CAFE SEBAGAI RUANG PENGUKUHAN IDENTITAS INDIVIDU (Studi Fenomenologi Kritis Di Kalangan Mahasiswa Malang)

In today’s modern era, cafes no longer function solely as place to consume food and drinks, but have undergone a shift in meaning to become important social spaces in student life. Cafes are used as places to gather, discuss, do assigments, and even express certain lifestyle. In their daily activities, students use cafes as an alternative space to their homes and campuses for informal interaction. Through repeated practices, cafes serve as space for affirmingstudents individual identities, not merely as places for momentary expression. This study uses a qualitative approach with a phenomenologycal research type, which aims to gain an in-depth understanding of students’ subjective experiences in interpreting cafes as part of their lifestyle and the processs of establishing individual identity. The phenomenological approach is used to explore the meaning of students’ experiences, while a critical postmodernism perspective is used to understand the symbolic consumption practices inherent in cafe activites. The development of digital culture and social media has strengthened the role of cafes as spaces for students to represent themselves. Activities in cafe not only take place directly, but are also represented through social media. The findings show that cafes are interpreted as social and symbolic spaces, where the affirmation of individual identity occurs through the choice of cafe, activities, patterns of interaction, and self-representation as part of a lifestyle. In additional, economic capacity influences students’ access to and intensity of use of cafe spaces, so that identity is also releted to socioeconomic conditions.