Definition of Disintegration, Impact, and Its Forms in Everyday Life

Disintegration is – Disintegration is a state of disorganization that makes wholeness or unity disappear and can cause division. The opposite of disintegration is unification which causes unity and unity so that it becomes whole.

Disintegration takes the form of demonstrations, regional upheaval for groups or individuals who feel discrimination, uncontrolled criminal acts, deviant behavior and conflicts involving issues of religion, ethnicity, taste and between groups (SARA).

The phenomenon of social disintegration is an example of the most feared phenomenon in social life. This is because disintegration can cause an upheaval in a series of splits. So, on the basis of this, various kinds of disintegration are trying to be avoided or resolved so as not to cause divisions.

In order to avoid or complete disintegration, you need to know what disintegration is first. Check out the explanation in more detail below.

Definition of Disintegration

Disintegration becomes a picture of a situation that has no rules or unity that applies to life in society. This situation can threaten the occurrence of divisions that result in the destruction of the social order caused by the breakdown of social order.

Therefore, disintegration in general is the opposite of social integration which has a view of unity and unity. The development of life experienced in society often changes according to the conditions and factors that cause social change.

Disintegration can also be defined as a form of behavior of every individual or group that lives in a state of disorder, the cause of disintegration could be due to continuous forms of social change that occur on every side of life, so that people are increasingly out of control in carrying out their daily activities.

Here are some opinions of experts about the definition of disintegration.

  1. Soekanto Soekamto argues that disintegration is a condition that occurs in society in a situation of disorder, this is based on the fading of values ​​and norms that have been lost. There are also factors behind the occurrence of disintegration, namely social change, social institutions that go through changes due to attitudes and demands of human life that continue to develop from time to time.
  2. According to the Big Indonesian Dictionary (KBBI) disintegration is a social reality that shows the existence of disunitedness, because the situation is divided and causes a loss of wholeness in life.
  3. According to Webster’s New Encyclopedic Dictionary, disintegration is a division that occurs in nations and countries so that in the end they become separate or different parts.
  4. Mohammad Ali Al Humaidy argues that social disintegration is a process in the interaction of a pluralistic society, in which one or several groups try to abandon their own identity and commit an act of discrimination against other parties, because other parties are considered not to practice the values ​​that are considered true. .

Forms of Disintegration

In general, there are three forms of disintegration, the following is an explanation of the forms of disintegration.

1. Social Disintegration

The first form of disintegration is social disintegration, namely the absence of functioning social norms and functions. The situation of social disintegration can be caused by people who feel dissatisfied with their condition, so they want to make a fundamental change.

An example of social disintegration is the chaos that occurred in East Timor after the poll and the chaos that occurred in Maluku when the SARA riots occurred. Then what is the cause of this social disintegration? Social disintegration occurs due to five causes, as follows.

  • There are different views about the goals to be achieved together. For example, the Indonesian people have aspirations of forming a just and prosperous society, as stated in the 1945 Constitution. If a city or province establishes its own state, social disintegration will definitely occur.
  • Norms that exist in society begin to disappear or do not function as they should. An example is the legal issues in Indonesia which are not enforced fairly.
  • There is a conflict between the norms that exist in society. Usually occurs at the RT or RW level. For example, regarding alcohol, there are some who think that drinking is wrong, but there are also those who have different opinions.
  • There is a lack of consequence to imposing sanctions on violators of norms. This relates to other causes such as punishment for corruptors and common people which is different and causes social disintegration.
  • The last cause of social disintegration is the actions of citizens who are not in accordance with the prevailing norms, so that it becomes an inhibiting factor for social and cultural change.

Then, how to prevent this social disintegration from happening? Of course a nation and society want all forms of disintegration including social disintegration not to occur or to be avoided, because it has negative or bad impacts in various aspects. Therefore, it is necessary to take precautions such as the following.

  • The law needs to be upheld as fairly as possible and must not be blunt up and down. The law needs to be firm and upright to anyone who violates the law. Even if someone has a high position or is powerful, if that person violates the law, then he deserves a sanction.
  • A sense of nationalism that needs to grow and be improved in a person. Because with the increasing sense of nationalism in the community, the community members will also comply with all existing norms. In addition, when a sense of nationalism grows, members of the public will make Pancasila an ideology that should be adhered to or used as a reference in society.
  • The law that applies in society must be in accordance with the 1945 Constitution.
  • Tolerance in every religion, ethnicity and culture. As it is known that Indonesia has various religions, ethnicities and cultures. Therefore, every society must respect each other even though there are differences, so that there is no division caused by differences.
  • National integration must run optimally and every citizen is obliged to do so.

2. Disintegration of the Nation

The second form of disintegration is the disintegration of the nation, namely the division of life in society caused by the influence of other countries. This disintegration can also be caused by the influence of a country itself. Examples include the lack of acceptance by society of differences, resulting in discriminatory attitudes.

Before cultural disintegration occurs, disorganization will usually occur in the community first. Disorganization occurs due to differences in opinions, social norms, values ​​and differences in actions within society.

If disorganization is not immediately resolved or resolved, it will lead to a conflict in society, namely cultural disintegration. In general, this disintegration can be determined by several factors, namely groups, social systems, sanctions systems, and action systems. Here’s an explanation.

