Muzaffer SENCER*
SOCIALIZATION AND THE MALADJUSTMENT
OF MIGRANT TURKISH WORKERS
WHAT SOCIALIZATION MEANS
Maladjustment and nonconforn1ity, and deviant cases related
to them can be taken to be the consequences of the ineffectiveness
of socializing instruments and also as the effects of the deficiencies
İn the socialization process.
According to widely accepted definitions, from the point of
view of society, socialization is the process of building group
values into the individual. It is the way culture is transmitted and
the iqdividual is fitted into an organize d way of life. Socialization
begins very early, and in due course the chil d learns to take part
in group life and to embody in some degree the value s of his society
and of groups within it.
From the point of view of the individual, socialization is the
fulfillment of his potentialities for personal growth and develop­
ment. Socialization transforms TI1an into a self and an individual
having a sense of identity, capable of discipling and ordering
behavior, and endowed with ideals and values. Socialization
regulates behavior, but İs also the indispensable condition for
individuality and self-awareness.
AIMS OF SOCIALlZATION
Through socialization society teaches the child \"hat he needs
to know if he is to be integrated into the community and what he
1< Dr., Associate Professor at the Institute of Publle
Turkeyand the Middle East, Ankara.
Adıninistration
for
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rURKısH
YEARBOOK OF HUMAN RIGHTS
needs to learn if he is to develop his potentialities and find stable
and meaningful satisfaction.
The individual İs not born with the ability to participate in
group activity but must learn to take account of others, to coo:."­
dinate his behavior with that of others, to share and to cooperate.
Socialization is thekind of social control exercised for the sake of
both group life and personal growth.
Socialization inculcates basic disciplines, instills aspirations,
defines social roles and their supporting attitudes and teaches skills
providing the indivİdual with a preparation for participation in
adult activities.
,Much of the socialization of the child is deliberate, but it is
also a product of spontaneolis human interaction and occurs wit­
hout deliberate intention to train.
Socialization inevitably produces a degree of conformity.
Although many factors are present that encourage individuality,
people brought up under similar circumstances tend to resemble
each other in habits, values and personality.
SOCIALIZATION AGENCIES
Many groups, institutions and means play a part in socializing
a person. These agencies of socialization differ in importance and
teach different things in successive times. During childhood the
most effective one are the family, playmates and schooL, whereas
occupational training and mass-media are more influential in
adolescense and adulthood.
FAMILY
In ordinary and normal conditions in which parents are original
members of a culture and cultural contents of different socializing
agencies are compatible or consistent, the family İs the major
agency through which socialization takes place. Within the family
the parents and others try deliberately to mould children into con­
fonnity with acceptable cultural models.
In addition, there are effects, of ten unintended and unrealized,
f:-om the pattern of interpersonal relations within the familyand
SOCIALIZATION AND MALADJUSTMENT
123
from the type and intensity of the sentiments expressed in family
interaction.
In the modern world, the child's developing personality, morals
and skills are thought to be greatly affected by the way parents
handIe the child. In this instance, parental role will be one of close
supervision. The family handles the children either by direct
dealing through command and obvious punishment and rewa:-d, or
by indirect dealings, Le. by providing pleasant alternatives to disap­
proved behavior and by depending principally on reasoning with
the child.
Parents probably socialize the chil d more by the pattern of
interpersonal relations which they establish unwittingly than by
their delibe:-ate efforts.
The family working with the same principle as a sman group,
is the fundamental unit in the socialization of the child and con­
tinues to serve as a socializing ageney for the adult. And in the
process of socialization the familyaıso socializes itself.
The outstanding aspects of the familyorganization can be
understood only as reflecting the place of family as an operating
part of a particular kind of society.
The fanıily is not only an agent of socialization. it is inevitably
concerned with every aspect of the society's operation; in other
words, it fulfills many functions of society.
