Publicness and Taken-for-granted Knowledge: A Case Study of Communal Land Formation in Rural Thailand

Shinichi Shigetomi

No 108, IDE Discussion Papers from Institute of Developing Economies, Japan External Trade Organization(JETRO)

Abstract: The lack of public-mindedness can cause problems in the social order of people’s daily lives, such as the tragedy of the commons and the problem of free riders. Some scholars such as Habermas assert that communicative rationality is the solution, expecting that individuals will communicate with each other to reach a consensus without being bounded by aspects of social background. Other scholars advocate the revitalization of traditional community culture. These arguments, however, are not based on reality. By using the case of communal land formation in rural Thailand, the author shows that collective action is neither a revival of tradition nor a result of communication free from social constraints. Rather, cooperation emerges because the people rationally respond to their present needs and have built, through daily social interactions, taken-for-granted knowledge about how they should behave for cooperation.

Keywords: Local organization; Rural development; Thailand; Public sphere; Community forest; Communal land; Community; Forest; 地域組織; 農村開発; タイ; 公共空間; コミュニティ林; 共有地; 森林 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O18 Q15 Q23 Z13 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2007-06-01
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-agr, nep-dev, nep-knm, nep-sea and nep-soc
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Published in IDE Discussion Paper = IDE Discussion Paper, No. 108. 2007-06-01

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