Globalization and Moral Personhood: Dyadic Perspectives of the Moral Self in Rural and Urban Thai Communities

Although the psychology of globalization is a burgeoning area of research, literature on the topic remains primarily theoretical to date. This study empirically examined the moral psychological impact of globalization in northern Thailand, a rapidly globalizing cultural context. Eighty participants...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of adolescent research 2018-03, Vol.33 (2), p.209-246
Main Author: McKenzie, Jessica
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescents
Cultural Context
Dyads
Ethics
Globalization
Interviews
Mixed methods research
Morality
Parents & parenting
Personhood
Psychological theories
Resistance (Psychology)
Rural communities
Semi Structured Interviews
Sociocultural factors
Teenagers
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Summary:Although the psychology of globalization is a burgeoning area of research, literature on the topic remains primarily theoretical to date. This study empirically examined the moral psychological impact of globalization in northern Thailand, a rapidly globalizing cultural context. Eighty participants (20 adolescents and 20 parents in both a rural and an urban community) took part in semi-structured interviews on perceptions of morality and globalization. This article shares three sets of mixed-methods analyses of participants’ private moral experiences. Results indicated varying conceptions of morality and self across cultural and dyadic lines, and thus revealed a double-gap in moral personhood across contexts of globalization. Whereas the moral experiences, evaluations, and reasoning of rural adolescents and parents were characterized by similitude, those of urban adolescents and parents were characterized by divergence. Findings indicate an emergent intergenerational moral disconnect in the urban Thai setting. Situating interview data in light of ethnographic evidence gathered in community, school, and home contexts, this study suggests that globalization profoundly impacts moral reasoning and perceptions of oneself as a moral person.
ISSN:0743-5584
1552-6895
DOI:10.1177/0743558416670007