Middle Class, WhatsApp, and Political Orientation: The Election of North Sumatera Governor, 2018

摘要

The Middle class is a social position that refers to wealth, education, mastery of science, technology, and access to information. This paper discusses the middle-class political orientation and the use of WhatsApp chat groups in the city of Medan in the election of North Sumatra governor in 2018. The middle class has a central position in the development of democratization. This group reflects the rational and objective character of the political process as a check and balance mechanism in an era of political decentralization. WhatsApp chat groups are used to discuss victorious candidates who are considered to have the same vision and mission as the middle class, namely getting the best regime. To explain this case, the public sphere theory is used with qualitative research methods. This paper aims to explain political orientation and the use of WhatsApp chat groups in the middle class in the city of Medan in the election of the governor of North Sumatra. The results showed that the middle class was co-opted on the understanding of political flow or identity politics through the politicization of religion, ethnicity, village, and Freeman. The middle class as an important part of democratization growth failed to represent itself in the North Sumatra governor's election because of the butterfly effect of the gubernatorial election in 2017.