Panatda Chumnansook. Speed, violence and sex : marginality, identity and road traffic infuries among young motorcyclists . Doctoral Degree(Medical and Health Social Sciences). Mahidol University. : Mahidol University, 2007.
Speed, violence and sex : marginality, identity and road traffic infuries among young motorcyclists
Abstract:
The purpose of this thesis is to study the world of young motorcyclists and
their severe road traffic injuries. The methods for data collection were interviews and
entering into the world of young motorcyclists by ethnographic techniques for three
years. This study attempts to understand motorcycle fetishism among teenagers in
a provincial town of eastern Thailand. The study suggests that a motorcycle as
a commodity is endowed with values, meanings, and utilities far more than its
transportation function. Social meanings of motorcycles change in relation to
the changing ages and phases in a teenagers life. As a vehicle for everyday errands
and helping out parents, or for traveling to school in a district town, motorcycles
assume a new meaning as teenagers become owners. Attitudes to motorcycles change
from a human to object relationship to an ownership between two beings in which
care, commitment, and deep emotional ties connect the teenager to his or her
vehicle. A motorcycle in the teenagers world is more than just a commodity, it is
an object of fetishism. This obsessive affection could be viewed as the highest form of
consumption, a consumption that needs to be taken care of, not unlike a living thing.
The severe road traffic injuries are a reflection of Thai society. It is not
a problem of skill but a problem related with teenagers lifestyle today and how they
express their identities, which is a result of consumerism in society. The motorcycle
has led them into another world, where they meet new people and make more friends.
The bike was the key to this world and thus became a status symbol to be cherished.
They are good at nothing; nothing they could be proud of. The motorcycle allows
them to have social space. The vehicle is the gateway to many problems such as
discontinued study, drugs, street violence and crime as well as free unprotected sex.
The motorcycle is the cause that leads the kids to other problems. It is a large issue
that people overlook. It links with social violence and crime. Actually, there is a chain
of problems. If policy makers understand the whole problem clearly, they may see
a new way to solve it. Otherwise it will just continue to loop. This study sheds light
on the fact that road traffic accidents and related-injuries among young motorcyclists
are complex social problems that require a paradigm shift in understanding and
solving