Socialization is the first one. The family performs the sociali­
zation function in two ways. it develops in the young and maintains
in the adult the sodal sentiınents which are indispensable to
societal functioning. it also acts as a cultqre transmitting ageney·
The individual gains from the family his first experience in social
partidpation and his first attitudes toward attainment and ac­
ceptance of social status.
The family is alsa crucial in keeping the society's members in
working condition. It is a small-enough unit to achieve an effec­
tive mutual responsibility for each individual's physical and 'mental
welfare. The assurance of a sense of belonging and provision of a
needed response relationship helps sustain the individual in his
social partidpation.
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126
Another function served is population maintenance, since it is
through the family that every society motivates people to bear and
rear children.
Society delegates to the family the responsibility of protecting
infants and children and of taking care of their physical needs.
The family also keeps these incompletely socialized individuals
from being a distruptive influence in the society.
Finaııy,
the family is an important social control ageney pres­
sing toward conformity. In developing his self-conception the
individual cannot escape the revealing judgements of himself that
are made in the intimate family situation, even when he is relatively
isolated from such critisism from outside the family.
FAMILYCRISIS
The close interdependence between familyand social structure
makes it inevitable that family equilibrium and effectiveness will
suffer when the normaloperation of the society is disturbed and
the regulating systems come into conflict.
Even if we put aside such abrupt and exceptional disturbances
as depression, war ete., which upset the regular functioning and
stability of the family, the cultural change as a universal pheno­
menon in modern times has reshaped the family's basic organization
and stimulated a long term transformation.
Our tiınes are marked by the shifts in the family system as a
result of changes that are taking place in material culture. Twen­
tieth century has witnessed a gradual change in the operation and
structure of the family in accordance with the transition from
traditional culture to the urban way of life.
One way through which the changes undermine the monopoly
of the family is the reorganization of society ön the industrial basis.
In this process, the large family losing many of its functions and
narrowing its size gives its place to a nuclear one with a redefini­
tion of Jts roles. By this definition b:-oadly inferred from the new
organization of the family based on industrial relations, every
member, especially children gain relatively independent positions
and family ties become less definitiye than were before. The
consequences of extensive and fair1y rapid cuhural changes are
SOCIALlZATlON AND MALADJUSTMENT
127
usually familial instability and disorganization as reflected in
heightened conflict and misunderstanding between husband and
wife, parent and child, within the larger family.
Another way in which cultural change threatens family stability
is through irreconcilable varieties in culture and the coexistance
of mutually incompatible social norms.
The effectiye control of culture over the members of a society
is largely dependent on the fact that its various aspects - such as
norms and values, etc. - ordinarily are mutually supporting in their
effect on the individuaL. During periods of transition this suppor­
ting relation is weakened, so that cultural values may not be con­
sonant wİth the approved family roles.
But the most serious threat to the effectiveness of family
socialization is explicit conflict between normative systems.
CULTURAL CONFLICT
Socializing agencies may complement and support each other,
but sometimes they incukate independent and even conflicting
values. Even in a stable society, some discrepancies may appear
between no.::m-imposing systems. This can lead to psychological
conflict for the individuaL. But this is the necessary condition for
freedom of choice among values, and ways of life, and contributes
rnuct to the dynamic nature of culture.
During early childhood, the individual's experience in the family
is the only source of satisfactions and frustrations he knows, and
the young chil d characteristically regards parental values as uni­
ve:-sal.
As he grows older, particularly in a complex and varied society,
he learns that there are alternatiye sources of satisfaction and
approval, and that choices among values exİsts.
In broad phases of cultural evolution, however, the various
aspects of culture are consistent in principle, and conflict for the
individual is minimized when the values he encounters are mu­
tually supportive.
The degree of compatibility of cultural norms depends upon
the distinctive characteristics and stage of development. In a tradi­
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TURKISH YEARBOOK OF HUMAN RIGHTS
tinnal society a great part of the culture has access to the child.
