Contemporary Cultural Dynamics in Java

Abstract The purpose of the article is to correct some tenacious ideas about Javanese society. Focussing on the educated middle class in urban Yogyakarta, Java, the author argues that the long-standing cultural division of Javanese society into nominal versus faithful Muslims (abangan vs. santri) is losing its analytical value. This religious cleavage seems to belong to a former struclure of society that is rapidly disappearing. The ensuing changes in social relationships are expressed by a new weighting of the concepts of hierarchy and harmonious communality that serve to evaluate everyday experience.