Marriage and family life

The traditional rural household consisted of a man, his wife, his adult sons and their wives, and his young children and grandchildren. On the death of the household head, this large household broke up into as many first-generation households as there were sons, each beginning the process again. The former high death rate among adult men, the lack of living sons, and, very rarely, quarrels between generations made these large households a minority of all households at any one time. Thus, although most villagers probably lived some part of their lives in such a household, most village households at any given time contained only parents and children, with perhaps other random relatives. The average size of a household was probably between five and six persons.

In most rural areas household heads were grouped in patrilineal lineages or clans—that is, a group of men descended only through males from a common ancestor, usually a great-grandfather but perhaps an even earlier ancestor. Such lineages were concerned primarily with mutual support and defense within the village, and the members often had adjacent houses and lands. This traditional organization persists in many areas.

Traditional village weddings involve elaborate ceremonies and last several days. Large transfers of wealth often are involved. Regional variations are considerable, but commonly a man may still make a marriage payment to the father of his son’s bride and also pay for the wedding, the total cost amounting to as much as or more than one year’s total income for an average household, without counting the need to provide a new room or house. These traditions have largely broken down among the urban educated classes, where traditional and Western courtship styles have demonstrated the ability to intermingle. In some cases, families arrange for an introduction between potential spouses; if they are compatible, the two may choose to continue with a period of courtship. This pattern, more common among urban educated youth, results in a longer period, on average, between meeting and marriage, as well as a later marriage age. Dating is growing more common among university populations.

Kinship carries strong obligations of mutual support and interest. People look to their kin for day-to-day sociability, for hospitality in other villages, for help in trouble, for cooperation in weddings and funerals, and for aid in urban migration, in finding jobs, and in getting official favours. Kinship and marriage ties have had important political and economic implications, both at higher levels of power in the towns and in links between towns and villages.

Social change

Change in Turkish society—which, as in many other developing countries, includes growth in population, communication, production, urbanization, and administration and education—has been rapid, complex, and extremely uneven.

A vast increase in jobs available in towns and cities has attracted migrant labour in the form of men who work in urban centres, many of whom work in cities still keep their families in the village tilling the land. It has also meant that many village households have uprooted themselves and moved to towns and cities, greatly increasing the urban population.

At the same time, through political and administrative pressure and greater efficiency, secularization and modernization have increasingly pervaded the rural areas and small towns. State schools have increased in numbers in the countryside, introducing more-national and cosmopolitan ideas. Bureaucracy has introduced registration of births, deaths, and marriages and more-complex systems of credit and law. Land disputes are now often settled by official and legal means rather than by local social pressures. Legal divorce has tended to replace socially recognized separation.

The state is constitutionally secular, but it still controls the religious establishment. Until 1950 no religious teaching was permitted, but modern religious schools and theology faculties were later established, and religious lessons were allowed in state schools. Many courses and groups outside the state system have been set up to teach children religion, and the number of new mosques is large. Thus, the deep attachment of the majority to Islam has been demonstrated. With the exception of a secularist elite, many Turkish people remain committed to a Muslim identity and to an Islamic worldview.

Changes in kinship, family, and marriage have resulted from economic and demographic changes. Young men can now more easily establish economic independence. Universal formal education and the possibilities of upward social mobility or migration for work have given young people a view of the world that is different from that of their ancestors, but significant changes in customary behaviour are slow in developing.