The life of the society is lived out before his eyes, and most of
the agencies support each other in socializing him. There is li ttle
competition for access to individuaL.
But in a large and heterogeneous society, a number of factors
determine a group's ability to reach the individual and exert a
significant socializing influence.
if the groups that reach the individual have similar values and
goals, theyare mutuaııy supportive, and socialization is reinfor­
ced. If, howeve:::-, they compete for the opportunity to impress the
individual with their values, he must choose between thern, and
he may be less effectively socialized by any one group.
Transltional periods of social change's and acculturation are
typical examples of contradictions resulting from opposite cultural
directives. For instance, children of immigrants are exposed to two
sets of values, often sharply divergent, one held by their parents,
the other by the new society. Because the parent's values are
unsupported outside the home, their influence is weakened.
Because the value s of the new society are unsupported in the home,
the child may accept them in an incomplete and superficial way.
He may obey the letter of the norms without understanding their
spirit. But there is a higher possibility that he may not take them
into account in his behavior.
PEER GROUP
Although the family is the first and basic socializing ageney,
it does not have a monopoly over cultural formation in our hetero­
genous society. The agencies of socialization change as the indivi­
dual matures. Through childhood and adolescence the peer group
and school increasingly compete with the family for access to the
individual.
The individual İs socialized both by his elders and by his
equals. In the peer group the individual associates with others who
are appoximately his own age and social status.
The childhood peer group is typicaııy a play group. In adoles­
cence it takes on rather the character of a Cıique or social set,
,vhich introduces the adult to status and class values.
SOCIALIZATION AND MALADJUSTMENT
129
The peer group exists for the sake of sociability. But behind
this innocuous interest is a powerful force of conformity. Like any
other socializing ageney, the peer group represents a system of
rewa:-d and punishments, of approval and disapproval. it
rewards the skills of sociability. it rejects the personality that dis­
rupts good relations and uniformity.
As time passes, the peer group becomes the more important
socializing ageney. lts growing importance and value are products
of the structure of modern society and the emerging nature of the
family.
But, as is the case for the family, in a stage of transition and
in sharp cultural differentiation, peer group with harsh competition
within it heightens cultural conflict and fosters a social segregation
rather than integration. For example, a migrant's child who is
driven out of peer group feels himself as an outsider in a hostile
society.
SCHOOL AND EDUCATION
In the modern world school or education with its culminating
effects on a child' s formation is becoming a socializing ageney of
great importance. Although the family does much to educate the
child, it cannot be relied upon to supply the degree of knowledge
that specia1ization requires. For this reason, in Western society,
public education has become a basic social institution.
School is not only a socializing ageney, on its own account, but
it also provides a setting for peer group experience.
The root meaning of the term «education» is indistinguishable
from that of socialization. Historical1y it has meant the conscious
training of the young for the later adoption of adult roles. By mo­
dern convention, however, education has come to mean formal
training by specialists within the formal organization of the schooL.
The family has the child first, but the modern family tends to
Ieave much undone in the socialization process - the transmission
of culture, especial1y the systematic inculcation of moral norms,
social values. As the family steadily forsakes its old quasi - mo­
nopoly over many functions, the school as well as other institutions
step into vacated places. The parents especial1y who have lost
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TURKISH YEARBOOK OF HUMAN RIGHTS
control of or have given up on their own adolescents, expect the
classroom to nıake up for any deficiencies in home training.
The fact that mounting pressure is laid on the school to perfo:-m
a task once considered solely that of the fa,mily indicates a wides­
pread belief that much remains to be done outside the home.
Modern formal education has three functions:
First, is to complete the socialization process with particular
emphasis upon cooperation and unity, second, to transmit the
cultural herigate, third, to rank according to ability and prepare
students for later job-world competition.
But the school itself, like the other institutions, cannot be
considered as an instrument necessarily socia1izing the child in a
proper way. As mentioned earlier, when school teaches modern
ideals in a traditionally oriented society it may stir some conflicts.
