Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Social Sciences

Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Social Sciences


Edited by

Georgeta Raţă, Hasan Arslan, Patricia-Luciana Runcan

and Ali Akdemir

Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Social Sciences, Edited by Georgeta Raţă, Hasan Arslan, Patricia-Luciana Runcan and Ali Akdemir

This book first published 2014

Cambridge Scholars Publishing

12 Back Chapman Street, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE6 2XX, UK

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Copyright © 2014 by Georgeta Raţă, Hasan Arslan, Patricia-Luciana Runcan, Ali Akdemir and contributors

All rights for this book reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system,

or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owner.

ISBN (10): 1-4438-5579-0, ISBN (13): 978-1-4438-5579-2

TABLE OF CONTENTS List of Tables .............................................................................................. xi List of Illustrations ................................................................................... xiii Foreword ................................................................................................... xv

Chapter One: The Human Factor in Management and Marketing

Metaphors of Human Resources: Colours of Collars Sümeyra Alpaslan-Danişman ...................................................................... 3 Profitability, Growth and Size: The Case of Turkish Industrial Companies Hasan Ayaydin .......................................................................................... 11 Consumers’ Point of View on Brand Equity and Brand Extension Strategies According to the Level of Consumer Innovativeness Enes-Emre Başar and Aysel Ercış ............................................................. 19 Validity of Company Bankruptcy Models: The Borsa Istanbul Alper-Veli Çam ......................................................................................... 29 The Persuasive Power of Internet Advertising Handan Çam .............................................................................................. 37 Talent Management: Organizations and Practices Canan Çetin and Nursel Çetinkaya ............................................................ 45 Using Social Networks to Promote Global Brands among Romanian Young People Lia-Codrina Conţiu and Manuela-Rozalia Gabor ...................................... 55

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Applicability of the Kazuyiko Kurosawa Model to a Production Business as an Effective Productivity Assessment and Evaluation Method Orhan Elmaci, Şerafettin Sevim, Ahmet Özkan and Kadir Tutkavul ........ 63 An Investigation of the Level of Awareness of Taxpayers’ Rights Ufuk Gencel and Burak Sari ...................................................................... 71 Extraversion and Neuroticism: How Personality Affects Employees’ Perceptions of Fit Doruk Uysal-Irak ....................................................................................... 81 Effect of Feedback on Feeling-of-Knowing Metehan Irak and Cansn Özgör ................................................................. 89 A Critical Approach to Privatization Policies in the Global Economy and the Role of Cooperatives in the Privatization Process Abdullah Ökcesiz ...................................................................................... 97 Changing the Meaning of “Control” Due to the Transformation of the Labour Markets from Fordism to Post-Fordism Hande Şahin ............................................................................................ 105 Employers’ Demand for Labour Force in Georgia’s Big Cities Mzia Shelia .............................................................................................. 113 Impact of Customer and Technology Orientations on Performance of New Product Development: A Study Based on Turkish Manufacturers Tulin Ural and Gözde-Gülin Otken ......................................................... 119 State Mechanism to Ensure Enterprise Competitiveness in Textile and Clothing Industries: Use of International Experience for Kazakhstan Svetlana Yepanchintseva ......................................................................... 129 Concept of Leadership in Ancient History and its Effects on the Middle East Ercüment Yildirim ................................................................................... 137

Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Social Sciences vii

Chapter Two: International Relations

Destination in the Middle of the Buzz Gökçe Özdemir-Bayrak and Ferika Özer-Sari ......................................... 147 The Influence of International Relations on the Status of the Ruthenians, their Language and Culture Mihajlo Fejsa ........................................................................................... 157 The Italian Renaissance and the Origins of Totalitarian Thought in Germany Denis Forasacco ....................................................................................... 165 On the Concept of Diaspora Kübra Hıdıroğlu ....................................................................................... 173 One Piece of the Kyrgyz Culture: The Epic of Manas Vefa Kurban ............................................................................................ 179 Space and Politics: Changing of Social Activities in Tahrir Square, Egypt Usama Nassar .......................................................................................... 189 Administrative Reform in Thailand: Who Gets What? Arunee Santhitiwanich and Bidhya Bowornwathana .............................. 199 Turkish Perceptions of the Euro-Zone Crisis and EU Normative Power Beyza-Çağatay Tekin .............................................................................. 207 2012 French and Greek Election Results: An Assessment Nihat Yilmaz ........................................................................................... 215 The Importance of Comparison in Political Science Nihat Yilmaz ........................................................................................... 221

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Chapter Three: Sociology

Expectations from the “Prodigal Son”: Metaphor as Methodology Muhammad Tanweer Abdullah, Omar Zayyan Alsharqi and Khadija Nowaira Abdullah ............................................................... 229 Divorce in Turkish Society: People’s Reasons and Opinions about Getting Remarried Fatma Arpaci and Şadan Tokyürek ......................................................... 241 Family Structure and Family Ties Depending on Generation Hüsne Demirel and Gürcü Erdamar ........................................................ 251 Constitutional Role of Islam in Predominantly Muslim Countries and Its Effects on Women’s Rights Senem Ertan ............................................................................................ 261 Encounter Space and Transformation Turgut Gümüşoğlu ................................................................................... 271 Correlation between German and Croatian Legal Phraseology: A Sociolinguistic Perspective Ljubica Kordić and Dubravka Papa ......................................................... 281 “Alternative” Modernisms in the Discourse on Postmodern Roida Rzayeva Oktay .............................................................................. 293 Sociology of Language: Romanian Bordei ‘Pit-House’ Georgeta Raţă, Ioan Petroman and Cornelia Petroman ........................... 301 Christian Denominations Views on the Legalisation of Prostitution Remus Runcan ......................................................................................... 307 Considering Everyday Life Practices as Tactics for a New Perspective for German Turks Gaye Gökalp-Yilmaz and Muammer Tuna ............................................. 315 Gender Problem of Moslem Woman in Turkey: What Is It, If Not Feminism? Yasemin Yüce-Tar ................................................................................... 325

Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Social Sciences ix

A Billet-Doux to the Stranger in the Mirror: Psychosocial Challenges of the Post-modern Feminine? Elisabeta Zelinka ..................................................................................... 335 Contributors ............................................................................................. 343

LIST OF TABLES Table 1-1. Definitions of variables, expected signs .................................................14 Table 1-2. Descriptive statistics ..............................................................................14 Table 1-3. Table 1-3. Empirical results from estimations of growth models ...........15 Table 1-4. Canonical discriminant function, Wilks’ lambda values and

fundamental values ..........................................................................................23 Table 1-5. Construction matrix ...............................................................................25 Table 1-6. Test of ensemble average equality .........................................................25 Table 1-7. Ensemble averages .................................................................................26 Table 1-8. Classification results ..............................................................................26 Table 1-9. Z-score values of the companies operating in the food sector .................................................................................................................32 Table 1-10. Z-score values of the companies in the service sector ..........................33 Table 1-11. Z-score values of the companies in the textile sector ...........................34 Table 1-12. Demographic characteristics of respondents ........................................39 Table 1-13. Using the internet .................................................................................39 Table 1-14. Attitudes toward internet advertising ...................................................40 Table 1-15. Model fit values ...................................................................................41 Table 1-16. Evaluation of hypotheses .....................................................................42 Table 1-17. Generational Theory: details of generations, their characteristics

and options to be offered at workplace .............................................................46 Table 1-18. Sample configuration ...........................................................................58 Table 1-19. Social networking sites used by subjects .............................................58 Table 1-20. Average means for purchasing power assessment ...............................59 Table 1-21. Results of the bivariate χ2 test ..............................................................61 Table 1-22. Analysis results of the arithmetic mean and standard deviation ...........77 Table 1-23. Results of one-way analysis of variance ..............................................78 Table 1-24. Frequency and percentage of participants’ awareness ..........................79 Table 1-25. Means, standard deviations, reliabilities, and inter-scale

correlations for measured research variables ....................................................85 Table 1-26. Effects of internal and external factors on strategic orientations ........ 123 Table 1-27. Effects of strategic orientations on NPD performance ....................... 125 Table 1-28. International background of government support of the textile and

clothing industries ............................................................................................ 133 Table 2-1. Meanings of the review rating range .................................................... 154 Table 2-2. Auto and xeno stereotypes in deliberations of Turkish political actors .... 212 Table 2-3. 2012 Presidential First Round Election Results - France Totals .......... 216 Table 2-4. 2012 Presidential Runoff Election Results - France Totals .................. 217 Table 2-5. Results of 2009 and 2012 general election ........................................... 218 Table 3-1. Demographic features of the participants (N=186) .............................. 243

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Table 3-2. Reasons for people to get divorced (N=186) ........................................ 244 Table 3-3. Effect of Gender on Getting Married Again ......................................... 247 Table 3-4. Descriptive statistics of family structure and family ties ...................... 254 Table 3-5. Comparison of family structure and family ties depending on age ..... 255 Table 3-6. Comparison of family structure and family ties depending on

education ......................................................................................................... 256 Table 3-7. Relationship between family structure and family ties ......................... 257 Table 3-8. Predominantly Muslim countries classified by constitutional role

for religion (Stahnke & Blitt, 2005) ................................................................ 264 Table 3-9. Descriptive statistics of women rights indicators in predominantly

Muslim countries (1990-2010) ........................................................................ 265

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Figure 1-1. Research model.....................................................................................23 Figure 1-2. Aspects of the regression model and standard regression loads ............42 Figure 1-3. A Framework for attracting and retaining talent (Ready, Hill & Cogner, 2008) .....................................................................................49 Figure 1-4. Promotional influences .........................................................................59 Figure 1-5. Social networking sites attendance .......................................................60 Figure 1-6. Time spent on social networking sites ..................................................60 Figure 1-7. Distribution of respondents according to their answers provided to the question, “The personnel of which category do you find most difficult to employ?” ........................................................................................ 115 Figure 1-8. Distribution of the respondents according to their answers provided to the question “Why can you not find suitable employees?” ........... 116 Figure 1-9. Distribution of the respondents according to their answers provided to the question “Which challenges are you facing while training-retraining your personnel?” ................................................................ 117 Figure 1-10. Conceptual framework: The effects of company’s internal and external variables and strategic orientations on new product development performance (Jeong, Pae & Zhou, 2006) .................................... 120 Figure 1-11. State mechanisms for ensuring enterprise competitiveness in the textile and clothing industries ..................................................................... 133 Figure 2-1. Urban development for Tahrir Square (Egyptian Geographic Society Maps, Egypt) ....................................................................................... 190 Figure 2-2. Visual image change in the square (Old issues of Alahram newspaper, www.ahram.org.eg/pdf) ................................................................. 191 Figure 2-3. Current urban form and building uses of Tahrir square (U. N.) .......... 191 Figure 2-4. Diagram of protests in Tahrir Square in January 2011 (Google Earth, adapted by U. N.) ................................................................................... 192 Figure 2-5. Quantitative analysis findings on the perception of negative and positive social behaviour and activities in Tahrir Square (U. N.) ..................... 194 Figure 2-6. Distribution of activities in Tahrir Square (U. N.) .............................. 195 Figure 2-7. Types of activities in Tahrir Square (April 2013 by U. N.) ................ 195 Figure 2-8. Proposed activities and uses in Tahrir Square (U. N.) ........................ 196 Figure 2-9. Tahrir Square through history (1905, 1919, 1941, 1945 and 1969: www.ahram.org.eg/pdf) (2011 and 2013: U. N.) .............................................. 197 Figure 3-1. Mean of women’s economic rights in religious and non-religious states 1990-2010 (Scale: 0=worst 3=best) .................................. 266 Figure 3-2. Mean of women’s political rights in religious and non-religious states 1990-2010 (Scale: 0=worst 3=best) ........................................................ 267

List of Illustrations

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Figure 3-3. Mean of women’s social rights in religious and non-religious States 1990-2010 (Scale: 0=worst 3=best) ....................................................... 267

FOREWORD

This book is a collection of essays concerned with society and the relationships among individuals within the society. The essays are circumscribed to the fields of economics, political science, and sociology. Fifty-six researchers from ten countries and three continents present the results of their research in an interdisciplinary approach.

