重新審視泰國民主：論社會媒體對政治運動的影響 - 政大學術集成

全文

(1)NATIONAL CHENGCHI UNIVERSITY INTERNATIONAL DOCTORAL PROGRAM IN ASIA-PACIFIC STUDIES 國立政治大學亞太研究英語博士學位學程. 立. 政治大. Ph.D. Dissertation 博士論文. ‧. ‧ 國. 學 it. Nat. RETHINKING THAI DEMOCRACY: THE IMPACT OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON POLITICAL MOVEMENT IN TIME OF POLITICAL CONFLICT. io. n. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. 指導教授: 陳敦源博士 Supervisor: Dr. Chen, Dong-Yun. NON NAPRATHANSUK 2014. s. al. er. 重新審視泰國民主：論社會媒體對政治運動的影響.

(2) i ABSTRACT. Thailand has experienced political instability since 2005 until present. The political conflict has divided people into two factions, the supporters and the opponents. First faction is the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD). On the other side, the political movements of the anti-government faction are led by the People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD) and People’s Democratic Reform Committee (PDRC). Social media such as Facebook, Line and YouTube have become the. 政治大. new tools for communication which are used to create change in social movements and political movements around the world. The new tools have revolutionized the social. 立. movements’paradigm and theory.. ‧ 國. 學. This research thus aimed to study social media by focusing on the. relationship between Facebook platform and Thai political movements. Both qualitative. ‧. and quantitative methodologies were applied in this research as the tool to find an answer of the main question. The total amount of 1,500 survey questionnaire samples. it. Nat. were distributed to respondents nationwide, and Pearson’s chi-squared test was applied. io. er. to examine the relationship between social media (Facebook) and political movements. Finally, a result of the study showed that Thai people had different. n. al. i n U. v. democratic ideologies, and that conflict of ideas had been accumulated and turned into. Ch. engchi. the bedrock of political turmoil in this era. Moreover, it was found that Facebook was an amplifier, connector, and accelerator for political movement. Having Facebook as the new communication tool, Thai people in the society were encouraged to participate political movements rather than individual group or class movement presented in Thai history before. Social media such as Facebook linked cyber space and public space together through the new method of idea and information distribution and people mobilization. This motivated citizen to demonstrate on stress occupying government buildings and department stores. Therefore, political reconciliation should be concerned with democracy from the Thai society perspective rather than the Western one..

(3) ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This dissertation cannot be completed without supports from my grandmother, my mother, my wife, Professor Chen Don-Yun, Professor Yang Hao, Professor Sun Tsai Wei, Professor Samuel C. Y. Ku, and Professor Shangmao Chen, and many goods friends. I also would like to express my appreciation to professors and staffs in the International Doctoral Programs in Asia-Pacific Studies (IDAS) department. I would like to thank you Angel Lee, who helped me to take care of the paperwork, and Professor Berman, who provided me ideas and enlighten me by his public. 政治大 Moreover, I would like to offer my gratitude to Maejo University for 立 giving me an opportunity to continue my academic journey in National Chenchi administration and research knowledge.. ‧ 國. 學. University. Also, I would like to thank National Chengchi University for embracing me with support and warmth during the time I was studying here. NCCU’s courses in. for students to choose regarding their specific interests.. ‧. Asia-Pacific Studies are useful and up-to-date area studies which offer many tracks. Nat. it. This dissertation focuses on the impact of social media on social. al. er. io. movements in Thailand, where I was born and raised. Social media are tools for communication that help us to be able to share our feelings and thoughts nowadays.. n. v i n As they bring us closer than to be, I believe that we not only can talk and Cwe U h eused i h n c g express our feelings and thoughts more but also can listen and understand people who have different thoughts more. Therefore, I hope this dissertation will be one of the small candles which are lighten up for a better life of Thais and help the audiences to understand people who have different thinking and way of life. Above all, I would like to dedicate this dissertation to my dad who passed away while I was studying at NCCU. Although he is not here to witness my success, I do believe he knows that I made it. Thank you so much for everything. I love you Dad..

(4) iii TABLE OF CONTENTS. Pages ABSTRACT. i. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS. ii. TABLE OF CONTENTS. iii. LIST OF TABLES. vi. LIST OF FIGURES. ix. ABBRIVIATIONS. x. 政治大. CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION 1.1 State of The Problem. 立. 1 1. 1.3 Research Questions. 5. 學. ‧ 國. 1.2 Research Objectives. 1.4 Research Hypothesizes. 5 6. ‧. 1.5 Scope of Study. Nat. 1.6 Conceptual Framework. 6 7. 1.8 Definition. 8. n. al. CHAPTER II: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Key Study Concept. Ch. 2.2 Key Relationship. engchi U. er. it. 7. io. 1.7 Significance and Contribution of The Research. v ni. 9 9 19. 2.3.1 Political Movement in Social Movement. 19. 2.3.2 Political Participation and E-Participation. 32. 2.3.3 Democracy and E-Democracy. 35. CHAPTER III: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 3.1 Introduction. 48 48. 3.2 Research Approach and Design. 48. 3.3 Data Collection. 50. 3.4 Population Sampling. 51. 3.5 Data Analysis. 54. 3.6 Margin of Error. 58.

(5) iv Pages CHAPTER IV: A COMPARISON OF POLITICAL MOVEMENTS SINCE 2005-2013. 59. 4.1 Introduction. 59. 4.2 Politics in Thai Democracy and Political System. 61. 4.3 Facing Political System Dilemma. 71. 4.4 Political Participation and Political Movements in Social Media: A Revolution of Social Movements. 79. 4.5 Conclusion. 88. CHAPTER V: RESEARCH RESULTS. 92. 政治大 5.1 Introduction 5.2 Research立 Results. 92 93. ‧ 國. 學. 5.2.1 The analysis on demographic variable and other variables 5.2.2 The Analysis of respondent habit on social media. 93 101. 5.2.3 Cross tabulation between demographics and social media. ‧. (Facebook platform). Nat. 5.2.4 Social media and political movement in Thailand. 106 109. io. participation. al. er. it. 5.2.5 Cross tabulation between demographics and political. n. v i n C h between demographics Cross tabulation and democracy engchi U. 122. 5.2.6 Respondents and democracy. 125. 5.2.7. 130. 5.2.8 The analysis of a correlation results between social media and political movement in Thailand 5.3 Conclusion. 133 144.

(6) v Pages CHAPTER VI: CONCLUSIONS. 149. 6.1 Conclusion. 149. 6.2 Discussion. 154. 6.3 Suggestion. 167. REFERENCES. 169. APPENDIX. 188. Appendix I. Interview Questions. 189. Appendix II. Survey Questionairs. 191. 政治大 Appendix IV Thai Political Timeline2005-2013 Appendix V 立The People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD) VS, Appendix III. Interview Questions (Thai Language). 197 205. ‧ 國. 學. United Front for Democracy Against Deictatorship (UDD). Summary of Political Movements in. ‧. Appendix VI. Thailand 2005-2013. io. n. it er. Appendix VIII List of Interviewees. Ch. engchi. 222 224. Nat. Appendix VII Code Book. al. 220. i n U. v. 236.

