Will our middle class disappear?

By Meuthia Ganie Rochman

JAKARTA (JP): Many analysts view that a middle class has steadily developed in such Asian emerging markets as China, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia. Popular analysis of this middle class applies the consumption indicator.

In the above countries, the meaning of consuming activities has widened from a mere phenomenon of production to a new model of domination. They are new tools of submission-substituting coercion, new mechanisms of social integration (albeit from different aspects they also reinforce disintegration), expansion of authority and vision of identity.

Recently, consuming activities were recurrently attached to the middle class. This article aims to explain the likely consequences of the recent economic crisis on the existence of Indonesia's middle class.

A German sociologist, Solvay Gerke, conducted research in the early 1990s on Jakarta's middle class. She argues that the organizing principle of middle-class development in Jakarta was based on a pattern of consumption.

Since the 1970s, economic development bolstered various kinds of occupations and supported the growing capabilities of Indonesian households to participate in a modern consuming culture.

However, income alone is not a solid means for class definition. This modern culture is possible to materialize by making "lifestyling" strategy, that is, projecting consumption to affirm one's identity in a "modern" consuming life.

Examples of lifestyling are buying fake branded goods, buying on credit, borrowing fashion goods from friends or other family members, and patungan (pooling money). The lower and middle groups of the middle class, through lifestyling, perform symbolic consumption.

The real consumption is only conducted by upper slices of middle class. Accordingly, Jakarta's middle class does not reflect the real class situation and opportunities as understood by Max Weber, a founding father in sociology.

The growth of new middle classes -- like bureaucrats, professional groups and intellectuals -- does not follow the process of economic rationalization and differentiation. Instead, it grows through the development of bureaucracy and government policies.

Gerke's analyses (1995) has problematic aspects. One is that her analysis on consumption is detached from the forms of social organizations, only has the "life praxis". This raises questions on what are the social positions of the middle class and their influence toward social change.

A study by K.C. Ho, a sociologist from Singapore, describes the growth of the middle class in urban areas as the outcome of economic development. He analyzed different occupational backgrounds of middle classes in some Asian countries.

The richer countries, such as Singapore, Taiwan and South Korea, have middle classes with highly skilled occupations. Those countries become capitals of regional headquarters, market strategy management and middle- to high-tech goods production. While countries such as Indonesian and Thailand are locations for assembling, packaging and low-tech goods productions.

Based on professional, administrative, and managerial occupational categories, and data from the International Labor Organization, the total of Indonesia's middle class is below 10 percent (before the economic crisis), compared to Singapore 15.8 percent, Japan 15.7 percent, Hong Kong 14.3 percent, Malaysia 11.6 percent, South Korea 10 percent, the Philippines 6.9 percent and Thailand 5.2 percent.

In Indonesia, the past period of easy bank credits propelled the growth of enterprises and consumption activities. The role of government banks that lend money, sometimes without transparency, also induced a booming private sector that, in turn, facilitated the growth of the middle class.

This class is depicted as a group that should have orientations similar to their past counterparts in western countries: reformation mended, critical toward the state and an endorsed rule of law as well as democratization.

Based on these characteristics, many analysts view that Indonesia's middle class is not yet born. Some depictions of the middle class are as follow. First, the present middle class engenders from government policies and is, therefore, uncritical toward it. A critical middle class is still scarce. It is fragmented into individual groups and organizations.

Second, research conducted by the Kompas daily about 1990 shows that the middle class is excessively oriented to consuming activities. It rarely bought books, showing a lacking attention to knowledge development.

Third, the middle class is weak from an organizational aspect. It seems that it is more the problem of society in general. Dr. Juwono Sudarsono, now the state minister of environment, once wrote that what is needed to develop democracy is organizations that are capable of translating the people's dissatisfaction within a governance framework.

This view gets support from a prominent study by Margaret Sommers, which shows that the struggle for civil rights in the United Kingdom was undertaken by organizations with strong traditions on rights and responsibility among their members.

The position of the middle class must be viewed with a framework of governance, whereby the balance between the interests of the middle class and other classes depends on the structure of industry, the position of the state (for example, how far economic claims do not capture its direction), and the balance between ideas of growth and populism.

Analyses of middle classes in Asia must be redirected. The aspiration that this class inherently bear characteristics similar to the West is unrealistic.

In Southeast Asia, the position of governments is, historically, more dominant. Culturally, people give greater authority to their government. In this context, it is reasonable that the middle class does not make a sharp distinction with the state.

Regarding the aspiration on governance, the primary issue is not the contraction of state authority and human rights. Instead, the endorsement of rule of law is expected to have capability to curtail nepotism and patronage, which are considered more destructive.

On the other hand, the middle class expects greater authority for the state to help them face global competition by enforcing labor law, state-led trade diplomacy, providing facilities and subsidies and so forth.

It shows that relations between the middle class and the government is always being constructed along with class's economic interests. Through this economic interest, the aspiration on the governance system develops.

Indonesia's economic crisis must have considerably affected this class in the form of contraction of spending and individual aspiration about the future.

In financial terms, a part of the middle class must slip down to a lower class. But from a political aspect, this class has shown its activities. What is important from its demands to the government is not about reinstating the former living standard. Instead, it is trying to renegotiate some foundations of the governance system. This negotiation now takes form in the demands made by students, intellectuals, business groups and others. This ought to be viewed positively.

The new role of the middle class is an important development, considering the former condition where this class grew. In the past, social stability was established based on "system integration". This kind of integration is cherished when most social groups live together within economic and political structures, without being much affected by social consensus, including about equality.

In the past, Indonesian society did not have a chance to build much of a consensus. Economic growth, though, has yielded well- being for the people. It is this collective consensus that constitutes the new role of this class.

The writer is a member of the teaching staff at the School of Sociology, University of Indonesia.