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Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14288/6
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Publication Open Access The variable selection problem in the Three Worlds of Welfare literature(Springer, 2019) Öker, İbrahim; Yıldırım, Kerem; Yakut-Çakar, Burcu; Department of Sociology; Yörük, Erdem; Faculty Member; Department of Sociology; College of Social Sciences and Humanities; 28982Based on a quantitative meta-analysis of empirical studies, this article points out a significant flaw in the Three Worlds of Welfare literature, the variable selection problem. Compiling, classifying, and quantitatively analysing all variables that have been employed in this literature, the article shows first that variable selection has depended more on case selection than on theory. Scholars tend to employ variables based on data availability, rather than selecting variables according to theoretical frameworks. Second, the use of welfare policy variables is mostly limited to the analysis of Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries, while studies analysing non-OECD countries, where data is limited, tend to use developmental outcome variables as a proxy. This tendency harms conceptualization and operationalization of welfare regimes, as well as blur the boundary between development and welfare regimes studies. Third, the use of original Esping-Andersen variables remains very limited, undermining continuity, comparability, and reliability within the literature.Publication Open Access The promising momentum and collective practices of the recently expanding network of consumer-led ecological food initiatives in Turkey(İstanbul Üniversitesi Yayınevi, 2020) Department of Sociology; Al, İrem Soysal; Department of Sociology; Graduate School of Social Sciences and HumanitiesThe main objective of this paper is to contribute to the discussions on the collective ecological food initiatives in Turkey that the academic literature has to a large extent ignored. This study provides a current and detailed analysis of these initiatives in Turkey, whose momentum has expanded considerably in recent years, especially in Istanbul. The study investigates food communities and consumer food cooperatives as two significant forms of consumer-led collective ecological food initiatives, comparing these in terms of their motivations, organization models, and functions. A comprehensive picture of almost 20 consumer-led ecological food initiatives is presented, and 11 prominent examples of these possessing transformative ambitions in Istanbul are discussed in detail. The fieldwork is based on my participant observation of the Kadikoy Cooperative, of which I have been a member for one year, and close interactions with the members of other ecological food initiatives for two years, as well as 20 in-depth interviews with the members of these initiatives. This paper examines the commonalities in these initiatives that differentiate them from other alternative food channels, as well as the connections, relationships, and collaborations among these recently emerging collective ecological initiatives. The paper discusses concrete examples of the alternative relations in food production, distribution, and consumption that these urban ecological food initiatives try to offer in practice and that indicate the potential power these initiatives have for transforming current food relations and for contributing to the emerging food sovereignty struggle in Turkey. The study also illustrates how the consumers and producers in this network of initiatives have conceptualized their practices and ambitions within the food sovereignty movement.Publication Open Access Between the state and the world market: small-scale hazelnut production in the Black Sea region(İstanbul Üniversitesi Yayınevi, 2020) Erköse, H. Yener; Şahin, Osman; Yükseker, Deniz; Department of Sociology; Sert, Hüseyin Deniz; Faculty Member; Department of Sociology; Graduate School of Social Sciences and HumanitiesTurkey is the world's largest hazelnut producer and exporter, yet hazelnut farmers have been growing hazelnuts in increasingly difficult conditions even for the years when production levels and hazelnut prices are high. In this paper, we take up the contradictions in hazelnut cultivation in Turkey and seek to show that, despite the commonsense opinion that the problem stems from small-scale cultivation, the more important problem is the unequal power relations that exist in the hazelnut market. We make the following arguments in the paper based on some of the findings from the field study we carried out in the Western and Eastern Black Sea regions in 2017. Issues exist regarding productivity and profitability in hazelnut cultivation characterized by small holdings. Hazelnut farmers are often unable to meet the expenditures and investments required for raising productivity. These problems arise more from the farmers' demographic profiles and debt levels and the unequal power relations in the hazelnut market with respect to small-scale production. Therefore, resolving the problems in hazelnut cultivation might require making changes that favor small farmers' power relations in the hazelnut market rather than enlarging holdings. / Türkiye dünyanın en büyük fındık üreticisi ve ihracatçısı konumunda. Ancak fındık üreticileri, bazı yıllar bol mahsul veya mahsullerine iyi fiyat alsalar bile, giderek daha zorlu koşullarda üretim yapıyorlar. Bu yazıda, Türkiye’de fındık üretiminin barındırdığı çelişkileri ele alacağız. Sorunların kaynağında fındık işletmelerinin küçük olmasının yattığı yönündeki genel kabulün aksine, sorunun aslen fındık piyasasındaki eşitsiz güç ilişkilerinden kaynaklandığını göstermeye çalışacağız. 