Bagus psi on blog [santapan hati]

 We know that rural community have some limitations in infrastructure development like roads, public utilities, and communication infrastructure. This limitation caused by geographical barriers, like hard topographic. So, the government need extra fund in rural development. Beside, rural community do not care about the information spreading. In other word, they have a perspective that information is not necessary in every aspect of their life.

So, based on minimally of information, they have some psychological impacts, i.e:

a. They have low social anxiety

b. They have high social space

However, the information have a positive impact toward human life, like internet. The positive impacts of internet in rural, are:

a. searching the information about price of seed, price of crop, price of fertilizer, prediction of weather, etc.

b. correspondence via e-mail or chat for Indonesia labour families.

c. E-commerce for marketing crop, yield and handy-craft that produced by rural community.

d. E-learning, E-healthy, and E-banking.

But, we must alert for some negative impacts of the information spreading in rural community, like:

a. a high individual space

b. increasing a social anxiety

c. consumerism in rural community

d. increasing the crime via behavior modeling

e. fulfillment of need of curiosity

Source :

1. Pembangunan Masyarakat Desa (Kartohadikoesoemo, 1984)

2. Human Communication (Burgon & Hoffner, 2002)

3. Diktat kuliah Psikologi Pedesaan & Psikologi Komunikasi (Bagus Ani Putra, 2007)

We know that rural or sub-urban has a social life which heavy with religious. These life has been manifested into some traditions. And then many scholars state that phenomena called syncretism.  So, what’s exactly religious life? Silberman in 2005 (Religion as a meaning system: implication for the new millenium) state that a person or group belonged to religious when they have:

1. Understanding God & His tenets

2. Connected to belief about the self meaning

3. Connected to belief about human being, invisible being, and nature

4. Belief about the next (ex. future, doomsday, hell, heaven, reincarnation, etc.)

And in my opinion, rural people have all of that criteria which is has been manifested in their traditions. Beside, rural people have some characteristics like:

1. Conservative thinking, so they can resist their traditions and culture (Pappleu, 1995)

2. Collectivism in all their activity so they can do cooperative culture (Taylor, 2002)

3. Low education so they have limited information and  authoritarian (Daldjuni, 1996)

Based on all those characteristics, so impacted to religious life in rural people, like:

1. Religious ideology that they have will be resisted. If any change just on their behavior caused by public conformity as an adaptive their behavior in all situations.

2. Religious ritual be done together as a manifestation of collectivism.

3. Spirituality values  be manifested in their traditions which depend on the nature (like offerings ritual and praying activities)

And as some research, religious value in Indonesia rural have impact to political power like an elected the leader based on their piety. So, for rural people, the leader is a clergy too and on the contrary (umara = ulama).

Resource :

Silberman, Israela. 2005. Religion as a meaning system: implications for the new millennium. Journal of Social Issues 61(4): 641-663.