(7) vi. LIST OF TABLES Pages Table 1: Facebook pages being created for political movements. 18. Table 2: The survey questionnaire was stratified into 5geographic strata. 51. Table 3: The number of provinces which was selected per stratum. 52. Table 4: The resultof this province selection. 53. Table 5: The survey questionnaires. 56. Table 6: The total amount of samplings and percentage of the region stratum. 93. Table 7: The total amount of selected provinces and percentage. 94. Table 8: The total amount of male and female respondents. 95. 立. Table 9: Age of respondents. 政治大. 96. Table 10: Respondents’ education level. 97. ‧ 國. 學. Table 11: Respondents’ Occupation Table 12: The marital status of respondents. 98 99. ‧. Table 13: Respondents’ salary (Thai Baht). Nat. Table 14: Social stratification of respondents. 99 100. Table 16: Social media platform that respondents spend time on the most. 102. al. er. it. 101. io. Table 15: The total amount of time thatpeople spend online daily. 103. Table 19: The total amount of devices used to access to social media. 105. Table 20: Place where respondents access social media. 105. Table 21: Cross tabulation between age and social media. 106. Table 22: Cross tabulation between salary and social media. 107. Table 23: Cross tabulation between gender and social media. 107. Table 24: Cross tabulation between education level and social media. 107. Table 25: Cross tabulation between occupation and social media. 108. Table 26: Cross tabulation between class and social media. 108. Table 27: Respondents’ opinion on the impact on political movements. 110. Table 28: Facebook’s role in political movements. 110. Table 29: Facebook as the mainstream tool in organizing political movements. 111. n. v i n C hwhich is used by U Table 18: Social media platform e n g c h i respondents most often Table 17: The most influential social media platform. 103.

(8) vii Pages Table 30: Facebook as the new channel for exchanging and distributing ideas and information. 112. Table 31: Facebook as the organizational tool in political movements. 112. Table 32: Facebook as an alternative press. 113. Table 33: Facebook’s role in minimizing political conflict. 114. Table 34: The total amount of Facebook is an effective tool for political movement. 114. Table 35: Respondents’ opinion whether Facebook can lead to a. 政治 media channels in terms of Table 36: Comparison between Facebook and other大立 providing freedom. 115. Table 37: People’s involvement in political movement through Facebook. 117. further political movement. 學. ‧ 國. 115. Table 38: The role of Facebook and mainstream media in encouraging. ‧. Thai people to participate political movement. 117. Table 39: Comparison between Facebook and mainstream media in terms of 118. it. Nat. changing people’s behavior to be more aggressive. io. er. Table 40: The possibility that social media (Facebook) will replace the traditional one. n. al. i n U. v. Table 41: Cross tabulation between age and political participation. Ch. engchi. 118 122. Table 42: Cross tabulation between salary and political participation. 122. Table 43: Cross tabulation between gender and political participation. 123. Table 44: Cross tabulation between education level and political participation. 123. Table 45: Cross tabulation between occupation and political participation. 123. Table 46: Cross tabulation between class and political participation. 124. Table 47: Facebook as the tool used to improve democracy. 125. Table 48: People’s support for democratic ruling system. 125. Table 49: People’s supportfor authoritarianism. 126. Table 50: Satisfaction regarding freedom of speech in Thailand. 128. Table 51: The effect of censorship in Thailand. 128. Table 52: Cross tabulation between age and democracy. 130. Table 53: Cross tabulation between salary and democracy. 130.

(9) viii Pages Table 54: Cross tabulation between gender and democracy. 130. Table 55: Cross tabulation between education level and democracy. 131. Table 56: Cross tabulation between occupation and democracy. 131. Table 57: Cross tabulation between class and democracy. 131. Table 58: The correlation between social media types and roles in 133. political movements. Table 59: The correlation between social media types and the mainstream tools in organizing political movements. 135. 政治大. Table 60: The correlation between social media types and new communication channels. 立. 136. Table 61: The correlation between social media types and tools in. ‧ 國. 學. mobilizing people. 137. Table 62: The correlation between social media types and an effective tool for. ‧. political movement. 138. Table 63: The correlation between social media types and effective tools for 139. it. Nat. political movement. io. involvement in political movement1. n. al. er. Table 64: The correlation between social media types and Thai people’s. i n U. v. 40. Table 65: The correlation between social media types and the tendency of. Ch. engchi. social media to replace the traditional media. 141. Table 66: The correlation between social media types and the influence of social media on Thai people in participating political movement. 142.

(10) ix. LIST OF FIGURES Pages Figure 1: Conceptual Framework. 7. Figure 2: Asia Social Networking Users. 15. Figure 3: User Growth - Facebook Thailand. 17. Figure 4: Democracy meaning. 38. Figure 5: Support for democracy. 39. Figure 6: Steven Clift’s E-Democracy Conceptual Model. 41. Figure 7: Øystein Sæbø and Tero Päivärinta’s E-Democracy. 政治大 Figure 8: Janet Caldow’s E-democracy Model Institute for 立 Conceptual Model. 41. Electronic Government. 43. ‧ 國. 學. Figure 9: Funilkul and Chutimaskul’s The intrinsic E-democracy applications. 45. ‧. io. n. er. it. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. i n U. v.

(11) x ABBRIVIATIONS. 立. 政治大. ‧ 國. ‧. n. al. er. it. Nat. io. Admiral Advanced Info Service Assembly of the Poor The Assets Scrutiny Committee Asia Satellite TV The Association of Southeast Asian Nations British Broadcasting Corporation Computer Crime Act Council for Democratic Reform Cable News Network Council for National Security Communist Party of Thailand Computer Mediated Political Communication Systems The Centre for Maintaining Peace and Order Democratic Alliance Against Dictatorship The Democracy network Total Access Communication Public Company Limited, Election Commission of Thailand ElectronicComplaint Electronic Democracy ElectronicForum ElectronicInformation Electronic Participation ElectronicService ElectronicVoting Facebook General Gross National Product Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Discrimination Information and communication technologies Internal Security Act Internet Service Provider Member Party National Broadcasting Services of Thailand Non-Government Organization New Social Movements National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission. 學. 1. ADM 2. AIS 3. AOP 4. ASC 5. ASTV 6. ASEAN 7. BBC 8. CCA 9. CDR 10. CNN 11. CNS 12. CPT 13. CMPC 14. CMPO 15. DAAD 16. DEMO-net 17. DTAC 18. ECT 19. E-Complaint 20. E-Democracy 21. E-Forum 22. E-Information 23. E-Participation 24. E-Service 25. E-Voting 26. FB 27. GEN 28. GNP 29. GLAAD 30. ICTs 31. ISA 32. ISP 33. MP 34. NBT 35. NGO 36. NSMs 37. NBTC. Ch. engchi. i n U. v.

(12) xi 38. NSPRT 39. NECTEC 40. OTOP 41. OECD. 立. 政治大. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. it. Nat. io. n. al. er. 42. PAD 43. PM 44. PPP 45. PTV 46. PDRC 47. Pefot 48. P-NET 49. SNSs 50. SMAs 51. SMO 52. SERC 53. Shin Crop 54. SMEs 55. SNCC 56. TRT 57. TA Orange 58. TAMC 59. Temasek 60. THAI PBS 61. UN 62. UK 63. UDD. The Network of Students and People for Reform of Thailand National Electronics and Computer Technology Center One Tambon One Product The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development The People’s Alliance for Democracy Prime minister People Power Party People Television People’s Democratic Reform Committee People’s Democratic Force to Overthrow Thaksinism The Peoples Network for Elections in Thailand Social Network Sites Social Media Applications Social Movement Organization The State Enterprises Workers’ Relations Confederation Shinawatra Corporation Small and medium enterprises Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee Thai Rak Thai party TelecomAsia and Orange Thai Asset Management Corporation Temasek Holdings Thai Public Broadcasting United Nations United kingdom United Front for Democracy Against Dictatorshi. Ch. engchi. i n U. v.

