A Sociolinguistic Study of Class Identification of Thai Middle Class

Abstract

In an average nation, the middle class is the portion of population that drives the nation politically, economically and culturally and always continues to grow larger in size. The middle class are typically more active and vocal to participate in their discourse community and, at present, better compatible with Internet technologies that allow synchronous and asynchronous communication.Thailand has seen a turbulent societal division and political polarization in recent years. The long-standing conflict is rooted from the enormous socio-economic gap between the middle class to the rich and the grassroots. A sociolinguistic analysis of online discourse can help theorising the social and contextual characteristics of class identification made by the middle class who has the most Internet access. The data of the study will be a collection of online discussion from a Thai public website between March 1-31, 2013. The data will be entirely in Thai but will be translated into English for result reporting and discussion. Following Herring ( 2004) on researching virtual identity, the study will address the middle class's shared history, purpose, culture, norms and values by investigating group-specific language use, jargon, language routines as well as choice of language. Self-awareness of the middle class group by the members' terms of address as a group such as 'us vs. them' will also be identified.

Third Wave Feminism And Women’s Invisibility In The Discourse Of Politics

“…Their emotions were exaggerated by the media in an attempt to question their credibility as future leaders. Studies conducted in Asian contexts like Thailand (Sriwimon & Jimarkon, 2017) and Indonesia (Santoso, 2018) also highlight trivialization of women by means of the media. The first female prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra was discursively constructed as a novice politician, the youngest sister of the former prime minister Thaksin, an inexperienced and incompetent politician in the print media (Sriwimon & Jimarkon, 2017).…”

“…Studies conducted in Asian contexts like Thailand (Sriwimon & Jimarkon, 2017) and Indonesia (Santoso, 2018) also highlight trivialization of women by means of the media. The first female prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra was discursively constructed as a novice politician, the youngest sister of the former prime minister Thaksin, an inexperienced and incompetent politician in the print media (Sriwimon & Jimarkon, 2017). Whereas, in Indonesian politics, women are still perceived as less competent and subordinate to their male counterpart because of their traditional role in family context (Santoso, 2018).…”

“…CDA has been useful in investigating framing, symbolic annihilation and gender stereotypes in political media discourse. Studies such as Dragaš (2012) and Sriwimon & Jimarkon (2017) examine how media makes meaning and constructs ideologies through linguistic choices and perpetuates stereotypical images of women depicting them as passive, less influential and dependent on men in domain of politics. Ramanathan & Hoon (2015) assert the role of mass media in production of beliefs and ideologies by marginalizing others and misinterpreting an event.…”