Chapter One is dedicated to the role of the human factor in the production, distribution, and consumption of wealth, at both micro- and macro-economic levels. Microeconomics, where the unit of analysis is the individual agent, is illustrated by essays on human resources (from a rhetorical perspective), on consumers’ behaviour in Romania and Turkey (from a marketing perspective—advertising, brand, global brand, new product development), on talent (from a management perspective), on taxpayers’ rights (from a biological psychology perspective), on employees’ personality (from a psychological perspective), on feedback (from a psychological perspective), and on the concept of leadership (from a historical perspective). Macro-economics, where the unit of analysis is an economy as a whole, is represented by essays on Turkish manufacturing companies, on economic (Kazuyiko Kurosawa) and financial (the Istanbul Stock Exchange) models, on privatisation policies in the global economy, on control mechanisms in Post-Fordism, on the evolution of the labour market in Georgia, on Turkish manufacturers, on enterprise competitiveness in Kazakhstan. Most essays can be ranged into the positive economics group (seeking to predict and interpret economic phenomena) while only a few essays fall in the class of normative economics – ordering choices and actions by some criterion (critical approaches to privatisation policies, control mechanisms).

Chapter Two contains essays in which political science is represented by one of its sub-disciplines—international relations. With the exception of two essays with a strong theoretical nature (tackling with comparative politics and diaspora), the essays in this chapter focus on the role of the sovereign State from different perspectives—historical, social, socio-political—in Egypt (the changing of social activities in Tahrir Square), France (the 2012 presidential elections), Germany (the origins of the totalitarian thought), Greece (the 2012 presidential elections), Serbia (the status of a minority), Thailand (the administrative reform), and Turkey

Foreword

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(accession to the European Union), and on the study of relationships among countries from different perspectives—cultural (the status of the Ruthenians in Serbia), historical (Kyrgyz epics), information technology (buzz marketing in Turkey), literary (Kyrgyz epics), sociological (Italian Renaissance-rooted totalitarian German thought).

Chapter Three deals with the sociology of culture (modernism and post-modernism, everyday life practices as tactics for German Turks, the post-modern feminine), sociology of the family (divorce in the Turkish society, family structure and family ties in Turkey), sociology of language (a diachronic approach of a Romanian word), sociology of law (legalisation of prostitution, a sociolinguistic approach of legal phraseology), sociology of religion (the gender issue of Moslem women in Turkey, Islam and women’s rights, legalisation of prostitution). Two essays focus on the role of social activity in the development of scientific knowledge (metaphor as methodology, translation as encounter space).

The Editors

CHAPTER ONE

THE HUMAN FACTOR IN MANAGEMENT AND MARKETING

METAPHORS OF HUMAN RESOURCES: COLOURS OF COLLARS

SÜMEYRA ALPASLAN-DANIŞMAN

Introduction

The goal of this paper is to draw the attention of researchers towards metaphors for human resources in the context of the economic transformation of societies. The term “blue collar,” which identifies manual labour workers, first appeared at the beginning of the 20th century. The use of this term has increased the popularity of the contrasting term “white collar,” referring to the class of administrative workers. With the development of the service industry came more stereotypical female jobs and the term “pink collar” has begun to be used. The growth of the knowledge economy has created new jobs such as knowledge engineering and information management, and the term “golden collar” has been coined with reference to knowledge workers. Furthermore, the development of environmental sectors of the economy has created “green collar” workers. In this paper I present a framework structured on economic evolution of the societal groups mentioned above and the effects of this evolution on the transformation of human resources. As a conceptual evaluation, I critically discuss whether the “collar” metaphors can be accepted as indicators of transformation of human-resources profiles in the context of the economic evaluation of those groups.

Economic Transformation of Societies

Large scaled factories were one of the metaphors for the socio-economic structure of industrial society (Toffler, 1984) which were raised from these forms (Harvey, 1975). Industrial society is defined by Raymond Aron (1968) as a society that implies two important features. The first is as an enterprise separating work from family (Grint, 1999) and the second is the development of a complex technological division of labour through large-scale industrial production (Harvey, 1975). Jobs were formalized as more rational systems (Grint, 1999). Harvey (1975) underlines the unique features

Metaphors of Human Resources: Colours of Collars

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of industrial societies, such as generation of complex, technologically based structures of labour and increases of industrial activities in urban centres. Modern industrial society has a high-level of anxiety about making money but also has financial worries. Tocqueville summarizes industrial society with the key words industry, trade and money (Aron, 1997). Conflicts and wars between classes (Drucker, 1994) became one of the main features of industrial society. The owners of the instruments of production and workers were on opposite sides, struggling with each other (Aron, 1997). Because of industrialization, unity of production and consumption was destroyed. While producers focused on high profitability, wages and incomes, low prices became the main issue for consumers (Toffler, 1984).

People do not only produce as individuals but also behave as members of a society (Giddens, 1971). Change in societies based on increased knowledge and globalization is sufficiently social, cultural and political to cause lifestyles to evolve (Qureshi, 2006). Through the effects of new dynamics in economy, social structure and dynamics, societies change rapidly (Drucker, 1994). The main indicators of the transfer to a knowledge society are developments in computer technology, production and application of information (Hatch, 1997). Today, knowledge is the most significant resource. In a knowledge society, the important issue is the productivity of the non-manual workers, which requires the application of stored knowledge (Drucker, 1994). According to Blumberg (1974), the views of theories on post-industrial societies are generally similar and they point out individual choices, new opportunities for personal interests and high levels of education. The importance of information, books and methodology instead of experience, apprenticeship and confidence has increased and a transformation has been experienced on the aspect of knowledge (idem, ibid.). Kumar claims that the core of the industrial society is production; on the other hand, post-industrial society is based on information (Kumar, 2004).

Metaphors of Human Resources: From Blue to Green

The scope of this study is based on the role of metaphors in social life. It can be possible for people to understand and believe in linkages with the new and unfamiliar and to have the ability of envisioning the world in a new way by using metaphors (Kendall & Kendall, 2006). Metaphors gain meaning by context and it is possible to analyse social phenomena by investigating metaphors (Addleson, 1998). In this paper, metaphors are understood as cognitive lenses used to make sense of situations (Kendall & Kendall, 1993). The metaphors of human resources are both subject and

Sümeyra Alpaslan-Danişman

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medium in this discussion (Schmitt, 2000). It is discussed that colours of collars can be accepted as indicators of the transformation of human resource profiles. Collars as metaphors are seen as a phenomenon for evaluation and for the interpretation of the mentioned transformation, and in this way this paper may contribute to the functionality and importance of metaphors on human resource literature. The aim of this study is to shed light on the colours of collars as defining specific human resource profiles. The colours of blue, white, pink, gold and green are the most popular ones used to emphasize different socio-economic contexts:

1. Blue Collar as a Metaphor of Physical Labour: In the industrial society, one of the main requirements for employees was technical ability. In the organizational structure, the importance of administrative ability increased towards the top positions while the importance of technical ability increased towards the bottom. Weber used the machine metaphor for defining organizational structuring in which employees were the cogs of this mechanism (Weber, 2005; Fayol, 2005). The story of colours of collars starts with the special protective clothing, coloured blue (Halle, 1984), of manual labourers. The blue collar metaphor was first used in reference to trade jobs in 1924 in an Alden, Iowa newspaper, appearing in the New York Times for the first time in 1945 (Wickman, 2012.) According to Wickman, the meaning of blue colour was working class. It was underlined particularly by etymologist Popik (in Kohn & Schooler, 1983) that blue-collar workers were mentioned in contrast to white colour workers as early as 1924. Hence, the blue collar has been the symbol of trades since, experiencing a growth of popularity after World War II. Blue-collar workers work above all with substances or materials, machines, tools, equipment or products (Kohn & Schooler, 1983), and the jobs involve physical, dirty and often dangerous characteristics, tending to be closely supervised with limited opportunities for development, growth and upward mobility (Halle, 1984).

2. White Collar as a Metaphor of Professionalism: The role of service sectors in employment has increased in the new social structure (Castells, 2000). Professionalism fundamentally began with industrial societies (Toffler, 1984), and white collar has been used to describe office positions. Hence, blue collar is the symbol of trades and white collar of professionals, being defined as the work done or the people who work in an office or another professional environment (Oxford Dictionary, 2013). The term was first used for clerical, administrative and management workers during the 1930s. In contrast to demanding blue-collar jobs, white-collar workers principally work with data such as numbers, words, symbols, ideas, concepts, information and knowledge. White-collar


6

workers are generally employed in resourceful jobs with challenging work and more control (Van den Broeck et al., 2009).

3. Pink Collar as a Metaphor for the Female Workforce: Because of the increased number of organizations, the employment of women has increased and their roles in societies have changed (Toffler, 1984). In general, the number of women entering the paid working population has continued to increase since the post-war period. Theoretical questioning on the basis and nature of women’s social positions may have begun earlier, but issues about female contributions to working life began in the late 1960s and early 1970s (Bose & Rossi, 1983). According to Beneria and Sen (1981), the role of women in economic development had been largely ignored, but in 1970 Boserup attracted attention to a variety of subjects that were systematically related to the role of women in economies. Tzannatos (1999) underlines the significant adverse effects of inequalities on welfare, suggesting the greater access of women to education and training, equal pay and employment opportunities legislation, and a taxation and benefit structure. Wickman (2012) underlines that in the late 1970s the term pink collar was popularized by the writer and social critic Lauise Kappe Howe. The term was used for jobs perceived to be feminine, such as nurses, secretaries and elementary school teachers. In addition, Quinion (2013) claimed that the term was invented to describe the female equivalent of blue-collar workers. McLaughlin (1983) defined offices as a world of pink and white-collar workers because of expanding economies and the rapidly growing service sector segment. In 1994, it was discussed that women’s work trips were shorter than men’s were and their labour market areas were smaller and their employment opportunities more limited (Hanson & Pratt, 1994).

4. Gold Collar as a Metaphor of Knowledge: The version of human labour in the new era comprises communication technology and knowledge. Although Darwin and Marx improved their perspective from the view of competition and struggle, today transformation in human life must be evaluated from the view of communication, knowledge and technology (Warner, 1999). Offices have become the new workplaces of those categorized as working on more abstract issues, being the main classification of knowledge workers (Toffler, 1984). Although countries such as the US and the UK were based on labour for many years, today the main dynamic of such developed countries is knowledge (Beniger, 1988). The most permanent characteristic of information societies is their organization around knowledge instead of the coordination of workers and machines for production. The quality of the production and services is more important than quantity. Actors of the new knowledge-economy era


7

are scientists, professionals and engineers (Stehr, 1994). The heroes of the new era are neither managers nor blue-collar workers, but those who innovate and invent (Toffler, 1992). The term gold-collar was first used by Robert Earl Kelley (1985) to describe knowledge workers at peak performance, who demanded special benefits along with high payment. Gold collars are defined by Wonacott (2007) as being experts in problem-solving abilities, creativity, talent and intelligence, performing non-repetitive and complex works. The reason for applying the term “gold” to these workers is their feature of being highly skilled, which means knowing several areas of a company’s work that are crucial to its continuing profitability. In addition, the term “gold collar manager” is used for those who supervise gold collar workers. Other terms for gold collar are knowledge worker, new economy worker and professional eclectics (Quinion, 2013).

5. Green Collar as a Metaphor for the Environment: The global financial crisis caused a greater need to find a new economic growth model for consumption and production practices. Intelligent and innovative thinking identifies policies, measures and strategies for future green growth. The paradigm of green growth has been catalyzed by the efforts made within science and technology as well as by community and environmental groups (Martinez-Fernandez et al., 2010). A green economy is suggested as a cure for the current economic problems and a way to address the issues of global warming. From this perspective, new investments can be encouraged to create millions of new green jobs (Michaels & Murphy, 2009). Green jobs are discussed by Jacobs (1994) as the employment implications of an environmental policy. The term green collar was first used in 1976 by Patrick Heffernan, and is defined as those involved in the work of installing solar panels, weatherizing homes, brewing biofuels, building hybrid cars and erecting giant wind turbines. Lucy Blake (the chief executive of the Apollo Alliance) argued that the green collar job is in essence a blue-collar job that has been upgraded to address environmental challenges (Greenhouse, 2008). There are key industries (renewable energy, energy efficiency, sustainable water systems, biomaterials, green buildings and waste recycling) which promise strong prospects of growth in numbers of green-collars (Pearce & Stilwell, 2008). There is no doubt that green-collar jobs are increasing (Greenhouse, 2008). According to Pinderhughers (2006), moving away from work which pollutes the environment, towards more restorative work, will bring significant changes and immediate benefits to workers, communities and societies.


