The Predicaments of (Some) Middle Class: A Preliminary Study of Way of Living and Voices Lost during the COVID-19 Pandemic
Article Sidebar
Main Article Content
Abstract
The objective of this study is to explore the difficult experiences and way of living of a group of urban middle class working in the service industry who became unheard victims of the COVID-19 pandemic. This study explores the hardships of 6 middle-class people living in Bangkok using the concept of ‘everyday suffering’ as a conceptual framework and adapting the tool of ‘walk-along interview’ to help explore how people experience and provide definitions to their world of life and the consequential effects to their wellbeing. The result is some groups of the urban middle class are still facing hardships. Not only are they facing pressure from accumulating debts and declining income, but the people are also facing distress from the instability of their job, fragile familial relationships, feeling of being overlooked by the state’s relief measures, and risk of falling down the social class ladder. As such, this group of the middle class is struggling to earn more income to relieve their situation in different ways based on their resources and background, whether they are utilizing technology to find an alternative source of income, becoming day laborers, or gathering resources from relatives to relieve the waves of crisis crashing in life and retain their life and social role as best as they can. However, their difficult experiences are buried and swept away in the background. Worse, some are even further looked down on by people around them, their values judged and their lives deemed as a failure.
Article Details
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
References
Sadati, A. K., Lankarani, M. H. B., & Lankarani, K. B. (2020). Risk society, global vulnerability and fragile resilience; sociological view on the Coronavirus outbreak. Shiraz E-Medical Journal, 21(4). http://emedicalj.com/articles/102263.html.
Manderson, L., & Levine S. (2020). Covid-19, risk, fear, and fall-out. Medical Anthropology, 39(5), 367–370. doi.org/10.1080/01459740.2020.1746301.
Hardy, B., & Ziliak, J. (2020, April 15). Money, money, money: The fiscal Response to Covid-19. https://www.brookings.edu/blog/up-front/2020/03/24/money-moneymoney-the-fiscal-response-to-covid-19/.
United Nations. (2020, April 15). Everyone included: Social impact of Covid-19. https://www.un.org/development/desa/dspd/everyone-included-covid-19.html.
Montgomery, C., & Engelmann, L. (2020, April 15). Domestication of modelling in the era of Covid-19. http://somatosphere.net/2020/epidemiological-publics-on-the-domestication-of-modelling-in-the-era-of-covid-19.
Segata, J. (2020, April 15). Covid-19: Scales of pandemics and scales of anthropology. http://somatosphere.net/2020/covid-19-scales-of-pandemics-and-scales-of-anthropology.
Chaiwat, T., Mai-Ngam, N., Dumchuen, N., Amesbutr, J., Thana, P., & Chaisrilak, C. (2020, April 30). Behavioral economics on life journey and collective action of Thai household in Covid-19 situation. https://kb.hsri.or.th/dspace/handle/11228/5233. (In Thai).
Parmet, W. E., & Sinha, M. S. (2020). Covid-19 – the law and limits of quarantine. New England Journal of Medicine, 382(15), 1-3. doi: 10.1056/NEJMp2004211.
Reeves, R. V., & Rothwell, J. (2020, April 15). Class and Covid: How the less affluent face double risks. https://www.brookings.edu/blog/upfront/2020/03/27/class-and-covidhow-the-less-affluent-face-double-risks.
Ahmed, F., Ahmed, N., Pissarides, C., & Stiglitz, J. (2020). Why inequality could spread Covid-19. Lancet, 5(5), E240. doi.org/10.1016/S2468-2667(20)30085-2.
Sattayanurak, A., Pintobtang, P., Preechasinlapakun, S., & Visetpricha, B. (2020, April 20). A summary of survey results “the urban poor in Covid-19 crisis” and suggestions to Thai government: A dynamics of urban poor in the changing urban society research project. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1gYuoD9IrSsbZsSIUSbvptdrJxKMfxjmc/view?fbclid=IwAR3vNLAniQp1KKwPrQQTJXts5fTs9VMwZP-vx8ErV_IrcPhOMNPtuTg8AlE). (In Thai)
Khunti, K., Singh, A. K., Pareek, M., & Hanif, W. (2020). Is ethnicity linked to incidence or outcomes of Covid-19? British Medical Journal, 369(8243), m1548 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.m1548.
Guadagno, L. (2020). Migrants and the Covid-19 pandemic: An initial analysis. International Organization for Migration.
Orcutt, M., Patel, P., Burns, R., Hiam, L., Aldridge, R., Devakumar, D., Kumar, B., Spiegel, P., & Abubakar, I. (2020). Global call to action for inclusion of migrants and refugees in the Covid-19. Lancet, 395(10235), 1482–1483. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(20)30971-5.
