Jurnal Pembelajaran Bahasa dan Sastra
Vol. 5 No. 4 (2026): Juli 2026

Social Criticism in the Drama Script Orang-Orang di Tikungan Jalan by WS Rendra: A Sociology of Literature Study

Herson Kadir (Prodi Pendidikan Bahasa dan Sastra Indonesia, Universitas Negeri Gorontalo, Gorontalo, Indonesia)
Anwar Lahay (Prodi Pendidikan Bahasa dan Sastra Indonesia, Universitas Negeri Gorontalo, Gorontalo, Indonesia)
Alya Aprilia Pulukadang (Prodi Pendidikan Bahasa dan Sastra Indonesia, Universitas Negeri Gorontalo, Gorontalo, Indonesia)
Juniarti Nurul Ilmi (Prodi Pendidikan Bahasa dan Sastra Indonesia, Universitas Negeri Gorontalo, Gorontalo, Indonesia)
Vidyawati Utina (Prodi Pendidikan Bahasa dan Sastra Indonesia, Universitas Negeri Gorontalo, Gorontalo, Indonesia)
Azalia Albakia (Prodi Pendidikan Bahasa dan Sastra Indonesia, Universitas Negeri Gorontalo, Gorontalo, Indonesia)
Ernawati (Prodi Pendidikan Bahasa dan Sastra Indonesia, Universitas Negeri Gorontalo, Gorontalo, Indonesia)



Article Info

Publish Date
09 Aug 2026

Abstract

This research focuses on social criticism from the perspective of poverty, social injustice, exploitation of women, and social alienation in the drama script Orang-Orang di Tikungan Jalan by WS. Rendra through the perspective of Alan Swingewood’s sociology of literature. This drama script is considered to contain the reality of community life depicted through characters such as Sri, Djoko, Botak, Surati, and Surya who represent the lower social group. These communities face economic pressure, social injustice, and marginalization. This study uses a descriptive analysis method. The data collection technique is carried out through the read-note technique, namely reading the manuscript carefully and repeatedly, then recording the relevant parts to the focus of the research. Data analysis techniques refer to the content analysis model in the sociology of literature approach. The stages of analysis are: (1) reading the entire script to understand the plot, characters, and conflicts; (2) identifying parts of the text that contain elements of social criticism; (3) classifying data based on three Swingewood perspectives; (4) describing and interpreting the social meaning of the data; and (5) concluding the research findings. The results show that there are problems of poverty, social injustice, exploitation of women, and social alienation that are part of social criticism. This drama script not only functions as an aesthetic work, but also as a medium of social awareness of the condition of Indonesian society at that time.

Copyrights © 2026






Journal Info

Abbrev

jp

Publisher

Subject

Education Languange, Linguistic, Communication & Media Other

Description

Jurnal PEMBAHAS (Pembelajaran Bahasa dan Sastra) [p-ISSN 2809-5367][e-ISSN: 2809-6355] has the aim to develop and disseminate science and technology through scientific articles on the results of research and study of concepts or theories in an effort to enrich the scientific realm in the field of ...