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Conclusion

In this paper, blue, white, pink, gold and green collars are investigated as the most popular human resource metaphors. The metaphorical usages mentioned are discussed as symbols of socio-economic structures. It seems that each economic progression causes a new human resource profile such as manual workers, professionals, female workers, knowledge specialists and workers for environmental protection. They can be accepted as the increasingly important results of technical ability in the original industrial society, the need for administrative and feminine workers in the service sectors, the development of technology, knowledge and communication and the green growth paradigm. The human resource of each aspect of progress is known by the figurative usage of colours of collars. These collar metaphors do not only symbolize the human resources but also the main characteristics, priorities and requirements of economic structures. Consequently, collar metaphors are not ordinary usages, they are the outcomes of economic structures that shape and influence human resources.

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white_collar_why_do_we_use_these_terms.html. Wonacott, M. E. (2007). Gold-Collar Workers. ERIC Digest.

PROFITABILITY, GROWTH AND SIZE: THE CASE OF TURKISH INDUSTRIAL

COMPANIES

HASAN AYAYDIN

Introduction

Firm growth has been one of the most important topics studied in business literature. A firm’s growth has appeared to be a multifaceted phenomenon, since there are many variables that could affect it. Deterministic and stochastic models have provided the theoretical basis to support the different analyses conducted on this topic in the scientific literature. Gibrat (1931) was the first to investigate firm growth patterns, his work resulting in Gibrat’s Law, or the Law of Proportionate Effects (LPE). According to the LPE, firm size has no systematic effect on the rate of firm growth. Owing to the formulation of Gibrat’s Law, the literature on the topic of the determinants of growth has greatly increased.

Industrialization is an essential process that forms the basis of socio-economic development. The stone and soil-based industrial sector includes ceramics, glass, cement, bricks, tiles and clay for construction work. This branch of industry is the backbone of the construction industry in our country and it has been since ancient times. The aim of our work is to enhance the analysis of the variables influencing firms’ growth: thus, we focus our investigation on the study of the effect of profitability and size on firm growth. To estimate the relationship between growth and profitabilityand in Turkish stone and soil-based industrial companies, I use dynamic panel estimators. The present article is organized as follows: following this introduction, the theoretical background of firms’ growth and influencing factors are provided in Section 2; methodology is presented in Section 3; and empirical analysis and conclusions are presented in Section 4.

Profitability, Growth and Size in Industrial Companies

12

Theory and Literature

Firm growth and profitability have drawn a great deal of attention in the literature. It is extensively believed that firm growth and profit rates are related to each other (Goddard, Molyneux & Wilson, 2004). Growth of the Fitter theory was presented by Alchian (1950). According to this theory, fitness is depicted by the firm profit, and the profitable firms grow and survive in the market while the other firms exit due to poor performance (Kouser et al., 2012). Thus, if profit rates reflect the degree of fitness, it is possible to predict that profitable firms will grow (Jang & Park, 2011). Growth and profitability are both great concerns for the organization but there is still no generalized relationship between them. Some researchers argue that the profit of a firm has a positive effect on the growth (Goddard, Molyneux & Wilson, 2004; Serrasqueiro, 2009; Jang & Park, 2011; Mudambi & Swift, 2011; Kouser et al., 2012; Delmar, McKelvie & Wennberg, 2013). Other studies (Reid, 1995; Hoy, McDougall & D’Souza, 1992) found that profitability is negatively affected by growth. Roper (1999) and Gschwandtner (2005) showed there is no relationship between growth and profitability. Gibrat’s (1931) law is a reference point for empirical studies of firm growth (Goddard, Molyneux & Wilson, 2009). Gibrat’s law implies that with a random growth process, the expected growth rate is independent of a firm’s size and other identifiable firm and industry characteristics. The issue of whether firm size has a systematic influence on the growth rate of a firm has been the subject of extensive investigation in empirical studies (Mukhopadhyay & Khalkhali, 2010). Empirical studies show mixed evidence about the relationship between firm size and growth; some studies have found no relationship, others have found a positive relationship (Mansfield, 1962; Utton, 1971). Several studies have used Gibrat’s law to explain the firm size-distribution of the large firms in the United States (Chesher, 1979; Vining, 1976). Recent empirical studies have rejected Gibrat’s law and claimed that there is an inverse relationship between firm growth and firm size (Geroski & Gugler, 2004; Wilson & Morris, 2000; Mudambi & Swift, 2011; Garcia-Manjon & Romero-Merino, 2012; Delmar, McKelvie & Wennberg, 2013). These studies showed that small firms grow more rapidly than large firms. The reason behind these studies is that small firms struggle to achieve economies of scale. Small firms grow more rapidly than large firms while the firms that have gained economies of scale cannot grow any further, due to the reduction of cost to an absolute minimum level. The optimal capital structure theory indicates that the negative effect of leverage on growth enhances firm value because the leverage prevents managers from

Hasan Ayaydın

13

taking on poor projects (Jang & Park, 2011). Opler and Titman (1994) and Billett, King and Maurer (2007) found that sales growth is lower in firms with higher leverage. Mudambi and Swift (2011) and Wu and Yeung (2012) found that corporate debt had been linked to lower firm growth. The possible catalyzing effect of liquidity on profitability, because of the greater possibility of meeting short-term commitments, seems not to be sufficiently relevant for greater liquidity to mean increased profitability. However, the possible restrictive effect of liquidity on profitability, also seems insufficiently relevant for greater liquidity to mean diminished profitability because of managers investing in unprofitable projects (Serrasqueiro, 2009). Adams and Buckle (2003) obtain a negative relationship between liquidity and profitability, unlike Goddard, Tavakoli and Wilson (2005). Thus, in companies withn optimal level of working capital, liquidity is expected to positively affect firm growth. Otherwise, liquidity level adversely affects firm growth.

Methodology and Data

In a period where economic and financial behaviour is largely influenced by past experiences and old patterns of behaviour, economic or financial relations lagged values of the variables examined in the research model. Thus, adding the lagged value as an explanatory variable is important to research the model. Methodologically, to estimate the relationship between growth, profitability, and size in Turkish stone and soil-based industrial companies, I use dynamic panel estimators: system generalized methods of moments. The dynamic panel model in eq. (1) requires instruments for the endogenous transformed lagged dependent variable (Baltagi, 2005) and other potentially endogenous explanatory variables. I use Blundell and Bond’s (1998) generalized methods of moments estimators (System GMM) methodology to estimate eq. (1). I estimate the following models:

Growthit=ƔGrowthit-1+β1Probabilityit+β2Liquidityit+β3Sizeit+ β4Leverageit+viteq. (1)

where subscripts i and t indicate firm and time, respectively; β0 is common to all recipient firms; Growthi,t, is firm sale growth in the current period; and Growthi,t-1 is firm sale growth in the previous period. I use three alternative probability measures (Roa, Roe and Ros) and two alternative firm size measures (Size1 and Size2). Our study of the relationship between probability, size and firms’ growth is developed for Istanbul Stock Exchange (BIST)-based industrial companies listed in 22 stone and soil from Turkey (2003-2012). All data was obtained from the public


14

disclosure platform (KAP) and Istanbul Stock Exchange (BIST). Table 1-1 shows definitions of variables, expected signs.

Table 1-1. Definitions of variables, expected signs

Variables Definition Expected

sign Related studies

Growth the change the firm’s sales

Jang & Park, 2011; Mudambi & Swift, 2011; Rahaman, 2011; Wu & Yeung, 2012; Delmar et al., 2013

Roa return on assets + Vijayakumar & Devi, 2011; Kouser et al., 2012; Delmar et al., 2013

Roe return on equity + Hall & Weiss, 1967 Ros return on sales + Jang & Park, 2011;

Vijayakumar & Devi, 2011 Size1 the logarithm of a

firm’s total assets+/- Hall & Weiss, 1967; Rahaman, 2011;

Kouser et al., 2012 Size2 the logarithm of

firm’s sales +/- Samuels & Smyth, 1968;

Wu & Yeung, 2012 Liquidity current

assets/liabilities +/- Goddard et al., 2005), Serrasqueiro, 2009,

Rahaman, 2011 Leverage Total debt/assets +/- Serrasqueiro, 2009; Mudambi & Swift,

2011; Wu & Yeung, 2012

Empirical Results

Table 1-2 provides descriptive statistics of all variables. The three measures of probability do not differ during the entire period of 2003-2012. During the entire period of 2003-2012, the mean value of Ros, Roa and Roe are 0.047, 0.049 and 0.069, respectively. As can be seen from Table 1-1, I get similar pictures for firm size from the two alternative measures. Size1 variable is a value between “5.4” and “14.3”. Size 2 variable is a value between “4.6” and “10.3”. Table 1-2. Descriptive statistics

Variables Obs. Mean Std. Dev. Min Max Growth 1131 0.572 3.997 -1 129.68 Ros 1131 0.047 0.615 -10.05 1.318 Roa 1131 0.049 0.081 -0.49 0.367 Roe 1131 0.069 6.744 216.72 6.833 Liquidity 1131 1632.46 54811.34 0.165 184334 Size1 1131 8.15 0.705 5.424 14.394 Size2 1131 7.72 0.799 4.633 10.387 Leverage 1131 0.332 0.201 -0.396 1.236

Hasan Ayaydın

15

Table 1-3 reports the empirical results from our estimations of firm growth, modelled by (eq. 1). All coefficients on firm-specific variables have expected signs. The results of the entire model (Model 1a, b, c, d and e) are parallel largely.

Table 1-3. Empirical results from estimations of growth the models

Variables Model 1a Model 1b Model 1c Model 1d Model 1e Growtht-1 -0.025**

(0.032) -0.026** (0.037)

-0.025** (0.047)

-0.025** (0.030)

-0.026** (0.036)

Ros 0.298* (0.069)

0.256* (0.077)

Roa 2.68*** (0.000)

Roe 0.003* (0.093)

0.004* (0.091)

Liquidity 0.0011*** (0.000)

0.0014*** (0.000)

0.0016*** (0.000)

0.0015*** (0.000)

0.0011*** (0.000)

Size1 -0.098*** (0.000)

-0.065*** (0.000)

-0.101*** (0.000)

Size2 -0.120*** (0.000)

-0.125*** (0.000)

Leverage -0.616*** (0.008)

-0.942*** (0.000)

-0.197 (0.282)

-0.662*** (0.000)

-1.036*** (0.000)

AR(1) AR(2)

0.000 0.288

0.000 0.580

0.000 0.804

0.000 0.126

0.000 0.337

Wald chi2 801042.54 786775.71 779769.69 667631.33 693704.33 F Prob. 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 Observations 1053 1053 1057 1057 1053 Firms 22 22 22 22 22 Instruments 883 883 885 885 883

Robust SEs of coefficients is reported in parentheses. *, ** and *** indicate the coefficient significant at the 10, 5 and 1% levels, respectively.

The study reveals that profitability and liquidity have a strong positive relationship with the growth of the firm; however, size and leverage have a negative impact on the firm growth.

Conclusion

The three alternative probability variables are statistically significant in all of the models. The results show that firm growth is significantly and positively associated with firm profitability. This finding is consistent with the Fitter growth theory that was presented by Alchian (1950) that the profitable firms grow and survive in the market while other firms exit due


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to poor performance. Thus, it can be said the that theory is true for Turkish companies of the stone and soil-based industry. The coefficient on liquidity is negative and statistically significant, meaning that stone and soil-based industry companies reached an optimal working capital. Size1 and Size2 have negative signs in all growth regressions. This finding is not consistent with Gibrat’s (1931) law. The results show that small firms grow more rapidly than large firms because small firms struggle to achieve economies of scale. Small firms grow more rapidly than large firms while the firms that have gained economies of scale cannot grow further, due to the reduction of cost to a minimum level. The leverage has negative signs in all growth regressions. The negative influence of leverage suggests that an increase in firm leverage level brings about a decrease in firm growth. This finding appears to be consistent with the optimal capital structure theory that indicates that the negative effect of leverage on growth enhances firm value because the leverage prevents managers from taking on poor projects. Thus, it can be said that stone and soil-based industrial companies cannot reach an optimal capital structure, due to inefficient investment areas in which they invest without benefiting from the positive impact of leverage. Empirically, all our results are consistent with the previous empirical evidence. Academically, this study contributes to the existing literature and shows that the relationship between growth and profit rates could differ depending on the lag structure of the tested models. As explained earlier, this study made a unique contribution in addressing the analysis issues embedded in the growth studies by using dynamic panel system GMM estimator. The results of this study provide managerial implications for the stone and soil-based industrial companies. The results indicated that profitable restaurant firms could grow. Profitable firms, small firms, firms that reach an optimal level of working capital and optimal capital structure, can be said to have grown faster than other companies. If you want your company to grow, as a manager you should seek, increasing profitability, reaching economies of scale, an optimal capital structure level, and reaching the optimal level of working capital level due to the evidence that firms in these conditions grow faster than other companies.