2017’de Doğu ve Batı Karadeniz Bölgeleri’nde yaptığımız alan araştırmasının verilerinin bir bölümünün bulgularına dayanan makalede şu savları ortaya koyuyoruz. Türkiye’de küçük işletmelerde yapılan fındık tarımının verimlilik ve kârlılık konusunda sorunları vardır. Fındık üreticilerinin çoğu verim artırımı için gerekli harcamaları ve yatırımı yapamamaktadırlar. Bu sorunlar, üretim birimlerinin küçük olmasından çok, fındık üreticilerinin demografik profili, borçlanma ve fındık piyasasındaki eşitsiz yapıdan kaynaklanmaktadır. Dolayısıyla, fındık üretimindeki sorunların çözülmesi için üretim ölçeğini büyütmekten çok, eşitsiz güç ilişkilerinin hâkim olduğu küresel piyasada üretici lehine değişiklikler yapmak daha uygun olabilir.Publication Open Access The ISSP 2017 social networks and social resources module(Taylor _ Francis, 2020) Sapin, Marlene; Joye, Dominique; Wolf, Christof; Andersen, Johannes; Bian, Yanjie; Fu, Yang-Chi; Kalaycıoğlu, Ersin; Marsden, Peter, V.; Smith, Tom W.; Department of International Relations; Çarkoğlu, Ali; Faculty Member; Department of International Relations; College of Administrative Sciences and Economics; 125588This special issue introduces the 2017 Social Networks and Social Resources module of the International Social Survey Program (ISSP). This module has been newly developed based on specific, up-to-date theoretical and methodological foundations. Within certain limits the designers of this module aimed at allowing comparisons with the previously fielded ISSP modules on Social Networks from 1986 and 2001. The module encompasses measures on social capital and social resources, assessed by both a position generator and questions on social resources coming from network members or formal organizations. They are complemented by other important social network dimensions capturing network structure and opportunities to access and mobilize social relationships. A strength of the new module is to assess multiple dimensions of social networks and social resources, which are crucial either for instrumental or expressive outcomes also introduced in the survey. The special issue includes first an introduction presenting the motivations behind the 2017 new module on Social Networks and Social Resources, the underlying model of the final questionnaire, a description focusing on the core of the social networks and resources measurement with some descriptive results on social capital, network support and sociability, and open the discussion toward some research questions it allows to examine in a comparative perspective.Publication Open Access Protest, memory, and the production of 'civilized' citizens: two cases from Turkey and Lebanon(Routledge, 2012) Department of International Relations; Olcay, Özlem Altan; Faculty Member; Department of International Relations; College of Administrative Sciences and EconomicsThis article studies the proliferation of discourses of rationality and responsibility among a particular elite social group in Lebanon and Turkey, as they remember student mobilization of their past. I offer these episodes of student mobilization as acts of citizenship that create and make use of rapturous moments in the histories of their countries and institutions. I extend these acts of citizenship to the contemporary context and study the ways in which they become part of discourses of citizenship in unexpected ways. I propose that these narratives draw upon a set of local practices that reflect meanings of citizenship, originating from Western discourses of liberalism, albeit following a different route. In the narratives, violence and irrationality become the defining features of politicized behavior, whereas being civilized epitomizes good manners and rationality. Such boundary-drawing exercises contribute to making conceivable exclusionary social orders based on the idea of a hierarchical distribution of reason and social utility.Publication Open Access Social mixing in urban schools: class, race and exchange-value friendships(Sage, 2019) Hollingworth, Sumi; Faculty Member; Migration Research Program at Koç University (MIReKoç) / Göç Araştırmaları Uygulama ve Araştırma Merkezi (MIReKoç)Based on empirical, qualitative research on 'social mixing' in multi-ethnic London schools, this article argues for a conceptualisation of social mixing as an exchange of the self. Through analysis of three working-class, minority ethnic students who attempt to 'cross borders' into White middle-class subcultures, I explore the differing capital value embodied in their raced, classed and gendered identity positions. Friendships across this border are characterised by 'semi-investments' on both sides, and promise only partial possibilities for social mobility via social mixing, through limited access to academic capital and embodied Whiteness.Publication Open Access Philosophical re-thinking of international tax law: an analysis of harmful tax competition(Firenze University Press, 