Although taboo given the traditional Thai value of female sexual conservatism, sex work is a practice for which Thailand has gained international attention. As in other rapidly globalizing contexts, however, Thai youth are increasingly exposed to global values of gender equality, self-fulfillment, and personal choice. This may, in turn, alter youth perspectives of this taboo yet pervasive practice. To understand how Thai youth negotiate local and global values when considering sex work, this study examined the moral evaluations and moral reasoning of adolescents residing in variously globalized communities. Forty participants (20 adolescents in each a more and a less globalized Thai setting) participated in interviews in which they discussed their perspectives of sex work. Quantitative analysis of moral evaluations revealed that rural and urban adolescents alike deemed sex work as mostly morally wrong. Qualitative analysis of moral reasoning revealed that both participant groups prioritized Thai values of sexual purity for women, shame avoidance, and reputation maintenance. Yet distinct values were also endorsed across participant groups. Rural adolescents centered local values (e.g., relational choice, women’s dignity, Buddhist divinity) and urban adolescents drew heavily from global values (e.g., autonomous choice, romantic love, international reputation) when reasoning about the morality and immorality of sex work. Findings point to the manner in which contextual realities shape—and reshape—cultural values in this rapidly globalizing nation.
Abu AleonT.WeinstockM.ManagoA. M. M.GreenfieldP. M. (2019). Social change and intergenerational value differences in a Bedouin community in Israel. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 50, 708–727. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022022119839148
AriyabuddhiphongsV.LiJ. (2012). Sacrifice and optimism among Thai masseuses: The mediating role of pride. International Perspectives in Psychology: Research, Practice, Consultation, 1, 154–164. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0029233
4.
ArnettJ. J. (2000). Emerging adulthood: A theory of development from the late teens through the twenties. American Psychologist, 55, 469–480. https://doi.org/10.1037//0003-066X.55.5.469
5.
BoyatzisR. E. (1998). Transforming qualitative information: Thematic analysis and code development. Sage.
6.
CassanitiJ. (2015). Living Buddhism: Mind, self, and emotion in a Thai community. Cornell University Press.
De MunckV.KorotayevA.McGreeveyJ. (2016). Romantic love and family organization: A case for romantic love as a biosocial universal. Evolutionary Psychology, 14, 1–13. https://doi.org/10.1177/1474704916674211
10.
EberhardtN. (2006). Imagining the course of life: Self-transformation in a Shan Buddhist community. University of Hawaii Press.
EriksonE. H. (1968). Identity: Youth and crisis. Norton.
13.
FuligniA. J.TsaiK. M. (2015). Developmental flexibility in the age of globalization: Autonomy and identity development among immigrant adolescents. Annual Review of Psychology, 66, 411–431. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-psych-010814-015111
14.
FuligniA. J.ZhangW. (2004). Attitudes toward family obligation among adolescents in contemporary urban and rural China. Child Development, 74, 180–192. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8624.2004.00662.x
GeorgasJ.BerryJ. W.van de VijverF. J. R.KagitcibasiC.PoortingaY. H. (2006). Families across cultures: A 30-nation psychological study. Cambridge University Press.
17.
GibbonsJ. L.Brusi-FigueroaR.FisherS. L. (1997). Gender-related ideals of Puerto Rican adolescents: Gender and school context. Journal of Early Adolescence, 17, 349–370. https://doi.org/10.1177/0272431697017004001
18.
GreenfieldP. M. (2009). Linking social change and developmental change: Shifting pathways of human development. Developmental Psychology, 45, 401–418. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0014726
19.
GreenfieldP. M. (2014). Sociodemographic differences within countries produce variable cultural values. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 45, 37–41. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022022113513402
20.
HansenN.PostmesT.TovoteK. A.BosA. (2014). How modernization instigates social change: Laptop usage as a driver of cultural value change and gender equality in a developing country. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 45, 1229–1248. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022022114537554
21.
HansenN.PostmesT.van der VinneN.van ThielW. (2012). Technology and cultural change: How ITC changes self-construal and values. Social Psychology, 43, 222–231. https://doi.org/10.1027/1864-9335/a000123
22.
