Regulation of Sexuality
Thai people perceive sexuality with great modesty. Sex-related topics hardly get discussed in an open, especially amongst women. Females are viewed as objects, which are not supposed to express nor reciprocate their emotions. Therefore, these characteristics are highly appreciated by men in the communities. Moreover, virginity increases the respect of a woman in the society (Piayura, 2012). Besides, cross-cultural marriages in the past were forbidden, but in the recent past these kinds of unions have become a standard practice because of the ethnic diversities. Marriages also take place between the Europeans and Thai women. In fact, many families prefer giving birth to girls because they are regarded as a source of wealth during the time of dowries. Due to the perception that sexuality should be respected, prostitutes in Thai culture have faced numerous challenges, including recurrent cases of abuse and human trafficking. In addition, the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people have faced myriads of problems in the community, including discrimination and lack of societal approval.
Nurturing the Child
In Thai culture, raising a child is a collective obligation of all family members. Men are the authoritarians; hence, they are the heads of the household. However, women participate more because they act as the intermediaries between their husbands and the children. As they mature, they are expected to develop a primary loyalty and moral obligation to their families. Children are taught to uphold virtues that increase respect to their family’s name. Some of these virtues are suppressing aggressive behavior, avoiding negative expressions, and grievances, which enhance family harmony (Detzner et al., 1999). Children are expected to inhibit strong feelings and exercise self-control as one way of maintaining unity in the family. During their upbringing, parents extensively control and over protect their offspring. Therefore, parenting in Thai revolves around providing for children and teaching them how to fulfill their kinship roles in the family unit.
Division of Labor
In Thailand, agricultural work is the most common practice. However, skilled labor is on the rise with more young people graduating from universities and colleges. The agricultural sector involves both men and women. Unfortunately, most tasks are assigned to men, including preparing the land, sowing seeds, transporting goods, and religious practice. On the other hand, women are involved in domestic work where they participate in transplanting rice seedlings and weaving. Also, teaching and nursing are female related jobs in the modern professions (Sirisambhand & Gordon, 1999). However, both men and women undertake some tasks together, including harvesting, theatrics, music industry, and itinerant trading. Although the Thai culture extensively portrays a lot of gender discrimination, the Constitution requires equal treatment of women in the labor force. With these kinds of changes, women are increasingly holding professional positions that were previously male dominated.
Providing Social Controls
Deviant behavior is being witnessed widely amongst the urbanized youths in Thailand. The major contributing factor towards the propagation of this vice is substance abuse, which is leading to delinquent children. However, these outcomes are influenced significantly by the neighborhood characteristics. Nevertheless, with the inclusion of social control, some of these cases have been eliminated (Byrnes et al., 2013). The regulation entails adjudicating, solving problems, and sanctioning those who do not comply. Some of the main areas that public control deals with are crime related issues, the health systems, and urban planning authorities. The laws enacted in each region ensure that crime issues are solved to protect citizens from experiencing the outcome of criminal activities. On the other hand, the health systems are used to curb the spread of any viral diseases through counseling and creating awareness, which prevent new disease. In essence, the planning authorities are working towards improving the settlements, a situation that will facilitate growth and development of organized urban centers.