The Effect of Thailand’s Subcultures on Other Southeast Asia States’ Countercultures
Journal Title: Journal of Advanced Research in Social Sciences - Year 2023, Vol 6, Issue 3
Abstract
Southeast Asia (SEA) is geographically divided into two sub-regions, mainland and insular. This region consists of 11 states that consistently oppose social liberal changes and uphold traditional values. Conservatism in politics, economy and society, including the legal realm, is always favoured in this region. However, recent developments in Thailand could test the conservative beliefs and practices in this region. In June 2022, Thailand decriminalised the cultivation and consumption of cannabis. This new law allows people in Thailand to consume marijuana edibles, marijuana-infused drinks and use marijuana for medical purposes. This is not the first time Thailand has liberalised its laws. For example, unlike other SEA countries, Thailand does not regulate the use clothing in private spaces; therefore, there has been a significant increase in the number of clothing-optional resorts in Thailand over recent years. Meanwhile, in 2015, Thailand became the first SEA country to recognise and protect the rights of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) individuals. Such laws and tolerance have now become part of Thailand's practices and subculture but remain taboo in other SEA states. Hence, this research has investigated the impact of developments in Thailand’s subculture on the SEA sub-regions, with a particular focus on cannabis law reform. Therefore, this research addresses the primary research question: in the context of ‘weed tourism’, could Thailand's recent cannabis culture impact other Southeast Asian countries? Due to the infancy of this research, a qualitative and digital ethnographical research method was chosen. The thematic analysis was adopted from the secondary government-published data by eliciting key themes. The findings revealed that weed tourism activities would encourage the people in this region to understand, respect, or even practice Thailand's subculture themselves. The mainland states may tend to accept and observe Thailand's cannabis subculture in their states. However, the insular states will not accept such subcultures and will always consider such activities as countercultural.
Authors and Affiliations
Eswaranathan Ehambaranathan, Shagesheela Murugasu, Mark Hall
Keywords
Related Articles
- EP ID EP743694
- DOI https://doi.org/10.33422/jarss.v6i3.1079
- Views 3
- Downloads 0
The Social Media System in Cuba in Times of Change: A General Analysis
The political arena in Cuba has had a direct impact on the development of the media throughout the country's history. Therefore, it is necessary to know the updated status of the Cuban media system in the last stage (201...
The Perceptions of Educators Relating to the Promotion of the Psychological Well-Being of Abandoned Children
Promoting the psychological well-being of abandoned children raises specific issues. These children have no choices but to live in residential child care institutions. They are called to take part in society, to become a...
The Chinese Dragon and the Russian Bear: The Course and the Future of Their Relationship
The tumultuous China-Russia relationship looks back in time. The history of Chinese-Russian relations during the historical journey reflects the existence of two hostile forces that have developed a mutually beneficial c...
Persecution of Indian Women: An Analysis on The Most Heinous Cases of Rape and Sexual Abuse of Women
At the point when we discuss about atrocities against women, we don't allude to some new happenings yet it is an old phenomenon that has been permitted to go on. All through the ages from one period to another period wom...
Differential Technique of Training on the Basis of Diagnostics of Students’ Learning Capabilities
An author’s differential technique of training has been developed, which presupposes the identification of individual typological differences of students (learning capabilities) and the development on this basis of strat...