ABSTRACT
This chapter presents fieldwork conducted in Thailand to explore how national and local characteristics affect wellbeing aspirations, the wellbeing strategies adopted and the ability to satisfy wellbeing goals. The chapter explains a case study of a peri-urban village in the Northeast of Thailand in order to explore a variety of community group experiences. Wellbeing is understood as having both objective and subjective components, and individual and collective dimensions. Contemporary Thai development policy has emerged from a context of mixed fortunes in Thailand and the region as a whole. Remarkable economic growth rates have been accompanied by uneven development, widening inequalities and the persistence of poverty, particularly in the Northeast and the South. The evidence from Ban Lao also suggests that group functions and operations were filling the gaps left by the changing nature of Thailand's employment opportunities.
