Essay Sample on Thai Culture: Unique Social Values, Beliefs, & Arts

Introduction

The identified cultural groups is Thai. The culture is unique and distinctive based on social values, beliefs, norms, language, arts, communication, and architecture. Having a clear understanding of the Thai culture is the crucial aspect that enables an individual to interact and socialize with the people within the Thailand community. Every society or village has its cultural elements and perception towards particular aspects of lifestyle that makes it unique and different from the rest. It implies that every country has its values and norms that determine how people relate to each other and how they interact within society. The paper focuses on Thai culture identity and compare and contrast its symbolic representations in the U.S media by evaluating its role in mass media platforms.

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Thai Cultural Identity

The Thai social system comprised of people with distinctive cultural groups with definite values and norms that regulate relationships and social interaction among its people. Thai culture is deeply rooted in its local language and communication patterns that act as a symbolic representation and distinguishing it from other cultures across the world. Family matters in Thai culture placed at a central place, and it always comes first before anything else. Besides, the social status a person held in the society reflects how the person is treated, or honored. The status is not fixed, but it depends on how an individual relates and associate with others and adherence to the norms and values of the society.

Values and Language

The Thai language is much of tonal, unlike other languages such as English (Scott,2017). It implies that each word in the Thai language is symbolized by a specific pitch that determines how it should be spoken to enable people to understand each other. The language comprises of five tonal levels classified as either falling, low, high, mid, or rising. Understanding Thai language tonal variation is the most fundamental aspect during communication and translation of the message context and the intention.

Values are deeply rooted in the Buddhist religion that maintains good relationships among society. For instance, no matter how worse or prominent the problem could be, Thai people avoid indirect or direct actions that could hurt the people within the social system. They try to help one another rather than being selfish and trying to be the best in society.

Architecture, Pastimes, and Art

Thai's pastimes reveal critical information that defines contemporary art and architectural structure current today in Thailand. The ancient art primarily focused on the drawing and modeling of Buddhist sculpture and temple architectural structure. Currently, Thailand architecture has evolved and expressed through multiple forms transforming from social commentary in famous paintings to more complex sky-piercing towers that represent the creativity of Thai people. The magnificent Buddhist temple architectural structure and art referred to as "Stupa" is one of the Thai monuments that is responsible for the sustainable and enduring stabilities of the Buddhist religion (Scott,2017).

Communication

Communication among traditional Thai culture is the most critical aspect that unites and distinguishes Thai people from foreigners. The communication style contains some unique features known to Wai when they meet up together (Ghosh& Jayadat,2017). It is the standard form of greeting sign that acts as identification. The Wai greeting signs involves raising both hands with their palms joined fingers and touch any place between the chest. Besides, it is a symbol of courtesy and respect of which is demonstrated through the height hands got raised. Thai communication systems act as a symbol for peace and unity among the people. It helps to address challenges facing the community and promote coordination among Thai society.

Relational Roles, Societal Systems, and Behavior of Thai Cultural Aspects

The main focus of American society is first to address their personal needs, unlike in Thai cultural values, which takes social problems as a collective responsibility of all people within the nation. The individual's role within the social system and the relationship with the family is one the fundamental identity and consider everyone as within the community as family member unlike another social system like the American society that has a notion of every man for himself. As stated earlier, Buddhist values and norms are the binding factors of the existing relationship among Thai people.

References

Arts, M. (2016). The Role of Community-based Media in Strengthening, Preserving, and Promoting Identity and Culture: A Case Study of Eastern Thailand. https://research-repository.griffith.edu.au/bitstream/handle/10072/365572/Youkongpun_2017_01Thesis.pdf?sequence=1

Cheung, P. H. (2019). Asian American Representation and Stereotypes on Mainstream American Television: A Case Study of Fresh Off the Boat (Doctoral dissertation, Aarhus University). https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Pricilla_Cheung/publication/334051813_Asian_American_Representation_and_Stereotypes_on_Mainstream_American_Television_A_Case_Study_of_Fresh_Off_the_Boat/links/5d14a8f2299bf1547c8271ba/Asian-American-Representation-and-Stereotypes-on-Mainstream-American-Television-A-Case-Study-of-Fresh-Off-the-Boat.pdf

Ghosh, L., & Jayadat, K. (2017). Thai Language and Literature: Glimpses of Indian Influence. In India-Thailand Cultural Interactions (pp. 135-160). Springer, Singapore. https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-981-10-3854-9_9

Scott, R. M. (2017). Contemporary Thai Buddhism. In The Oxford Handbook of Contemporary Buddhism. https://www.oxfordhandbooks.com/abstract/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199362387.001.0001/oxfordhb-9780199362387-e-24

Seyfi, M., & Guven, D. (2016). Influence of new media on intercultural communication: an example of an Erasmus student. Information Sciences, 75, 24-37. https://www.ceeol.com/search/article-detail?id=461815