A flyer from Asia Books has let me know that there will be one of their shops in the new Plaza Shopping Mall in Khon Kaen – I went past on the way to the airport during my trip there a couple of weeks ago. It is nearly finished and shop be open some time in the next few weeks, I believe: there is plenty of car parking and a Robinson’s Department Store and, no doubt, the usual other range of retail outlets. It is the first Asia Books in Isan – not in itself an earth-shattering fact but symptomatic of the way that urban centres are changing in Thailand.
The Optimistic View: new opportunities for people to enjoy more products and good new indoor jobs in decent circumstances. Globalisation makes people’s lives better and opens up new markets for individuals and companies. It is what people want – as will no doubt be seen when the doors open.
The Pessimistic View: the middle classes open up new spaces that will not only exclude the poor but will eliminate their livelihoods and their work. Air conditioned malls and wider streets for middle class cars reduce street opportunities for the poor and increase the carbon footprint. People are sucked into consumption and production of goods for which they have no real need. Greed increases.
Well, as good Hegelians all, we apply the dialectical method for a synthesis – there is of course a need for proper research to work out which of the above arguments are really influential and which are chimeras. The provision of decent jobs is an important part of government’s responsibility and encouraging the growth of new businesses tends to encourage decent work – it may be characterised as demeaning in some cases but it is better, for many people, than the alternative.