(13) Chapter I Introduction State of the Problem The political conflict in Thailand has begun in 2005 and was highlighted in 2006 according to Shigetomi (2010). The country has experienced intense political turmoil in recent years. The group of people wearing yellow shirts. 政治大. occupied the Bangkok International Airport in November 2008, and the group of people who called themselves the redshirts gathered in front of the ASEAN summit. 立. site to disrupt the assembly in April the following year. Later in March 2010, the red. ‧ 國. 學. shirts had occupied downtown Bangkok for two months calling for the dissolution of parliament. The demonstrators werefinally suppressed and pushed out by the military. ‧. forces brought about 90 deaths and more than 1,800 injuries.. Thailand’s political conflict has emerged between the supporters and. it. Nat. opponents of Thaksin Shinawatra, the former primeminister. The pro-Thaksin faction. io. er. is centered on an action group called the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD), which can be characterized by its use of red outfits. Its political. n. al. i n U. v. alliance in the Thai Parliament is the Pheu Thai Party (former party of Thai Rak Thai). Ch. engchi. which held the majority seats in the assembly. On the other side, the political movements of the anti-Thaksin faction are led by the People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD), which uses yellow color as its symbol. In parliament, the group supports the Democrat Party and its coalition partners. Thaksin Shinwatra took his position as s prime minister of Thailand in 2001 and has become the centerpiece of Thai politics since then.After completing his first term in the office, he once again scored a sweeping victory in the 2005 general election. Shortly after his inauguration in early 2006, he was facing with growingresistance from several anti-government movements. As the prime minister, he decided to dissolve the lower house with the confidence that his party would win the majority votein the next general election. The election was boycotted by the primary opposition parties and annulled by the court leaving the new government.

(14) 2 remained unsettled. Finally, the army staged a coup in September ending Mr. Shinawatra administration. The junta replaced the 1997 constitution by the newly drafted 2007 constitution and also attempted to expose the wrongdoings of Mr. Shinawatra and his administration. A year after the coup, the general election was held. However, the pro-Thaksin party (the People’s Power Party) won the vote and returned to the power. According to the pertinent literature, several terms and definitions have been used to describe the meaning of social media. Mark Rizzn Hopkins (2008) writes for Mashable.com, the website which is selected as one of PC magazine’s favorite. 政治大. 100 blogs. Hopkins tries to clarify what social media really is. As he puts it, “when you look at it in context of the terms ‘new media’, ‘old media’, and ‘social media’,. 立. there is an implied context.” “The media part of that doesn’t refer to the message, but. ‧ 國. 學. the methods by which that message is conveyed.” Thenhe explains, “Social media is a term that encompasses the platforms of New Media, but also implies the inclusion of. ‧. systems like FriendFeed, Facebook, and other things typically thought of as social networking.” He further mentions, “The idea is that they are media platforms with. it. Nat. social components and public communication channels.” Hopkins quotes Bryan. io. er. Eisenberg in ‘Understanding and Aligning the Value of Social Media’ on GrokDotCom.com. As Eisenberg puts it, “the biggest problem I have with the term. n. al. i n U. v. ‘social media’ is that it isn’t media in the traditional sense.” As he further explains,. Ch. engchi. “Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and all the others I don’t have the word count to mention, aren’t media; they are platforms for interaction and networking.” All the traditional media print, broadcast, search, and so on provide platforms for delivery of ads near and around relevant content. According to David Meerman Scott (2008), the writer for E-Content magazine, wrote in the article ‘Asking the Right Questions about Social Media’ that, “...tools of social media are frequently integrated into company websites, for example, a terrific video could be hosted by YouTube.com and embedded into a company’s online media room.” This valuable content would not be counted in these sorts of surveys because users did not go to the YouTube site directly to view it; they may not even realize they were viewing “user-generated content”..

(15) 3 It is true that many of the national uprisings have common features. The demonstrations are largely driven by younger citizens, and demonstrators use cell phones and social networking websites to circumvent state controls. There is no visible leadership in many of these essential grass root movements. They use the same slogans and tactics as Arab citizens in other countries and learn from the successes of revolutionary movements in other Arab countries. As well as in Thailand, political unrest and conflict between “red shirts” and “yellow shirts” have become the recurrent event when the red-shirt crisis plunged Bangkok into violence during April and May (2010). The incident was the catalyst for the rise of social media particularly. 政治大. Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube. The stories began to be told by a number of people from both sides since then. According to the speculation on Facebook‘s users since. 立. January 2009, there were 250,000 Facebook members in Thailand by April 6, 2010,. ‧ 國. 學. and the number jumped to 3.1 million by May 21 in the same year. This was the important phenomenon where 500,000 users had been added within the period less. ‧. than six weeks, and more than 5 million people have been subscripted (Carthew and Winkelmann 2010). it. Nat. Yet, social media is one of the channels that reflect democracy level.. io. er. Undoubtedly, social media is an important channel for Thai people, politicians and political parties as it opens platform to present political ideas and opinions, to discuss. n. al. i n U. v. political topics and to mobilize people for political movements. Social media has thus. Ch. engchi. revolutionized the way that people, politicians, government, and NGOs communicate to each other and to the public. Evidence shows that the world has witnessed social movement incidents which took place in different places since in the past (Tilly, 2004). The movements which took place in the United States and England during the late 1700s were closely followed by the rise of democratic representation. This indicates that the movements are highly associated with democratic societies. However, this does not mean that social movements are limited to democratic societies. It is evident that they not only have been associated with the process of democratization in many societies but also linked to authoritarian societies. Additionally, social movements take place in a wide variety of societies. They can be local in purpose such as a movement against the construction of a toxic waste dump in a neighborhood. They also can be national.

(16) 4 or even international in focus. Social movements are also broad in their aims. Some may seek to reform an existing political system while others may aim to halt change. On the other hand, some are not political at all and may seek cultural or individual change instead. Still, others may seek revolutionary change on apolitical, social, and cultural level. Scott (1990) mentions that a social movement is a collective action constituted by the individuals who have common interests, at least some significant parts of their social existence, and common identities. Social movements are distinguished forms of other collective actors, such as political parties and pressure. 政治大. groups who have the ability of mass mobilization and threat mobilization as their prime sources of social sanction and sources of power. He adds that this is not a new. 立. definition. The term was used as early as 1951 by Heberle, who held the social. ‧ 國. 學. movements in an attempt to bring about fundamental change in the social order. However, Scott speculates Haberle’s emphasis by arguing that NSMs can also strive. ‧. to maintain a social order.. Although the term of social movement has been used by theorists since. it. Nat. the early 1970s, Cohen sums up the state of disarray in her study (1985). There is. io. er. little agreement among theorists in the field as to justify what a movement is, what would qualify theory as a new type of movement, and what the meaning of a. n. al. i n U. v. social movement as distinct from a political party or interest group might be added.. Ch. engchi. Moreover, Herbert Blumer is one of the earliest scholars who studies the process of social movement and identifies four stages of social movements’ lifecycles. As he describes, those stages are “social ferment,” “popular excitement,” “formalization,” and “institutionalization” (De la Porta and Diani, 2006). Despite being widely refined and renamed by scholars since in the early of his works, these stages carry some underlying theme which remain relatively constant. Today, the four social movement stages are known as: stage 1 emergence ; stage 2 coalescence ; stage 3 bureaucratization; and stage 4 decline. According to the sample case of social media and social movement that shown above, I would argue that social media has revolutionized the social movements’ paradigm and theory. It reduces the distance in communication between messengers and receivers and dissolves the hierarchy between leaders and.

