Social theory, current affairs, and Thailand’s political turmoil: seeing beyond reds vs. yellows

Abstract

The paper argues for social theory’s potential for productive critical engagement with news and current affairs accounts. Such accounts typically offer free-floating, surface, spectacles, and oversimplified linear narratives. Social theory suggests that it is much more appropriate to embed complex social processes in plural and configurational narratives. A synthesis of strong structuration theory, critical realism, and cultural sociology is employed to produce a theorised frame – underpinned by configurations of powers, norms, and values – through which to critically engage with, and assess, media accounts of current affairs. A sustained and focused analysis of recent political conflict in Thailand reveals the superior capacity of social theory to deal with the complexity of the moral, causal, and strategic issues involved.