Spiritual Impact of Thailand’s Urbanization on Culture and Traditions: A Historical Approach

Abstract

Impacts of urbanization on spirituality may vary from changing lifestyles, opportunity inequities, rise in non-communicable disease resulting in changes of culture, traditions and health. The objectives of this study are as the followings, a) Review and demonstrate the impact of urbanization on spirituality through changing cultures and traditions in Thailand evolving modern society (after World War II) b) Study the people’s perception of the impact from urbanization as well as health status in urbanizing area. The study consists of 3 phases,in the fi rst phase, reviewing papers about the evolution of Thai cultures and traditions from 1950s to present in correlation with the country’s national socioeconomic development plan and focus groups on impact of urbanization on culture and traditions are used. In the second phase, questionnaires evaluating the perception of the impact of urbanization on age-specific health are analyzed using chi-square. As a result, urbanization in correlation with The National Socioeconomic Plan shows evolution of infl uence on spirituality concerning cultures and traditions. Focus groups reveal dissatisfaction overshadow the benefi ts of urbanization while questionnaires demonstrate the impact of urbanization upon health perception with189 out of 298 participants (63.42 %) yield conclusion of high perception of urbanization impact upon health and spirituality (57.98% - 68.89%) at 95% confi dent interval with statistical signifi cance only in the early working life and elderly group. Urbanization have influence on culture, tradition and health in various ways, changing the population spirituality. Support from social system, Buddhism, families and communities should strengthen actions as a buffer preventing spiritual collapse from urbanization.