THE SOCIO-HISTORICAL DIMENSIONS OF RELIGIOUS LIVES AND THE TRANSFORMED ASPECTS OF RELIGIOSITY IN TURKEY (1960-1980)

TÜRKİYE’DE DİNİ HAYATIN SOSYO-TARİHSEL BOYUTLARI VE DİNDARLIĞIN DÖNÜŞEN GÖRÜNÜMLERİ (1960-1980)

Abstract

It can be said that modernization in Turkey has followed a three-step process. While the intellectual foundations of modernization are based on the Tanzimat; structural, political and institutional transformations are based on the Republican revolutions, and socioeconomic and cultural dynamics are based on the democratization and industrialization processes that have started after the 1950s. The political, economic and cultural changes, which have emerged in the third phase, have widened the ideological and cultural representations of modernization to the larger part of the society. One of the main driving forces of change is the democratic political transformation, and the other is socio-economic and cultural transformations that are characterized urbanization, industrialization and global modernization. Both processes, which have deeply impressed on social and daily life, have developed depending on some internal and external factors. The period between 1960 and 1980 is a remarkable period for our country from political changes to socio-economic and cultural transformations, from democratization to industrialization. The intense migration of people from the rural areas to the cities, the economic leap of the middle class, and especially the mass media that has started to participate in everyday life, have caused to the different understandings related to norms and values. That situation has also caused tension between old and new, traditional and modern. The period between 1960 and 1980, which has been defined mainly concerning political developments but indeed has been experienced a rapid social change through urbanization and industrialization, represents a critical period in terms of the interaction between religious life and modernization. Even if the project of change of the Turkish Republic has started at the level of socio-political structures, it is also related to secularization of the cultural world. However, because of the fact that historical and cultural dynamics of the society are strictly related to the religion, this project of change has not generated permanent values at the level of identity and personality. However, it can be said that the political aims of secularism have reached a certain success due to socio-economic and cultural developments after World War II. On the basis of this transformation, it is clear that there are socio-economic and socio-political changes in Turkish society in connection with global developments between 1960 and 1980. That period is a period that the relationship between centre and periphery and power balances have been changed. The shift of these balances and the movement of the periphery gradually into the center in this process, first of all, begin to take place together with the transition of multi-party life. Secondly, one of the most important factors is the development of a new bourgeoisie or middle class as a new power elites against the political center in this period. The strengthening of the middle class has ensured the development of the socioeconomic resistance of the periphery. In connection with this situation, civil society institutions such as associations, foundations and organizations have emerged. Therefore the power of the centre on periphery has decreased in this period. That change in the social and political structure is one of the important reasons for the empowerment of the religious persons and some Islamic sects. The phenomenon of urbanization and industrialization, which are the main factors of change in this period, have led to a serious shake in the structure of society and it has become difficult for traditional religious understandings and interpretations to cope with increasingly new problems. This process, however, represents a stage in which traditional religious ideas and imaginations have started to change. The effects of change, while on one hand, have enabled to spread the modernization on the level of sociocultural dimension, on the other hand, have given power to the reactionary, compromising and syncretic interpretations of religion in civil-political life. In Turkey, the structural view of the religiosity between 1960 and 1980 and its relation with the change, first of all, have required a deep investigation about the development of religious institutions, organizations and movements with the social, cultural, and political backgrounds of the period. Although the prevailing tendencies of political groups, which are mostly included to our country through translations, have found a certain social base at the end of the 1970s, the social and cultural dynamics of our country have changed the flow of these tendencies. The public influence of the political Islamic identity observed firstly in our country has been diminished through some sects, the media and some local communities, and everyday life has been built again with a new mental transformation. In terms of the flow of everyday life, religious life in the Turkish society has continued in the form of a folk religion that is articulated in popular culture because of the religious elements that are intertwined with culture. It is understood that while the new urban social segment cannot stay away from politicization of identity and culture, the widespread segments, which have embraced their religious life in their daily lives, have not demanded this politicization and have adopted a religiosity blended with historical-cultural elements. In many respects, the period between 1960 and 1980 in Turkey has provided insights in terms of showing sociological background and processes of Turkish religiosity.

Özet

1960-1980 arası yıllar, siyasal değişimlerden sosyo-ekonomik ve kültürel dönüşümlere, demokratikleşmeden sanayileşmeye kadar ülkemiz için pek çok açıdan dikkat çekici bir dönemdir. Kırsal bölgelerden kentlere yönelik yoğun bir göçün görülmesi, orta sınıfın ekonomik sıçrama yaşaması ve özellikle de kitle iletişim araçlarının gündelik hayata doğrudan katılmaya başlaması, norm ve değerlere yönelik farklı tutumların baş göstermesine ve dolayısıyla eski ile yeni, geleneksel ile modern olanın salınımlar yaşamasına sebebiyet vermiştir. Söz konusu toplumsal ve kültürel dönüşümlerden kaçınılmaz olarak dini hayat da etkilenmiştir. Çoğunlukla çeviriler yoluyla ülkemize dahil olan siyasal grupların seçkinci eğilimleri, 1970’li yılların sonlarında belli ölçüde toplumsal bir taban bulmuş gözükse de ülkemizin kendine has toplumsal ve kültürel dinamikleri, bu eğilimlerin akış mecrasını değiştirmiştir. Ülkemizde ilk kez bu dönemde gözlemlenen siyasal İslam kimliğinin kamusal etkisi, birtakım tarikatlar, medya ve bazı yerel cemaatler aracılığıyla kırılmaya çalışılmış, yeni bir zihni dönüşümle gündelik hayat tekrar kurgulanmıştır. Yeni kentli toplumsal kesim, kimliğin ve kültürün siyasallaşmasından uzak kalamazken, dini hayatını gündelik yaşamı içerisinde meczetmiş geniş halk kesimlerinin bu siyasallaşmaya iltifat etmedikleri ve tarihsel-kültürel unsurlarla harmanlanmış bir dindarlık yorumunu benimsedikleri anlaşılmaktadır. Bu bakımdan söz konusu evre, Türkiye dindarlığının yaslanmış olduğu sosyolojik arka plana ve göstermiş olduğu seyre projeksiyon tutması açısından bize önemli açılımlar sağlamaktadır.