The beliefs, values, ideologies and myths that pervade Thai society have always been exploited by the powerful as tools to control, or harmonize, social norms, and set standards for people that are represented as an ideal of Thai "goodness" -- of the perfect subject in a concentric, essentially feudal setup. Gender roles too are used to offer a set of ready-made expectations of what constitutes the right man or the right woman in dichotomous power relations.

Masculinity in Thai society is inextricably bound up with certain ideas of strength and leadership that bind the family and society as a whole. In an ostensibly patriarchal society, masculinity is constructed not only in the family but also in education and national institutions. This covers both entitlements and obligations. Ordination as a monk to repay the debt of gratitude towards parents is one such unquestionable duty. Becoming a soldier, understood as a warrior, is in principle mandated by law to repay a young man's debt to the kind, familial nation, and failure to do so can mark him as a bad person who is cast out of the tightly wound circles of society. This conception of a man as a monk-solder also often requires certain behavioral displays that may strike foreigners as peculiar but are intended to demarcate the boundaries with unmanliness, which equates to being in error or "bad".

Funded by the International Relief Fund for Organisations in Culture and Education 2021
of the German Federal Foreign Office, the Goethe-Institut and other partners. goethe.de/relieffund