Throughout the working lives of men and women change of employers
was frequent, as they sought better or more suitable work. The option of
returning home (klap ban) for wage-earning men and women remained
ever-present as a coping mechanism in times of stress or difficulty, but in
reality rural villages could not support their populations. It has been
suggested that these persistent cultural characteristics have ensured that
Thailand’s industrial workforce has never been completely proletarianised
in terms of consciousness or attitudes to industrial work experience
(Odhnoff, McFarlane and Limqueco 1983: 66).6 On the other hand, engagement
with urban life had become so common as to be an accepted part of existence.