Maboloc, C. R. (2020). Who is the most vulnerable during a pandemic? The social model of disability and the Covid-19 crisis. Eubios Journal of Asian and International Bioethics, 30(4), 158–161.
Fraser, E. (2020, April 15). Impact of Covid-19 pandemic on violence against women and girls. VAWG Helpdesk Research Report 284. https://www.sddirect.org.uk/media/1881/vawg-helpdesk-284-covid-19-and-vawg.pdf.
Peterman, A., Potts, A., O’Donnell, M., Thompson, K., Shah, N., Oertelt-Prigione, S., & van Gelder, N. (2020, April 15). Pandemics and violence against women and children. https://www.cgdev.org/sites/default/files/pandemics-and-vawg-april2.pdf.
United Nations. (2020, April 15). Policy brief: The impact of Coivd-19 on women. https://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/policy-brief-the-impact-of-covid-19-on-women-en.pdf.
Marshall, J., Wiltshire, J., Delva, J., & Bello, T. (2020). Natural and manmade disasters: Vulnerable populations. Springer.
Heard, E., Fitzgerald, L., Wigginton, B., & Mutch, A. (2019). Applying intersectionality theory in health promotion research and practice. Health Promotion International, 35(4), 866-876. doi: 10.1093/heapro/daz080.
Lopez, N., & Gadsden, V. L. (2016, April 15). Health inequities, social determinants, and intersectionality. Discussion paper, National Academy of Medicine. https://nam.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/Health-Inequities-Social-Determinants-and-Intersectionality.pdf.
Hokari, G., Miyabe, Y., Thanwongprasert, N., Threeapatsakul, A., Tienprasertkij, A. devi Attamimi, F.E., … & Sakai, T. (2015). The seamless middle: New perspectives on the ASEAN middle class. HAKUHODO Institute of Life and Living ASEAN.
Chuenchoksan, S., Suwannik, S., & Suksumake T. (2019). Thai household debt: The facts from BOT-Nielsen household financial survey. Focus And Quick (FAQ), 1(143) https://www.bot.or.th/Thai/MonetaryPolicy/ArticleAndResearch/FAQ/FAQ_143.pdf. (In Thai)
Thairath Online. (2020, April 15). Editorial: Help all groups of Thai people. Thairath Online. https://www.thairath.co.th/news/politic/1820396. (In Thai)
Davis, J. E. (2020). Chemically imbalanced: Everyday suffering, medication, and our troubled quest for self-mastery. The University of Chicago Press.
Das, V. (2015). Affliction: Health, disease, poverty. Fordham University Press.
Sofaer, S. (1999). Qualitative methods: What are they and why use them? Health Services Research, 34(5 Pt 2), 1101–1118.
Grohmann, S. (2020). Covid-19’s ‘Safe Space’ for the homeless. HAU. https://haubooks.org/grohmann-covid19homeless/?fbclid=IwAR0w_MkS71AX0EzC_xii5YMcIWsr8Ase9dTh5bF5EAX2Y2EssDovgEQyvX.
Bernard, H. R. (2006). Research methods in anthropology: Qualitative and quantitative approaches. (4th Ed.). Altamira Press.
Carpiano, R. M. (2009). Come take a walk with me: The “go-along” interview as a novel method for studying the implications of place for health and well-being. Health & Place, 15(1), 263–272. doi: 10.1016/j.healthplace.2008.05.003.
Finlay, J. M., & Bowman, J. A. (2017). Geographies on the move: A practical and theoretical approach to the mobile interview. The Professional Geographer, 69(2), 263–274.
Atkinson, R., & Flint, J. (2001). Accessing hidden and hard-to-reach populations: Snowball research strategies. Social Research Update, 33(1), 1–4.
Orn, pseudonym. (Interviewee), Tangopasvilaisakul, P. (Interviewer), April 4, 2020. (In Thai).
Phuangprayong, K., & Noonin, K. (2020, April 26). The survey report: Impacts, adaptation, and altruistic behavior of working-age population in Bangkok Metropolitan Region amidst of the Covid-19 crisis. https://www.facebook.com/169059186777803/posts/114925208209183. (In Thai)
Buheji, M., & Ahmed, D. (2020). Retaining a concrete (middle class) in post COVID-19 era. American Journal of Economics, 10(6), 425–432.
South China Morning Post. (2020). Coronavirus pandemic puts millions of middle class Southeast Asians at risk of poverty. South China Morning Post. https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/3105600/coronavirus-pandemic-puts-millions-middle-class-southeast.
Singh, K. D., & Kumar, H. (2021). Covid-19 pushes India’s middle class toward poverty. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/16/business/economy/india-covid19-middle-class.html.
