Abstract:
This study aimed to: 1) investigate the contexts of marginalized seniors in Bangkok, 2)
investigate social welfares for the elderly in other countries, and 3) explore the status of social welfare for marginalized seniors in Bangkok. The research employed qualitative methodology and reviewed related literature. Data were collected through in-depth interviews with 67 seniors, the number of which was 10% of the total number of seniors from 662 communities in fifty districts of Bangkok. Data were analyzed based on related literature and theories including theories of social gaps with emphasis on the history of education in Thailand that contributed to the movement of loweducated workers which resulted in the settlement of labors in slum communities as a marginalized group. The seniors in this group needed to encounter limitations in social welfare as not all of them
could access to it. Those limitations were caused by the Thai public administration system on the basis of bureaucratic polity resulting in social gaps. According to the result, most marginalized seniors did not have Thai citizen identification numbers since they did not submit a request for the renewal. The bureaucratic system without ineffective public relations contributed to gaps in social welfare as follows: 1) education where seniors were required to have to register or participate in a program, 2) economy and assets where social welfare was inaccessible to informal workers, 3) health where seniors suffered from the complexity of health care systems, 4 ) housing where properties were not owned by marginalized seniors, and 5) digital technology where seniors lacked knowledge. If we realize those gaps, we will understand the problems. In addition, to increase national wealth and promote sustainability and to correspond with the 20-Year National Strategy,
the result can be applied to the development of social welfare policy for practical use to reduce gaps.