When Mothering Alone: Passive-Aggressive Social Exclusion of Single Mothers in Thailand

This chapter examines current government policy related to single mothers in Thailand and its impact on this marginalized group. Using passive-aggressive social exclusion as a new typology to investigate the social exclusion of single mothers in Thailand, this study looks at the challenges they face due to the deliberate inaction of the Thai government. Based on an analysis of government policy documents and NGO reports, and in-depth interviews conducted with 85 single mothers and 5 social workers, I discover that the government has shown no interest in providing adequate support to the increasing number of single mothers. This inaction has resulted in single mothers being socially excluded through what I call a passive-aggressive exclusion policy, the impacts of which extend from political non-categorization to social, cultural, and economic negligence and thus deprivation. This study contributes to existing research in two ways. (1) It offers a new typology (passive-aggressive social exclusion) to understand how social exclusion can result from government inaction and administrative lethargy. (2) It calls on the Thai government to improve its policies for single mothers by considering how multiple markers of marginalization compound the risk of social exclusion.