Rural Industry and Development in Central Thailand: An Alternative Approach

Abstract

Researchers in the area of rural industry are largely concerned with this sector’s potential to generate wealth and employment. Notwithstanding the significance of such an approach, this paper argues that the development of rural industry is as much a social and political process as an economic one. A political economy approach can provide not only a holistic understanding of the social and political ramifications of rural industry, but can also contribute to a critique of development policy. This argument is illustrated here through an analysis of the brick-making industry in a central Thai district.