Türk Köyünde Yeni Modernleşme Eğilimleri ve Kültürel Değişim: Polatlı/ Kabak Köyü Örneği

Abstract

This study is about new modernisation trends and cultural change in a Turkish village. This issue is examined through the field study that took place in Kabak, a village in Polatlı district in Ankara, on axis of three main subjects: (i) formal and substantive changes in the values, norms, perceptions and relations that shape the organisation and function of family, (ii) similarly, changes in the relations and practices of cooperation and solidarity among the members of the village community and households in this context, and (iii) changes in production-consumption, social and economic welfare and lifestyle. Within the study, the evaluation of this change is handled through in-depth interviews with individuals from different generations in the same household. In this vein, how the process of change operates in the context of a certain case, how the village community repositions and interprets the traditional-modern dichotomy during its contact and relations with the outside world, and how it reveals a new form of rural existence are aimed to be scrutinised. This study is designed in accordance with intensive research design and it covers in-depth interviews conducted with 23 females and 37 males who are the members of the village community. The findings of research put forwards that there have been many changes in the formal and substantive qualities of family, neighbourhood relations and economic structure of the village across different generations. In some cases, the direction of these changes is in line with the discourses of the thesis of modernisation, changes in the structure of household authority, individualisation, resolution of the community relations whereas in other cases, it is observed that the individuals either resist to the changes by preserving the early situation or revise the new situation according to them. On this issue, it is revealed that the old forms of respect and authority in family and neighbourly relations in the village have started to disappear, individualisation and liberation have increased, and cooperation/solidarity between neighbours has weakened. However, it is safe to claim that this situation has not reached its extremes yet. Indeed, it is observed that many issues perceived as a decay in the sense of “we” and cooperation relations are related to the fact that the old versions of village solidarity are not necessarily preserved.