This dissertation is an attempt to understand why and how "credentialism" has been institutionalized in Thailand. Credentialism is conceptualized as the whole set of belief systems which are in favor of formal education, educational expansion, and the credentialization process in the job market. Credentialism is manifested in society as a general perception which holds that one's educational credentials are the most important factor determining one's future social, political, and economic status. It manifests itself through a certain pattern of dynamic of educational institutions and the job market. / The rapid expansion of credentialism around the world, especially since the World War II, reflects the wide-ranging influence of the "traditional" (classical, neo-classical, functionalist) perspective on the nature of social change, the meaning of development and causes of underdevelopment, and assumptions that the role of education plays in these. With this traditional perspective, the (formal) educational institution is thus seen as a mechanism to ameliorate all the conditions categorized as "underdevelopment" in the Third World. Such a view has been theoretically supported by the human capital/functionalist interpretation of the role and effects of education. Credentialism, hence, can be seen as an ideology which emanates from the theories embedded in this human capital, and functionalist, position. / After decades of the "Age of Education," however, problems such as poverty (measured in terms of income distribution gap) and unemployment, still exist and appear in an even more subtle form. Some alternative views on education and its effects thus have been postulated, based on a different perspective of social change, alternate definition of development and causes of underdevelopment, and assumptions of the role of education. These alternative paradigms reflect a concern over the dominant paradigm's belief in credentialism. There have been some attempts recently to examine the extent and context of credentialism. There are still very few works which have tried to show why and how credentialism is developed and institutionalized in a society. This dissertation attempts to shed some light on the aspect of "how and why" by looking, historically, at the relationships between the dynamism of the credentialist system and the conditions that have shaped it in Thailand. . . . (Author's abstract exceeds stipulated maximum length. Discontinued here with permission of author.) UMI / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 43-12, Section: A, page: 4026. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1982.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_74971 |
| Contributors | PANPIPAT-GREER, SAOWANEE., Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text |
| Format | 247 p. |
| Rights | On campus use only. |
| Relation | Dissertation Abstracts International |
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