References

Adams, M. & Buckle, M. (2003). The Determinants of Corporate Financial Performance in the Bermuda Insurance Market. Applied Financial Economics 13: 133-143.

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Alchian, A. (1950). Uncertainty, evolution, and economic theory. The Journal of Political Economy 58: 211-221.

Baltagi, B. (2005). Econometric Analysis of Panel Data. Place: John Wiley & Sons LTD.

Billett, M., King, T. & Mauer, D. (2007). Growth opportunities and the choice of leverage, debt maturity, and covenants. Journal of Finance 62: 697-730.

Blundell, M. & Bond, S. (1998). Initial Conditions and Moment Restrictions in Dynamic Panel Data Models. Journal of Econometrics 87: 115-143.

Chesher, A. (1979). Testing the Law of Proportionate Effect. Journal of Industrial Economics 27 (4): 403-411.

Delmar, F. McKelvie, A. & Wennberg, K. (2013). Untangling the relationships among growth, profitability and survival in new firms. Technovation. In Press.

Garcia-Manjon, J. V. & Romero-Merino, M. E. (2012). Research, development, and firm growth. Empirical evidence from European top R&D spending firms. Research Policy 41: 1084-1092.

Geroski, P. & Gugler, K. (2004). Corporate growth convergence in Europe. Oxford Economic Papers 56: 597-620.

Gibrat, R. (1931). Les Inegalites Economiques. Paris: Librairie du Recueil Sirey.

Goddard, J., Molyneux, P. & Wilson, J. (2004). Dynamics of growth and profitability in banking. Journal of Money, Credit and Banking 36: 1069-1091.

Goddard, J., Tavakoli, M. & Wilson, J. (2005). Determinants of Profitability in European Manufacturing and Services: Evidence from a Dynamic Panel Data. Applied Financial Economics 15: 1269-1282.

Goddard, J., Tavakoli, M. & Wilson, J. (2009). Sources of variation in firm profitability and growth. Journal of Business Research 62: 495-508.

Gschwandtner, A. (2005). Profit Persistence in the ´Very` Long Run: Evidence from Survivors and Exiters. Applied Economics 37: 793-806.

Hall, M. & Weiss, L. (1967). Firm size and profitability. The Review of Economics and Statistics 49: 319-331.

Hoy, F., McDougall, P. P. & D’Souza, D. E. (1992). Strategies and environments of high-growth firms. In D. L. Sexton & J. D. Kasarda (Eds.), The state of the art of entrepreneurship. Boston: PWS-Kent. 341-357.


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Jang, S. C. & Park, K. (2011).Inter-relationship between firm growth and profitability. International Journal of Hospitality Management 30: 1027-1035.

Kouser, R., Bano, T., Azeem, M. & Hassan, M. (2012). Inter-Relationship between Profitability, Growth and Size: A Case of Non-Financial Companies from Pakistan. Pakistan Journal of Commerce & Social Sciences 6 (2): 405-419.

Mansfield, E. (1962). Gibrat’s Law, innovation, and the growth of firms. Am Econ Rev 52: 1023-51.

Mudambi, R. & Swift, T. (2011). Proactive R&D management and firm growth: A punctuated equilibrium model. Research Policy 40: 429-440.

Mukhopadhyay, A. & Khalkhali, S. A. (2010). Profitability Performance and Firm Size-Growth Relationship. Journal of Business & Economics Research 8 (9): 121-126.

Opler, T. C. & Titman, S. (1994). Financial distress and corporate performance. The Journal of Finance 49: 1015-1040.

Rahaman, M. M. (2011). Access to Financing and Firm Growth. Journal of Banking & Finance 35: 709-723.

Reid, G. C. (1995). Early life-cycle behaviour of micro-firms in Scotland. Small Business Economics 7: 89-95.

Roper, S. (1999). Modelling Small Business Growth and Profitability. Small Business Economics 13: 235-252.

Samuels, J. & Smyth, D. (1968). Profits, variability of profits and firm size. Economica 35: 127-139.

Serrasqueiro, Z. (2009). Growth and profitability in Portuguese companies: a dynamic panel data approach. Economic Interferences 9: 565-573.

Vijayakumar, A. & Devi, S. S. (2011). Growth and profitability in Indian Automobile Firms-An analysis. Journal for Bloomers of Research 3 (2): 168-177.

Vining, D. R. (1976). Auto-correlated Growth Rates and the Pareto Law: A Further Analysis. Journal of Political Economy 84 (2): 369-80.

Wilson, J. & Morris, J. E. (2000). The size and growth of UK manufacturing and service firms. The Service Industries Journal 20 (2): 25-38.

Wu, X. & Yeung, C. K. (2012). Firm Growth Type and Capital Structure Persistence. Journal of Banking & Finance 36: 3427-3443.

CONSUMERS’ POINT OF VIEW ON BRAND EQUITY AND BRAND EXTENSION STRATEGIES

ACCORDING TO THE LEVEL OF CONSUMER INNOVATIVENESS

ENES EMRE-BAŞAR AND AYSEL ERCIŞ

Introduction The survival of brands depends on their ability to innovate. Internalizing these innovations is related to the innovativeness of a target group. Because of this, it is a factor that raises the chance of success for the firms who consider innovativeness while applying brand strategies.

The most valuable property of current firms is their brands. Because of this value, it makes brand management necessary for constituting and maintaining brands while increasing brand power. An important advantage of having a strong brand is to ease the acceptance of a new product, which is produced by using that brand name. Brand extension has become a common strategy with new products since it decreases the consumer’s risk and considerably reduces the costs of marketing promotion programs. The concept of brand extension is described as using current brand names to enter new product categories. The basic logic underlying producing a new product under a well-known brand name is to provide consumer perceptions of confidence and similarity by using the positive features of the brand (Keller & Aaker, 1992).

Strong brands have high brand values. The brands with high values also have high brand loyalty, recognition, quality perception and association. Many firms can be seen taking advantage of these assets while putting new products or services on the market. Brand extension is the leading strategy which businesses use to benefit from their brand values. Research shows that new product development costs have significant risks because they are high and there is no guarantee of the return of expenses. However, brand extension strategy has been shown to significantly lower costs and to increase the market success of new products.

Brand Equity and Brand Extension Strategies

20

Consumer Innovativeness

Consumer innovativeness is the tendency of purchasing new products or brands which are quite different from former preferences and form of consumption (Steenkamp, Hofstede & Wedel, 1999). When examining the literature, the concept of consumer innovativeness held in studies is seen to be discussed in three different ways. These are natural innovativeness or innate innovativeness, which is a general personality trait; interest-specific innovativeness; and the innovativeness which is known as performed behaviour or innovative behaviour. In this study, the significance of the natural innovativeness aspect of the concept of consumer innovativeness is discussed.

Innate Innovativeness

Midgley and Dowling (1978) are among those who first described innate innovativeness as a generalized personality trait. They stated in their research that innovativeness was a function of dimensions of human personality and that members of a society had more or less innovativeness. Innate innovativeness is the tendency of purchasing a different and new product or brand in preference to consumption patterns that remain quite the same (Steenkamp, Hofstede & Wedel, 1999). According to Roehrich (2004), such a tendency can be defined through four different concepts: (1) stimulation need, (2) novelty seeking, (3) independence toward others’ communicated experience, and (4) need for uniqueness.

Brand Equity

Brand equity is the supplementation of assets and liabilities, which are based on the name, shape, design and symbol of the brand, to the goods and services offered to customers (Erdil & Uzun, 2010). These assets and liabilities, which are the basics of brand equity, are related to the name or indicators of brand. In the case that brand name or symbol is changed, the assets and liabilities can partially or wholly be affected (Aaker, 1991). The concept of brand equity is explained by approaches which are based on finance or consumer behaviour and in which both of these approaches are used together. The assets such as the building, machine, or stock of a company, which puts its branded products on market, constitute its financial-based brand equity. When explaining brand equity with a consumer behaviour-based approach, consumers’ attitudes and behaviours towards the brand are considered; that is, brand equity means that the

Enes Emre-Başar and Aysel Ercış

21

unique, strong and positive sides related to the brand are explained by consumer perspective (Lee, Lee & Kamakura, 1996). In reviewing the research, the variables constituting brand equity are classified in four categories (Aaker, 1991; Yoo, Donthu & Lee, 2000). These categories are the perceived quality, brand loyalty, brand awareness, and brand associations. Perceived Quality

The perceived quality is the consumer perception, which is related to the general quality or superiority of the brand compared to its competitors, in line with the aim of the product or service (Han, 1998). According to Aaker (1991), brands with high-perceived quality create a reason for purchasing for consumers since the brands become distinct from the similar. Brand Loyalty

There is brand loyalty when a consumer has positive feelings about the brand, buys it more often than other brands and uses it for a long time (Odabaşı & Barış, 2002). Consumers’ thinking that they buy a higher quality product of a certain brand for a lower price makes them loyal to that brand. The consumers who feel brand loyalty add value to the brand by repurchasing the products of the same brand (Farguhar, 2000). Brand Awareness

The basic recognition of a brand can be provided by creating brand awareness. Awareness leads to the brand sticking in a consumer’s mind (Erciş, Yapraklı & Can, 2009). Because of this, it can also be described as a consumer’s ability to recognize and remember a brand. Brand Associations

Brand associations are the group of concepts and properties to which the consumers refer when thinking of the brand. These associations are effective in that the properties related to the brand are stuck in consumers’ minds and remembered by them.


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Brand Extension

The effort to use a successful brand name in a new product or service is called brand extension (Kotler, 2010). Aaker and Keller (1990) describe the concept of brand extension as the use of current brand names to enter new product categories or classes. The basic logic underlying the production of a new product by a well-known brand name is to provide consumer perceptions of confidence and similarity by using the positive features of the brand in a new product category (Han, 1998). Businesses benefit from brand equity, which is one of their most valuable assets, when offering new products and services. Firms use brand extension strategies to benefit from this equity (Marangoz, 2007). The firms making brand extension by using current brand equity gain a number of advantages and thus they decrease the risks related to constituting new products (Phang, 2004). Well-run brand extension strategies not only offer new sources of income but also help in constituting brand equity by making the brands meaning stronger. Successful brand extensions satisfy the current customers of the firm and lead the firm to gain new customers. This brand extension raises the brand equity (Davis, 2002).

Aim of the Study

The aim of the study is to establish whether there are differences in consumers’ points of view on brand equity and brand extension strategies according to the level of their innovativeness. Accordingly, this study points out which brands are internalized by which type of consumers (innovative and non-innovative) when two technology brands with high and low brand equity apply a brand extension strategy compatible with the main brand (the idea of opening an airline company). The brands in our study are called brand A and brand B.

Model and Hypotheses of the Research

The model of the research is shown in Figure 1-1 and the hypotheses in Table 1-4. In accordance with the aim and model of the research, the outcome is as follows:

- H1: There is a difference between the innovative and non-innovative

consumers’ perceptions of brand equity.


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- H2: There is a difference between the innovative and non-innovative consumers’ acceptances of new products put on the market through brand extension.

Brand equity

Perceived equity Brand loyalty

Brand associations and awareness

Difference

Consumer innovativeness

Brand extension No difference Figure 1-1. Research model Table 1-4. Canonical discriminant function, Wilks’ lambda values and basic values

Wilks’ Lambda Function Test

Wilks’ Lambda

Chi-Square Df Significance Level

1 0.799 96.321 8 0.000

Research Method

While selecting the technology brands in our study, 50 consumers were pre-tested. In this test, 10 technology brands in the Turkish market have been chosen. Next, the respondents have been asked to put in order the brands they like the most and the least. At the outcome of the test, the two most and least liked brands are used as the base. The survey method has been used as a data collection tool in this study. The survey has been responded to by academia working in three state universities in Turkey. The survey is constituted by four sets of questions, and there are 45 questions in total. The six questions on the scale of innovation used by Roehrich (1995) are asked in the first set of survey questions, the thirteen questions on the scale of brand equity used by Yoo, Donthu and Lee (2000) are asked in the second set of survey questions, and the single question on the scale of brand extension used by Keller and Aaker (1992) is asked in the third set of survey questions. The survey has been applied to 550 people. However, because of the incoherent replies given to the

Function Basic Value

Variant % Cumulative % Canonical Correlation

1 0.252 100.0 100.0 0.448


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reverse questions in the survey (the 11th and 24th questions of the survey), 115 survey forms were ignored and 435 survey forms were included in the research. The data obtained from the survey were applied in a reliability test, Z test and multiple discriminant analysis.

