessed a tense and complex struggle between royalists and anti-royalists. A military coup in 1957 brought an end to this struggle and marked the monarchy’s symbolic return to the centre of the Thai polity. It also ended twenty-five years of attempts, begun by the People’s Party, to develop constitutional rule and a representative democracy. The conservative political turn was also felt in the area of manners. Conservative writers connected to the Palace and the Ministry of Education promoted a return to more courtly styles of conduct that emphasized respect for superiors and recognition of the social hierarchy. The main target of manners discourse was the children and the youth in Thailand’s expanded compulsory education system