Lao Social Structure
Boike Rehbein, Ph.D.
Acting Chair of Sociology
University of Freiburg
Germany
The tendencies of globalization start to reach the hinterland of the global
periphery, to which the small country of Laos certainly belongs. What do the
concomitant changes mean for the country’s social structure? To answer this
question, the paper draws on the sociology of Pierre Bourdieu. Social structure
is conceived of as a hierarchy of “fields”, the structure of which is determined
by the social agents’ resources or “capital”. Globalization can be understood as
a global differentiation of fields leading to integration as well as
diversification. From this perspective, Lao social structure forms a system in
itself and part of regional and global structures. To analyze current changes in
Lao social structure, the evolution of social fields has to be understood in
global and local terms. The agents’ position within the structure depends on the
value of their social capital on the emerging fields in Lao society. Two
dimensions have to be added to Bourdieu’s concept. First, social structure
cannot be reduced to differences in capital alone but is shaped by cultural
patterns of action as well. Second, historical differences and patterns still
persist (somewhat covertly). The elements of these dimensions form a specific
configuration, which might be called a socio-cultural structure. In Laos, we can
determine the emergence of two main fields (economic and political) – as in
Western countries. On these fields, agents adhere to cultures of patrimonialism
(Ernst Boesch), subsistence ethics (James Scott), occasionalism and rationalism
(Max Weber), while differing in their possibilities of action. These are
changing due to global, regional, and local tendencies. The paper is to present
the most important aspects of the relation between resources, current tendencies
and cultures on the economic and political fields.