(17) 5 participants. Also, it can enhance interactive dialogue because the receivers can respond directly to the websites or blogs. Moreover, social media present an appearance of being responsive to listeners evidenced by their content which can be changed in response to comments and criticisms. Finally, it is enabling anyone with access to the Internet the ability to comment on news. Therefore, the important question of how Thai people use social media to create an impact on political movements has been raised.. Research Objectives. research objectives are following:. 學. ‧ 國. 政治大 As this research looks at the potential social media specifically 立 Facebook platform as a tool which affects political movement in Thailand, the 1. To study Thai people on how they use social media (Facebook) and. ‧. participate political movements.. 2. To study the relationship between social media (Facebook) and. Nat. iv l C n hengchi U social media users (Facebook) are. n. Thai. er. io. Research Questionsa. it. political movement.. structuring themselves in. horizontal, decentralized networks which are capable of rapid and even spontaneous action. This type of networks appears to be far cheaper and easier to be maintained than the traditional movement infrastructure. Additionally, social media (Facebook) offer many locations and methods for people to contact the others who share their passions and beliefs. As to achieve the research objectives, the research questions are following: 1. What role do social media (Facebook) play in political movement? 2. How do Thai people participate in political movement? 3. How do the relationship between Thai people using social media (Facebook) as a tool to affect political movement..

(18) 6. Research Hypothesizes Methodology and survey questionnaires in this research are adapted from the previous research about social media and political engagement in America which are conducted by different scholars, namely Lee Rainie, Aaron Smith, Kay Lehman Schlozman, Henry Brady, and Sidney Verba (Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project: 2012). This research hypothesizes are following: H0: Thai people who use social media can create an impact on political movements as well as Thai people who do not use social media.. 政治大. H1: Thai people use social media as a tool for participation in political movement.. 立. H2: Most of Thai people use social media to create an impact on. ‧ 國. 學. political movement.. ‧. Scope of the Study. Nat. it. A political crisis which took place since 2005 has created an. al. er. io. increasingly divided society. As Paireepairit (2012) pointed out, the rise of new. v i n C h this research studies recent political history.Therefore, political movement in Thailand engchi U n. media in Thailand has been captured during one of the toughest periods in Thailand’s. since 2005 to 2013, and it focuses only Facebook platform which is a main platform that impacts political movements in Thailand. Regarding political movements, this. research provides the comparison betweenPeople’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD), the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD) and the People’s Democratic Reform Committee (PDRC). Moreover, for scope of population sample, this research uses 1,500 copies of questionnaire, and respondents are Thai citizen whose age is above 18 years old. The survey is conducted nationwide. For scope of content, this research uses related textbooks, news and in-depth interviews..

(19) 7. Conceptual Framework. Social Media (Facebook). 立. •. E-participation. •. E-democracy. ‧. ‧ 國. Social Movement (Political Movement). 學. Thai People. •. 政治大. Nat. io. er. it. Figure 1 Conceptual Framework. Significance and Contribution of the Research. n. al. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. Regarding practical significance, Alam (2011) points out that social media helps to revolutionize revolution. Innovation has always been a salient ingredient in any people driven movement for political change. Also Boonnoon (2010) emphasizes that social media also supports general participation in news and current affairs by providing a channel through which network members can become sources of real-time factual information, opinion, or reaction. The growing social media popularity in Thailand is not only contributed by the fact that networks such as Facebook and Twitter can generate two-way communication among friends but also by the fact that they have become innovative tools for political issues. Therefore, this research attempts to evaluate the actual social media (Facebook) effects on political movement at various level of depth. It is also crucial to determine the potential of how.

(20) 8 social media (Facebook) shapes of political movement by applying the case of Thailand to the study. In traditional social movements, particularly in political movement area of study, no research has been done in the aspect of exploring the relations between social media (Facebook) and political movement with an application on Thailand’s case. There are several reasons indicating that it is a milestone to start research of an impact of social media (Facebook) on social movements. First, this is a new phenomenon which has never happened before in Thai political history. Second, the theories of social movement are required to expand its accuracy when the. 政治大. technology and politics have been merged and transformed into what can be called an e-movement. Lastly, an investigation in this study can give directions for further. 立. research about social movements in other countries.. ‧ 國. 學. Definition. ‧. Although this research only focuses on Facebook platform, a few. Nat. it. points can be made as a basic agreement.. io. er. Social media: Social media are the Internet platforms as the tool for text messaging, e-mail, photo sharing and social networking in two-way. al. n. communication.. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. Thai political movement: The mobilization of Thai people as to either protest against or support the government (began during Thaksin Shinawatra to Yingluck Shinawatra’s administration) in both public and cyber space. Political conflict: The political contentious issue occurred in Thailand during 2005 to 2013. The actors involved include the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD), known as the red shirts, and the People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD), known as yellow shirts. E-participation: The action of Thai people communicating about and participating in political issues through Facebook platform. E-democracy:Thai peoplehave free and flowing information, be able to settle their own political agenda and have the freedom of speech to post and share their opinions to anyone on Facebook pages..

(21) 9. Chapter II Literature Review This chapter is divided into two sections debating and synthesizing cross-over theories and concepts. The first section discusses detailed the key concept which is narrative of the social media. Base on relevant literature, the second section offers analysis of political movements in an aspect of social movements’ theory, political participation and e-participation, democracy and e-democracy theory. By. 政治大. looking at pertinent literature within the Thai context, the analysis begins with a general introduction, and then proceeds with the explanation of concepts used by. 立. theory and the discussion on cross-over theories and concepts.. ‧ 國. 學. Key Study Concepts on Social Media. ‧. As being a tool for people to share their opinions and express their. Nat. it. feelings and needs in public space, there has been more and more academic discussion. al. er. io. and an increasing number of research on social media (e.g. Siala, 2012; Becker and. n. Wehner, 2001; Carafano, 2012; Christensen, 2011; Dahlberg, 2007; Kahn R and. Ch. i n U. v. Kellner D, 2007; Palczewski, 2001; Terranova, 2004; Wimmer, 2007) and social. engchi. network. Generally speaking, the public sphere is constituted by an open, reasoned and reflexive communication. Jürgen Habermas (1991), his work is the starting point of the study on theories regarding the Internet as a public sphere. It is suggested that the public sphere is based on the matization and critique of moral, ethical and pragmatic validity claims and accompanied by inclusive, sincere and respectful reasoning. This sphere is seen as the center of strong democracy which enables the voicing of diverse views on any issues, the constitution of publicly-oriented citizens, the scrutiny of power and, ultimately, public sovereignty. Defying media are required to support such communicative action. A variety of critical theorists have shown that the modern mass media (print and broadcasting) have largely failed in this role..

(22) 10 In contrast, the Internet has offered citizens the opportunity to encounter and engage with a huge diversity of positions; as a result, the public sphere is extended. Through email, discussion sites, web publishing and webcasting, a great variety of actors articulate and claim critique validity locally, nationally and internationally. The research on the possibility of the Internet in expanding democratic culture points out the significant factors which limit open and reflexive onlinedebateincluding inequalities in access and participation, non-reflexive communication, corporate domination of online attention and state surveillance and censorship.. 政治大. Social media are a way of life. Research shows that active participation on online sites, such as Facebook, communication via texting and chatting programs,. 立. and creation of blogs are everyday occurrences for new era of mankind. ‧ 國. 學. communication. Moreover, social media have grown in number and influence. They play an important role in political participation around the world, for example, Arab’s. ‧. spring, Occupied Wall Street, and Thai people factions’ conflict. Therefore, social media is a key concept for this research. Although social media have received. it. Nat. significant attention in academic and political discourse especially in social movement. io. er. arena, the meaning and definition are still under a scholarly debate. Mayfield (2008) also explains the definition and concept of social. n. al. i n U. v. media as a group of new kinds of online media, which shares most or all of the. Ch. engchi. characteristics. Participating in social media encourages the contribution and feedback from everyone who is interested. It blurs the line between the media and audiences. Moreover, most social media services are open to feedback and participation. They encourage voting, commenting and sharing of information. Barriers in accessing and making use of content password-protected content are rarely found. Regarding conversation, whereas traditional media is about ‘broadcast’ (content transmitted or distributed to an audience), social media is better seen as a two-way conversation. In a community aspect, social media allows communities to form quickly and communicate effectively. Communities share common interests such as a love of photography, a political issue or a favorite TV show. Moreover, most kinds of social media thrive on their connectedness by making use of links to other sites, resources and people..

