A research on neighbourhood and religiosity: The case of Ankara-Altındağ

Neighborhood, which makes its presence felt in many parts of daily life for people who are social and always exist in a society, is a social reality. With the development of the world, although there are sometimes a number of different needs, being an element of the social system is an indispensable feature of human beings. Within the social order, the closest environment of a person consists of family, relatives and neighbors. After the family with whom the person has lived his/her life, the neighbor and neighborhood relations, with which the person is always side by side and at the same time intertwined, are very important in terms of the reality of social life. In the historical adventure of neighborliness; many aspects are expressed in terms of religion, morality, law and sociology. The fact that it is the first place where a person socializes and encounters even more than blood relatives makes neighborhood relations very important. However, in addition to the social importance of neighborliness, the hadiths and verses of the Islamic religion also emphasize the situations related to neighborly relations and express the mutual rights and responsibilities of people. Therefore, the subject of our research is to examine individuals' neighborhood and religiosity relations. In this context, the main purpose of the research is to examine whether there is a significant relationship between individuals' neighborhood ties, religiosity, social support and demographic variables. In the study, semi-structured interview technique was preferred among qualitative methods. In addition, information and documents related to the subject were examined within the framework of the documentation technique. Interviews with the participants were conducted within the framework of 4 themes: the concept of neighborhood, social support and neighborhood, religiosity, religiosity and neighborhood. The data obtained were evaluated using content analysis and thematic analysis methods. In this framework, our study consists of four chapters. In the introduction section, the subject, purpose and importance of the study are emphasized, and the conceptual framework is discussed in the first section. In the second section, the method and design of the study, selection and characteristics of the study group, data collection process, data analysis and limitations were evaluated. Then, the findings were evaluated and the study was concluded with a discussion and conclusion. The findings show that neighborly relations in today's society have undergone a significant transformation compared to the past. The majority of the participants stated that neighborhood relations have become more superficial, formal and individualized. This situation indicates that social ties have weakened in modern society and the concept of neighborliness has started to lose its traditional meaning. It shows that trust, sincerity and cooperation are the most valued elements in neighborly relations; however, modern life has weakened these elements and people have become more distant in social relations. When the relationship between religiosity and neighborliness is examined, most of the participants think that there is no direct relationship between these two concepts. On the other hand, those who made a connection with religiosity stated that religious teachings can be effective in neighborhood relations because they include values such as tolerance, compassion and cooperation. However, this study reveals that these religious influences are not sufficiently evident today, and that neighborhood relations based on these values are decreasing as individuals' religious knowledge is weak and religious practices are limited. Although religiosity and religious teachings are thought to contribute positively to neighborhood relations, in practice, this effect is often limited to individuals' personal moral values and social habits. This reveals that the sustainability of neighborhood relations is mostly ensured by personal morality and social ties.