2020) Önal, Ezgi Arık; Researcher; Law School; 265197This study aims to re-think the harmful tax competition philosophically and through which to open a new route for further studies. With this aim, harmful tax competition is examined from epistemological, theoretical and methodological perspectives. As a result of this study, it is contended that the OECD failed to justify the assumption that tax competition under specified circumstances is regarded as "harmful" around the world in the same way and it harms global welfare. By doing this, the OECD does not take into account that the meaning of harmful tax competition can be constructed differently by different societies. In fact, based on the different meanings of construction, the same kind of tax competition may be regarded as "beneficial" by some states and "harmful" by others. Therefore, to understand the challenges on the definition of harmful tax competition and solve them, more philosophical analysis is needed.Publication Open Access The 'new' migration for work phenomenon: the pursuit of emancipation and recognition in the context of work(Sage, 2019) Groutsis, Dimitria; Vassilopoulou, Joana; Kyriakidou, Olivia; Özbilgin, Mustafa; PhD Student; Graduate School of BusinessThis article examines the 'new' migration for work phenomenon gripping Southern Europe since the Global Financial Crisis struck in 2008, by focusing on the case of skilled Greeks migrating to Germany for work purposes. In applying Honneth's concept of emancipation to the domain of work, the article frames emancipation as a phenomenon which emerges from an individual's search for meaningful work and as a form of resistance to deteriorating institutions and social injustice. Informed by this is an assessment of the new migration for work phenomenon from Greece to Germany by employing survey data on the perceptions of skilled emigrants. Following analysis of the findings, it is concluded that migration is a form of emancipation that allows individuals to regain recognition and self-respect while also to protest the erosion of social and human rights in their home country.Publication Open Access The psychological impacts of COVID-19 related stressors on Syrian refugees in Turkey: The role of resource loss, discrimination, and social support(Elsevier, 2021) Javanbakht, A.; Uygun, E.; Karaoğlan Kahıloğulları, A.; Department of Psychology; Acartürk, Ceren; İlkkurşun, Zeynep; Kurt, Gülşah; Faculty Member; Master Student; Teaching Faculty; Department of Psychology; College of Social Sciences and Humanities; Graduate School of Social Sciences and Humanities; 39271; N/A; N/ACOVID-19 does not leave behind refugees. They are disproportionately affected during the current pandemic. The present study aimed to investigate the psychological impacts of COVID-19 related stressors -resource loss and perceived discrimination during the COVID-19 pandemic- on Syrian refugees in Turkey. Further, the buffering role of perceived social support against the detrimental impacts of such stressors was examined. An online cross-sectional study was conducted between September-October 2020. A sample of 345 Syrian refugees in Turkey completed the questions about demographic characteristics, resource loss and perceived discrimination during the pandemic, perceived social support, and depressive and anxiety symptoms. A high level of depressive and anxiety symptoms was reported in our sample. Resource loss and perceived discrimination during the pandemic significantly and positively predicted depressive and anxiety symptoms. Perceived social support acted as a buffer against the detrimental effect of resource loss on mental health. For those with higher perceived social support, resource loss during the pandemic did not significantly predict depressive and anxiety symptoms. The results indicate the detrimental role of COVID-19 related stressors on refugee mental health. Social support is an important protective factor for mental health amidst the pandemic. Our findings highlight the importance of considering the precarious conditions of refugees in all COVID-19 responses and communications.Publication Open Access The squeaky wheel gets the grease: violent civil unrest and global social assistance provision(Frontiers, 2022) Çemen, R.; Department of Sociology; Yörük, Erdem; Faculty Member; Department of Sociology; College of Social Sciences and Humanities; 28982What are the contemporary determinates of social assistance provision? What is the role of contentious politics? Social assistance literature is dominated by economic and demographic accounts, which under-examine the possibility that governments extend social assistance to contain social unrest. We test factors associated with these “structuralist” and “political” theories on a new panel dataset which includes 54 OECD and emerging market countries between 2002 and 2015. The results indicate social assistance coverage has a significant positive relationship with riots. We explain this outcome as policymakers expanding social assistance as a means of containing violent civil unrest. This effect is more significant in emerging markets, suggesting that the domination of structural explanations is a result of sample bias toward the OECD. Finally, we find that governments consider World Bank social policy recommendations only insofar as there is violent unrest.