(23) 11 Similarly, Boyd and Ellison (2008) give more definitions of social media. Their works rather focus on applications. They consider social media applications (SMAs) as the Internet based platforms that help people to communicate via multiple media to potentially unlimited numbers of people worldwide. These applications include social network sites (SNSs) namely Facebook, MySpace, Bebo, weblogs (blogs) namely Twitter, Kiwi Blog and Word Press, and video or picture sharing sites namely YouTube and Flickr. These new media applications allow almost anyone to voice their opinions, to become fans (members of others’ pages and profiles), and to join online interest groups that may be politically orientated, business. 政治大. and entertainment driven, or just of interest to the user.. In addition, as Turnšek (2008) points out, social media has become the. 立. buzz word. It is available on the Internet including blog, photo and file sharing. ‧ 國. 學. systems (e.g., Flickr, SlideShare, YouTube) and social networking sites (e.g., Friendster, MySpace, SecondLife). Although the social network sites (SNSs are. ‧. largely designed for personal presentation and political speech, action can be sometimes emerged within the sites. This is evidenced by postings protesting. it. Nat. government actions on YouTube, creation of candidate headquarters in SecondLife,. io. demonstrations and police confrontations.. n. al. er. and utilization of image and video functionalities on mobile phones during. i n U. v. Multiple new areas of analysis emerge due to the introduction of the. Ch. engchi. Internet and social media into the political arena such as e-democracy (electronic democracy) and computer-mediated political communication systems (CMPC) (Ainsworth, Hardy & Harley, 2005). Therefore, social media is evidently the supporting communication tool for the concurrences of political and social movements in this era. Moreover, Sousa (2009) describes social media that it is fairly a new phenomenon. Social media is the concept of having an electronic platform where people can interact and have conversations about a wide variety of common subjects using computers. The idea started roughly four to five years ago around 2004 when Internet websites such as MySpace.com and Blogger.com were created and allowed users from all over the world to interact with each other..

(24) 12 Since the early 1990s, the Internet has grown into a network of nearly 180 million websites by the end of 2008. Many of these websites are news and gossip blogs where people can write their opinions and thoughts about news items and other subjects. Readers can also leave their comments about the article or information they read on these sites. This ability to comment on information and news, in a way, has changed how news is disseminated and how politics in the United States and elsewhere has been run. Alam (2011) mentions that social media is helping to create revolution. Innovation has always been a salient ingredient in any people driven movement for. 政治大. political change. Also the writer from the Nation Newspapers said “the social media also allows general participation in news and current affairs by providing a channel. 立. through which network members can become sources of real-time factual. ‧ 國. 學. information, opinion, or reaction” (Boonnoon, 2010). The social media thus continue to grow in popularity in Thailand, not only because networks such as Facebook and. ‧. Twitter generate two-way communication among friends but also because they have become innovative tools for political issues.. it. Nat. Also as Jankowski explains and gives the example of social media. io. er. channel in U.S. presidential election (2007). Web 2.0 has become the buzzword describing a plethora of social media available on the Internet, including blogs, photo. n. al. i n U. v. and file sharing systems (e.g., Flickr, SlideShare, YouTube), and social networking. Ch. engchi. sites (e.g., Friendster, MySpace, SecondLife). Last year, as candidates began preparing for the U.S. Presidential Primaries, CNN coined the term YouTube‐ification of Politics to describe this development. From the perspective which describes the importance of everyday settings as venues for political expression and by taking the Arab Spring as an example, these internet‐based social media has become the tools for sites of politics. According to Leuschner’s study (2012) on presidential elections, it is found that while the use of new media in presidential elections clearly provides important advantages to candidates, citizens and the public sphere also benefit by having an easy method of acquiring diverse information on the election, a platform for organizing and gaining resources for meaningful participation in democracy, and a means to engage in public dialogue and interact with candidates. However, it is also.

(25) 13 suggested that citizens should remain conscious of candidates’ underlying motive for using social media which is to ultimately gain enough votes in order to win the presidential election. To avoid any misguided beliefs that candidates use social media for the primary purpose of handing power over to citizens or building “friendships” with voters, social media campaigns enacted by a candidate’s team should not employ the title “grassroots”. By avoiding the use of this term, citizens can more readily recognize their role as voters. to. candidates , and a mutually beneficial. relationship can exist. Social media is a new channel or a new tool for communication. 政治大. especially in political movements. We can see many movements around the world which use social media to mobilized people and create activities for political. 立. movements. Empirical evidences which demonstrate the role of social media can be. ‧ 國. 學. seen in many real phenomena. For example, Safranek (2012) argues that, in the spring of 2011, the world was watching as revolutionary fervor swept the Middle East, from. ‧. Tunisia to Egypt, to Syria and beyond. The courtesy of distribution via Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and even mainstream media allowed startling images captured by. it. Nat. civilians on the scene to be viewed by people around the world.. io. er. There can be no doubt that information and communication technologies, and particularly the burgeoning social media, played a part in the. n. al. i n U. v. upheavals. On January 17 in 2001, during the impeachment trial of Philippine. Ch. engchi. President Joseph Estrada, loyalists in the Philippine Congress voted to set aside key evidence against him. Less than two hours after the decision, activists, with the help of forwarded text messages, were able to organize a protest at a major crossroads in Manila. Over the next few days, over a million people arrived. “The public’s ability to coordinate such a massive and rapid response was remarkable as close to seven million text messages were sent during that week. The event marked the first time that social media had helped to force out a national leader” (Shirkey). On January 20, 2011, Estrada resigned. Google executive, Wael Ghonim, also helped to spark Egypt’s 2011 unrest. Egyptian businessman Khaled Said died after being beaten by the policemen who had videotaped themselves taking confiscated marijuana. Hoping to draw attention to police corruption, he copied that video and posted it to YouTube. Ghonim.

(26) 14 created a Facebook page called ‘We Are all Khaled Said. It featured horrific photos of Said’s face which were shot by a cellphone in the morgue. That visual evidence undermined the official explanations of his death. The Facebook page attracted some 500,000 members (“Information Age: Egypt’s Revolution”). Protestors flooded Cairo’s Tahrir Square under the watchful eye of a military that was loath to turn on citizens. To thwart the protestors, the government sought to block access to Facebook and Twitter and severely restrict an access to the Internet. However, the strategy failed because the insurgents, with help from supporters around the world, were able to subvert the censorship. Also, Internet restrictions negatively affected companies’. 政治大. and the government’s ability to do business. Under increasing domestic and international pressure, longtime Prime Minister Hosni Mubarak resigned February 11,. 立. 2011, following 18 days of protests.. ‧ 國. 學. Regarding social media as a new channel for e-participation in. Thailand’s political movements, Paireepairit (2012) points outthat the first recorded. ‧. evidence of Internet usage in Thailand was in 1987. Although real Internet connection started in 1990, the first commercial Internet Service Provider (ISP) started in 1995.. it. Nat. National Electronics and Computer Technology Center (NECTEC), a government. io. er. technology agency, has monitored Thailand Internet statistics since 1991. According to NECTEC, Internet use in Thailand has increased from 30 users in 1991 to. n. al. i n U. v. 18,300,000 users in 2009, covering 27.4% of population.Other good sources of. Ch. engchi. Internet usage statistics come from the World Bank, which reports 14,653,913.61 users in 2010, and The National Statistical Office of Thailand, which reports 13,844,400 users in 2010.The NBTC also tracks the number of Internet broadband subscribers in Thailand. As of June 2012, the latest report to date was Quarter 2/201139 with the number of 3, 484, 736 subscribers. Thailand follows global technology trends such as mobile and social media. According to NBTC data, the latest number of mobile subscribers in Thailand is 74.59 million which more than 100 % penetration rate is. The “smart phone boom” has strongly encouraged Thai mobile phone consumers to purchase new smart phone models. All Thai major mobile operators have various special data packages for iPhone, iPad, Android and BlackBerry as to increase non-voice revenue. Though there are no official statistics for mobile Internet.

