ABSTRACT
Rural Southeast Asia is paraded as the final redoubt of tradition. Southeast Asia is a diverse place and change is occurring across the region in different ways. While certain general statements can be made about the nature of rural change and emerging rural—urban relations it would be foolish not to acknowledge that there are multiple trajectories. The chapter is concerned with the impacts of change and how people have responded to them at the individual and household levels. Social change is important in a wider sense, and among younger age groups. Historical work has emphasized that multi-stranded livelihoods were the norm in many areas and among some groups of people. The interactions between farm and non-farm, and local and non-local, are critical to understanding many of the key developments in rural areas of the region. Economic reform has opened up far more opportunities for rural people, and many are endeavouring to construct livelihoods that embrace both farm and non-farm.
