Humanistic Perspective
Yazarlar: Dilek ÖZKAN, Umut ŞAH
Konular:Psikoloji
DOI:10.47793/hp.909401
Anahtar Kelimeler:Gays,Middle adulthood,Subjective well-being,Safe relationships,Discourse analysis
Özet: So far, there has been no study of the discourses that gay people build on their happiness in Turkey. As a result of the Özkan’s (2019) research as her master theis, 7 interpretative repertoires have been identified that refer to the conversations of gays in middle adulthood living in Istanbul about happiness. In this article, the repertoire of “long term/secure partner relationship”, which is one of the explanatory repertoires reached in Özkan's work, is analyzed in detail. Within the scope of the research, which formed the basis for the article, semi-structured in-depth individual interviews were conducted with 10 gays from different education, income and professional groups between the ages of 45 and 62 living in Istanbul. The interviews recorded with the voice recorder were transcribed into writing and the texts were examined by the method of discourse analysis. In interviews, relationships, personality structure, belief, education level, income level and health were asked about their relationship with the feeling of having a happy and satisfied life. It was determined that the participants of the study subjectively considered themselves to be good and happy, on the one hand, suggesting the existence of a long-term/safe partner relationship, on the other hand, they would not be liked as they got older, and they considered their relationship probability low due to the fact that safe/long-term relationships. In gay community, the often expressed view that loyalty has diminished and even no longer exists is constructed as an accepted “reality” that stands in the way of having a safe relationship. The interviewees, as individuals from the gay community where they express no more loyalty, both complain about it and position themselves passive in the face of it and seem to accept it as normal.