(27) 15 users separated from normal mobile subscribers, IDC predicted Thais w would spend mob data services in 2012, a 15% increase from 2011 as 968 million USD on mobile shown in Figure 2:. 立. 政治大. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. io. n. er. it. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. Figure 2: Asia Social Networking Users (Source; Source; Sriram Vadlamani on May 14, 2012 in Social Tech Tech). In 2003, Manager.co.th was already the most popular Thai news site whose popularity rose from sixth in 2003 to third in 2004.The audience of Manager.co.th is generally the middle class in urban areas. Most of these viewers are white-collar lar workers who can access the IInternet nternet at workplaces. These people mainly consume news from the Internet as some do not ot have time to read newspapers, and many have also stopped watching watching TV. Even after 2005, news companies, however, still had not invested seriously in online stra strategies. tegies. There were not many high high- quality news sites in Thailand, andd Manager.co.th was the single obvious choice for these.

(28) 16 connected people. This isthe reason why Manager.co.th has become one of the most influential media during political unrest since 2005. The situation changed soon after 2010s when competition in online media was getting more serious. Now, Thai people have more choices for online news consumption. The influence of Manager.co.th has declined in recent years, but it is still the most visited news site in the country. The Red camps started their online activities in the pre-coup period too.. 1. In contrast with the yellow movements, early red movements were organic,. fragmented and disorganized. Since the red netizen did not have a single site such as Manager.co.th, their discussion started in online discussion forum “web boards”. 政治大. instead. Since 2008 and 2009, the rise of social networks, especially Facebook, has changed the online landscape in Thailand. Many web boards and community sites. 立. were gradually abandoned and replaced by Facebook walls, groups and pages. Online. ‧ 國. 學. politics communities were facing a similar fate. However, people who joined such communities are the same, and the discussions continue as ever. As both camps have. ‧. adopted Facebook as the space for their online activities, the opinion clash and flame war have been moved from forums to Facebook walls and pages.. it. Nat. In 2009 and 2010, top national politicians started using Facebook and. io. er. Twitter extensively. Facebook tended to bethe first choice for politicians because of its media rich capacity. The politicians normally post thoughts and activity photos on. n. al. i n U. v. their Facebook pages. Some posts are linked for their articles from newspaper sites or. Ch. engchi. their recorded TV interviews on YouTube. Twitter has also received more attention from Thai politicians. The political. 1. The name and red color scheme was invented much later after the coup d’état..

(29) 17 usage of Twitter tends to be more dynamic and in real time fashion than Facebook. Also, Russell (2010) points out that the Thais flocking to social networks, particularly Facebook, has been seen as the concurrence of the current political situations. According to the statistics reported this week, there are currently more than 3 million people appear to be a Facebook user in Thailand, and the actual figure is 3,132,860.That is a growth rate of more than 1 million users added within five month or more staggeringly 500,000 500,000 new users in 6 weeks. This evidently emphasizes the current political situation which has seen Thais flocking flocking to the website to discuss, share and publish their thoughts. thoughts. Facebook users on Facebakers is shown in Figure 3:. 立. 政治大. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. io. er. it. Nat. al. n. v i n Ch (Source:http://asiancorrespondent.com Source:http://asiancorrespondent.com, 2010) engchi U Figure 3: User Growth. Moreover, there were many Facebook pages being created for political movements during March 12 12, 2010 –May 30, 2010 as shown in Table able 1..

(30) 18 Table 1: Facebook pages being created for political movements. Objects/aims Oppose the red shirt Love the king/ monarchy Love Thailand Support the red Shirt Political satire Support the government Oppose the government Promote peaceful activities Complain Being neutral Being affected from political activities Support the military Support the yellow shirt Investigatefacts Oppose the military Operate peaceful campaign Oppose the yellow shirt Change ideology Opposed red-shirt scholars Total. 政治大. 學. ‧. ‧ 國. 立. Amount 423 144 121 118 91 78 74 45 43 36 30 29 23 20 11 9 5 5 3 1,308. Percentage 32.4 11 9.3 9 7 6 5.7 3.4 3.3 2.8 2.3 2.2 1.8 1.5 0.8 0.7 0.4 0.4 0.2 100. n. er. io. al. it. Nat. No. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19. i n U. v. Source: http://www.siamintelligence.com, 2010 and translated by author). Ch. engchi. According to the report in politics category of Socialbakers website in July 2013, Abhisit Vejjajiva, former prime minister, had 1,139,358 subscribers on his Facebook page while Yingluck Shinawatra, current prime minister, has her Facebook fans as high as 882, 673 subscribers. This clearly demonstrates that the conflict is the situation which occurs between the supporters and opponents of Thaksin Shinawatra, the former prime minister. The pro-Thaksin faction is centered on the action group called the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD) and characterized by its use of red. Its political alliance in the parliament is the Pheu Thai Party (For Thailand Party) which is accounted for the largest number of opposition seats in the assembly. On the other side, the political movements of the anti-Thaksin faction are led by the People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD) which uses yellow as its symbol..

(31) 19 In the parliament, the group supports the ruling Democrat Party and its coalition partners. The coup in 2009 has accelerated political confliction and turmoil nationwide especially in Bangkok. Yet, Bangkok Poll (2013) concluded their survey that almost 70% Bangkok people and city nearby used social media to express their political opinion, moreover, 93.8%. subscribed in social network as Facebook. members. Social media such as Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube’s increasing growth tells the stories and shares opinions from both sides. Interestingly, social media acts as an ultimate tool to mobilize people from different factions. Moreover,. 政治大. social media also changesrelationship between people and politicians because they can share and talk without social hierarchy. After general election in 2011, social. 立. media has become a more important channel which allows people from any fractions. ‧ 國. 學. to share their political expression and to continue their political movements.. ‧. Key Relationships. Nat. it. This section analyzes key related literature on political movements. al. er. io. including social movements, political participation and e-participation, democracy. n. and e-democracy and political system and political development.. Ch. i n U. v. 1. Political Movements in Social Movements. engchi. As to be able to understand the concept of “movement”, the discussion in this phase covers social movements in general and new social movement, and then it is narrowed down to political movements in Thai context. Morris and Herring (1984) argues that there are no definitions of social movements which enjoy a scholarly consensus, and such definitions probably never exist because they inevitably reflect the theoretical assumptions of the theorists. There are a number of competing frameworks in the field, and each conceptualizes movements differently. Even scholars within the same “school” define movements differently, depending on their particular theoretical formulations. However, social movements’ concepts and theories can be distinguished by using different schools’ fundamental approaches..

