For the majority of the Thai population it is axiomatic that to be Thai is to be Buddhist. Nevertheless, and not unnaturally, different individuals exhibit different degrees of religious commitment and interest and respond in a variety of ways to the religious opportunities available. The differences in temperament and personal inclination which to some extent condition this variety lie beyond the scope of the present study. Instead I have tried to analyze religious role performance in terms of its correlation with the social and economic status of individual actors. As will presently become clear a person's income, educational qualifications, and present life-style provide fairly reliable indicators as to how he will conceive of his role as a Buddhist: men from a rural background are for instance more likely than their urban fellows to make a career for themselves in the Buddhist Sangha.