ยุทธวิธีการจัดการชีวิตเดินทางของนักท่องเที่ยวแรงงานภายใต้ระบอบการเคลื่อนย้าย: กรณีศึกษาคนไทยที่เข้าร่วมโครงการทำงานและท่องเที่ยวในประเทศออสเตรเลีย

Abstract

In the past decade, there is a phenomenon of a group of Thai new generation, university students and young workers, go abroad to work and travel for a short period under the supervision of governmental and private programs. Thailand is one of examples in Asian countries that the numbers of this group has been increased rapidly. The focus of the study is on "Thai Working Tourists", who join the Work and Holiday scheme in Australia. The objectives of this study are 1) To investigate roles of the state and family as contexts, which are important structures for managements and movements of Thai working tourists. 2) To study the strategies in managements and adjustments of confrontation engagements of Thai working tourists under conditions, in which the state and family have significant parts in mobility. The methodology is qualitative, interviewing and observing Thai youth who joined the program in 2018-2019. This study has 2 important findings. First, the study reveals that Thai Working Tourists never move easily according to the concept of globalization. They are being controlled by "'Mobility Regime", which is under the power structure that has 2 levels 1) State power, reflected by the Australian government directing movements via key instruments, which are the immigration policy, international agreements and visa regulations. The state wants to gain economic interests from Neoliberalism and constructing an image of Australia's multicultural society. 2) The role of family is to facilitate trips financially and educationally. The family also listens and gives freedom for them to choose. Meanwhile, in some cases, the family also situates travel frictions for them. Second, the young Thais who gain the status of "Working Tourist', may seem to benefit from learning new experiences by travelling. On the other hand, they are facing the regulations of the visa, which limit their status as a primarily tourist and as a temporary migrant worker. Hence, they aren't protected by regulations as regular workers. They usually put to work as unskilled labors, mismatching with their education backgrounds and proficiency. They normally receive under paid wages and can't negotiate with employers. With such conditions, Thai youth adjust and negotiate at their confrontation points with various strategies such as 1) Applying diverse accumulated capitals to deal with immediate problems. 2) Creating new social networks among the Thai youth to make a new living possible. The new network also assists negotiating with government regulations. The network also used for social promotions in the destinated countries as well.