A sociological perspective on child-rearing practices in kurdish-turkish intermarriages: A qualitative study on İzmir and Ankara

This master thesis research deals with child-rearing practices in TurkishKurdish intermarried families from a sociological perspective. The research aims to determine whether the cultural backgrounds of the parents of such marriages depending on the social group they belong to have an impact on child-rearing practices. From this point of view, we deliberated partner selection and marriage processes to understand the impact of social contact between the two social groups through intermarriages on child-rearing practices in the research universe. Therefore, this study seeks answers to the following research questions: What are structural factorsthat lead to people Turkish- Kurdish intermarriages? What impact do these factors have on child-rearing practices? In the research universe, how do parents' values and aspirations concerning child-rearing come together in Turkish-Kurdish intermarried families? In this context, semistructured interviews were conducted with 20 partners (40 individuals) who conducted Turkish-Kurdish intermarriages by applying qualitative research techniques. 10 of the 20 couples in our research universe are living in İzmir and the other 10 are living in Ankara. Such a comparative study enables us to understand how child-rearing practices, which differ from society to society, as well as regionally in a society, are found in the context of our research universe. The semi-structured interviews conducted İzmir and Ankara were transcribed. The data were analyzed using manual coding technique. In this research, methodologically, grounded theory was applied. vii Keywords: Intermarriage, Child-rearing, Sociology of Childhood.