Thailand. Living with risk: Precarity and Bangkok's urban poor By Tamaki Endo Singapore: NUS Press; Kyoto: Kyoto University Press, 2014. Pp. 333. Tables, Figures, Plates, Notes, Bibliography, Index.

Abstract

Living with risk: Precarity and Bangkok's urban poor By TAMAKI ENDO Singapore: NUS Press; Kyoto: Kyoto University Press, 2014. Pp. 333. Tables, Figures, Plates, Notes, Bibliography, Index. Living with risk is an exploration of the precarious lives of Bangkok's urban poor. Tamaki Endo argues that the urban poor are not only defined by their income levels, but perhaps more importantly, also by the nature of their lives and the texture of their livelihoods. So the issue is not just a quantitative one determined and demarcated by a money-centric view of poverty, but also a qualitative one where we need to ask questions and collect evidence regarding the quality of working conditions and living arrangements among Bangkok's marginal and marginalised 'poor'. The book is impressively rich in empirical terms and the discussion is supported by a host of footnotes, tables and figures, scores of photographs, nine appendices, three bibliographies.... This is a fact- and evidence-rich exploration of Bangkok's poor. To pursue her argument, Endo embraces three entry points for her discussion. She is interested, to begin with, in the spatial configurations of low income communities, as distinct and discrete slices of Bangkok's urban space. Second, she is interested in the social containers that are to be found within these spaces and, in particular, households/families and 'communities', and how individuals sit within these social units. And third, Endo is interested in the social dynamics of change, in particular through the analysis and interpretation of life course and intergenerational relations. A final organisational theme in Endo's book is an interest in two types of risk: fire risk and employment risk. It is these twin risks which provide the author with the scope to embed her discussion within debates over 'precarity'. For someone wishing to find out more about the living conditions of Bangkok's poor this is a wonderful place to start; Living with risk can be mined for a host of material. But I thought that the density of the discussion and material presented sometimes meant that the argument Endo develops became a little lost from sight. There is simply so much going on, and so many different perspectives, that it is hard to see the wood for the trees. That is a shame because the underlying argument is an important one and worth hearing. As Endo puts it, 'This book attempts to understand the contemporary urban lower class and their community [in Bangkok], the state of its employment and living conditions, and its stratification, from the perspectives of individuals who live in the community' (p. …