Data Analysis

The data gathered has been subjected to the Cronbach reliability test. The results have been seen to have a high internal consistency (Consumer Innovativeness: 0.859, Brand A Perceived Quality: 0.912, Brand A Brand Loyalty: 0.873, Brand A Brand Associations and Awareness: 0.842, Brand B Perceived Quality: 0.934, Brand B Brand Loyalty: 0.876, Brand B Brand Associations and Awareness: 0.859). The relationship between the demographic characteristics of the respondents and consumer innovativeness has been analysed. Considering the relationship between the demographic characteristics of the respondents and consumer innovativeness, it is seen that there is a negative relationship between age (-0.097, p<0.01) and consumer innovativeness. There is, however, a positive relationship between income (0.161, p<0.01) and consumer innovativeness. This result displays the innovative behaviours of consumers who are young and have a high-income Z test has been applied to determine the innovative and non-innovative consumers. In consequence of Z test, the number of innovative respondents is 196, and the number of non-innovative respondents is 216 (innovators>3.21; non-innovators<2.96). Multiple discriminant analysis has been applied to figure out whether there is a difference between the respondents’ perceptions of brand value and their attitudes towards the acceptance of new products according to the levels of their innovativeness. Correspondents’ levels of innovativeness constitute the criterion variable, and their perceptions of brand equity and attitudes towards the acceptance of new products constitute the predictor variable. As seen in Table 1-4, canonical discriminant functions explain 100% of the total variant. The canonical correlation of the function is 0.448. The 0.000 value of Wilks’ Lambda is 0.799 in the significance level. The function value is seen to be statistically significant. Table 1-5 presents the Construction Matrix. When analyzing the variables in Table 1-5, the research considers their absolute values: the variables of brand associations and awareness of brand A, brand extension of brand A, perceived quality of brand A, and perceived quality of brand B are seento have discriminant power. These variables have been controlled with Wilks’ Lambda, F test in order to find out which


25

ones of them are important in statistically discriminating. The results are shown in Table 1-6 Table 1-5. Construction matrix

Brand Equity and Brand Extension variables Function 1 Perceived Quality of Brand A 0.557 Brand Loyalty of Brand A 0.265 Brand Associations and Awareness of Brand A 0.704 Brand Extension of Brand A 0.665 Perceived Quality of Brand B -0.382 Brand Loyalty of Brand B -0.118 Brand Associations and Awareness of Brand B -0.017 Brand Extension of Brand B -0.014 Table 1-6. Test of ensemble average equality

Brand Equity and Brand Extension Variables

Wilks’ Lambda

F Significant Level

Brand Loyalty of Brand A 0.983 7.639 0.006 Perceived Quality of Brand A 0.928 33.809 0.000 Brand Associations and Awareness of Brand A 0.889 54.039 0.000 Brand Extension of Brand A 0.900 48.267 0.000 Perceived Quality of Brand B 0.965 15.889 0.000 Brand Loyalty of Brand B 0.997 1.518 0.219 Brand Associations and Awareness of Brand B 1.000 0.033 0.856 Brand Extension of Brand B 1.000 0.21 0.885 As shown in Table 1-6, the variables of perceived quality, brand loyalty, brand associations and awareness, brand extension of Brand A, and perceived quality of Brand B have discriminant power in the significant level of 0.01. However, it is pointed out that the variables of brand loyalty, brand associations and awareness, and brand extension of Brand B have no discriminant power. The ensemble averages of the variables that are significant are given in Table 1-7. According to the averages in Table 1-7, the innovators perceive that Brand A is more qualified in proportion to the non-innovators. This result shows that the innovators are more loyal to the brand. The innovators’ brand associations and awareness is at a higher level as well, which shows that the innovators know that brand well. Finally, the innovators are more likely to accept the idea of a new product that is put on the market through brand extension. The results of the classifications are shown in Table 1-8. According to consumer innovativeness, the classifications made in accordance with the


26

discriminant function differentiate the respondents from each other: 65% of the innovators and 61% of the non-innovators have been assigned correctly. Correct classification rate for the test group is 71.0%. Considering these results, it clearly shows that there are differences between the innovative and non-innovative consumers in the sense of brand equity perception and the idea of accepting a new product. As a result, H1 and H2 Hypotheses have been accepted. Table 1-7. Ensemble averages

The Variables of Brand Equity and Brand Extension

Innovators Non-Innovators

Perceived Quality of Brand A 4.2294 3.8199 Brand Loyalty of Brand A 2.6373 2.3694 Brand Associations and Awareness of Brand A 4.3402 3.8727 Brand Extension of Brand A 3.3578 2.7879 Perceived Quality of Brand B 2.9235 2.8130 Table 1-8. Classification results

Consumer Innovativeness Estimated Group Membership Total

Innovators Non-Innovators Innovators 65 139 204Non-Innovators 170 61 231 Total 235 200 435 Innovators 31.9 % 68.1% 100.0% Non-Innovators 73.6 % 26.4% 100.0% Correct classification rate 71.0%

Conclusion

The outcome of the analysis has shown that there are differences between the innovative and non-innovative consumers in the sense of brand equity perception and the internalizing of new products put on the market through brand extension. When analyzing the studies in literature, the proposal is that innovative consumers’ brand loyalty towards brand equity perception is low (Schiffman & Kanuk, 2004). According to the findings obtained from this study, the innovators’ brand perceptions, level of loyalty, associations and awareness towards Brand A are at a higher level in comparison with non-innovators. However, brand loyalty is at the lowest level among the innovators’ brand equity perceptions. For that reason, it


27

can be said that the innovative consumers’ brand equity perception is generally at a higher level. The innovative consumers more positively accept the idea of a new product that is put on the market through brand extension. When a brand with the perception of high value puts a new product on a market consistent with the main brand, it will be first bought by the innovative consumers who are more willing to try these new products. Therefore, the innovative consumers take decisive steps in the transfer of new products and acceptance by other consumers. The results of this research show that the innovative consumers are usually constituted by those who are young and have higher income. For this reason, firms that apply a brand extension strategy and set the young consumers who have high income as target groups will gain salient factors in garnering success. Nevertheless, in literature, the innovative consumers are seen to be dynamic, curious, communicative, stimulus-seeking, adventurous, excited, media savvy, and cognitive individuals (e.g., Goldsmith & Foxall, 2003). In this regard, it would be a convenience for firms to consider these proposals to reach the innovative consumers and to aim promotional efforts towards them.

References

Aaker, D. A. (1991). Managing Brand Equity: Capitalizing on the Value of Brand Name. New York, NY: The Free Press.

Aaker, D. A. & Keller, K. L. (1990). Consumer Evaluations of Brand Extensions. Journal of Marketing Research 54(1): 27- 41.

Davis, S. M. (2002). Brand Asset Management: Driving Profitable Growth through Your Brands. San Francisco, CA: John Wiley & Sons Inc.

Erciş, A., Yapraklı, Ş. & Can, P. (2009). Analyzing the Differences between Brand Information, Brand Relations, and Purchasing Behaviors. Marmara University Journal of Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences 26 (1): 157-190.

Erdil, T. S. & Uzun, Y. (2010). Marka Olmak [Being a Brand]. Istanbul: Beta Yayıncılık.

Goldsmith, R. E. & Foxall, G. R. (2003). The Measurement of Innovativeness. In L. Shavinina (Ed.), The International Handbook on Innovation. London: Pergamon. 321-330.

Han, J. K. (1998). Brand Extensions in a Competitive Context: Effects of Competitive Targets and Product Attribute Typicality on Perceived Quality. Academy of Marketing Science Review 1: 1-12.


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Keller, K. L. & Aaker, D. A. (1992). The Effect of Sequential Introduction of Brand Extensions. Journal of Marketing Research 29 (2): 35-50.

Kotler, P. (2010). B2B MarkaYönetimi [B2B Brand Management]. Istanbul: MediacatYayınları.

Lee, M., Lee, J. & Kamakura, W. A. (1996). Consumer Evaluation of Line Extensions: A Conjoint Approach. Advances in Consumer Research 23: 289-195.

Marangoz, M. (2007). Marka Değeri Algılamalarının Marka Yayılmaya Etkileri [Effects of Brand Equity Perceptions on Brand Extensions]. Ege Akademik Bakış 7 (2): 459-483.

Midgley, D. G. & Dowling, G. R. (1978). Innovativeness: The Concept and its Measurement. Journal of Consumer Research 4 (3): 229-242.

Odabaşı, Y. & Barış, G. (2002). Consumer Behavior. Istanbul: Mediacat. Phang, L. (2004). Consumer Evaluations of Brand Extensions: Can B2B

Brands Be Extended Into The Consumer Market? Master’s Thesis. Minderbroedersberg: Maastricht University.

Roehrich, G. (1995). Innovativité hédoniste et sociale: Proposition d’une échelle de mesure [Hedonistic and Social Innovativeness: Suggestion for a Measure Scale]. Research Application Marketing 9 (2): 19-41.

—. (2004). Consumer Innovativeness: Concepts and Measurements. Journal of Business Research 57 (6): 671-677.

Schiffman, L. G. & Kanuk, L. L. (2004). Consumer Behavior. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall.

Steenkamp, J. B., Hofstede, F. T. & Wedel, M. (1999). A Cross-National Investigation into the Individual and National Cultural Antecedents of Consumer Innovativeness. Journal of Marketing 63 (2): 55-69.

Yoo, B., Donthu, N. & Lee, S. (2000). An Examination of Selected Marketing Mix Elements and Brand Equity. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science 28 (2): 95-211.

VALIDITY OF COMPANY BANKRUPTCY MODELS: THE BORSA ISTANBUL

ALPER-VELI ÇAM

Introduction Financial failures of companies underlie the development of company bankruptcy models. The term “financial failure” was first mentioned in an article published by Paul J. Fitzpatrick in 1932. Referring to that article, Beaver (1966: 71) defined financial failure as non-performance or failure of companies to perform their financial liabilities. Failure of the company to fulfil its financial liabilities completely may cause its bankruptcy. The bankruptcy process is initiated by the emergence of financial distress of a company and ends up in legal proceedings (Icerli & Akkaya, 2006: 414). Being in financial distress and bankrupt does not only closely concern the company itself but also all its shareholders. However, it must be emphasized that bankruptcy is not the only option of every company in financial distress. Therefore, it is necessary to clearly define the factors that lead companies to become bankrupt and to predict possible bankruptcy.

Many methods have been developed by companies to predict financial failure. These methods rely on financial ratios, which are used as an early warning system in almost all of these methods, and models that have been developed (Okka, 2009: 141). Despite the fact that financial ratios are calculated based on companies’ data from previous terms, they offer shareholders valuable information on the future of their companies. However, these ratios can provide a concrete result regarding a company only when they are considered in combination with various other factors.

The Z-score model that was developed by Altman (1968) is the most prevalent of the models that are named as company bankruptcy models, early warning models for companies or failure prediction models for companies. Developed by Altman, this model is the basis of many of today’s models. Moreover, the models developed by Altman,

Validity of Company Bankruptcy Models

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Haldemanand and Narayadan (1977) and Bathory (1984) are among those frequently used in literature.

In this study, the validity of the Z-score developed by Altman is tested on the companies traded at Borsa Istanbul.

Literature

Financial ratios constitute the basis for the determination of financial failure of companies. Many of the emerging models and methods also rely on various financial ratios.

Financial failure, as we know it today, was first examined by Beaver (1966). In his study, Beaver reviewed 79 successful and failed companies and thus defined 5 significant ratios. He then described the cash flow/total debt ratio as the most influential factor among these ratios.

In his Z-score model formed by using multiple discriminant analysis, Altman (1968) showed that five variables might be used as an early warning system to predict bankruptcy. In this model, Altman established that bankruptcy of a company might be predicted one year beforehand with 95% possibility, two years with 72% or three years with 48% possibility.

In the study conducted by Altman, Haldeman and Narayadan (1977), they suggested that seven financial ratios (Zeta model) could be used as an indicator of whether the company will become bankrupt or not.

Similarly, Bathory (1984) showed that of the 22 financial ratios he utilized in his study, five could be used for companies as an early warning system.

