مرکز منطقه ای اطلاع رساني علوم و فناوري

Abstract :

In social science literature it is widely claimed that the authority of today s fathers over family members is decreasing. In this article, the pointed claim will be discussed again in the light of radical suspicion. Within the scope of this study, a group of fathers whose authorities were presumed to have decreased, were interviewed in order to observe changes in the fathers’ authority. The sample group was formed from parents who participated in the “Baba Destek Programı (BADEP)/ (Father Support Program (FSP)” because it was thought that the authority of the fathers who participated in this program, which is conducted within the scope of the family education through purposive sampling technique, decreased. This work basically investigated the mutual transformation of the concepts of father and authority, was designed as follows: Being a father is a concept built upon exercising the practices whose boundaries are defined by culture, and paternity refers to a position that corresponds within the family. Authority is defined as a categorical principle for the establishment of all relations and in this study it is claimed that fathers today continue to produce authority. In this context, interviews were conducted with 22 fathers who participated in the BADEP and the validity of these claims was examined. Interviews were interpreted through the use of ethnomethodology and the symbolic interaction approach as the unit of analysis. Thus, the study examines the meanings of the concepts of “fatherhood” and “authority” for the father, and it reveals the strategies and techniques that reproduce authoritarianism. As a result of this study, it was determined that today’s fathers continue to produce authority employing different, both latent and manifest authority strategies.