Analisis Transformasi dan Rasionalisasi Layanan Pemakaman pada Husnul Khotimah Care di Yogyakarta dalam Konteks Perubahan Sosial Perkotaan

Abstract

Urbanization and land scarcity in Yogyakarta have driven the transformation of funeral
services from communal practices toward an institutionalized model. Research on the internal
processes of institutionalization, managerial rationalization, and the negotiation of religious
identity and the logic of fee-based services within religious nonprofit organizations remains
limited. This research fills that gap through a single qualitative case study of Husnul Khotimah
Care (HK Care), a funeral service unit under the PKU Muhammadiyah Gamping Hospital.
Data were collected through in-depth interviews with management and families of service
users, participatory observation at Nanggulan Cemetery in Kulon Progo, and document
analysis; the data were then analyzed thematically using triangulation to ensure validity.

The research findings show that HK Care has transformed from an informal religious study
group into a formal organization with a membership structure, standardized operating
procedures, and its own cemetery, in response to institutional pressures stemming from landuse regulations and the professionalization of services. Rationalization is evident in the
predictability of 24-hour service, land efficiency through zoning based on the order of death
and the preparation of empty graves, and institutional control through an exclusive
membership policy. On the other hand, Muhammadiyah’s religious identity and the logic of feebased services are negotiated through social earmarking: membership dues and plot fees are
framed as communal solidarity and spiritual investment, rather than commercial transactions.
These findings offer a theoretical contribution to the development of the sociology of death and
religious organizations in the context of urban Indonesia.