(32) 20 Such approaches include Marxian, Weberian, collective behavior, mass society, relative deprivation and resource mobilization. Additionally, scholarsconsider social movement as a type of group action. They are large informal groupings of individuals or organizations which focus on political or social issues. Some scholars also mention that social movement can be thought of as organized yet informal social entities that are engaged in extrainstitutional conflict that is oriented towards goals. These goals can be either aimed at a specific and narrow policy or be more broadly aimed at cultural change. However, the key purpose of social movements is to change social norms, laws, social belief, and social behavior.. 政治大. Wallace (1956) suggests that social movements emerge out of the. 立. deliberate, organized, conscious effort of the members of a society for better. ‧ 國. 學. conditions. Revitalization has got four phases, namely period of cultural stability, period of increased individual stress, period of cultural distortion and consequent. ‧. disillusionment and the period of revitalization. According to the revitalization theory, social movements express dissatisfaction, dissent and protest against the existing. it. Nat. conditions. At the same time, they offer a practical solution to remedy the difficult. io. er. situations. Broom and Selznick (1958) suggests that a collective action which is more unified and lasting could be called as a social movement. It is necessary that such. n. al. i n U. v. collective action should have also certain characteristic features.. Ch. engchi. According to. Coleman (1960), social movements arise from the needs of the individuals. In short, a social movement is a joint organized endeavor of a group of people which tries to change the course of events by their common effort. Moreover, T. K. Oommen (1988) demonstrates the case study and definition in India in his article, Mobilization for Social Development: The Indian Situation, that social movements are considered as vehicles of creative and innovative ideas. According to his work, the movements are propelled by the groups to achieve a society based on qualitative different collective conscience. In his article, Social Movement: A Conceptual View, S. P. Arya (1988), social movements are viewed as to designate any collective effort on a mass scale by the concerned society, aim to tackle and eradicate some widespread social problem of wider dimensions which exist among the people of the region for a fairly long period..

(33) 21 However, Arya mentions that no particular definition can be given to a social movement because of its diversity. Social movements could be religious, secular, revolutionary, reactionary, co- operative etc. In short, social movement is a collective action to attain a common goal, movements as the results of various social problems. He, in his article, arrives at the conclusion that social movements are closely bound to certain social classes as a rule, even though they are not primarily aimed at the welfare of a particular class. The last stage in the social movement life cycle is decline, or “institutionalization.” Decline nevertheless does not necessarily mean failure for social movements.. 政治大. As Calhou (1993) emphasizes the new social movements, they were new by comparison with conventional liberalism with its assumption of fixed. 立. individual identities and interests. These new social movements (NSMs) grew partly. ‧ 國. 學. from the New Left and related to student movements during 1960s.. The. conceptualization of their novelty was parts of the movements themselves as well as. ‧. of the academic analyses which, primarily in Europe, took debate on these movements as an occasion to reform or reject Marxist theory and social democratic politics. the. wide-ranging. typologies. of. social. it. Nat. Consequently,. io. er. movements that currently exist complicate the ability to offer one definition with the consensus. Castells (2003), however, tries to describe new social movements as. n. al. i n U. v. collective initiatives who initiatives whose impact, in victory and defeat, transform. Ch. engchi. society’s values and institutions. Calhou (1993) also points out an interesting suggestion that we are better prepared to analyze all social movements if we pay attention to the inherent plurality of their forms, contents, social bases, and meaning to participants and do not attempt to grasp them in terms of a single model defined by labor or revolutionary movement. Other authors refer to more informal and egalitarian forms of organization, while others refer to the lack of a shared class base among activists (Mayer and Roth 1995: 301).. However, these generalizations can be changed. empirically. More specifically, Calhoun’s work provides an inventory of eight characteristics that are assumed to be the key features of the new social movements (Caihoun 1993: 86-87)..

(34) 22 1. There is a focus on identity, autonomy and self-realization rather than material benefits, resources and instrumental goals. In this regard, the NSMs is thought to involve the civil society rather than to engage with political or economic actors. 2. Mobilization is more defensive than offensive. It is thus less negotiable than abstract utopian social projects. 3. Membership cuts across class lines as socioeconomic categories lose their importance. 4. Organizational forms are less hierarchical than other organizations;. 政治大. in fact, transforming the traditional organizational forms are themselves a focus of attention of the NSMs.. 立. 5. Membership is only part-time, with potentially multiple and over-. ‧ 國. 學. lapping commitments.. 6. Activities are outside the legislative system and use unconventional. ‧. means.. 7. Everyday aspects which were formerly outside of the political. y. sit. Nat. arena are politicized by themselves.. io. er. 8. NSMs are likely to be unique and under some larger umbrella forms or still less a master narrative of collective progress.. al. n. v i n Ch New Social Movements (NSMs) isUa theory of social movements that e hi n g cmovements attempts to explain the plethora of new appeared in various western societies. There are two central claims of the NSM theory. First, the rise of the postindustrial economy is responsible for a new wave of social movement, and second, those movements are significantly different from previous social movements of the industrial economy. The primary difference is in their goals as the new movements focus is not on issues of materialistic qualities such as economic wellbeing but on issues related to human rights such as same sex marriage, transgender, abortion, woman, environment, animal, and religion instead. The social aspect is consequently seen by the NSM to be more important than the economic or political aspects. The most noticeable feature of new social movements is that it is primarily social and cultural and secondarily, if any, political..

(35) 23 Indeed, New Social Movements (NSMs) is one of the tools responding tothe new conflicts and issues which are based on multi-society environment. It differs from the classic theory which is based on class, economy, and political ideology.With this new issue, it is so complicated and complex that political institutions or society cannot manage and solve the conflicts and problems by themselves. In other words, these scholars think the world and society are dynamically changed, but political system that exists does not respond quickly enough to deal with this new issue. Therefore, citizens lose faith in political system. By no means to be. 政治大. against the state’s power, people create a new form of power as an alternative choice for society. This action demonstrates “civil society” which involves identity politics,. 立. identity movements, civil society movements and environment movements (reducing. ‧ 國. 學. emission).On the other hand, culture is responsible for the unprecedented number and scope of various contemporary social movements.. ‧. As Berman (2010) point outs, culture is used by some to refer to a. wide array of human activities and by others as a synonym for civilization. Cultural. sit. y. Nat. theories help us to explain social movements because culture as a ways of thoughts is. io. different patterns under various social conditions.. n. al. er. internalized in people’s mind, and culture may change at different rates and through. i n U. v. Moreover, cultural theory helps scholars to understand the bedrock of. Ch. engchi. social movement activities in regard with their mechanism, process, organization, mobilization, and strategies. To predict whether social movements can be a success or failure, several cultural aspects need to be examined. Those aspects include the reason in participating the movements, an alternative to instrumental rationality in explaining what tactical choices activists make, and an alternative to institutional reforms in assessing movements’ impacts need to be examined. Women rights to vote in U.S., African-American equal rights movement at WTO meeting in 1999 and at G8 summit in 2001, the Temperance Movement and nuclear disarmament are an example of successful cases, these cases are successful because they have a good organization, process, and specific goals..

(36) 24 Culture is viewed as identity, and identity is also viewed as culture. It can be simply explained that how people see themselves and their roles toward others, how they see their role in society and society’s institutions, such as government, and what they believe is appropriate and instrumental action in different circumstances powerfully shape what practices actually occur. However, identity construction is also an essential component of collective action. It enables actors to be engaged in conflict and to see themselves as the people who are linked or divided by interests, values, common histories and culture. Although identity feelings are frequently elaborated in reference to specific. 政治大. social traits such class, gender, territory, or ethnicity, the process of collective identity does not necessarily imply homogeneity of the actors who share identity or their. 立. identification with a distinct social group. Nor are feelings of belonging always. ‧ 國. 學. mutually exclusive. Identity plays an important role in explanation of collective action even for those who view the collective action as a peculiar form of rational behavior.. ‧. Consequently, identity always develops and is renegotiated via various processes. In addition, Christiansen (2009) claims that there are four stages to. Stage 1: Emergence. n. al. er. io. sit. y. Nat. complete the social movements circle which are:. i n U. v. The first stage of the social movement life cycle is known as the. Ch. engchi. emergence, or as described by Blumer, the “social ferment” stage (De la Porta & Diani, 2006). Within this stage, social movements are very preliminary. Instead, this stage can be thought of as being widespread discontent (Macionis, 2001; Hopper, 1950). Potential movement participants may be unhappy with some policies or some social conditions, but they have not taken any actions in order to redress their grievances. In the case that they have, it is most likely to be an individual action rather than collective action. A person may comment to friends and family that he or she is dissatisfied with conditions or may write a letter to a local newspaper or representative; nonetheless, these actions are not strategic and not collective. Furthermore, there may be an increase in media coverage of negative conditions or unpopular policies which contribute to the general sense of discontent. This early stage can also be considered within a specific social movement organization (SMO)..

