Please feel free to read my research abstract below.
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Title: From Political Fans to Young Protesters: The Case of Anti-government Hashtag Activism in Thailand
The mainstreaming of social media for political communication and the rise of celebrity politics have impacted political participation, especially among young people (Loader et al., 2015; Vromen et al., 2015). Despite this, there are so far few studies that have focused on online political fandoms as an object of study in and of themselves, as in-depth case studies. During the 2020-2021 anti-government protests, Thai youth became key figures in the demonstrations, aided by their excellent use of social media and strong online networks. Their online community developed based on the political fandoms of a prominent political newcomer and social-media star—Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit. Despite the non-hierarchical organisation structure, the protests were well-organised and tactically accomplished regarding information dissemination and protest management. This makes this an ideal case study to assess the interplay between political fandom, social media and youth political movements. Through 15 semi-structured interviews using the trace interview method (Dubois and Ford, 2015), this study presents evidence for how groups of political fans who publicly engage with politics on social media and participate in large-scale protests offline. The findings indicate that the influence of charismatic political figures, the fan community, and the belief that online political expression is ineffective draw participants toward offline participation. The resemblance between the political fandom of Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit and the more mainstream popular fandoms highlights the importance of considering the role of popular culture influences in shaping people’s political behaviours, particularly in the context of contemporary digital communication technologies.
Keywords: political fandom, hashtag activism, youth political participation, social media
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