  • There is no longer an agreement between group members discussing the social goals to be achieved, which initially these goals became a guideline for the group.
  • Social norms that exist in society no longer function to help community members achieve agreed goals.
  • The norms in the group that are internalized by each member are no longer in accordance with the group members. So that each member of the group becomes ignorant of the prevailing norms.
  • Social sanctions that exist in the community are weak and are not even implemented properly. Sanctions imposed on someone who violates a norm are considered invalid.
  • All actions taken by every society have contradicted the norms that exist and apply in social life.

There are several characteristics or characteristics of cultural disintegration, this is explained in a journal Social Disintegration (Study of Regulations for the Protection of Manta Rays in the Lamakera Community, East Flores Regency) written by Randi M. Prakon. Here’s an explanation.

  • There are differences in goals between members of a group, so there is no uniformity or similarity in the group.
  • Most of the group members do not comply with the norms that have been in force.
  • The authority of group leaders and leaders began to decline in society.
  • Sanctions no longer function or their function is reduced and not as they should be.

3. Family Disintegration

The third form of disintegration is disorganization that occurs within the family environment and is caused by a lack of understanding between family members. This form of disintegration can be seen in various cases, such as separate beds between husband and wife, extramarital affairs or divorce.

Other examples of family disintegration are the lack of love and attention from parents, the attitude of children against both parents, the absence of a sense of kinship in the family, the absence of smooth communication within the family, the husband’s income which is insufficient to meet the needs of family members, parents or children or a family member who is too busy working to pay less attention to the family, problems that occur in intimate relationships, selfish attitudes and so on.

Factors and Impact of Disintegration

The problems that lead to disintegration include the following.

  1. Conflict, conflict is one of the things that causes someone to disintegrate. Conflict is a condition of dissatisfaction felt by the community towards the existing situation. It is this dissatisfaction that ultimately causes certain people to not be in unity.
  2. War is another factor that causes disintegration.
  3. Whether it’s wars between tribes, ethnicities or wars that occur because of cultural differences. War will cause a considerable impact both in terms of material and immaterial.
    Conflict is one of the foundations of a group in society experiencing division. The condition of this one community is the basis for why the people who are involved in or experience conflict also experience disintegration.
  4. Social inequality is another factor that causes disintegration. This is because the social status of a person is distinguished based on the rich and poor people. Problems regarding population in Indonesia like this will eventually make many interests prioritize the rich over the poor.
  5. Lack of respect for pluralism which has a heterogeneous nature.
  6. Lack of tolerance that occurs between groups.
  7. Lack of awareness from the community against all threats and disturbances that come from outside.
  8. The development of an ideology that is very contrary to the ideology of the nation, namely
  9. Pancasila, for example, is like the ideology of communism, Marxism, Leninism and so on.
  10. There are groups or people who do not follow the regulations, both regional and state regulations, properly and correctly.
  11. The waning of people’s trust in the leaders and administrators of the state.
    Every action taken by the community is no longer based on Pancasila and the 1945 Constitution as the basis of the state.
  12. An unhealthy and unconducive political atmosphere was created, thus dividing society.
  13. Increased apathy and selfishness of society.
  14. Unequal education, development and other fields in certain areas.

If the community understands that the factors above are the cause of the disintegration and separation of society, then why are there still some people who carry out these attitudes? According to Simon Fisher, there are several factors that cause the conflict to trigger disintegration, along with an explanation.

  1. Community relations theory, according to this theory, conflicts occur because there is continuous polarization, distrust, suspicion and conflict that exist between different groups in society.
  2. Principled negotiation theory, is a theory that explains that conflict occurs due to positions that conflict with the zero sum conflict view adopted by the conflicting parties.
  3. The theory of human needs is a theory that explains that deeply rooted conflicts are usually caused by non-fulfillment of basic human needs, psycho-social, primary needs including security, attention, identity, participation and autonomy.
  4. According to identity theory, conflict is caused by feelings of threatened identity and often unresolved problems of loss and suffering.
  5. The theory of intercultural miscommunication, namely that conflicts occur because of different or conflicting types of cultural communication.
  6. Conflict transformation theory is a theory that explains that conflicts can occur because of real problems such as injustice or inequality expressed in competing social, economic and cultural frameworks.

Then what is the impact of the disintegration that occurred? Disintegration, be it social, cultural or family disintegration, will at least have two sizable impacts, namely the emergence of divisions and the emergence of social problems. Here’s a further explanation.

1. The emergence of divisions

An example of disintegration cases that lead to divisions is the case that occurred between South Korea and North Korea. In the beginning, these two countries were united, but because there were differences in terms of socialist and democratic governance, in the end these two countries became opposite each other, and even fought each other to strengthen each other’s influence.

2. Emergence of Social Problems

The second impact of the case of disintegration is the emergence of social problems, because disintegration will cause the condition of society to become unified and eventually trigger a situation that is quite complicated to achieve common goals.
In Indonesia itself, there are several examples of cases of disintegration, for example the demonstrations that occurred in 1998 where students and the public revolted and protested against the government led by the New Order or New Order.

Another example is the PKI which occurred during the Old Order era, the PKI is a communist party that carried out a government coup in a quite brutal way, such as killing many generals and important figures.

That is the explanation regarding disintegration, which is a form of behavior of every individual and group that lives in disorder, causing disunity.