1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910778486503321

Autore

Wilson Ara

Titolo

The intimate economies of Bangkok [[electronic resource] ] : tomboys, tycoons, and Avon ladies in the global city / / Ara Wilson

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Berkeley, : University of California Press, 2004

ISBN

1-282-35976-2

9786612359767

0-520-93743-0

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (288 p.)

Disciplina

381/.1/09593

Soggetti

Sex role - Thailand - Bangkok

Capitalism - Social aspects - Thailand - Bangkok

Globalization

Women - Thailand - Social conditions

Women - Thailand - Economic conditions

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Description based upon print version of record.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Illustrations -- Acknowledgments -- Notes On Transliteration And Dates -- Introduction: Intimate Economies -- 1. From Shophouse To Department Store -- 2. The Economies Of Intimacy In The Go-Go Bar -- 3. MBK: The Retail Revolution And The Infrastructure Of Romance -- 4. The Flexible Citizens Of IBC Cable TV -- 5. The Avon Lady, The Amway Plan, And The Making Of Thai Entrepreneurs -- Conclusion: The Intimacy Of Capitalism -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index

Sommario/riassunto

Bangkok has been at the frontier of capitalism's drive into the global south for three decades. Rapid development has profoundly altered public and private life in Thailand. In her provocative study of contemporary commerce in Bangkok, Ara Wilson captures the intimate effects of the global economy in this vibrant city. The Intimate Economies of Bangkok is a multifaceted portrait of the intertwining of identities, relationships, and economics during Bangkok's boom years. Using innovative case studies of women's and men's participation in a range of modern markets-department stores, go-go bars, a popular



downtown mall, a telecommunications company, and the direct sales corporations Amway and Avon-Wilson chronicles the powerful expansion of capitalist exchange into further reaches of Thai society. She shows how global economies have interacted with local systems to create new kinds of lifestyles, ranging from "tomboys" to corporate tycoons to sex workers. Combining feminist theory with classic anthropological understandings of exchange, this historically grounded ethnography maps the reverberations of gender, sexuality, and ethnicity at the hub of Bangkok's modern economy.