Defining the new middle class

Defining the new middle class

By Silvia Werner

JAKARTA (JP): As many analysts have already stated, the
development toward modernization in Indonesia is accompanied by
the evolvement of the middle class.

It is hoped this steadily growing middle class will bridge the
increasing gap between the rich and poor and provide checks and
balances for the powerful political and economic elite.

Several articles have already been written about modernization
and the middle class phenomenon, but there is still a lot to
write about.

The people who make up the middle class today mainly live in
urban areas and are characterized by their income, their type of
job and their lifestyle. Where rural people and the urban lower
class mainly work as farmers, laborers or skilled workers, middle
class people are government officials, white-collar workers and
small-scale businessmen.

While lower class people mainly entertain themselves with
simple pleasures like taking their family to public places such
the zoo or the cheap cinemas, middle class people want more.

The increasing amount of money earned is put into bigger
houses, better education for the children, household appliances
and a car. The food stall gives way to the restaurant, the cheap
cinema to Cinema 21, the pasar (traditional market) to the
supermarket and the mall.

But if we want to look for other characteristics of the middle
class, it becomes difficult. Does the middle class have a higher
estimation of arts, stage performances, paintings and music? Or
is the political awareness different between the lower and middle
class?

Besides a small number of students and intellectuals this
seems not to be the case. The main feature catching the eye is
the high orientation toward consumerism. The weekends are spent
in the mall, which have increasingly been transformed from places
to obtain daily goods to recreation spots.

People's lifestyles are governed by economic improvement to be
able to purchase these goods. Owning prestigious objects is
equated with a happy life. No wonder people are judged by what
they own and what they wear. Famous people are beautiful people,
and of course, rich.

But is that all? Is the economic improvement of a nation, the
emerging of an educated middle class, about owning a Mercedes or
a BMW, wearing Gucci shoes or Versace jackets?

There must have been something lost on the way. Aren't there
other things in life than dreaming of a new car, a mobile phone
or shopping trips to Singapore? What happened to the values, the
culture?

While reflecting on the emerging Indonesian middle class, it
is probably helpful to compare what processes lead to the
development of the middle class in other parts of the world.

In Europe, the middle class started to grow increasingly after
World War II. Besides its general features, which might be true
in most places, like the income and occupation of its members,
the European middle class shaped its identity foremost through
its active role in several social movements.

For instance, the one launched by the well-known 1968
generation, initiating the liberation movement, which became the
root of the new social movement. At the end of the 1980s, the
European middle class also had a very important role in
redefining the quality of life, through the environmental
movement, the peace movement and other alternative movements.

The processes initiated by the middle class has contributed to
societal values and orientation, such as the antimodernization
movement which lead to a general back-to-nature orientation.

The European middle class is therefore mainly a cultural
phenomena, an entity with a distinct identity not limited to a
higher income and consumption pattern. But the reason for the
growth of a middle class in Europe and Indonesia is the same:
increasing prosperity, a growing urban class, and the nation's
transformation to a civil society.

To understand what social role the Indonesian middle class has
or could have, it is important to reflect on its shaping
identity.

To know where its identity is going, one has to firstly
understand where it comes from. It is not only necessary to
reflect on tradition, values and patterns of life, it is also
important to reflect on how these patterns find their use today.
This has not yet been done.

National values like "harmony", "consensus" and "deliberation"
are held high. How do these values materialize themselves in the
daily urban life of modern society? Have they been transformed on
their way from the village to the city? Are there new values
emerging?

What certainly shouldn't happen, is that old values and
aspects of culture are turned down, judged obsolete or, worse,
held high as mere "symbols".

But a society does need guidance on its way to modernization.
This kind of guidance should not stem from mere statements, but
an evaluation of how far traditional values still find
application in rural environments today and in the urban context.
What changes are taking place?

A conscious cultural development can only be possible by
analyzing and realizing what exists and what kind of process is
taking place. This means positive and negative developments,
their roots, and possible remedies have to be recognized to
prevent traditional values and cultural riches being exchanged
for full purses and brand-name products.

Intellectuals, supported by the state, would have to guide
this process through critical evaluation, research and discourse.
They may interpret customs, values and other aspects of culture
and preserve tradition through modern times.

Intellectuals have a very important role to play and a great
responsibility. They represent the core of the emerging middle
class, which must be supported by the state to function as a
player to determine values and social orientation.

The writer is a Ph.D candidate at the Department of
Environment and Society, Technical University of Berlin.