มุมมองสงกรานต์ในมิติรัฐศาสตร์ไทย: พื้นที่วัฒนธรรมกับการผลิตซ้ำอำนาจและความชอบธรรม

Songkran in Thai Political Perspective: Cultural Space and the Reproduction of Power and Legitimacy

Abstract

This article aims to examine the Songkran festival as a “cultural space” that exists not merely in the sense of tradition or the way of life of Thai society, but also as a symbolic and political space closely intertwined with the reproduction of power and the construction of legitimacy in Thai society. This study employs a political science framework concerning power, political culture, and legitimacy to explain how Songkran functions as a cultural mechanism through which the state, elites, local administrative organizations, as well as the private sector, define meanings, regulate public space, and organize people’s behavior through rituals, symbols, and discourses of Thainess. The analysis reveals that Songkran is not simply a festival of joy or the preservation of cultural heritage; rather, it is also a site of contestation over meaning between the state and the people, between local culture and dominant culture, and between public freedom and the state’s power of regulation and control. At another level, Songkran is also utilized as an important instrument in constructing the image of the state as the protector of culture, the guardian of public order, and the manager of social relations, thereby reinforcing the legitimacy of political power within the context of contemporary Thai society. The article therefore argues that understanding Songkran through the lens of political science helps reveal the dynamics of power embedded in culture and sheds light on the role of tradition as a crucial space for reproducing political order, social meaning, and the legitimacy of the Thai state more profoundly.