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Publication Metadata only A clash of civilizations? Examining liberal-democratic values in Turkey and the European Union(Wiley, 2008) Department of Sociology; Dixon, Jeffrey C.; Faculty Member; Department of Sociology; College of Social Sciences and Humanities; N/ATurkey's proposed entry into the European Union (EU) has been undermined by Europeans' perceptions of Turkish-European cultural differences, particularly regarding the liberal-democratic values that the EU promotes (democracy, rule of law, and respect for and appreciation of minority/human rights). Yet, cross-national research on values has not focused on Turkey, the EU, and these liberal-democratic values, leaving assumptions of cultural differences and their explanations untested. Through analyses of World and European Values Survey data (1999-2002), this article asks whether people in Turkey have the same values regarding democracy, rule of law (versus religious and authoritarian rule), and minority/human rights as people in EU member and candidate states (as of 2000)? What factors explain these values? I find that people in Turkey support democracy to the same extent as people in EU member and candidate states, but people in Turkey are more supportive of religious and authoritarian rule and are less tolerant of minorities. Although the 'clash of civilizations' thesis expects liberal values to be ordered according to countries' religious traditions, with western Christian the most supportive and Islamic the least, only for tolerance of minorities values is this pattern found. Instead, economic development most consistently explains differences between Turkey and EU member and candidate states in support for these values. I conclude with calls for theoretical refinement, particularly of the clash of civilizations thesis, along with suggestions for future research to examine more Muslim and Orthodox countries; I discuss the debate over Turkey's EU entry.Publication Open Access A task set proposal for automatic protest information collection across multiple countries(Springer, 2019) Department of Sociology; Department of Computer Engineering; HĆ¼rriyetoÄlu, Ali; YƶrĆ¼k, Erdem; Yoltar, ĆaÄrı; YĆ¼ret, Deniz; GĆ¼rel, Burak; DuruÅan, Fırat; Mutlu, Osman; Teaching Faculty; Faculty Member; Researcher; Faculty Member; Faculty Member; Researcher; Department of Sociology; Department of Computer Engineering; Graduate School of Social Sciences and Humanities; Graduate School of Sciences and Engineering; N/A; 28982; N/A; 179996; 219277; N/A; N/AWe propose a coherent set of tasks for protest information collection in the context of generalizable natural language processing. The tasks are news article classification, event sentence detection, and event extraction. Having tools for collecting event information from data produced in multiple countries enables comparative sociology and politics studies. We have annotated news articles in English from a source and a target country in order to be able to measure the performance of the tools developed using data from one country on data from a different country. Our preliminary experiments have shown that the performance of the tools developed using English texts from India drops to a level that are not usable when they are applied on English texts from China. We think our setting addresses the challenge of building generalizable NLP tools that perform well independent of the source of the text and will accelerate progress in line of developing generalizable NLP systems.Publication Metadata only Across the sea ... and beyond(Policy Press, 2018) Crawley, Heaven; Jones, Katharine; McMahon, Simon; Sigona, Nando; N/A; Duvell, Franck; Other; Migration Research Program at KoƧ University (MIReKoƧ) / GƶƧ AraÅtırmaları Uygulama ve AraÅtırma Merkezi (MIReKoƧ); N/A; N/AN/APublication Metadata only Authority, modernity and gender-relevant legislation in Iran(Routledge, 2011) N/A; N/A; Halper, Louise; Other; Law School; N/AA widely accepted view, both in scholarly and more general writing, is that Muslim women benefit from a regime of secular law and suffer under religious law. Thus, we are accustomed to conflating the situation of women in countries as diverse as Iran and Afghanistan and thinking that the status of women in both is dreadful. In fact, however, indicators of womenās advancement in Iran1 are quite comparable to those of women in Turkey, which has had a secular tradition since 1924. In contrast, the situation of women in Afghanistan continues to be abysmal. At a glance, then, it appears that the presence or absence of shariāa as the law of the state is, at the least, non-determinative, whatever influence it may have. It is in fact my hypothesis that the situation of women is impacted