The Family in Turkey: the Battleground of the Modern and the Traditional Dilek Cindoglu Murat Çemrek Sule Toktas Gizem Zencirci
Color profile: Disabled Composite Default screen Chapter 10 The Family in Turkey: The Battleground of the Modern and the Traditional Dilek Cindoglu Murat Çemrek Sule Toktas Gizem Zencirci INTRODUCTION Turkey is a secular, Muslim society with rapid social change (Aytaç, 1998; World Factbook, 2006) and the uncommon combination of a European modernism and traditional agrarian patterns like those found in developing nations (Aykan & Wolf, 2000). Urbanization, industri- alization, employment in the service sector, and the demographic shifts leading to a larger number of children and young people (even as the population ages) all have brought about changes in family struc- ture and life in the last decades (Aytaç, 1998; Vergin, 1985). Rural-to- urban migration has produced the mixture of Islamic traditionalism with urban-based Western values and lifestyles (Erman, 1997). Gov- ernmental reforms, resistance by some groups, and the process of so- cial change results in a society characterized by both modernism and traditionalism (Aykan & Wolf, 2000; Aytaç, 1998) with Islamic tradi- tions evident in some regions (e.g., eastern and southeastern areas, in smaller communities, and among the less educated). Indicators of traditionalism are seen in arranged marriages, paying of bride price, 235 Hennon.ps C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator\Desktop\CRCpress\HW15235\Hennon.vp Tuesday, May 13, 2008 4:18:04 PM Color profile: Disabled Composite Default screen 236 FAMILIES IN A GLOBAL CONTEXT religious weddings, attendance at religious schools, and women’s head coverings (Aytaç, 1998). Turkey has approximately seventy million people located between Asia and Europe. The population is 80 percent Turkish and 20 per- cent Kurdish speaking; most people are Muslim (99.8 percent, mostly Sunni) (World Factbook, 2006).
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