HofstedeG. (2001). Culture’s consequences: Comparing values, behaviors, institutions and organizations across nations. Sage.
23.
HuntsingerC. S.ShaboyanT.KarapetyanA. M. (2019). The influence of globalization on adolescents’ conceptions of self and future self in rural and urban Armenia. In McKenzieJ. (Ed.), Globalization as a Context for Youth Development. New Directions for Child and Adolescent Development (Vol. 164, pp. 67–82). Wiley.
24.
IyengarS. S.LepperM. R. (1999). Rethinking the value of choice: A cultural perspective on intrinsic motivation. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 76, 349–366. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.76.3.349
25.
JensenL. A.ArnettJ. J.McKenzieJ. (2011). Globalization and cultural identity developments in adolescence and emerging adulthood. In SchwartzS. J.LuyckxK.VignolesV. L. (Eds.), Handbook of identity theory and research (Vol. 1, pp. 285–301). Springer Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-7988-9_13
26.
KaasaA.MinkovM. (2020). Are the world’s national cultures becoming more similar?Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 51(7–8), 531–550. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022022120933677
27.
KanchanachitraM. (2014). The giving behavior of households in Thailand. Journal of Population and Social Studies, 22, 2–13. https://doi.org/10.14456/jpss.2014.2
28.
KanchanagaS. (1979). Thai culture, social customs and manners and Thai sports. Siamerican Distributing Co.
29.
KarandashevV. (2015). A cultural perspective on romantic love. Online Readings in Psychology and Culture, 5, 1–21. https://doi.org/10.9707/2307-0919.1135
30.
KlunklinA.GreenwoodJ. (2005). Buddhism, the status of women and the spread of HIV/AIDS in Thailand. Health Care for Women International, 26, 46–61. https://doi.org/10.1080/07399330590885777
31.
KnightG. P.GonzalesN. A.SaenzD. S.BondsD. D.GermánM.DeardorffJ.RoosavM. W.UpdegraffK. A. (2010). The Mexican American cultural values scale for adolescents and adults. Journal of Early Adolescence, 30, 444–481. https://doi.org/10.1177/0272431609338178
32.
McFarlaneA. (2018). Individualism and the ideology of romantic love. In FaubionJ. D. (Ed.), Rethinking the subject: An anthology of contemporary European social thought (pp. 125–137). Routledge.
33.
McKenzieJ. (2018). Globalization and moral personhood: Dyadic perspectives of the moral self in rural and urban Thai communities. Journal of Adolescent Research, 33, 209–246. https://doi.org/10.1177/0743558416670007
34.
McKenzieJ. (2019a). Divinity revised: The de- and re-contextualization of adolescent divinity reasoning in globalizing Thailand. In McKenzieJ. (Ed.), Globalization as a Context for Youth Development. New Directions for Child and Adolescent Development (Vol. 164, pp. 49–66). Wiley.
35.
McKenzieJ. (2019b). Introduction to the special issue: Globalization as a context for youth development. In McKenzieJ. (Ed.), Globalization as a Context for Youth Development. New Directions for Child and Adolescent Development (Vol. 164, pp. 7–9). Wiley.
36.
McKenzieJ. (2020a). Negotiating local and global values in a globalized world: The envisioned futures of Thai adolescents. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 30, 856–874. https://doi.org/10.1111/jora.12567
37.
McKenzieJ. (2020b). Globalization as a context for moral development. In JensenL. A. (Ed.), The Oxford handbook of moral development: An interdisciplinary perspective (pp. 663–682). Oxford University Press.
38.
McKenzieJ.CastellónR.Willis-GrossmannE.LanderosC.RooneyJ.StewartC. (under review). Digital divides and dyadic gaps: Media use and perspectives of media in northern Thailand.
39.
McKenzieJ.RooneyJ.StewartC.CastellonR.LanderosC.WillisE. (2019a). Brokering culture and power in a media-driven world: Parents of adolescents in northern Thailand. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 50, 972–990. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022022119865622
40.
