Merit-Making Capitalism
Re-territorializing Thai Buddhism in Silicon Valley, California
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 12469370 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Jiemin Bao (0000-0002-6082-2677, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2005 |
| Volume | 8 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 115-142 |
| Publication date | 2005-06-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of Asian American Studies (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1096-8598 • E-ISSN: 1097-2129 |
| Publisher | Project MUSE (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1353/jaas.2005.0035 |
| OpenAlex | W2012962609 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 7 |
| References cited | 15 |
This article examines how middle-class Thai Americans in Silicon Valley, California, conflate Thai Buddhism with capitalism, and how they convert economic capital into symbolic capital through merit-making. Moreover, it considers the effects of transnational migration on the re-territorialization of Buddhism and the social recognition of Thais in the United States. The ethnography shows that there are more than one set of criteria for potential convertibility in heterogeneous American society, and that some capitals are convertible only within the Thai American community. Despite such constraints, the community bonds with the Thai royal family, high-ranking monks, and the Thai elite, and also forges class alliances with men and women of diverse ethnic, racial, and religious backgrounds in the process of merit-making, articulating their "Thai-ness," and displaying their class status
Ancient history · Archaeology · Buddhism · Capital (architecture · Capitalism · Elite · Entrepreneurship · Ethnic group · Ethnology · Geography · Middle class · Political science · Silicon valley · Social capital · Social science · Sociology · Anthropology · Diaspora, migration, transnational identity · Gender Studies · History · Law · Migration, Ethnicity, and Economy · Southeast Asian Sociopolitical Studies
Old wisdom in the New World
Making Merit, Making Art
World Conqueror and World Renouncer
Culture, Power, Place
Localising the Universal
Empire of Crystal and Utopian Commune
Complexity in the Thai Religious System
Buddhism and National Integration in Thailand
Capitalisms in Late Modernity
Carnal Economies
Mother or Mistress but Never a Monk
The Alchemy of Charity
Buddhists and Buddhism in the United States
| Unique citing works | 7 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,35 |
| Citation span | 2006 - 2019 (14) |
| Citation velocity | historical |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 7 |