Abstract:
This thesis aims to investigate the economic and social transformation, which were driven by forestry, in Mueang Phrae, from the period when the local capitalists entered the timber industry in 1936 up to the promulgation of the first national economic development plan in 1961.This study focuses on two groups of people who played important roles in the above mentioned transformationthe local capitalists of Mueang Phrae and forestry workers. Local capitalists started to amass capital through pack oxen trade and trade at the Den Chai train station. Later, they became contractors and sub-contractors for foreign companies in Mueang Phrae (1902-1936). Local capitalists in Mueang Phrae became more numerous and more influential with the establishment of the Forest Industry Organization (1947) and the Provincial Forestry Company (1955). Forestry workers consisted mostly of Khamu and local people. They worked and lived their lives in the Pang Mai under the control of the local capitalists who inherited certain management styles from foreign companies that were their predecessors.Forestry influenced economic transformation, especially the origination and proliferation of businesses and services, such as saw mills, tobacco factories, banks, markets, retailing, and hotels. Transportation systems and the physical characteristics of Mueang Phrae were also transformed in order to be compatible with the expansion of the economy. Moreover, the consumption of forestry workers also influenced economic growth in Mueang Phrae.In terms of social transformation, forestry contributed to the expansion of the educational system. The College of Forestry and the College of Carpentry were established and local capitalists invested in promoting education. Furthermore, the increase in influence of the money economy resulted in the transformation of peoples lifestyle and attitude towards the forest. This led to illegal logging, which in turn affected the ecology. A new patronage system, which evolved around local capitalists who had become powerful through forestry, was also established