Scanning the whole range of explicitly patterned social relations, from those evident in the smallest, least formal groups to those evident in the widest and most formally constituted ones, Professor Jay's work covers all the main modes of relationship current among Javanese villagers in rural “Modjokuto.” This study continues the description of that town and its environs begun by Clifford Geertz in The Religion of Java, and carried forward in books by Hildred Geertz and Alice Dewey.
Social relations in the author's use of the term includes, in addition to actual interaction, the villagers' conceptions of each category of relationship as made explicit in their statements and action. The conceptions expressed on each category by individual informants were found to vary according to the immediate social setting – its degree of formality versus intimacy – and to affect interaction in no direct and simple fashion.
The study is based on intensive fieldwork in this single locale in rural Java, and does not pretend to be representative of any larger part of Javanese society. The selection and the descriptions of the material have, however, been aimed not merely to give a thorough and accurate portrayal of social relations in this one locale, but also to provide for point-for-point comparison between this locale and others throughout Southeast Asia and beyond.
Contents
The Area • Conception and Actuality • The Life Stages • Framework of the Nuclear Family • Interpersonal Relations Within the Nuclear Family • Marriage and Affinal Kinship • Extended Kinsmen • Community: Neighborship and Neighborhood • Social Rank • Corporate Organization: The Village Community • Corporate Organization: The Units of Local Government • Corporate Organization: Private Associations • Variation and Change in Rural Java • Appendices • Index