Reflection of Agriculture and Agricultural Activities on Turkish Culture: Evaluation of Stereotypes from the Perspective of Communication and Sociology of Culture

Abstract

The aim of this study is to investigate the features highlighted in stereotypes, which are one of the important elements of Turkish culture. One of the most important livelihoods of the Turkic peoples, whose historical origins are based on a nomadic lifestyle, is agriculture and animal husbandry. For this reason, proverbs that emerged in relation to agricultural activities were investigated in the light of Vygotsky's sociocultural theory from the perspective of culture and communication. Proverbs are concise folk words that societies have lived through the ages, as a result of observations, experiences and transfers. These words are considered as one of the important components of folk culture, as they go beyond the ages and are formed as a result of extensive folk experiences. For this reason, the traces of the understanding of agriculture in Turkish culture have been sought in stereotypes such as proverbs and idioms. This research differs from the literature in two aspects. The first of these is to look at the understanding of agriculture in Turks from a cultural perspective, and the second is to evaluate these cultural elements from the perspective of behavioral sciences, historical psychology and communication sociology. Purposeful criterion sampling and literature review methods were used in the determination of proverbs, and sociocultural theory was used in the analysis of the data. According to the results we have reached, features such as greed, laziness, lack of planning, lack of prudence, and extravagance have been criticized in Turkish culture; Features such as industriousness, perseverance, graciousness, kindness, sincerity, contentment, and will were praised. In the proverbs created in the context of agriculture, negative transmissions such as discrimination and gender inequality are also present in the oral cultural heritage.