Küreselleşme, Kültürel Değişim ve Ebeveynlik: Ankara Kamil Ocak Mahallesi Örneği

Abstract

This dissertation, which is based on a two-year-field research carried on in Kamil Ocak Neighborhood of Keçiören province in Ankara, moves from the assumption that the global consumption culture which occurs as a result of the change that capitalist modernization goes through in itself has taken the whole world under its effect, and it seeks an answer to the question how parenthood practices are affected from this change. In this new phase of Capitalism which is also defined by concepts like post-modern culture, consumption culture, risqué society, and “And” society, risks have also been globalized and it has become more and more difficult to control them. Communication technology, concentration and globalization of information and risks have forced parenthood practices to change. Giving birth to the child in a planned and conscious way has caused a child-centered culture and at the same time a “new motherhood ideology” in the whole world partiallywith the influence of developmentalpsychology school originated in the USA. Consciousness of global risks and conservative politics also popularized motherhood but opinion leaders stress that mothers should bemore conscious and educated and through motherhood schools certificated mothers are becoming more and more common. Parents in Kamil Ocak neighborhood consented on the new motherhood ideology partly with the effect of a conservative cultural structure which is a blend of low level of women‟s education and employment, migration from the country to town, pietism, and peasantry origins, thus the extra time required for the education of children are provided by the surplus labor of mothers. The image of certified new motherhood as a status has also its influence upon consenting on this extra labor rather than accepting it as a natural result of being a housewife.