The Transformation of the Self: Competing Moral Repertoires in Contemporary Java

Abstract

Character and virtue are changing rapidly in Indonesia, home to the world’s largest Muslim population. The long-praised preference for communal harmony over individual advancement is under great stress. The dominant force behind this is thought to be secular consumerism. Our project aims to assess the impact of commercialization and modern Islamic religious education on the Javanese preference for communal harmony. An extensive survey of Javanese parents and their children and close ethnographic studies of individuals will provide insights into the changing nature of Javanese morality, which is the heart of Indonesian culture. Rather than focus on self-reported values, we will focus on the morality stories that people tell. We hypothesize that the new moral repertoires of consumerism and religiosity are not in competition but are rather working in tandem to undermine the preference for communal harmony in Javanese culture.