Muslimah News, FOCUS - It's not called the rich, it's not called the poor. That's the middle class. BPS recently released data on the shifting spending priorities of the middle class.
Plt. Head of BPS Amalia Adininggar Widyasanti said the shift occurred in the last ten years. Ten years ago, the expenditure of the middle class for food and beverages amounted to 45.53%, but currently the expenditure has decreased to 41.67%. Not only that, spending on housing has also decreased in the last 10 years, from 32% to 28.5%. This contrasts with spending on parties and entertainment, which has increased. According to BPS records, party spending rose from 0.75% to 3.18%, and entertainment rose from 0.22% to 0.38%.
The number of middle-class people in 2024 has decreased from 57.33 million to 47.85 million, 36.89% of which are dominated by generation Z and generation Alpha. If you look at the composition of spending in the middle class, they spend the most money on food, parties, and entertainment. The question is, in the midst of an increase in the necessities of life, while the average income only increases by 1.5% per year, why does spending on parties and entertainment actually increase?
****Hedonism Grows****
The fact that spending on parties and entertainment is increasing among the middle class, especially generation Z and Alpha, actually confirms two things:
First, the hedonistic life among the younger generation seems to be growing as the digitalization era develops, the types and forms of entertainment or parties are increasingly diverse. In the past, content about tourist attractions, entertainment, places to eat, or cafes was not very familiar, but today we find many tourist and entertainment places that utilize social media to advertise themselves as an option for the younger generation to relieve fatigue and forget about life's problems.
Most of today's youth have made hedonistic living and consumptive culture a lifestyle and habit. Having fun, partying, and traveling have become the goal of life. They think that life is only once, so it is a loss if it is not enjoyed with material pleasures.
Second, Generation Z, which is the foundation of the future and the golden generation of 2045, is still plagued by mental health problems. The results of a survey of FKKMK-UGM researchers with The University of Queensland, Australia, and Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, United States stated that anxiety disorders are the most common mental disorders experienced by youth, the number of cases reaching 26.7%. Anxiety disorders, a lot of thoughts, and various problems that hit are usually diverted by activities that are fun, such as visiting tourist attractions, traveling, culinary, or hanging out in cafes all day. This is one of the reasons that allows spending to increase on entertainment and parties.
The middle class prefers to spend money on personal pleasures, such as entertaining themselves with parties and the like to simply escape from the fatigue of work and the economic burden they carry. Logically, if the average income of the middle class only increases by 1.5% per year, while household expenses or living needs increase, spending on parties and entertainment should also decrease.
However, this is not the case. In the midst of an increasingly suffocating economic squeeze, middle-class spending on parties and entertainment has actually increased. This means that the heavy economic burden and various problems faced make people who are categorized as middle class seek momentary pleasure to avoid stress and depression. The increase in spending on parties and entertainment is related to the capitalistic and consumptive hedonistic life that many young people live.
****Capitalism System****
The hedonistic life and consumptive culture seen today is the impact of the implementation of the capitalist system. Hedonism is an understanding or belief in life that develops in modern society in order to avoid pain and suffering. Hedonism is intertwined with capitalism, which has the same vision of life, namely getting worldly pleasure and material pleasure alone. Capitalism views that happiness in life is obtained by obtaining as much material as possible.
For example, the purpose of school is to get a job, work to fulfill needs and lifestyles, and so on until we forget that there is something fundamental that should be the ultimate goal of life for humans, namely worshiping Allah Taala. As a result, most people focus more on making money and forget about worshipping their Creator. This is the long-term effect of the secular capitalist system that has shifted the purpose of human life to only pursue material pleasures and worldly pleasures. The hedonistic lifestyle, secular vision of life and the principles of capitalism have become the basic guidelines for the younger generation in navigating life.
In addition, capitalistic hedonistic patterns and lifestyles seem to be deliberately nurtured and maintained for the purpose of global capitalism, which is to make the middle class the driving force of the economy. It is known that they are the largest contributor to household consumption expenditure, reaching 81.49% of total household consumption in Indonesia.
