a study of urban monastic organization in central Thailand /
First Statement of Responsibility
Jane Bunnag.
.PUBLICATION, DISTRIBUTION, ETC
Place of Publication, Distribution, etc.
Cambridge :
Name of Publisher, Distributor, etc.
Cambridge University Press,
Date of Publication, Distribution, etc.
1973.
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION
Specific Material Designation and Extent of Item
1 online resource (xii, 219 pages) :
Other Physical Details
digital, PDF file(s)
SERIES
Series Title
Cambridge studies in social and cultural anthropology ;
Volume Designation
6.
GENERAL NOTES
Text of Note
Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 05 Oct 2015)
SUMMARY OR ABSTRACT
Text of Note
Most anthropological and sociological studies of Buddhism have concentrated on village and rural Buddhism. This is a systematic anthropological study of monastic organization and monk-layman interaction in a purely urban context in the countries where Theravada Buddhism is practised, namely, Burma, Cambodia, Ceylon, Laos and Thailand. The material presented is based on fieldwork carried out in Ayutthaya, Central Thailand. Dr Bunnag describes and analyses the socio-economic and ritual relations existing between the monk and the lay community, and she demonstrates the way in which the role of the monk is used by some men, wittingly or otherwise, as a social stepping-stone, in that for the son of a farmer a period in the monkhood can provide the education and contacts necessary to facilitate his assimilation into the urban lay community at a social and economic level which would otherwise have been impossible. Finally, Dr Bunnag places the material presented in a broader theoretical context by reviewing it in relation to anthropological discussions concerning the nature of Thai society as a whole.
TOPICAL NAME USED AS SUBJECT
Buddhist sociology.
Monastic and religious life (Buddhism)-- Thailand-- Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya.
GEOGRAPHICAL NAME USED AS SUBJECT
Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya (Thailand), Social conditions.