Indonesian sociography: analysis of themes and the implications for strengthening high school sociology learning in Indonesia

Abstract

This qualitative study aimed to assess the extent to which the 2013 Curriculum high school sociology coursebooks are informed by the results produced by the field of Indonesian sociography. In particular, the research is focused on which sociographic themes appear in coursebooks, their percentages and how they are presented. The data were drawn from 21 coursebooks, from seven publishers. Based on the results of content analysis, four main themes were found: social structure (S=395); social changes (S=58); social stratification (S=47); and social processes (S=44). In addition, 36 ethnic groups were identified, across seven major islands. This research also found that the study of Indonesian sociography presented in high school sociology coursebooks actually seeks to raise students’ ethnic awareness, given that Indonesia is a pluralistic and multicultural country; although in some cases it still requires strengthening for content aspects and learning instructions/guidelines for pedagogical aspects.