Or a migrant's child trained in a family having a different culture
may take contradictory ideas and value s from education.
DEVIANT BEHAVIOR
In a relatively homogenous sodety, three main normative
agencies - the family, peer group and school - are expected to exert
in harmony their influence on child-rearing and to support each
other in order to fulfill the aims of socialization. But in many
cases, so me of them may fail to function and the harmony between
them may collopse.
The weakening of social bonds and the want in efficiency
within an institutional machinery responsible for socialization are
called social disorganization, while the breakdown of and conflict
in a value system are cuItural disorganization.
When a socializing ageney ceases to shape a person or when
different value-creating systems appear to conflict with each other,
several social dicorders result. Among these disorders, personal
and mental disorders and delinquent behavior are most striking
and serious for society.
The two underlying factors - social and cultural - of disor­
ganization can be taken as bases for two major hypotheses about
the nature of criminal behavior.
SOCIALIZATION AND MALADJUSTMENT
131
One of theıu regards delinqueney and eriminality as the pro­
duets of faulty socialization or ineffeetive cultural transmission.
Socialization here is used in a limited sense and is considered as
the process by whieh the person adopts the official ways of behavior
of the society in which he lives.
Delinqueney and eriminality are regarded by others mainly
as produets of differential association with groups that repudiate
the legal codes. According to the proponents of this hypothesis, a
person may be well socialized and yet be a erirninal, if the norms
of his groups are at varianee with the offical norms eodified in
criminal law.
As the faetors responsible for deviant behavior, both social
and eultural disorganizations must be first looked for in the
family.
Sinee the family stilI has the most intimate eontaet with the
chil d during his formative years, it plays an exeeptionally important
role in determining the behavior-patterns a ehild will eventually
exhibit.
The family eonditions which can be seen as social disorgani­
zation and can hence be associated with personal disorder and
delinqueney are poverty, parent alcoholism, a broken home, harsh
discipline, psyehological tensions or emotional disturbanees in the
family. These eonditions are important to deviant behavior to the
extent that they inerease the probability that the ehild will obtain
the primary relations in delinquent groups and reduee the ehanees
of the family for performing its socialization funetion. Failure of
the family to ineulcate into its children the official values of the
society is especially important, beeause there is no other group
or ageney which can so efficiently perform this funetion.
Although delinqueney and eriminality can be explained as the
produets of social disorganization, theyare generally regarded to
be the results of eultural disorganization.
The approaeh which restricts deviant behavior to eonsequenees
of eultural eonflict can be divided into two subgroups:
One view holds that eultural eonfliets usually oeeur in indivi­
duals as psyehological clisorders and maladjustn1ents, and that per­
sonality disorders then lead to deliqueney and erime.
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TURKISH YEARBOOK OF HUMAN RIGHTS
According to this view, cultural conflicts can be said to be a
factor in delinquency only if the individual feels it or acts as if
it were present. Juvenile deliquency is also viewed as a consequence
of emotional disorders, which can be products of clashes between
the values of parents and the official value s of society.
There is little doubt that such clashes produce mental conflicts.
But it is less certain that the clash of divergent values is important
for delinquency only if it producesmental conflicts. Even when
no mental conflicts are present, cultural conflicts may produce
delinquency and erime.
Broadly speaking, criminal behavior is nonconformity to the
official values of a society. This type of nonconformity increases
as the degree of interdependence of persons and the group
decreases and as the number of different values inereases. These
conditions are interrelated because when there are many conflic­
ting values, mutual dependence tends to decline. As the bonds bet~
weeıı persons become tenuous, informal ways of insuring confor­
mity to dominant value s give way to attempts to control by force.
Criminal behavior is one m'anifestation of cultural disorgani­
zation, the breakdown of value systems. Societies in which culture
is characterized by extensive areas of value conflicts, witness high
erime rates.
