Membentuk “Kami” dan “Mereka”: Politik Identitas dan Batas Sosial-Spasial di Kawasan Pendidikan Jatinangor

Jatinangor, as an educational area, brings local residents and incoming students into intensive daily contact. This study examines how differences between local residents and students are interpreted and transformed into a distinction between “us” and “them”. Using a qualitative case study design, data were collected through in-depth interviews with two local residents and analyzed thematically, with symbolic boundaries as the main analytical framework and Bourdieu’s concept of class as a supporting perspective. The findings show three main patterns. First, residents recognize students through differences in everyday habits and characteristics. Second, consumption spaces such as cafés and high-priced boarding houses are associated with students and thus become a medium through which symbolic boundaries are expressed. Third, the distinction operates without open conflict, through limited interaction and social distance, and the boundaries remain fluid because practical needs and social interaction can weaken them. These findings imply that identity politics in an educational area may operate through everyday boundary-making without formal political mobilization. Indications of class differences appear in consumption patterns and the use of space, but they cannot be taken as evidence of structural class segregation. The findings are exploratory because the perspectives of students were not included.