Researcher:
Ergin, Murat

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Murat

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Ergin

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    Explaining anti-Kurdish beliefs in Turkey: group competition, identity, and globalization
    (Wiley, 2010) Dixon, Jeffrey C.; Department of Sociology; Ergin, Murat; Faculty Member; Department of Sociology; College of Social Sciences and Humanities; 106427
    Objective In the wake of Turkey's EU candidacy and the U.S.-led war in Iraq, Turkey's Kurdish question has drawn international attention. Due to previous data limitations, ours is the first article to analyze what explains anti-Kurdish beliefs in Turkey using nationally representative survey data. Methods Through descriptive analyses and partial proportional odds models of the Pew Global Attitudes Survey (2002), we examine the extent and sources of these beliefs. Results We find high levels of anti-Kurdish beliefs in Turkey, but little evidence of group competition/material interests shaping these beliefs; rather, nationalism, secularism, and, somewhat surprisingly, favorable evaluations of globalization better explain anti-Kurdish beliefs. Conclusion Although broad processes of social-dominance orientation and authoritarianism may be factors working in the background, anti-Kurdish beliefs are better explained by the peculiar case of modernization in Turkey and these anti-Kurdish beliefs may be different from negative beliefs about other minorities.
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    Neo-Ottomanism versus Ottomania: contestation of gender in historical drama
    (Springer Nature, 2023) Karakaya, Yağmur; Department of Sociology; Ergin, Murat; Faculty Member; Department of Sociology; College of Social Sciences and Humanities; 106427
    The recent imagery of the Ottoman imperial past in Turkey contains two trajectories. First, the state-driven neo-Ottomanism, which attempts to revive the past in government-controlled domains, and, second, the representation of neo-Ottomanism in popular culture, which we call “Ottomania”. While the first trajectory tries to monopolise historical truth in a state-controlled narrative of the past, the second trajectory presents a stylised and eclectic past in search of a popularised pleasure. In this chapter, we expand on the two case studies, Magnificent Century, a controversial 2011 soap opera depicting Ottoman harem intrigues, and Resurrection: Ertuğrul, a state-endorsed 2014 show that portrays the nomadic beginnings of the Ottoman Empire. As we examine how Ottomania and neo-Ottomanism interact, we situate gender as one of the central sites of the tense relationship between these two discourses. We argue that, ultimately, neo-Ottomanism attempts to co-opt Ottomania and solidify its own gendered interpretation through Resurrection: Ertuğrul.
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    Between Neo-Ottomanism and Ottomania: navigating state-led and popular cultural representations of the past
    (Cambridge Univ Press, 2017) Karakaya, Yağmur; Department of Sociology; Ergin, Murat; Faculty Member; Department of Sociology; College of Social Sciences and Humanities; 106427
    In contemporary Turkey, a growing interest in Ottoman history represents a change in both the official state discourse and popular culture. This nostalgia appropriates, reinterprets, decontextualizes, and juxtaposes formerly distinct symbols, ideas, objects, and histories in unprecedented ways. In this paper, we distinguish between state-led neo-Ottomanism and popular cultural Ottomania, focusing on the ways in which people in Turkey are interpellated by these two different yet interrelated discourses, depending on their social positions. As the boundary between highbrow and popular culture erodes, popular cultural representations come to reinterpret and rehabilitate the Ottoman past while also inventing new insecurities centering on historical truth. Utilizing in-depth interviews, we show that individuals juxtapose the popular television series Muhteem Yuzyl (The Magnificent Century) with what they deem proper history, in the process rendering popular culture a false version. We also identify four particular interpretive clusters among the consumers of Ottomania: for some, the Ottoman Empire was the epitome of tolerance, where different groups lived peacefully; for others, the imperial past represents Turkish and/or Islamic identities; and finally, critics see the empire as a burden on contemporary Turkey.
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    The professional experiences and training needs of probation officers in turkey
    (Sage, 2019) Cankaya, Banu; Aydogan, Ramazan; Department of Psychology; Academic and Life Skills (ALIS); Department of Sociology; N/A; Ersayan, Ayşe Esra; Ergin, Murat; Safi, Ommay Aiman; Faculty Member; Teaching Faculty; Faculty Member; Master Student; Department of Psychology; Academic and Life Skills (ALIS); Department of Sociology; College of Social Sciences and Humanities; College of Social Sciences and Humanities; College of Social Sciences and Humanities; Graduate School of Social Sciences and Humanities; 222027; N/A; 106427; N/A
    The current study uses a series of focus groups and participatory methodology to investigate the work experiences and needs of Turkish probation officers and their directors. All participants were employed at an office of Parole and Probation in Istanbul, Turkey. During the concurrent focus groups, officers (n = 57) discussed their daily work experiences and needs (Phase I). A follow-up focus group was conducted (n = 25) to discuss potential interpretations of the themes and generate solutions (Phase II), followed by a mini-focus group with the directors (n = 5) to explore their experiences with the probation system and officer training (Phase III). Findings Officers identified needs for training, improvements of the work environment, professional support, and more thorough risk assessment tools. The follow-up focus group revealed that officers were highly motivated to improve their rehabilitative skills but felt constrained in supervising offenders in the punitive justice system. Several solutions generated through focus groups included mentoring programs to support novice officers, training programs to acquire interviewing skills, and team building activities and events to increase morale. Application The current study bridges the gap between officers and directors in the probation system and generates solutions to the occupational needs of officers. Researchers communicated those needs to the directors, and the study initiated action toward implementing rehabilitative training programs for officers with a particular focus on risk assessment and basic clinical skills. The study has direct implications for the improvement of probation practice and supervision in Turkey.
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    Cultural encounters in the social sciences and humanities: western emigre scholars in Turkey
    (Sage Publications Ltd, 2009) Department of Sociology; Ergin, Murat; Faculty Member; Department of Sociology; College of Social Sciences and Humanities; 106427