In certain groups, disrespect for official values is the direct
product of conflicting cultural codes. In most criminological re­
search the term «cultural conflicts» has been used to designate
conflicts arising from penetration of divergent cultural codes. In
other words, it is the disparity among values arising when the
official value s of one culture or subculture come into conflict with
those of another.
The most frequently observed form of cultural conflict arises
through the process of migration.
When the members of one cultural group migrate to another
culture, theymay take with them value s which condone the ways of
behaving that clash with the codes of the receiving cu1ture and
are, therefore, illegal. Similarly, migrant groups may be ignorant
of many laws of the host society, with the result that crimes and
deviations are unintentionally committed.
SOCIALIZATION AND MALADJUSTMENT
133
Where such external conflicts occur, violations of law arise
merely because the actions of persons who have absorbed the
value s of one culture, conflict with the dominant values of anot­
her's. This conflict and consequent law violation continue until the
acculturation process is complete.
PATTERNS OF ADJUSTMENT OF MIGRANT WORKERS
As for the situation of migrant Turkish workers living in
foreign countries, for instance in Germany, it can be said to be
almost the same as the case of immigrants. Similar to the latter,
both social and cultural disorganizations operate within them.
For Turkish workers family, on the one hand, in which the
spouses are under the pressure of disruptive effects of living apart,
separation and divorce are the most frequent types of dissolution.
In other words, broken homes are typical examples of migrant
workers' families.
On the other hand, unified famiHes which had originated in a
different or traditional culture are also in a deep cultural conflict.
In almost every context, the contents of cultural patterns which
had been adopted by them are dissimilar, sometimes even opposite
to those of the culture in which they liye. Inherent discrepancies
between different value systems induce the family to develop a
defence mechanism by closing itself against penetration of intru­
sive cultural effects. They tend to live as a small and isolated com­
munity with is characterized by self-orientation and comn:on inte­
rests. This isolation drives them to uphold the familiar and tra­
ditional norms in a vivid sense and inevitably brings out more
conservative and fanatical patterns of values and distorted forms
of culture. Sometimes the seclusion İs reinforced by artifical and
degenerated elements of socialization, They usually rely upon reli­
gion to fill the gap which had risen from the feebleness of family
socialization. The religious training which is exercised in regular
courses and teaches ideals and norms contrary to secular society
amplifies the isolation of the families and puts them at a remote
distance from the outside world. Some other spurious w:ıys paved
to balance the influence of opposing normative agencies, are easily
found in the several aspects of the lives of Turkish workers.
134
MALADJUSTMENT OF THE SECOND GENERATION
The social and eultural disorganization of the family exert their
most shattering and dramaiic effeets on children and youngsters
who need to be socialized. The children, regardless of where they
were born, undergo the eross"pressure of eonflieting values, while
losing the family control and proteetion.
Deprived of familyand publie supervision, and rejeeted by
peer groups, the children Hnd themselves in a ehaotic and ano­
malous situation. Even the school where they feel themselves seg­
regated and where what theyare taught is of no use for being
adjusted does not funetion as a formative socializing ageney.
The school where theyare expeeted to be like German children,
negleet to faeilitate their adaptation and to fill their eultural gap.
In a word, edueational facilities as theyare, aggravate the malad­
justment rather than lessen it. For the great majority of children
the cas e can properly be named as maladjustment which bears the
risk to induee same deviations. The most typical manifestations
of this situation are frustration, alienation, and reaetion against
both familyand society.
From the sociologieal point of view, the most effeetive
measures to lower the intensity of the problem seem to lie in
edueation. While same orientation programmes can be earried out
for the families to lower eultural eonfliets, same special sehools
ought to be organized with special curriculums in order to make
them more adjusted. For organization of such an edueation, the
principles on which it works, the eontents of programmes and
textbooks, the training of teaehing staffs and others can undoub"
tedly be specified with an extensive researeh.
And only on the conclusions of such aresearch, an edueational
policy which will be put into practice can be designed.