Gerantonis, Vergos and Christopoulos (2009), Wang and Campell (2010), Gutzeit and Yozzo (2011), and Satish and Janakiram (2011) established that the Z-score model they implemented on various sectors and companies in different countries worked successfully and fulfilled the classification process with a success rate of over 85%. On the other hand, Hillegeist et al. (2004), Gharghori, Chan and Faff (2006) and Li (2012) suggested that the Z-score model can yield accurate results in some sectors while it cannot be utilized within the scope of certain sectors. In their 2009 study, Muzır and Çağlar compared certain models, which included the Z-score model, and consequently suggested that none of the available models can provide classification with 90% or higher accuracy.

In the studies conducted on Borsa Istanbul, on the other hand, Altaş and Giray (2005) developed a model using factor analysis and logistic regression method that can classify companies with 74% accuracy. Utilizing the Z test, Icerli and Akkaya (2006) showed that financial ratios

Alper-Veli Çam

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alone are proven insufficient in the classification of successful and failed companies. Utilizing the artificial neural network model, Akkaya, Demireli and Yakut (2009) come up with a model that can classify companies with 80% accuracy. In his study, which he conducted by developing the Z-score model in the food sector, Terzi (2011) determined that six financial ratios can provide a classification with 90.9% accuracy.

Methodology

The purpose of this study is to test whether the Z-score model is effective on the companies traded at Borsa Istanbul. In the study, data from financial schedules of 66 companies in total that are traded at Borsa Istanbul in 2008, 2009 and 2010 is used. In addition, 2011-2012 schedules of these companies are also used for the purpose of control. Accordingly, 20 companies from the food industry, 21 companies from the service sector and 25 companies from the textile industry are included in the study. In the determination of the success of these companies, we used the Z-score model of Altman.

The Z-score model of Altman and variables utilized by him are as follows (Altman, 1968: 594):

Z=1.2 X1 + 1.4 X2 + 3.3 X3 + 0.6 X4 + 0.9 X5 (1)

where:

X1=Working Capital/Total Assets X2=Retained Earnings/Total Assets X3=Earnings before Interest and Taxes/Total Assets X4=Market Value Equity/Book Value of Total Debt X5=Sales/Total Assets

In accordance with the Z-score model, Altman classified companies with a Z-score point under 1.81 as possibly bankrupt; companies with a Z-score point between 1.81 and 2.99 as grey zone; and companies with a Z-score point above 2.99 as with low possibility of bankruptcy.

In this study, companies are divided into two groups in accordance with Altman’s model: companies with a Z-score below 1.81 and companies with a Z-score above 1.81. The success rate of the model on bankrupt companies is described by taking the 2011-2012 financial schedules of the respective companies into account.


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Findings of the Study

Z-score points of 20 companies that are active in the food industry for the term between 2008 and 2010 are given in Table 1-9. Accordingly, the model has given 29 bankruptcy signals for 11 companies in total. Z-scores of eight of these companies were below 1.81 in this three-year period. Five of these companies turned a profit in the following years while three made a loss. Moreover, those companies, of which Z-score points were under 1.81 for the first two years but above 1.81 in the third year, made a profit in the following years. None of the companies included in the study went bankrupt. Table 1-9. Z-score values of the companies operating in the food sector

Firm 2008 Z-Score

2009 Z-Score

2010 Z-Score

2011 P/B

2012 P/B

1 2.0004565 3.0254463 3.1341451 2 1.5320191 1.6661022 1.89350897 Profit Profit 3 1.4417048 1.7847182 1.9108263 Profit Profit 4 1.9329196 1.8752599 2.8575052 5 1.4138355 0.9639846 1.0205475 Bankruptcy Bankruptcy 6 2.1073265 2.9171373 1.8142854 7 1.5705483 1.6668490 1.1022413 Profit Bankruptcy 8 1.1607120 2.0522030 1.8452942 Bankruptcy Bankruptcy 9 0.4556912 0.6203137 0.5141560 Bankruptcy Bankruptcy 10 0.6785045 1.3629223 1.3022209 Bankruptcy Profit 11 3.2584411 3.1220958 2.9290151 12 2.3379977 2.5567520 2.3061731 13 2.0292259 2.1294205 2.1390638 14 1.8353354 3.1880314 2.1605872 15 2.1772536 2.4044551 2.4631772 16 1.2057694 1.7294331 1.4077938 Bankruptcy Profit 17 0.1718497 1.3686430 1.7536683 Bankruptcy Bankruptcy 18 1.4419718 1.4851250 1.5756497 Profit Profit 19 6.3591797 6.6076322 6.3846165 20 1.6580932 1.6272782 1.3345819 Profit Profit

Z-score points of 21 companies active in the service sector for the term between 2008 and 2010 are given in Table 1-10. Z-score points of 16 of the 21 companies signalled bankruptcy (Z < 1.81). Twelve of these companies were under the bankruptcy level in three consecutive years. As with the companies active in the food industry, none of the companies active in the service sector went bankrupt. Eight of the 12 companies

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turned a profit in the following years while only four of them turned a loss in the following two years. Table 1-10. Z-score values of the companies in the service sector

Firm 2008 Z-Score

2009 Z-Score

2010 Z-Score

2011 P/B

2012 P/B

1 0.7526348 1.0332361 1.3092879 Profit Profit 2 1.6394428 0.7789159 0.4180232 Loss Profit 3 0.8276568 1.2191509 1.2191509 Loss Profit 4 0.9964963 0.8339546 0.7804187 Profit Profit 5 0.8194347 0.0178742 0.4037188 Loss Loss 6 0.9346765 0.2449205 -0.3695105 Loss Loss 7 2.2864487 1.8657764 1.8243604 8 1.7372397 1.7019010 1.5366059 Profit Profit 9 -0.9682438 -0.2107474 -0.3608428 Profit Profit 10 3.1594859 2.7726170 1.4489419 11 4.2896408 3.7397423 3.8352275 12 0.3853891 0.6523349 1.1034006 Profit Profit 13 2.9521642 0.9319610 1.5457121 14 -0.0783571 -0.1226587 0.4457174 Loss Loss 15 -1.9408974 1.2666041 2.0821618 Loss Profit 16 3.2319583 3.0166044 3.1400872 17 0.4482328 0.2669502 1.2908468 Profit Profit 18 2.4196066 1.8852221 1.8213732 19 1.9562099 1.6110509 1.3672048 Profit Profit 20 3.1409199 2.9101497 1.8354699 21 -0.0578651 0.6645896 0.1959945 Loss Profit

Z-score points of 25 companies that are active in the textile industry for the term between 2008 and 2010 are given in Table 1-11 below. Unlike other industries and sectors, three of the companies in the textile industry went bankrupt in 2011. Z-scores of these three companies were under 1.81 in 2008, 2009 and 2011. However, eight of the 14 companies, Z-scores of which were under 1.81 within the same period, turned a profit in 2011-2012.

Conclusion

Altman’s Z-score model, which has a prominent position among company bankruptcy models, has been tested for validity in various countries and sectors and constituted a basis for the studies conducted on this subject matter. In this study, the validity of the Z-score is examined in 66 companies active in the food, service and textile industries and traded at Borsa Istanbul between 2008 and 2011. Because of the utilization of the


34

model, 34 of the 66 companies examined are confirmed to have been under the bankruptcy level for three consecutive years. Only three of these companies (9%) went officially bankrupt. All of the bankrupted companies were active in the textile industry. Twenty-one percent of the companies in this industry that were below bankruptcy level went bankrupt. Twenty-four of the 34 companies that were under the bankruptcy level turned a profit in 2011 and 2012. The 2008 global economic crisis has, without a doubt, a role in these results. Table 1-11. Z-score values of the companies in the textile sector

Firm 2008 Z-Score

2009 Z-Score

2010 Z-Score

2011 P/B

2012 P/B

1 2.5599367 1.3396421 1.4131633 Profit Profit 2 1.2603826 1.6312524 0.8477663 Profit Loss 3 -0.5283128 0.4582674 0.5127539 Loss Loss 4 1.1327495 1.4735564 1.6256429 Profit Loss 5 0.6330259 0.5072382 0.4601888 Profit Profit 6 1.4550632 -1.4421498 -0.5760709 Loss Loss 7 0.9536874 -1.5242218 -0.0476408 Profit Loss 8 2.0373199 1.2375326 1.5702923 Profit Profit 9 2.8833900 2.7941932 2.9229208 10 2.6212395 2.4161995 2.8311400 11 1.8313273 1.6321248 2.0917498 12 -0.3364290 -1.3453435 1.8446306 13 -0.0732073 -0.083233 0.3503213 Loss Profit 14 -0.2230544 1.0839191 0.1866614 Profit Loss 15 1.3608437 1.6445150 1.7889695 Profit Profit 16 1.3608776 1.6442050 1.8253891 Profit Profit 17 0.8320327 1.2484787 0.6535763 Profit Profit 18 -0.5194750 -0.5880055 0.7883327 Loss Loss 19 -0.6056600 -0.2446032 -0.1314391 Bankruptcy Bankruptcy 20 -0.6100439 0.2316022 0.5157733 Bankruptcy Bankruptcy 21 0.9844763 0.8380293 1.1187665 Bankruptcy Bankruptcy 22 0.8142652 3.1656129 2.1803358 23 1.3967111 1.5464635 1.9769127 Loss Profit 24 1.5730271 1.7222074 1.5496374 Profit Loss 25 1.0707587 1.6313898 2.1094867 Loss Profit

In the literature, it can be found that such models yield different results in different countries and different industries. While Altman’s Z-score model is capable of accurately classifying companies as successful or unsuccessful, its utilization at Borsa Istanbul as a bankruptcy prediction system is proven highly unreliable. Models based on financial ratios alone are insufficient for the final decision. Accordingly, any decision made this

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way will have a high error margin. Many companies which are financially unsuccessful according to the data examined within the scope of this study have become successful in the short term.

When utilizing such models, decision-makers must consider the general economic development and the growth rate of the respective country and the industry in which the examined company is active.

References

Akkaya, G. C., Demireli, E & Yakut, Ü. H. İşletmelerde Finansal Başarısızlık Tahminlemesi: Yapay Sinir Ağları Modeliile İMKB Üzerine Bir Uygulama [Estimation of Financial Failure in Business: An Application of Artificial Neural Network Model on the ISE]. Eskişehir Osmangazi Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi 10 (2): 187-216.

Altaş, D. & Giray, S. (2005). Mali Başarısızlığın Çok Değişkenli İstatistiksel Yöntemlerle Belirlenmesi: Tekstil Sektörü Örneği [Determination of Financial Failure with Multivariate Statistical Methods: The Case of Textile Industry]. Anadolu Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi 5 (2): 13-28.

Altman, E. I. (1968). Financial Ratios, Discriminant Analysis and Prediction of Corporate Loss. The Journal of Finance 23 (4): 589-609.

Altman, E. I., Haldeman, R. G. & Narayadan, P. (1977). Zeta Analysis: A New Model to Identify Bankruptcy Risk of Corporations. Journal of Banking and Finance 1: 29-54.

Bathory, A. (1984). Predicting Corporate Collapse - Credit Analysis in the Determination and Forecasting of Insolvent Companies. London: Financial Times Business Information Ltd.

Beaver, W. H. (1966). Financial Ratios as Predictors of Failure. Journal of Accounting Research (4): 71-102.

Gerantonis, N., Vergos, K. & Christopoulos, A. G. (2009). Can Altman Z - Score Models Predict Business Failures in Greece? Research Journal of International Studies 12: 21-28.

Gharghori, P., Chan, H. & Faff, R. (2006). Investigating the Performance of Alternative Default-Risk Models: Option-Based Versus Accounting-Based Approaches. Austrian Journal of Management 31 (2): 207-234.

Gutzeit, G. & Yozzo, J. (2011). Z-Score Performance amid Great Recession. American Loss Institute Journal 3 (2): 45-80.

Hillegeist, S. A., Keating, E. K., Cram, D. P. & Lundstedt, K. G. (2004). Assessing the Probability of Loss. Review of Accounting Studies 9: 5-34.


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Içerli, M. Y. & Akkaya, G. C. (2006). Finansal Açıdan Başarılı Olan İşletmelerle Başarısız Olan İşletmeler Arasında Finansal Oranlar Yardımıyla Farklılıkların Tespiti [Diversity Detection with the Help of Financial Ratios Between Successful and Unsuccessful Businesses]. Atatürk Üniversitesi İktisadive İdari Bilimler Dergisi 20 (1): 413-421.

Li, J. (2012). Prediction of Corporate Loss from 2008 through 2011. Journal of Accounting and Finance 12 (1): 31-41.

Muzır, E. & Çağlar, N. (2009). The Accuracy of Financial Distress Prediction Models in Turkey: A Comparative Investigation with Simple Model Proposals. Anadolu Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi 9 (2): 15-48.

