Merit-Making Capitalism: Re-territorializing Thai Buddhism in Silicon Valley, California

@article{Bao2005MeritMakingCR,
  title={Merit-Making Capitalism: Re-territorializing Thai Buddhism in Silicon Valley, California},
  author={Jiemin Bao},
  journal={Journal of Asian American Studies},
  year={2005},
  volume={8},
  pages={115 - 142}
}
  • J. Bao
  • Published 23 September 2005
  • Sociology
  • Journal of Asian American Studies
This article examines how middle-class Thai Americans in Silicon Valley, California, conflate Thai Buddhism with capitalism, and how they convert economic capital into symbolic capital through merit-making. Moreover, it considers the effects of transnational migration on the re-territorialization of Buddhism and the social recognition of Thais in the United States. The ethnography shows that there are more than one set of criteria for potential convertibility in heterogeneous American society… 
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