This research explores the role and possibility of Cultural Resources on Urban citizens’ political socialization in Indonesia.
In Indonesia, it is said that after the fall of the Suharto regime in 1998, the authoritarian centralized system was corrupted, and democratization and decentralization progressed. However, local councils are not structured so that the will of the people from the bottom can reach the top. In other words, “state-local relations” continue to maintain a top-down governance system, and it is difficult to see the political voice and policy reflection of the people. Therefore, it is necessary to look at how public opinion at the local grassroots level is cultivated and educated. This research will provide a background description of the formation of public opinion in each locality, which has not been clearly depicted in the past.
This research focuses on “political chat,” which takes place in “Nongkrong (out-purposed conversation)” such as cafes, food stands, and smoking places in Indonesia. It illustrates how public opinion is formed through the education and cultivation of political socialization in the region. In this study, Nongkrong is not only considered as a chatting place, but also as a “place to cultivate political sophistication”, so this study conducted an observational study of Nongkrong conversations in Yogyakarta. Sato (2018) assigns the concept of “cultural resources” as providing cultural capital to the residents. Inspired by this concept, this study defined “Politi-Cultural resources” as places where people exchange opinions, learn from their elders, and sublimate their “secretly held public opinion” into Citizens’ Will. Through Nongkrong observation, it is clearly valued as “Politi-Cultural Resources” what people talk and where people talk.
As a result, it is confirmed that Nongkrong is a “place” for education and cultivation outside of school, where the residents can acquire political socialization in close relationships with each other from the viewpoints of “Political Knowledge”, “Political Action”, and “Political Feeling”. Regarding such a “place,” this research shows that “chattability”, “stability”, and “information accessibility” are factors that enhance Nongkrong to cultivate political sophistication, and those places are valued as “Politi-Cultural Resources” as well as Nongkrong itself.