McKenzieJ.TsutsuiS.PrakashS. R. (2019b). Divine self and selves: Religious practices and orientations toward religion among adolescents in globalizing northern Thailand. Psychology of Religion and Spirituality, 11, 74–86. https://doi.org/10.1037/rel0000225
41.
McKenzieJ.XiongK. C. (2021). Fated for foreigners: Ecological realities shape perspectives of transnational marriage in northern Thailand. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 82, 121–134. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijintrel.2021.03.010
ManagoA. M. (2012). The new emerging adult in Chiapas, Mexico: Perceptions of traditional values and value change among first-generation Maya university students. Journal of Adolescent Research, 27, 663–713. https://doi.org/10.1177/0743558411417863
44.
ManagoA. M. (2014). Connecting societal change to value differences across generations: Adolescents, mothers, and grandmothers in a Maya community in southern Mexico. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 45, 868–887. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022022114527346
45.
ManagoA. M.PachecoP. (2019). Globalization and the transition to adulthood in a Maya community in Mexico: Communication technologies, social networks, and views on gender. In McKenzieJ. (Ed.), Globalization as a Context for Youth Development. New Directions for Child and Adolescent Development (Vol. 164, pp. 11–25). Wiley.
46.
MoghadamV. M. (2003). Modernizing women: Gender and social change in the Middle East. Lynne Rienner.
47.
NsamenangB. (2002). Adolescence in Sub-Saharan Africa: An image constructed from Africa’s triple inheritance. In BrownB. B.LarsonR.SaraswathiT. S. (Eds.), The world’s youth: Adolescence in eight regions of the globe (pp. 61–104). Cambridge University Press.
PinyuchonM.GrayG. A. (1997). Understanding Thai families: A cultural context for therapists using a structural approach. Contemporary Family Therapy, 19, 209–228.
50.
PunchK. (2014). Introduction to social research (3rd ed.). Sage.
51.
RaoM. A.BerryR.GonsalvesA.HastakY.ShahM.RoeserR. W. (2013). Globalization and the identity remix among urban adolescents in India. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 23, 9–24. https://doi.org/10.1111/jora.12002
52.
RosenbergerN. (2001). Gambling with virtue: Japanese women and the search for self in a changing nation. University of Hawaii Press.
53.
SorajjakoolS.BenitezA. (2015). The role of religion among sex workers in Thailand. Religion, 6, 1263–1276. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel6041263
54.
SuntikulW. (2013). Thai tourism and the legacy of the Vietnam War. In ButlerR.SuntikulW. (Eds.), Tourism and war (pp. 92–105). Routledge.
55.
SwearerD. K. (1995). The Buddhist world of Southeast Asia. SUNY Press.
56.
TangmunkongvorakulA.KaneR.WellingsK. (2005). Gender double standards in young people attending sexual health services in Northern Thailand. Culture, Health & Sexuality, 7, 361–373. https://doi.org/10.1080/13691050500100740
57.
ThanakwangK. (2015). Family support, anticipated support, negative interaction, and psychological well-being of older parents in Thailand. Psychogeriatrics, 15, 171–178. https://doi.org/10.1111/psyg.12107
58.
TönniesF. (1887/1957). Community and society (LoomisC. P., Ed. & Trans.). Michigan State University Press. (Original work published 1887).
59.
UkosakulM. (1999). Conceptual metaphors motivating the use of Thai ‘face’. In CasadE. H. (Ed.), Cognitive linguistics and non-Indo-European languages (pp. 275–304). Mouton de Gruyter.
60.
WeinstockM.GanayiemM.IgbariyaR.ManagoA. M.GreenfieldP. M. (2015). Societal change and values in Arab communities in Israel: Intergenerational and rural-urban comparisons. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 46, 19–38. https://doi.org/10.1177/00220221/1455/792
61.
ZhangW.FuligniA. (2006). Authority, autonomy, and family relationships among adolescents in urban and rural China. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 16, 527–537. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1532-7795.2006.00506.x
Supplementary Material
Please find the following supplemental material available below.
For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.
For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.
