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Constructing “The Middle”: The Socialization of Monastic Youth in Buddhist Northern Thailand
Author(s) -
Chladek Michael R.
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
ethos
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.783
H-Index - 44
eISSN - 1548-1352
pISSN - 0091-2131
DOI - 10.1111/etho.12201
Subject(s) - socialization , morality , buddhism , institution , sociology , scholarship , monasticism , cultural reproduction , reproduction , social psychology , gender studies , environmental ethics , psychology , social science , epistemology , law , political science , theology , philosophy , ecology , biology
Temporary Buddhist monasticism is an important institution in Thailand for the socialization of boys and young men. By ordaining for some time, they learn the ideals of Thai Buddhist morality. Scholarship on youth's socialization into cultural models has often suggested a linear, unidirectional process in which “agents of socialization” instill in younger generations notions of what it means to be morally good. Such models presume consistent reinforcement of cultural models, often with the help of socially entrenched institutions. How young monastics experience divergent notions of what it means to be a good monastic, though, demonstrates that such a unidirectional model does not adequately address the ways in which morality and cultural models are constructed within interactions. I argue that religious institutions act as not only sites for the cultural reproduction of moral ideals but also as sites of everyday interactions where young monastics and their lay supporters reconstruct moral ideals anew. [morality, cultural models, youth, Thailand]