(37) 25 A social movement organization is an organization that is associated with a social movement and carries out the tasks that are necessary for any social movement to survive and be successful. An example of a social movement organization is the Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), which was one of the many social movement organizations that operated during the American Civil Rights Movement. During the emergence stage, an SMO and its members serve as agitators. Agitators raise consciousness around issues and help to develop the sense of discontent among the general population;. 政治大. Stage 2: Coalescence. At the next stage in the life cycle, social movements have overcome. 立. some obstacles which many have never overcome. Often, social unrest or discontent. ‧ 國. 學. passes without any organizing or widespread mobilization. For example, people in a community may complain to each other about a general injustice, but they do not. ‧. come together to act on those complaints. The social movement thus does not progress to the next level. As stage two being known as coalescence or the “popular. sit. y. Nat. stage,” it is characterized by a more clearly defined sense of discontent. It is no. io. er. longer a general sense of unease but currently a sense of what the unease is about and who or what is responsible. At this point leadership emerges, and strategies for. n. al. i n U. v. success are worked out. At this stage mass demonstrations may also occur in order to. Ch. engchi. display the social movement’s power and to make clear demands. Most importantly, this is the stage at which the movement becomes more than just random upset individuals; they are organized and adopt strategies in their outlook;. Stage 3: Bureaucratization The third stage is known as bureaucratization. This stageis defined by Blumer as “formalization” and characterized by higher levels of organization and coalition based strategies (De la Porta & Diani, 2006). Social movements have been successful in some aspects. They have raised awareness to the degree where a coordinated strategy is necessary across all of the SMOs..

(38) 26 Similarly, SMOs have to rely on staff persons with specialized knowledge that can run the day-to-day operations of the organization and can carry out movement goals. Social movements in this stage can no longer lean on mass rallies or inspirational leaders to progress towards their goals and build constituencies; trained staffs are the key actors who carry out the functions of organizations. In this phase, their political power is greater than in the previous stages, and they may consequently have more regular access to political elites. Many social movements fail to bureaucratize in this way and end up fizzling out because it is difficult for members to sustain the emotional excitement, and continuing a mobilization becomes too. 政治大. demanding for participants. Formalization often means that the paid staffs can fill in when highly enthusiastic volunteers are not readily available (Macionis, 2001;. 立. Hopper, 1950). The gay rights movement is an example of a movement which has. ‧ 國. The gay rights movement moved from agitation and. 學. passed through this stage.. demonstrations to having many formal organizations that now work toward the goals. ‧. of the gay rights movement. Some of these organizations include the Human Rights Campaign and the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Discrimination (GLAAD). If. sit. y. Nat. these bureaucratic organizations have not been formed, many movements would have. io. n. al. er. most likely faded away, and their demands would have gone unmet;. Stage 4: Decline. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. The last stage in the social movement life cycle is decline or “institutionalization.” Nonetheless, decline does not necessarily mean failure for social movements. As Miller (1999) argues, there are four ways in which social movements can decline. Others have added establishment with mainstream as another way in which they decline (Macionis, 2001). 4.1 Repression: The first cause which can lead social movements tothe decline is through repression. Repression occurs when authorities or agents acting on behalf of the authorities use measures (sometimes violent) to control or destroy a social movement.. This means that governments will often pass laws to outlaw. specific movement activities or organizations or to justify attacks on them by declaring them as being dangerous to public order. This type of repression makes it exceedingly difficult for social movements to carry out their activities and recruit new.

(39) 27 members. Co-optation Movements can also decline if their organizations are highly dependent on centralized authority or deeply rely on charismatic leadership through the co-optation. Co-optation occurs when movement leaders are associated with authorities or movement targets more than with the social movement constituents. 4.2 Success: Evidently, not all social movements end in defeat through repression or co-optation; some decline because they are successful. Smaller and localized movements with very specific goals often have a better chance at outright success. Many social movements have goals that are much less clearly defined, and many organized new campaigns are wrapping up either through success or. 政治大. compromise.. 4.3 Failure: As mentioned earlier, Miller (1999) notes that social. 立. movements can be declined for many of the reasons.. He also argues that the. ‧ 國. 學. organization is not able to handle the rapid expansion that occurs as a result of their success and organizational strain. In that case, it collapses into different factions.. ‧. Failure of social movements due to organizational or strategic failings is common for many organizations. When failure occurs at the organizational level, Miller argues, it. sit. y. Nat. is usually caused by factionalism and encapsulation.. io. er. 4.4 Establishment with Mainstream: Others have noted that a fifth reason for decline exists as an organization becomes established with the mainstream.. n. al. i n U. v. That is, their goals or ideologies are adopted by the mainstream, and there is no longer any need for a movement.. Ch. engchi. According to the sample cases of social movement’s circle life and definition that we discussed above, I would argue that social media has revolutionized the social movements’ paradigm and theory. It reduces the distance in communication between messengers and receivers and dissolves the hierarchy between leaders and participants. Also, it can enhance interactive dialogue because the receivers can respond directly to the websites or blogs. Moreover, social media present an appearance of being responsive to listeners evidenced by their content which can be changed in response to comments and criticisms. Finally, it is enabling anyone with access to the Internet the ability to comment on news. Therefore, the important question of how Thai people use social media to create an impact on political movements has been raised..

(40) 28 In Thailand, Phongpaichit (2002) explains that a large number of movements of great variety have arisen within a very short space of time. In a broad sense, this is a result of changes in the global and local context. The end of the cold war has led to the decline of dictatorship. The opening up of democratic politics has created more space for social agitation and political expression. The global discourse on topics such as rights, identity, and environmental protection has stimulated reactions within Thailand. At the same time, the rise of the modern state, marketoriented economy and new forms of global power, including hegemonic states and dominant multinationals, have caused conflicts over resources, dislocation of. 政治大. communities, and erosion of ways of life. In sum, the combined impact of democratization, economic growth, and globalization creates contradictory results.. 立. They encroach on people’s lives and livelihood, and at the same time, they open up. ‧ 國. 學. political opportunities and give legitimacy to social movements. The new movements in Thailand include a wide variety of social. ‧. groups. But the significant fact is they are largely participated by the “little people”, or marginal people, who have traditionally been excluded from a political voice.. sit. y. Nat. These include hill people, fishermen, marginal peasants, slum dwellers and working. io. er. women. They have become more assertive than before about their rights and roles in society. This can be partly explained by the passing of the Cold War and the era of. n. al. i n U. v. dictatorial rules. But there has also been an important synergy between these various. Ch. engchi. different movements. The space created by one movement is available to another. Experiences feed on one another and become cumulative. The sum of several movements is greater than their individual contributions alone. This upsurge is significant because it represents a break from the past. Thai society has had little or no experience of mass political mobilization. Nationalism was orchestrated by the elites. With no colonial control, there was no anti-colonialist mass movement. Socialism was crushed within the context of the Cold War. Social movements occurred during 1990s represent some of the first and sustained examples of a mass social action. With an ever faster pace of globalization, social movements definitely remain in Thailand.As in other developing countries, Thai social movements mobilize concepts of culture and identity to build solidarity and inspire action. This can be seen both similarities and differencesto the earlier.