Okka, O. (2009). Finansal Yönetim [Financial Management]. Ankara: Nobel Yayın Dağıtım.

Satish, Y. M. & Janakiram, B. (2011). Turnaround Strategy Using Altman Model as a Tool in Solar Water Heater Industry in Karnataka. International Journal of Business and Management 6 (1): 199-206.

Terzi, S. (2011). Finansal Rasyolar Yardımıyla Finansal Başarısızlık Tahmini: Gıda Sektöründe Ampirik Bir Araştırma [Financial Failure Prediction with Financial Ratios: An Empirical Analysis of the Food Sector]. Çukurova Üniversitesi İİBF Dergisi 15 (1): 1-18.

Wang, Y. & Campbell, M. (2010). Business Failure Prediction for Publicly Listed Companies in China. Journal of Business and Management 16: 75-88.

THE PERSUASIVE POWER OF INTERNET ADVERTISING

HANDAN ÇAM

Introduction

Online advertising, a marketing method that is created on websites with accompanying images, animations and audio, spreads at a fast pace and gets more complicated day by day. When compared to traditional communication means such as television, magazines, newspapers and radio, online advertising reaches a wider consumer group with its scalability and lower cost thus granting companies a serious competitive advantage. The popularity of the internet allows users to get information from anywhere in the shortest time possible. Utilizing online advertising, this attractive mass communication tool allows companies to introduce their target consumer groups to their products and services in the most efficient way. The user count of this sector, which has various types such as banner ads, ads on search engine results pages, e-mail ads, pop-up ads, content sponsorship, CPC cost per click ads, CPM impression ads and revenue sharing advertising, increases daily. Furthermore, by its nature, the internet contains categories and advertising tools some of which are integrated into search engines. Google Adwords application is the tool that comes to mind first. Other means of online advertising are the ads published on social media networks such as Facebook and Twitter. One of the most utilized online advertising tools used today is advertising mail sent to email addresses of users by companies or advertising agencies. The purpose of this study is to determine proportions of users’ perceptions’ of online advertising with regard to attitude to various advert types;to define the influence of online advertising on consumers; and to enlighten company managers thereof. In this context, statistical structural models and defining statistical analyses were utilized to fulfil this purpose.

The Persuasive Power of Internet Advertising

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Literature

In 2000, Rodgers and Thorson created a model for online advertising and examined the users’ attitudes toward online messages. Because of this study, online advertising was shown to depend onto both the advertiser and the consumer who purchases the product or service influenced by the ads. In a 2004 study, Griffith and Chen tried to determine the effect of the internet over the purchasing process of a product. In his 2009 study, Ozadali tried to measure the effects of online advertising strategies on the consumer. In his 2010 advertising, Gulerarslan tried to show Turkish audiences’ motivations regarding the watching of TV commercials and specific variables of these motives.

Methodology

The main purpose of the study is to determine to what extent the sense of advantage and expectation of the consumer from online advertising is converted into motivation to purchase or actual purchase. In line with this, the extent to which online advertising affects the consumer to purchase will be defined. For the purpose of this study, internet users were selected as the main group and the data used was obtained via surveys conducted face-to-face or over social media. When paradigm volume was taken Z=1.96 which corresponds to 0.05 significance level and accuracy=0.05 and p and q=0.5, the paradigm mass was calculated to be 384. Surveys were conducted on 400 participants who were selected by researchers using random paradigm method. Deficient and erroneous data was eliminated, and data of 350 participants were considered. Definitional and structural analyses were utilized in the analysis of the study data. For definitional analyses, the SPSS software package and for the analysis of the structural model, AMOS 20.0 software was used. The hypotheses that were formed considering the purpose and the model of the study are:

- H1: Reactions to online advertising, which induce a sense of

advantage, affect the attitude toward online advertising. - H2: Reactions to online advertising affect the purchasing motive.

Findings of the Study

Fifty-nine point one percent of the participants are females, and 40.9% are males; 53.7% of the participants are aged 18-25, 46.3% are postgraduates, and 53.4% have an income between 1000 and 2000 TL (Table 1-12).

Handan Çam

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Table 1-12. Demographic characteristics of respondents

Demographics Frequency (%) Gender Female 207 59.1

Male 143 40.9 Age

18-25 188 53.7 26-35 51 14.6 36 and more 111 31.7

Education High School 42 12.0 Undergraduate 146 41.7 Graduate 162 46.3

Income 500-1000 45 12.9 1001-2000 187 53.4 2001-3000 63 18.0 3001 and up 55 15.7

When intended purpose of the participants to use internet is reviewed, 47.4% state that they use the internet to read news and magazines, 45.7% for research purposes and 22.6% for shopping (Table 1-13).

Table 1-13. Using the internet

Variable Frequency (%)

Purpose of Internet Use

Newspaper Reading 166 47.4Chat 47 13.4 Social Networking 142 40.6 E-Mail 75 21.4 File Download 99 28.3 Information Research 160 45.7 Online Game 134 38.3 Banking 23 6.6 Shopping 79 22.6

Visiting Sites News Websites 253 72.3 Sharing Websites 60 17.1 E-Mail 83 23.7 Sports Websites 61 17.4 Entertainment Websites 80 22.9 Forum Websites 65 18.6 Shopping Websites 141 40.3 Gaming Websites 101 28.9 Betting Websites 7 2.0 Culture and Art Websites 81 23.1


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According to the study conducted to define the attitude of the participants to online advertising, with 44%, banner ads draw the most attention. On the other hand, 55.4% of the consumers state that they do like creative ads. The items most purchased by the consumers influenced by online advertising are clothing and books (Table 1-14).

Table 1-14. Attitudes toward internet advertising

Variable Frequency (%)

Interesting internet advertising types

Banner 154 44.0Pop-up 38 10.9 Spam 69 19.7 Floating Banner 42 12.0 Rollover Banner 41 11.7 Showcase Banner 113 32.3 Top-Roll Banner 52 14.9 Advergame 41 11.7

Interesting internet advertising properties

Animation 137 39.1 Sound 47 13.4 Stunning Post 138 39.4 Creativity 194 55.4 Interactivity 56 16.0 Innovation 138 39.4 Be Annoying 123 35.1 Video 119 34.0

The purchase of products and services on the Internet

Book 169 48.3 Clothing 280 80.0 Music 17 4.9 Movies, Concerts, Theatre 76 21.7 Home Vs. 26 7.4 Car 42 12.0 Personal Care Products 12 3.4 Travel Activities 92 26.3 Electronic Product 59 16.9 Holiday 2 0.6 Training Products 73 20.9 Game 26 7.4

Available data were first subjected to a reliability test. Because of the reliability test that is applied to all variable used in the factor analysis and structural model, the Cronbach’s Alpha value is found to be 0.929. In order to determine compliance with the factor analysis, Bartlett’s Test, which is a sphericity test used to show the relation between available data and Kaiser Mayer Olkin (KMO) measures, which test the compliance of paradigm size with the factor analysis, are utilized. According to results—

Handan Çam

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Bartlett Value: 2275.528, P: 0.000 and KMO: 0.849—calculated statistics are concluded to be compliant with the factor analysis.

Following the factor analysis, only those factors relevant to the sense of advantage created by online advertising with a factor load of 0.40 or more are considered, and all variables are sorted until all of them are included in this factor. This also tests the validity of the scale. This factor describes 71.368% of the total variance. For Bartlett testing and of the attitude to online advertising and purchasing motive, Kaiser Mayer Olkin (KMO) measures, which test the compliance of paradigm size with the factor analysis, is considered. According to results—Bartlett Value: 714.031, P: 0.000 and KMO: 0.637—calculated statistics are concluded to be compliant with the factor analysis. This factor describes 68.9% of the total variance.

According to Davis’ technology acceptance model (1989), the senses of advantage and convenience users get from the technology do affect their attitude toward the technology-based products and services.

As mentioned above, variation index of the original AMOS 20.0 software, path coefficients of the variables and other regulations set forth in the literature are modified and the results shown on Table 1-15 are obtained.

Table 1-15. Model fit values

Adaptation Index

Deal Adaptation Index Acceptable Adaptation Index

Factor’s Adaptation Value

χ2 (P>0.05) desirable 291.048 χ2/df χ2/df≤ 2 χ2/df≤ 5 3.095 RMSEA 0.00<RMSEA<0.05 0.05<RMSEA<0.10 0.082 GFI 0.95<GFI<1.00 0.90<GFI<0.95 0.867 CFI 0.95<CFI<1.00 0.90<CFI<0.95 0.931 NFI 0.95<NFI<1.00 0.90≤NFI<0.95 0.924 TLI 0.95<NFI<1.00 0.90≤NFI<0.95 0.901 RFI 0.90<RFI<1.00 0.85< RFI <0.90 0.853

As shown in Table 1-15, according to Anglim (2007), Yoo, Donthu and Lee (2000), Byrne (2001) and Hoyle (1999), all goodness of fit measurements give results within the acceptable range thus confirming it as an ideal model.

The generally accepted rule in the path analysis that contains the relation between the variables within the model is the utilization of non-standard loads (Kline, 1998: 117). Standard loads resemble regressive beta values and show the effectiveness of the relations. While these loads


42

mostly receive a value of 1, the lowest value is 0 (Hair et al., 1998: 614). For the purpose of this evaluation, p values produced by AMOS software for each relation are utilized. Since our hypotheses are unidirectional as either positive or negative, only unidirectional test values are considered (idem: 613). For this reason, any p value that is lower than 0.05 is considered significant. When p and t values given in Table 1-16 are reviewed, the parallel “Sense of Advantage-Attitude” and “Attitude-Action” relation that are represented with H1 and H2 respectively are found significant at p<0.05. Thus, H1 and H2 hypotheses are accepted as they are statistically supported as specified in the model (Figure 1-2).

Table 1-16. Evaluation of hypotheses

Structural Relations

Non-Standard Loads

Standard Loads

Standard Error

Critical Ratio

P Values

Results

Perceived benefit from internet advertising (R²=0.60) H1: Perceived Benefit -Attitude

0.341 0.598 0.041 8.242 0.000 Agreed

Attitude toward internet advertising (R²=0.82) H2: Attitude - Action

0.693 0.819 0.104 6.684 0.000 Agreed

Figure 1-2. Aspects of the regression model and standard regression loads

0.598 0,819 Purchasing behavior

Perceived benefit from

internet advertising

Attitude toward internet

advertising

Handan Çam

43

Conclusion

With the emergence of the internet 30-40 years ago, the advertising sector received various environments. Thanks to these new and different environments, it has become possible to reach a wider consumer group in a shorter time and with lower costs. Today, the internet has become an indispensable part of daily life and positioned itself at the heart of business life as well. As one of the major tools of globalization, the Internet has removed borders. Benefiting from this property of the Internet, millions of products are offered to the consumer over web pages. There are many prominent reasons for online advertising to surpass traditional advertising. The nature of online advertising is interactive and there is utmost control over the advertisement period while being continuously online. Moreover, online advertising increases the efficiency of the ads with shorter times and lower costs. Therefore, today’s advertising strategies are formed upon this virtual structure. Companies should meticulously analyse this virtual structure and form their strategies accordingly considering the consumer pattern of this structure.

In this context, because of this study, innovative banner ads are found to be most effective on and adopted by the consumer. In addition, a majority of internet users state that news pages and social networks are the platforms they visit the most. When the structural model is examined, consumers are found to be motivated if they enjoy reviewing an online ad while being informed and, as a result, they get a feeling of advantage; and this sense of advantage eventually transforms into action. In this context, advertising activities that companies carry out on this platform must give the consumer a feeling of advantage.

References

Anglim, J. (2007). Structural Equation Modelling. Online: http://web.psych.unimelb.edu.au/jkanglim/IntroductiontoSEM.pdf.

Byrne, B. M. (2001), Structural Equation Modelling With AMOS—Basic Concepts, Applications, and Programming. New Jersey, NJ: Mahwah Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Inc. Publishers.

Davis, F. D. (1989). Perceived Usefulness, Perceived Ease of Use, and User Acceptance of Information Technology. MIS Quarterly 13 (3): 319-340.

Griffith, A. D. & Chen, C. (2004). The Influence of Virtual Direct Experience (VDE) on Online Ad Message Effectiveness. Journal of Advertising 33 (1): 55-68.


44

Gulerarslan, A. (2010). Internet Reklamları ve Kullanım Motivasyonları [Internet Ads and User Motivations]. Selçuk Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilinmler Enstitüsü, Doktora Tezi.