less by the nature of the legal regime than by their political status; that is to say, the salience of women to the political process and their active involvement in it. Iran is my key example of this hypothesis, and modifications in the law of marriage and divorce there since the Islamic Revolution of 1978 to 1979 constitute my data. Let me first set out some actual data. With respect to literacy, illiterates as a percentage of Iranian women aged 15 to 24 declined from over one-third in 1980 to under 10 percent in 2000.2 Over the same period, the illiteracy rate for the entire population of adult women was cut in half, from about 60 percent to about 30 percent.3 As for education, the number of women in secondary school as a percentage of the eligible age group more than doubled from about 30 percent to almost 80 percent.4 As of 1999, for every 100 boys in primary school, 96 girls were enrolled, indicating that boys and girls were almost equally likely to be learning basic literacy and numeracy skills.5 In 2000, one-half of all Iranian university students were women,6 as were 60 percent of entering students,7 who were selected on the basis of a difficult nationwide exam. Twenty-seven percent of working-age women were in the labor force as of 2000, up from 20 percent in 1980.8 In terms of health, life expectancy went up by 11 years between 1980 and 2000 for both Iranian men and women.9 With respect to family planning, ālevels of childbearing have declined faster than in any other country,ā falling from an average of 5.6 births per woman in 1985 to only 2.0 births in 2000,10 a drop accomplished by a voluntary, but government-sponsored, birth control program.11Publication Open Access Between the state and the world market: small-scale hazelnut production in the Black Sea region(Ä°stanbul Ćniversitesi Yayınevi, 2020) Erkƶse, H. Yener; Åahin, Osman; YĆ¼kseker, Deniz; Department of Sociology; Sert, HĆ¼seyin 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. / TĆ¼rkiye dĆ¼nyanın en bĆ¼yĆ¼k fındık Ć¼reticisi ve ihracatƧısı konumunda. Ancak fındık Ć¼reticileri, bazı yıllar bol mahsul veya mahsullerine iyi fiyat alsalar bile, giderek daha zorlu koÅullarda Ć¼retim yapıyorlar. Bu yazıda, TĆ¼rkiyeāde fındık Ć¼retiminin barındırdıÄı ƧeliÅkileri ele alacaÄız. Sorunların kaynaÄında fındık iÅletmelerinin kĆ¼Ć§Ć¼k olmasının yattıÄı yƶnĆ¼ndeki genel kabulĆ¼n aksine, sorunun aslen fındık piyasasındaki eÅitsiz gĆ¼Ć§ iliÅkilerinden kaynaklandıÄını gƶstermeye ƧalıÅacaÄız. 2017āde DoÄu ve Batı Karadeniz Bƶlgeleriānde yaptıÄımız alan araÅtırmasının verilerinin bir bƶlĆ¼mĆ¼nĆ¼n bulgularına dayanan makalede Åu savları ortaya koyuyoruz. TĆ¼rkiyeāde kĆ¼Ć§Ć¼k iÅletmelerde yapılan fındık tarımının verimlilik ve kĆ¢rlılık konusunda sorunları vardır. Fındık Ć¼reticilerinin ƧoÄu verim artırımı iƧin gerekli harcamaları ve yatırımı yapamamaktadırlar. Bu sorunlar, Ć¼retim birimlerinin kĆ¼Ć§Ć¼k olmasından Ƨok, fındık Ć¼reticilerinin demografik profili, borƧlanma ve fındık piyasasındaki eÅitsiz yapıdan kaynaklanmaktadır. Dolayısıyla, fındık Ć¼retimindeki sorunların ƧƶzĆ¼lmesi iƧin Ć¼retim ƶlƧeÄini bĆ¼yĆ¼tmekten Ƨok, eÅitsiz gĆ¼Ć§ iliÅkilerinin hĆ¢kim olduÄu kĆ¼resel piyasada Ć¼retici lehine deÄiÅiklikler yapmak daha uygun olabilir.Publication Open Access Ćināin yĆ¼kseliÅi ve yeni kapitalizm(Sosyoekonomi Society, 2018) Department of Sociology; YƶrĆ¼k, Erdem; Faculty Member; Department of Sociology; College of Social Sciences and Humanities; 28982This article presents a theoretical discussion about the new forms of capitalism in the context of the economic and political rise of China. The article raises a discussion on the changes that the rise of China has instigated in both China and the world capitalism. This is considered in the context of mode of production, international trade, state and capital, by analysing China and capitalism from the perspective of long historical periods. In doing this, the article benefits from the work of and polemics between Giovanni Arrighi, Joel Andreas ve Richard Walker, who provided very important contemporary debates on this issue in the field of historical sociology.Publication Open Access Devlet, sermaye ve kapitalizmin tarihsel sosyolojisi(MĆ¼lkiyeliler BirliÄi Genel Merkezi Yayın Organı, 2018) Department of Sociology; GĆ¼rel, Burak; YƶrĆ¼k, Erdem; Faculty Member; Faculty Member; Department of Sociology; Graduate School of Social Sciences and Humanities; 219277; 28982This paper makes a brief critical review of the different perspectives on the capital, state, and capitalism of Fernand Braudel and Giovanni Arrighiās world systems analysis, Charles Tillyās Weberian-Marxist synthesis, and Robert Brenner and Ellen Meiksins Woodās Political Marxism. It mainly focuses on the relationships between the territorial logic and