Bank, pseudonym. (Interviewee), Tangopasvilaisakul, P. (Interviewer), March 31, 2020. (In Thai)
Jang, pseudonym. (Interviewee), Tangopasvilaisakul, P. (Interviewer), April 12, 2020. (In Thai)
Non, pseudonym. (Interviewee), Tangopasvilaisakul, P. (Interviewer), April 5, 2020. (In Thai)
Thim, pseudonym. (Interviewee), Tangopasvilaisakul, P. (Interviewer), April 8, 2020. (In Thai)
Kwan, pseudonym. (Interviewee), Tangopasvilaisakul, P. (Interviewer), April 1, 2020. (In Thai)
Harvey, D. (2003). The new imperialism. Oxford University Press.
Livingstone, D. W., & Scholtz, A. (2016). Reconnecting class and production relations in an advanced capitalist ‘knowledge economy’: Changing class structure and class consciousness. Capital & Class, 40(3) 469-493. doi: 10.1177/0309816816653882.
Ross, A. (2009). Nice work if you can get it: Life and labor in precarious times. NYU Press.
Spivak, G. C. (2010). Can the subaltern speak? In R. C. Morris (Ed.), Can the subaltern speak? Reflections on the history of an idea (pp. 66–111). Columbia University Press.
Scott, J. C. (1985). Weapons of the weak: Everyday forms of peasant resistance. Yale University Press.
Pyysiäinen, J., Halpin, D., & Guilfoyle, A. (2017). Neoliberal governance and ‘responsibilization’ of agents: Reassessing the mechanisms of responsibility-shift in neoliberal discursive environments. Distinktion: Journal of Social Theory, 18(2), 215–235. doi: 10.1080/1600910X.2017.1331858.
Bourdieu, P. (1998). Acts of resistance: Against the tyranny of the market. (R. Nice, Trans.). The New Press.
Rojo, L. M. (2018). Neoliberalism and linguistic governmentality. In J. W. Tollefson & M. Perez-Milans (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of language policy and planning (pp. 544–567). Oxford University Press.
McGuigan, J. (2014). The neoliberal self. Culture Unbound, 6(1), 223–240.
Ren, H. (2013). The middle class in neoliberal China: Governing risk, life-building, and themed spaces. Routledge.
Hardes, J. (2016). Law, immunization and the right to die. Routledge.
Mavelli, L. (2017). Governing the resilience of neoliberalism through biopolitics. European Journal of International Relations, 23(3), 489–512.
Rose, N. (1996). Governing ‘advanced’ liberal democracies. In A. Barry, T. Osborne & N. Rose (Eds.), Foucault and political reason (pp. 37–64). Chicago University Press.
Brown, S., Shoveller, J., Chabot, C., & La Montagne, A. (2013). Risk, resistance and the neoliberal agenda: Young people, health and well-being in the UK, Canada and Australia. Health, Risk & Society, 15(4), 333–346.
Ryan, W. (2009). The art of savage discovery: How to blame the victim. In A. Leon-Guerrero & K. M. Zentgraf (Eds.), Contemporary readings in social problem (pp. 6–15). Sage Publications.
Butler, J., & Athanasiou, A. (2013). Dispossession: The performative in the political. Polity Press.
Bourgois, P. (2001). Culture of poverty. In N. J. Smelser & P. B. Baltes (Eds.), International encyclopedia of the social & behavioral sciences (pp. 11904–11907). Pergamon.
BBC. (2020, 22 March). Coronaravirus: 188 of new Covid-19 cases found, the MoPH has urged people to stay at home. BBC. https://www.bbc.com/thai/thailand-51992489. (In Thai)
Jaffe, R., & de Koning, A. (2016). Introducing urban anthropology. Routledge.
Yazici, B. (2013). Toward an anthropology of traffic: A ride through class hierarchies on Istanbul’s roadway. Ethnos 78(4), 515–542.
Rijal, B. (2020, April 20). Walking becomes political during the pandemic. https://anthrodendum.org/2020/04/30/walking-becomes-political-during-the-pandemic.
Thairath Online. (2020b, April 19). Causes of why electric bills increase so high, Thais complain about fraudulent water meter bills making the Covid-19 crisis get worsen. Thairath Online. https://www.thairath.co.th/news/local/bangkok/1824909. (In Thai).
Lewis, O. (2012). The culture of poverty. In G. Gmelch, R. V. Kemper & W. P. Zenner (Eds.), Urban life: Readings in the anthropology of the city (pp. 175–184.). (5th Ed.). Waveland Press.
Goode, J. (2002). How urban ethnography counters myths about the poor. In G. Gmelch, R. V. Kemper & W. P. Zenner (Eds.), Urban life: Readings in the anthropology of the city (pp. 185–201). (5th Ed.). Waveland Press.
Small, M. L., Harding, D. J., & Lamont, M. (2010). Introduction: Reconsidering culture and poverty. The Annals of the American Academy, 629(1), 6–27. doi: 10.1177/0002716210362077.