23. No Way Forward but Back? Re-emergent Thai Falangism, Democracy, and the New “Red Shirt” Social Movement

Taylor, Jim

doi:10.1355/9789814345347-024

Cited by 5 publications

(5 citation statements)

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“…I propose in this chapter that the current political conflict between the Yellow and the Red Shirts may be understood as a class conflict. Not in the traditional meaning of a class struggle between a working class without the means of production and an oppressive capitalist class, or between the rich and the poor -which has been suggested by Ungpakorn (2009), Hewison (2012, Taylor (2012) and Forsyth (2010), but as a conflict between the newly emerging lower middle class (the Red Shirts) and the old middle class (midmiddle class and higher) that comprise the Yellow Shirts.…”

Section: Apichat Satitniramai1mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The first is predominately represented by left-leaning scholars, such as Ungpakorn (2009), Hewison (2012, Taylor (2012) and Forsyth (2010). These authors analyse the conflict mainly as a working-class-based movement against the exploiting class, or a 'class war' (Ungpakorn 2009:76).…”

Section: Who Are the Red And The Yellow Shirts?mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…They describe the supporters of the Red Shirt movement as 'rural and working-class people' , and 'people who [experience] disadvantage [s] and exploitation' (Hewison 2012:157), 'the lower and middleincome peasantries of Thailand' (Forsyth 2010:465), 'urban and rural poor' (Ungpakorn 2009:76), or a 'marginalized subaltern peasantry' (Taylor 2012:296). On the other hand, they identify the Yellow Shirt supporters as 'the middle classes and rich elites' (Ungpakorn 2009:76, 82), or 'the minority elites and Bangkok middle class' (Taylor 2012).…”

Section: Who Are the Red And The Yellow Shirts?mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Citizenship and Democratization in Southeast Asia

Berenschot¹,

Nordholt²,

Bakker³

2017

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Section: Apichat Satitniramai1mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Who Are the Red And The Yellow Shirts?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Who Are the Red And The Yellow Shirts?mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Citizenship and Democratization in Southeast Asia

Berenschot¹,

Nordholt²,

Bakker³

2017

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“…It could be claimed that the literature concerning the current colour-coded conflict in Thailand can be divided into two strands. The first is predominately represented by left-leaning scholars, such as Ungpakorn (2009), Hewison (2012), Taylor (2012) and Forsyth (2010). These authors analyse the conflict mainly as a working-class-based movement against the exploiting class, or a 'class war' (Ungpakorn 2009:76).…”

Section: Who Are the Red And The Yellow Shirts?mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…I propose in this chapter that the current political conflict between the Yellow and the Red Shirts may be understood as a class conflict. Not in the traditional meaning of a class struggle between a working class without the means of production and an oppressive capitalist class, or between the rich and the poor -which has been suggested by Ungpakorn (2009), Hewison (2012), Taylor (2012) and Forsyth (2010), but as a conflict between the newly emerging lower middle class (the Red Shirts) and the old middle class (midmiddle class and higher) that comprise the Yellow Shirts.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Yellow vs. Red and the Rise of a New Middle Class in Thailand

Satitniramai¹

2017

Citizenship and Democratization in Southeast Asia

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During the last two decades, Thailand's political climate had changed profoundly, resulting in an unprecedented divide between two fronts: the socalled Yellow Shirts (People's Alliance for Democracy, or pad) and the Red Shirts (United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship, or udd). Both parties are currently locked in an arduous conflict, with the Yellows initiating a mass mobilization to oppose the Reds who represent the anti-coup forces who have rallied around exiled Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra and his alleged 'nominee' governments. This divide is perhaps the first example of nationwide mass politics in Thai political history. It is no surprise, then, that this phenomenon has provoked both Thai and foreign academics alike to seek explanations for the emergence of these political mass movements. In this chapter I posit that this issue is not so much about clashes between the 'haves' and the 'have-nots' , or elite conflicts carried over to the clientelist masses of supporters. I argue, instead, that we are looking at the coming-of-age of a new Thai middle class. This idea is supported by recent research on the socioeconomic characteristics of both the Reds and the Yellows. The Yellows are representative of the 'old' established middle and upper classes, who have been well integrated economically and politically with the elites since the 1970s. The Reds, on the other hand, are identified as the vanguard of an emerging class of lower middle-income, market-oriented earners, the product of Thailand's economic growth during the past two decades. It is this emerging class, and not the poor, that forms the majority of voters in Thailand's electoral system at present. The livelihoods of the members of this class depend crucially on market transactions, both in consumption and production, while the persistence of considerable economic inequality, together with the development of electoral politics at the national and local levels, has

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Red vs. Yellow: Organic Crisis and the Radical Democratic Politics of Thailand

Matijasevich

2019

Radical Democracy and Its Limits

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23. No Way Forward but Back? Re-emergent Thai Falangism, Democracy, and the New “Red Shirt” Social Movement

Cited by 5 publications

References 0 publications

Citizenship and Democratization in Southeast Asia

Citizenship and Democratization in Southeast Asia

Yellow vs. Red and the Rise of a New Middle Class in Thailand

Red vs. Yellow: Organic Crisis and the Radical Democratic Politics of Thailand

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