capitalist logic, coercion and capital, accumulation of power and capital, and the formation of states and cities. Braudel, Arrighi, and Tilly detected two main historical tendencies. First, capitalist logic of power became powerful enough to transform the territorial logic of power in the longue durĆ©e of capitalism. Second, the fusion of the spaces of capital and coercion created the most sustainable resources for war-making and led the nation state to triumph over other state forms. Although the Political Marxist critique is not strong enough to refute the works of these scholars fully, it has significantly contributed to the debates on capitalism by encouraging the construction of a clearer chain of causality on the origins of capitalism.Publication Metadata only Differentiated function of school in socio-culturally disadvantaged context: a constructivist grounded theory study from Turkey(Springer, 2017) ÅimÅek, Hasan; Kondakcı, YaÅar; ĆalıÅkan, Zuhal ZeybekoÄlu; Other; N/AThis study analyses the functioning of a school as a social system in an atypical context with the purpose of generating propositions to tackle educational problems confronted by socially and economically disadvantaged groups attending these schools. Adopting the constructivist grounded theory, the analysis suggests that there is a kind of āvicious cycleā in the functioning of this atypical school, which adversely affects the school system. Breaking the vicious cycle involves five basic propositions: (1) making school a better place than studentsā homes, (2) overcoming the enduring difficulties of working in an atypical school, (3) multiplying learning opportunities, (4) prompting parents to assume more responsibility, (5) locating leadership that makes a difference. These propositions clarify the significance of informal subsystems, school community and the wider environment along with their enabling and blocking effects on a disadvantaged school system. Parallel to other studies on disadvantaged schools, the study highlights the need to refine the orthodox view of the concept of formal education and school, as well as the role of school principal, teachers and parents affiliated with atypical schools.Publication Open Access Digital populism: trolls and political polarization of Twitter in Turkey(University of Southern California, Annenberg School for Communication _ Journalism, 2017) Department of Media and Visual Arts; Department of Sociology; Bulut, Ergin; YƶrĆ¼k, Erdem; Faculty Member; Faculty Member; Department of Media and Visual Arts; Department of Sociology; College of Social Sciences and Humanities; 219279; 28982This article analyzes political trolling in Turkey through the lens of mediated populism. Twitter trolling in Turkey has diverged from its original uses (i.e., poking fun, flaming, etc.) toward government-led polarization and right-wing populism. Failing to develop an effective strategy to mobilize online masses, Turkeyās ruling Justice and Development Party (JDP/AKP) relied on the polarizing performances of a large progovernment troll army. Trolls deploy three features of JDPās populism: serving the people, fetish of the will of the people, and demonization. Whereas trolls traditionally target and mock institutions, Turkeyās political trolls act on behalf of the establishment. They produce a digital culture of lynching and censorship. Trollsā language also impacts pro-JDP journalists who act like trolls and attack journalists, academics, and artists critical of the government.Publication Open Access Do omnivores perform class distinction? a qualitative inspection of culinary tastes, boundaries and cultural tolerance(Sage, 2021) Hazır, Irmak Karademir; Department of Sociology; YalvaƧ, Nihal Simay; Faculty Member; Department of Sociology; Graduate School of Social Sciences and HumanitiesThis article explores the culinary taste repertoires of middle-class people in Turkey who can be defined as omnivores due to their routine engagement with 'lowbrow' food spaces. We aim to understand how they make sense of their boundary crossing and the extent to which this indicates tolerance. We find that our culinary omnivores develop interest in traditional food and tend to cross established boundaries between the traditional and modern to maintain a cosmopolitan palette. However, our analysis identifies certain conditions that foster and limit omnivorous practices, such as mealtime, type of occasion and with whom the food is shared, as well as one's class trajectory, demonstrating how selective people are when they step outside of their original taste profiles. Derogatory comments about the manners of these settings' original clientele suggest that omnivores continue to perform distinction regardless of their openness to 'lowbrow' cultural forms.