Although only one-fifth of the total population, the value of middle-class consumption spending dominates on a national household scale. With this assumption, the middle class population will continue to expand, which can help boost economic growth.
However, this group is also vulnerable to downgrading in the event of an economic shock. Moreover, recently the purchasing power of the middle class has experienced a downward trend. If this continues, economic growth will be hampered. In the end, the middle class is the group of people who are most easily carried away by the hedonistic consumptive culture that capitalism sees as beneficial for economic growth. The middle class is also the most vulnerable to financial crisis because they are not categorized as the poor who receive social assistance. In simple terms, they are categorized as a group with "low income, low expenses".
On the other hand, capitalistic hedonistic patterns and lifestyles such as 3F (food, fun, fashion) are deliberately injected into the Muslim youth to weaken and distance them from the true Muslim generation profile. The aim is to prevent the rise of Islam by the Muslim youth that will overthrow the hegemony of global capitalism civilization.
For example, the entertainment industry is increasingly intensified, such as music concerts, idol fan meetings, tourist attractions that are increasingly mushrooming with the lure of cheap tickets, instagramable, food court facilities, and the like. Similarly, the onslaught of fashion and diverse clothing models with the rise of online stores offering low prices, various promos, and discounts. It is very natural that the increase in entertainment and party spending occurs mostly in the middle class, because various facilities are affordable by middle-class pockets.
All of this diverts the lives of the younger generation from being the motor of thought and the driver of change, to only satisfying and fulfilling themselves enjoying all the endless entertainment and pleasure. So, how does Islam view this issue?
****Islamic Perspective****
Islam has a vision of life that contrasts sharply with the capitalist system. A Muslim's vision of life is to worship Allah Taala by practicing complete obedience to His rules. With this view, human life runs according to Islamic law and changes the pattern of life, including:
First, the life of the world is only a place to do good deeds so that any activity has the same goal, which is to fulfill the pleasure of Allah. When working, he will not forget to worship and apply Islamic principles in earning a living, such as not justifying all means in order to gain as much material as possible.
Second, understanding the priority of needs, not fulfilling non-urgent desires, such as reducing spending on tertiary goods that are not really needed, living frugally and as much as possible, not being wasteful, not hoarding wealth, and diligently donating their assets for the benefit and benefit of the people, such as donating land for the construction of mosques, schools, or other public facilities.
Third, in the state order, the ruler establishes Islamic political economic policies without discriminating between groups of people based on their economic conditions. In the view of Islam, the fulfillment of basic needs is the right of each individual, not based on per capita calculations or beaten equally.
In Islam, the state is obliged to fulfill basic needs, namely clothing, food, shelter, education, health, and security with the best service. In the aspect of clothing and shelter, the state provides various mechanisms so that people can easily fulfill them, such as houses and land at affordable prices. In the food aspect, the state ensures that food prices can be purchased by all groups of society with a healthy market mechanism. The state will take action against fraudulent and unscrupulous traders who hoard and play with prices, and eradicate the food mafia.
On health, education and security, the state is obliged to provide them free of charge. Financing for these three aspects is taken from the baitulmal, which is sourced from natural resource management posts, such as oil, gas, and mineral and coal mining, as well as marine products, forests, and so on.
Fourth, the state provides wide employment opportunities for the people so that they can fulfill their needs well.
With these policies, economic pressure and burden will be reduced so that people do not experience stress or depression that requires parties or entertainment. In Islam, relieving stress or fatigue is not by material pleasure or entertainment, but by increasing worship and getting closer to Allah Taala. When Islam becomes the standard of human life, pleasure in hedonistic entertainment will turn into pleasure in positive activities that are thick with an atmosphere of faith. All of this can only be accomplished when the state implements a kafah Islamic system. [MNews/CJ-RR]
