Leadership in a Slum: A Bangkok Case Study

by Johnson, Alan R.; Komin, Suntaree

• ISBN13: 9781608994076
• ISBN10: 1608994074
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2010-04-01
• Publisher: Wipf & Stock Pub

Summary

In Leadership in a Slum Johnson looks at leadership in the Thai social context from a different angle than traditional studies that measure well-educated Thais on leadership scales derived in the West. Seeking a cultural account of social influence processes he turns to those who have been left behind in the race to participate in a globalizing world, The urban poor. Using both systematic data collection and participant observation he develops a culturally preferred model as well as a set of models based in Thai concepts that reflect on-the-ground realities. Johnson also examines the community-state relationship and finds that in the face of state power that brings both development And The forces of eviction, The community and its leaders are not passive in this relationship but modify, reject, or resist state views in their various forms. He concludes by looking at the implications of his anthropological approach for those who are involved in leadership training in Thai settings and beyond. This work challenges the dominance of the patron-client rubric for understanding all forms of Thai leadership and offers an alternative view for understanding leadership rooted in local social systems to approaches that assume the universal applicability of leadership research findings across all cultural settings.

Author Biography

Alan Johnson (PhD Oxford Centre for Mission Studies / University of Wales) has lived in Thailand since 1986. He works with a Thai Christian Foundation and is currently working on a project with urban poor.

Table of Contents

List of Tables	p. xi
List of Figures	p. xi
List of Photographs	p. xi
List of Abbreviations	p. xiii
Notes for the Reader	p. xv
Foreword	p. xvii
Acknowledgements	p. xix
Introduction	p. 1
The Journey that Led to a Slum	p. 3
Framing an Approach to Solve a Puzzle	p. 5
Organization of the Chapters	p. 7
Issues in the Study of Thai Leadership	p. 9
Issues from the Study of Thailand	p. 10
Issues from the Literature on Thai Cultural Values and Social Organization	p. 13
Hierarchy and Patron-Client Relationships	p. 13
Interpersonal Relationships: Reciprocity, Gratitude, and Obligation	p. 16
Issues from the Literature on Thai Leadership	p. 17
Rural Leadership	p. 18
Formal Leadership Studies	p. 19
Issues from the Literature on Thai Bureaucracy	p. 21
Summary	p. 26
Slums, State Response, and the Lang Wat Pathum Wanaram Community	p. 29
Bangkok and Its Slum Communities	p. 29
Upgrading and Eviction: The Two Faces of the State	p. 33
Upgrading, Policy, and the Realities of Implementation	p. 34
Elite Attitudes towards the Poor	p. 35
Eviction	p. 37
Chumchon Lang Wat Pathum Wanaram	p. 39
A Walking Tour through LWPW	p. 40
Exploring the Inner Workings of LWPW	p. 51
Summary	p. 68
A Model of Preferred Leadership	p. 71
Free-recall Listing, Saliency Analysis, Paired Similarity Judgement, and Consensus Analysis	p. 72
Free-recall Listing and Saliency Analysis	p. 72
Paired Similarity Judgement Exercise	p. 74
Consensus Analysis	p. 82
The Results of the Correspondence Analysis	p. 83
The Nature of the Representation of the 21 Terms	p. 83
Interpretation of the Correspondence Analysis	p. 85
The TLM and Thai Leadership Ideals	p. 89
The TLM and Issues in Thai Leadership	p. 91
Examining Other Bases for Interpersonal Influence	p. 92
General Insights on Reciprocity and Obligation	p. 95
Factors that Influence a Person's Sense of Obligation	p. 97
The TLM and the Development of Interpersonal Influence	p. 101
Summary	p. 104
Leading in LWPW: Trust, Privilege, and Suspicion	p. 107
The Trustworthy Leader Model	p. 107
Chuathuu and the Discourse about Leadership in the Community	p. 108
Trustworthiness (chuathuu), Respect (nabthuu), and the TLM	p. 110
Discussion and Analysis	p. 114
Evidence for another Model: The Acceptance of Privilege and the Reality of Suspicion	p. 119
Three Lines of Evidence for the SABLH	p. 120
Elements of the SABLH	p. 123
Three Illustrations of the SABLH as Used in Daily Life	p. 125
How the SABLH Affects Leadership Practise in the Community	p. 130
Summary	p. 135
Leadership Dynamics in the Space Outside of Administrative Control	p. 136
Evidence of Agency in Non-administrative Space	p. 137
Group (phuak) and Horizontal Non-reciprocal Relations	p. 140
Analysis of Leadership on the Ground in LWPW	p. 145
The Relationship of the Factors to other Concepts of Thai Leadership	p. 146
The Basis for Authority	p. 146
Dynamics between TLM, Trust, and the Reality of Suspicion	p. 148
Summary	p. 149
Relations between the Community and the State	p. 151
Community-State Relations: Frameworks for Understanding	p. 152
The State and the Role of the Committee: Rhetoric and Reality	p. 155
Public Transcript in LWPW	p. 155
Official Views of the Committee	p. 156
Comparing and Contrasting Dominant and Subordinate Public Transcripts	p. 157
The Dream of Unity and the Reality of Division	p. 162
The State and the Concept of Development	p. 168
The State and Eviction	p. 175
Community-State Relations and the Nature of Leadership in LWPW	p. 179
The Ambiguity of 'Community' and 'Leadership'	p. 179
Leading as Caretaking	p. 179
Caretaking and Civil Society in LWPW	p. 180
Summary	p. 184
Applications for Leadership Practise and Training	p. 187
Solving the Puzzle: Answers to the Focal Questions	p. 188
Applications and Implications from this Investigation for the Practise of Real Life Leadership	p. 190
Thinking of Leadership as a Totality	p. 191
Mapping Leadership	p. 195
Finding Disjunction: the Explicit and Implicit	p. 197
Trust and Group: Dilemmas of Thai Leadership	p. 199
Leadership Training	p. 203
Seek Understanding of the Local Leadership Context First	p. 204
Bring the Implicit to the Surface	p. 204
Look for Local Answers to Cultural Problems	p. 205
Summary	p. 205
Epilogue	p. 207
Glossary of Thai Terms	p. 209
Appendix: Methodology	p. 211
Bibliography	p. 217
Index	p. 235
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