    Turkish modernization relied on the western social sciences and humanities not only as an abstract and distant model, but also in the form of close encounters and interactions with western refugee scholars. This article examines the activities of western intellectuals and experts who visited Turkey in the early republican era (1923-50), especially focusing on a group of emigre scholars who were employed in Turkey after the university reform of 1933. While European and North American social scientists were drawn to meticulous comparisons of 'East' and 'West' in this period, elites in the former component of this comparative dichotomy were seeking creative ways to turn this taxonomy to their advantage. In the Turkish case, the project of adopting modernity contained universalistic aspects intended to function for particular local needs. A body of racial, historical and linguistic theories attempted to create and sustain a nationally homogeneous society while, at the same time, emphasizing the contributions of Turkishness to western and modern history. Republican scholars tried to establish the Turkish origins of western civilization with the help of western social sciences in general and of western emigre scholars in particular. In the process of facilitating the local efforts to import western modernity into the specificity of Turkishness, refugee scholars encountered contradictory demands and employed different strategies to respond to these demands.
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    The association of gender role attitudes and offense type with public punitiveness toward male and female offenders
    (Elsevier Sci Ltd, 2018) Broers, Nick J.; de Ruiter, Corine; Academic and Life Skills (ALIS); Department of Sociology; Ersayan, Ayşe Esra; Ergin, Murat; Teaching Faculty; Faculty Member; Academic and Life Skills (ALIS); Department of Sociology; College of Social Sciences and Humanities; College of Social Sciences and Humanities; N/A; 106427
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    Education and symbolic violence in contemporary Turkey
    (Routledge Journals, Taylor & Francis Ltd, 2019) Department of Sociology; Department of Sociology; Department of Sociology; Ergin, Murat; Rankin, Bruce; Gökşen, Fatoş; Faculty Member; Faculty Member; Faculty Member; Department of Sociology; College of Social Sciences and Humanities; College of Social Sciences and Humanities; College of Social Sciences and Humanities; 106427; N/A; 51292
    This article examines the perceptions of education in Turkey, which refer to a nebulous package of formal education and a cultured stance. Guided by the literature on symbolic violence, we argue that underprivileged groups misrecognize arbitrary hierarchies by considering them just and inevitable. Elite tastes have been internalized by other groups in a particular historical context of education and culture. We investigate the historical roots of this seemingly ahistorical constellation of power relations around education and then consider the implications for the neoliberal period. Then, we contextualize the responses to symbolic violence. Subordinate groups complicate the effects of symbolic violence by exhibiting diverse responses that range from outright submission to implicitly questioning cultural and moral boundaries, creating class and ethnic others in the process. This occurs by constructing cultural and moral boundaries, especially targeting the 'vulgar' culture of celebrities and Kurds.
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    Taking it to the grave: gender, cultural capital, and ethnicity in turkish death announcements
    (Sage, 2009) Department of Sociology; Ergin, Murat; Faculty Member; Department of Sociology; College of Social Sciences and Humanities; 106427
    Popularly considered a great equalizer, death and the rituals around it nevertheless accentuate social distinctions. The present study focuses on a sample (N = 2554) of death announcements in a major Turkish daily newspaper (Hürriyet) from 1970 to 2006. Out of the liminal position of Turkish death announcements between obituaries and death notices emerges a large decentralized collection of private decisions responding to death, reflecting attitudes toward gender, ethnic/religious minority status and cultural capital, and echoing the aggregate efforts of privileged groups to maintain a particular self-image. Class closures lead to openings for traditionally under-represented minorities, such as Jewish Turkish citizens and citizens of Greek or Armenian origin. Results reveal that signs of status and power in announcements are largely monopolized by men of Turkish-Muslim origins. Although the changes in the genre-characteristics of death announcements are slow, they correspond to major turning points in Turkish social history.
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    Eternal life as privilege: cultural boundaries and social stratification in death announcements (1950-2010)
    (Routledge Journals, Taylor & Francis Ltd, 2023) Department of Sociology; Ergin, Murat; Faculty Member; Department of Sociology; College of Social Sciences and Humanities
    Behind a veneer of "disinterested" concern, death rituals reflect and reproduce patterns of social and cultural stratification. This paper examines 296,483 death announcements published in a Turkish daily newspaper in a 60-year timespan. The content analysis of the texts shows that, first, the discourses around death reveal the complex overlaps between cultural boundaries and social stratification. Second, the patterns of social and cultural stratification in death announcements interweave with broad historical trends, making it possible to "read" societies through the lens of death. These historical trends map onto foundational issues, such as the gender gap, neoliberal transformations, modernization, and religiosity.
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    The racialization of Kurdish identity in Turkey
    (Routledge Journals, Taylor & Francis Ltd, 2014) Department of Sociology; Ergin, Murat; Faculty Member; Department of Sociology; College of Social Sciences and Humanities; 106427
    Until the 1990s, the Kurdish issue in Turkey largely involved the Turkish state, an ethnic group and the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). The 2000s witnessed community-level clashes between Kurds and Turks, signalling the Turkish population's rise as an actor in the issue. This paper makes two claims. First, communal clashes indicate that Kurdish identity is not an ethnic identity alone, but is experiencing a racialization process, based on four indicators: emphasis on physical characteristics in the definitions of Kurds; linking Kurdish identity with the absence of certain moral characteristics; the increasing assignment, rather than self-assertion, of Kurdish identity; and discourses of racial extinction. Second, the racialization of Kurdish identity corresponds to historical change in conceptions of diversity. Racialization became possible after a distinct Kurdish identity was recognized but normatively unwelcomed.