Pengemis dalam Perspektif Struktur - Aktor (original) (raw)

Beggars are always synonymous with poverty, misery, dingy appearance, lazy, slums, having unmotivation life and unthinking the future. However, over time the identity of gradually shifting. In Makassar, some beggars experienced in economic and well-being improvement. They send their children to school, they have motor vehicles, they have savings, they are even buy good electronic items. Based on this reality, this paper aims to reveal beggars actions as a form of adaptation of their lifes in urban areas. To achieve these objectives, there are 5 informants of beggars family as a case study and they have been doing the profession at least 3 years. It was conducted in-depth interviews to them, doing observations on their activities related to sources of their income. Data from in-depth interviews and observations also confirmed by the results of other research studies. Then, the data is analyzed by Miles and Hȕberman approach: data reduction, categorization, verification, and conclusion. Results in the research are: first, social adaptation beggars done by utilizing their social relationships such as relatives and acquaintances; second, beggars economic adaptation through the utilization of all resources of the urban environment which has the potential financially with the intention of maintaining their viability. For example, collecting used goods, scrap plastic collector and then sold to large collector; for women they are becoming a washerwoman and iron clothes; there is also a selling newspapers and street vending. Based on the description above, it was concluded the following things: first, the beggar isn't a slacker, but has life motivation, a strong willingneess for the future and very creative. This is evident in many of their activities as a source of income. Second, the beggar has the ability of individuals to establish social relations with the relationship they utilized properly. This also has implications on: (1) the need to revise conventional views of beggars as poor, miserable, lazy, and so on. (2) The need to reassess the socioeconomic situation of beggars when no help to them. ABSTRAK: Pengemis selalu identik dengan kemiskinan, penderitaan, penampilan yang lusuh, malas, lingkungan dan rumah yang kumuh, tidak memiliki semangat hidup dan masa depan. Namun demikian, seiring berjalannya waktu identitas tersebut berangsur-angsur mengalami pergeseran. Di Kota Makassar, beberapa pengemis mengalami perbaikan ekonomi dan kesejahteraan hidup. Para pengemis dapat menyekolahkan anak-anaknya, mampu memiliki kendaraan bermotor, memiliki tabungan, bahkan mampu membeli barang-barang elektronik yang bagus. Berdasarkan realitas tersebut, tulisan ini bertujuan untuk mengungkap tindakan pengemis sebagai bentuk adaptasi hidupnya di perkotaan. Untuk mencapai tujuan tersebut, ditetapkan informan penelitian sebanyak 5 orang keluarga pengemis sebagai studi kasus dan semua informan telah menjalankan profesinya tersebut minimal 3 tahun. Kepada informan ini dilakukan wawancara mendalam, dilakukan pengamatan terhadap berbagai aktivitas yang berkaitan dengan sumber penghasilan. Data hasil wawancara mendalam dan hasil pengamatan juga diperkuat oleh studi hasil penelitian lain. Data tersebut kemudian dianalisis melalui pendekatan Miles dan Hȕberman yaitu: reduksi data, pengkategorian, verifikasi, dan penarikan kesimpulan. Hasil penelitian ini adalah: pertama, adaptasi sosial pengemis dilakukan dengan memanfaatkan relasi sosial para pengemis seperti kerabat dan kenalan; kedua, pengemis melakukan adaptasi ekonomi melalui pemanfaatan segala sumberdaya lingkungan perkotaan yang memiliki potensi finansial dengan maksud mempertahankan kelangsungan hidupnya.