PRAKTIK DAN PEMAKNAAN WAITHOOD DI KALANGAN GENERASI MUDA DI YOGYAKARTA

Chintya Koestri Ayuningrum, Desintha Dwi Asriani, S.Sos, M.A., Ph.D.

2025 | Tesis | S2 Sosiologi

Penelitian ini bertujuan mengeksplorasi praktik dan pemaknaan waithood di kalangan generasi muda di Yogyakarta, dalam konteks ketegangan antara nilai-nilai tradisional tentang pernikahan dan tren penurunan angka pernikahan. Menggunakan pendekatan fenomenologi, penelitian ini menggali pengalaman subjektif delapan informan—generasi milenial—melalui kerangka teori generasi sosial (Wyn & Woodman), perspektif gendered experiences of waithood.

Temuan menunjukkan bahwa waithood muncul dari interaksi dinamis antara kondisi struktural—sosial, ekonomi, budaya—dengan subjektivitas generasi muda, yang dikelola secara reflektif melalui pengalaman transisional yang kompleks. Waithood bertransformasi menjadi gaya hidup baru yang didukung peer group dan media sosial, berkarakteristik sebagai fenomena kelas menengah, serta melibatkan proses negosiasi nilai-nilai budaya Jawa. 

Selain itu, pengalaman waithood sangat tergenderkan, menciptakan realitas asimetris antara laki-laki dan perempuan. Waithood menjadi arena beroperasinya privilese maskulin dan resistensi feminin secara simultan. Laki-laki memanfaatkan waithood untuk memperkuat posisi maskulin, sementara perempuan menghadapi konsekuensi sosial yang tidak dialami laki-laki, menunjukkan bagaimana struktur patriarkal membatasi agensi perempuan dalam menentukan arah hidup mereka sendiri.

Dengan demikian, generasi muda di Yogyakarta memaknai dan menjalani praktik waithood bukan sekadar bentuk penolakan norma, tetapi strategi adaptif dan reflektif dalam mengelola dan merespons perubahan—new conditions and new responses.

This study aims to explore the practices and meanings of waithood among young people in Yogyakarta, within the context of tensions between traditional values surrounding marriage and the declining marriage rate. Using a phenomenological approach, the study investigates the subjective experiences of eight millennial informants through the theoretical framework of social generations (Wyn & Woodman) and the perspective of gendered experiences of waithood.

The findings reveal that waithood emerges from dynamic interactions between structural conditions—social, economic, and cultural—and the subjectivity of young people, managed reflectively through complex transitional experiences. Waithood has transformed into a new lifestyle supported by peer groups and social media, characterized as a middle-class phenomenon, and involves processes of negotiating Javanese cultural values.

Furthermore, the experience of waithood is highly gendered, creating asymmetrical realities between men and women. Waithood becomes an arena where masculine privilege and feminine resistance operate simultaneously. Men utilize waithood to strengthen their masculine positions, while women face social consequences that men do not experience, demonstrating how patriarchal structures constrain women's agency in determining their own life trajectories. 

Thus, young people in Yogyakarta perceive and navigate waithood not simply as a rejection of norms, but as an adaptive and reflective strategy to manage and respond to shifting conditions—new conditions and new responses.

Kata Kunci : Waithood, Youth Generation, Gendered Experiences