The heir’s affiliation to the lineage. Filiation, affiliation and social success in Turkish high bourgeoisie

Abstract

This article examines specific patterns of adaptation and transmission within families belonging to Turkish high bourgeoisie. Following anthropologist Harold Scheffler’s statement that a rule of descent is a special kind of a rule of filiation and thus doesn’t automatically involve affiliation, I present the various levels and criteria of heir’s affiliation to the lineage. I show that internalization of such schemes of perception and evaluation is directly related to the process of individualization. Their activation requires compromises with the plurality of situations encountered during the heir’s socialization, between parental expectations and personal ambitions, and between justification of oneself regarding significant others and justification of oneself regarding oneself. Rules of descent in Turkish high bourgeoisie hinge upon channels of inter-legitimacy in which the reference to the pioneers of the Republic is a proof of authenticity leaving apart Ottoman lineage. However, on the basis of elements brought by the analysis of contemporary historiography, one can build bridges between Ottoman and republican bourgeoisies, both defined as a group held by chains of inter-recognition and common values, rather than as a class exclusively involved in capitalist development. Therefore, the capacity of these families to hold up their positions, despite the abrogation of their titles and the introduction of patronymics, involved original strategies of filiation, such as combining patrifiliation and matrilocality. Finally, case studies’ discourse on the achievements of previous generations is interpreted as part of a continuing renegotiation of heir’s identification to the role he perceives as assigned to him.