A sociological analysis of the parental attitudes towards organizing free time of their children: A field study in İstanbul

This study aims to make a sociological analysis on the relations between behaviors of parents living in Istanbul with different levels of income to organize free time of their children and their social, cultural and economic capitals. It discusses the parental attitudes towards their children's domestic and outdoor socializations by putting children's agency into focus. Research sample consists of the parents with children attending the two secondary schools located in different neighborhoods of Üsküdar, Istanbul within the academic year 2016-2017. In this qualitative research, the 365 parents selected by purposive sampling technique completed questionnaires and the 37 parents, teachers and school administrators selected by quota sampling technique participated in semi-structured interviews. In the light of the data obtained from the fieldwork, the socialization settings of the children of middle income families have been largely transformed from outdoors such as streets where are open to fictionalization, into indoors. The parents with pragmatist tendencies who constantly set goals, take their children's activities under supervision more intensely and multilaterally. The study suggests that children's process of creating their unique peer culture is directly dependent on parental authority. It reveals that new media tools have expanded parents' domestic and outside control and domination over their children and become super surveillance instruments. Key Words: Child, Free time, Parental Authority, Childhood Sociology, Istanbul.