Ideology of “Housewives” in Maeban Magazine during 1977-2019

Abstract

           This article is a part of the research. The objective of this study was ideology analysis "Housewives" in Maeban Magazine between 1977 and 2019. This was a qualitative research based on the study through the column content and advertising content in Maeban Magazine, from the beginning of production until the end of production, total age of 43 years with 602 issues. The selected data for analysis were the text written in advertisements and articles, which commented on housewife from thepoint of view of housewives and groups of people who interacted with housewives, through a language strategy that reflected the ideology of "housewives", each decade from 1977 to 2019, from economic, social and cultural contexts, which were hidden in the script that could change according to the era and could be overlooked, by bringing about "criticism", based on the concept of Fairclough.           The results showed that there were four ideologies of “housewives” reflected through the use of a language strategy in Maeban Magazine, during the period 1977-2019 as follows: 1) patriarchal ideology reflected what society expected women to be housewives, and had to be under the power of their husbands to make everyone in their families satisfy and happy; 2)consumerism ideology was a desirable ideology for housewives who wanted to use various objects to promote the creation of desirable housewives values;  3) feminist ideology was a powerhouse, convenience and flexibility in doing things, according to satisfaction, from choosing to do things, and to make more decisions to do things on their own; and 4) ideology according to government policies could let housewives play an important role in driving, and contributing to the development of the economy, society and country to be prosperous. Housewives are therefore considered to play an important role, no less than a butler or a man at that time in Thai society and including the present.