Intergenerational Workers in the Tea Plantation Industry: A Comparative Study of the Wonosari and Sirah Kencong Tea Plantations

DOI

10.2991/978-2-38476-485-3_5How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Intergenerational Workers; Wonosari; Sirah Kencong

Abstract

Since the introduction of the plantation industry in Indonesia, new occupations and labor spaces have emerged within rural Javanese society. Alongside adaptation to this new economic model, these conditions have also forged a new pattern of occupational inheritance. This article aims to describe and elaborate on this inheritance pattern among tea industry workers. To examine this, the study employs the historical method with an oral history approach, comparing the phenomena at the Wonosari and Sirah Kencong tea plantations. This article aims to analyze the pattern of occupational inheritance among tea industry workers by examining how this process is perpetuated, its effect on the industry’s success, and its impact on worker welfare. The findings reveal that occupational inheritance is perpetuated through informal social networks and a lack of alternative employment, creating a stable but low-mobility workforce. While this intergenerational continuity contributes to the tea industry’s stability, it severely limits meritocracy, trapping many worker families in a cycle of poverty with limited opportunities for welfare improvement. Ultimately, this study concludes that the prevailing system of occupational inheritance secures operational stability for the tea industry at the direct expense of workers’ social and economic mobility.

Copyright

© 2025 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Donny Maulana
AU  - Muhammad Asyrofi Al Kindy
AU  - Arif Subekti
AU  - Nora Titahning Ayudha
AU  - Eko Hasumi Aditya
AU  - Setia Ningrum
AU  - Iqbal Maulana Razaq
AU  - Bima Juliansyah Rodeo
PY  - 2025
DA  - 2025/11/14
TI  - Intergenerational Workers in the Tea Plantation Industry: A Comparative Study of the Wonosari and Sirah Kencong Tea Plantations
BT  - Proceedings of the International Conference on Contemporary Sociology and Educational Transformation (ICCSET  2025)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 39
EP  - 48
SN  - 2352-5398
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-2-38476-485-3_5
DO  - 10.2991/978-2-38476-485-3_5
ID  - Maulana2025
ER  -