Hair, J. F. Jr., Ralph, E. A., Ronald, L. T. & William C. B. (1998). Multivariate Data Analysis. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Kline, R. B. (1998). Principles and Practice of Structural Equation Modelling. New York, NY: The Guilford Press.

Ozadali, B. (2009). İnternette Uygulanan Reklam Stratejilerinin Tüketicilerin Satınalma Tercihlerine Etkisi: Bir Uygulama [Effect on Consumers’ Purchasing Preferences of Applied Internet Advertising Strategies: A Case Study]. Ege Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilinmler Enstitüsü, Yüksek Lisans Tezi.

Rodgers, S. & Thorson, E. (2000). The Interactive Advertising Model: How Users Perceive and Process Online Ads. Journal of Interactive Advertising. Online: http://jiad.org/vol1/no1/rodgers.

Yoo, B., Donthu, N. & Lee, S. (2000). An Examination of Selected Marketing Mix Elements and Brand Equity. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science 28 (2): 195-211.

TALENT MANAGEMENT: ORGANIZATIONS AND PRACTICES

CANAN ÇETİN AND NURSEL ÇETİNKAYA

Introduction: Talent and Related Concepts This paper aims at defining talent and explaining talent management by involving several effective practices of organizations in both business companies and educational institutions.

Talent is defined by English-language dictionaries as “a natural ability to do something well” and “a person or people with a natural ability or skill” (http://www.ldoceonline.com/search/?q=talent English); “(someone who has) a natural ability to be good at something, especially without being taught” (http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/talent_1?q=talent); “a special ability that allows someone to do something well” and “a person or group of people with a special ability to do something well” (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/talent). In the context of organizational processes, as a word, “talent” can be considered a combination of all the following concepts: Triumph, Ability, Leadership, Easiness, New-Fangled, and Time (Altınöz, 2009). Various definitions and concepts in literature show parallelism with talent. Such an example might be competency, which can be defined as observable behaviours including all the knowledge, skills and manners to provide high performance. Performance can be defined as the act of doing work or a duty. In Human Resources Management, performance management is a process in which employees are motivated to perform at high levels and achieve their full potential while organizational culture is empowered or changed.

Methods

The goal of this paper is to provide insight on talent management, and present various up-to-date theories on talent management and human resources management processes. The scope of the paper covers talent

Talent Management: Organizations and Practices

46

management practices in various organizations from business companies to educational institutions. Since it is not a quantitative study, the paper hereby presents a review of literature and effective examples of talent management in organizations.

Theories on Talent Management

Generational Theory Generational theory mentions different generations, each with a different personality, values and organizational life: the Baby Boomers, Generation X and Generation Y or the Millenials (Eversole, Venneberg & Crowder, 2012). By identifying each generation, we can conclude that there is a common expectation of flexibility. In mentioning “Workplace Flexibility” here, ideas such as work-family balance, flexible work hours, part-time working and phased retirement are invoked. In sum, flexibility and an understanding of generations are crucial to the organization for effective talent management (Table 1-17). Table 1-17. Generational Theory: details of generations, their characteristics and options to be offered at workplace Generations Characteristics Options to be offered Baby Boomers Experienced, talented,

loyal to the organization

Flexible work arrangements, part-time jobs, satisfying retirement programs, a workplace that accommodates their physical limitations

Generation X Better educated, skilled in technology, not strong organizational loyalty, family comes first

Understanding the importance of personal matters

Millenials Devoted to technology, demanding individual treatment and flexibility

Customized work designs, respect for nonwork life, opportunities to work in a self-reliant and autonomous way

An Integral Approach to Talent Management Srinivasan (2011) discusses the two dimensions of talent management: retaining manifest talent and harnessing the unmanifest talent. When

Canan Çetin and Nursel Çetinkaya

47

analysing manifest talent, it is possible to encounter different types of manifest talent: the creative thinker, the dynamic executive and the inspirational or motivational type. An organization aiming to gain a competitive advantage must pay attention to all these talent types and provide a workplace that matches these profiles. Still, a more pertinent question to discuss is how to harness the unmanifest talent. In order to make underperforming and demotivated employees progress, Srinivasan suggests that establishing a culture of targets, improvement and mentoring will generate effective outcomes. According to Srinivasan (2011), six factors to attract, retain and foster talent can be summarized as follows:

- Providing sufficient opportunities for professional and personal

development; - Adding moral or social content to the organizational mission; - Supporting work-life balance; - Encouraging a woman-friendly workplace; - Understanding individual uniqueness and matching employees with a

tailored reward system; - Improving compensation of employees by satisfying their financial

needs. Social Organizational Support in Talent Management According to a study carried out by Scott-Ladd et al. (2010), social organizational support is crucial for employees as a supportive organizational culture will provide help for employees, create a more supportive ambiance in the workplace, and, as a result, aid the organization in attracting and retaining talented employees. Human Resources Practices and Talent Hiltrop (1999) points to the practical aspect of the issue, and presents ways to link talent management and Human Resources practices: - Signing a psychological contract with employees; - Adopting talent as a top management policy; - Encouraging policies and practices to enhance an organization’s

attractiveness in the market; - Making line managers accountable; - Winning employee value proposition;


48

- Offering opportunities for learning, development, career planning and mentoring;

- Providing information and support for an individual’s efforts; - Preparing realistic job previews; - Making work experiences challenging and career-enhancing; - Redefining the role and position of human resources managers; - Encouraging talent pool from within.

Talent in Emerging Markets Ready, Hill and Conger (2008) mention a framework consisting of four interactive elements or factors, namely: Brand, Culture, Opportunity, and Purpose. The four elements are crucial to the organization for effective talent management. Through the talent compact, the organization makes promises to employees. After attracting talent through promises, the organization must keep them. Keeping promises is essential if the organization wants to retain and foster talented workers (Figure 1-3). Global Talent Management Schuler, Jackson and Tarique (2010) take talent management into a global base and address global challenges in the process. According to the authors, global talent challenges are as follows: - Too little talent; - Too much talent; - The talent is available in the wrong place; - The talent is available at the wrong price.

The initiatives suggested by the authors to address global challenges are location planning, human resources planning, staffing, training and development, performance assessment, and compensation. Diversity and Talent As a consequence of globalism, the workforce is becoming increasingly diverse, as well. The following ideas are suggested by Lieber (2012) to maintain a diverse and talented workforce: - Executive/leadership programs; - Mentoring for promotional opportunities;


49

- Setting up employee resource groups; - Being flexible; - Expanding training opportunities; - Acknowledging employees; - Providing and asking for feedback.

Purpose Guiding

mission and values Global

citizenship Commitment to

the region

↑ Brand

Known for excellence Leading global

company Inspirational leadership

←

Prom

ises

mad

e

← THE TALENT COMPACT

→

Promises kept

→

Culture Authenticity Meritocracy Connection

Talent-centricity

↓

Opportunity Challenging

work Accelerated career track Continual training/

development Competitive

pay

Figure 1-3. A Framework for attracting and retaining talent (Ready, Hill & Cogner, 2008)

Results

Practices in Organizations

Abdi İbrahim: “Masters’ Club of Mentoring” arises as an effective tool which aims to encourage a performance-based culture. The mentor system has been implemented to promote and accelerate development of the staff in the organization. Moreover, Abdi İbrahim is sponsor to the Young Guru Academy, a non-governmental organization to develop innovative,


50

creative and visional leaders of the future. By providing such aids and services, Abdi İbrahim is obviously an organization which excels in talent management.

Henkel: To empower global teams, Henkel concentrates on three different concepts in development programs: leadership, talent and performance, and diversity. Similarly, the organization provides its employees with training and developmental programs or academies that resemble those of Harvard Business School. While competitive pay is offered to the staff, 30% of the executive members are women.

Procter & Gamble: To retain talented employees, the organization has implemented an online process called “Talent Development System,” which includes data and information on 3000 executive members. In addition, “Performance Assessment in 360 Degrees” and leadership development programs are also run by the organization.

Turkcell: An example of developmental events or processes of the organization is its “Leadership Development Program,” which has been rewarded by ASTD (American Society for Training and Development). Practices in Educational Institutions Koç School: In addition to education of high quality for students, Koç School provides staff with organizational support. The Information Technologies Department, in Administrative Units of the school, has specified objectives and principles to serve personnel in the best way. The Human Resources Department at Koç School develops and implements processes such as personnel selection, placement and orientation, communication and relations, and training and development programs to support staff in accordance with the vision and mission of the school. Another idea developed by Koç School is Koç Life, a school magazine for the staff. Created for and by the Human Resources Department, this online magazine is published twice a year to support communication and exchange of information in the organization, and to share human resources news. As a result, the Human Resources Department and Koç Life are to attract talented staff and retain and develop them through various services and activities. To attract and retain talent, the Koç School has also established some personnel clubs. Here are some examples of personnel clubs:

- English Book Club; - Turkish Lessons for Foreign Teachers; - Turkish Reading Club;


51

- Lojmanlar Knitting Club. Doğa Schools: Established by the human resources department of Doğa Schools, Doğa Academy is a dynamic formation supporting school staff with training and development programs. Moreover, Doğa Academy aims to reveal hidden potentials to add value to the organization. “Common Sense Meetings,” organized by Doğa Academy as a contemporary method of in-service training, rely on brainstorming and generating ideas. Doğa Academy is also responsible for developing leaders for the school. The Academy identifies high-performing staff who have leadership potential and develops those individuals and evaluates their talent in leadership or other fields that require talent. Doğa Academy differs from similar departments in that it provides different training and development programs for leaders and teachers. Training and development programs for teachers to be listed are:

- Design Thinking; - The Future of Education; - Psychological Insight for Teachers; - Communication and Meta-Programs through the Lens of Coaching; - Bringing Objections to a Successful Conclusion.

Various training and development programs are also available at the executive level:

- Enneagram; - School Leadership; - Motivation; - Team Work. Darüşşafaka: Adapting the organization to the needs of the time, Darüşşafaka Schools presents its history from the Teacher’s Class to a superior educational institution. In different times, Darüşşafaka has implemented talent management in an effective way within the frame of the corporate identity. The fact that a lot of intellectuals such as Namık Kemal, Ressam Agah Efendi, Salih Zeki and Yahya Kemal Beyatlı participated in voluntary teaching at the institution reveals the organization has always succeeded in attracting talented staff. By promoting continual development of the staff and anticipating a competent and talented teacher model, the institution aims to attract, retain, and develop talent in the organization. For the last two years, the organization has been finding out


52

competencies of teachers and assessing their performance, which, in turn, points to the implementation of a talent management system in the institution.

Çevre College: To accomplish organizational goals and strategies, Çevre College adopts total quality as a corporate lifestyle. As a result, the school believes in human power and makes an effort to develop and motivate staff. In addition to the human resources department, an r&d department is also present in the institution. The aim is not only to improve the efficiency of education, but also to satisfy, retain and develop talented teachers by motivating and supporting them through various activities and events.

Istek Schools: Inservice training and development programs for personal and professional advancement are designed and planned by its Assessment, Evaluation and Program Development department for academic staff, and by human resources management for administrative staff.

Suggestions

The major principles of talent management, that is, the attraction and retention of talent, might be considered valid for other organizational elements and human resources processes, as well. Therefore, it is possible to approach human resources management in a different way: namely, with a marketing approach to human resources management. When human resources management is viewed and implemented through an internal marketing approach, employees of the organization are considered the first or internal customers, and human resources management strives to attract, retain and motivate them in order to provide a competitive advantage for the organization.

Moreover, theories and ideas on talent management need to be implemented with proper care. Hurting any employee while assessing or revealing talent may lead to loss of talent and motivation. Likewise, exposing all the staff to a single individual’s training and development programs or processes might produce undesired effects in the workplace.

Conclusion

Current theories, and examples of effective talent management clearly show that talent management has already become a crucial element of organizations and is to survive and be sustained in the future.


53

Not only is attraction of talented employees hard to manage, but development and retention of talent within an organization are equally important and difficult tasks. Therefore, since the theories mentioned here provide both theoretical frameworks and practical suggestions of talent and talent management systems, and examples of organizations which support the literature with effective instances and outcomes, organizations, executives, human resources experts and other professionals must pay careful attention to effective talent management processes.

References

Altınöz, M. (2009). Yetenek Yönetimi [Talent Management]. Ankara: Nobel Yayın Dağıtım.

Eversole, B. A. W., Venneberg, D. L. & Crowder, C.L. (2012). Creating a flexible organizational culture to attract and retain talented workers across generations. Advances in Developing Human Resources 14 (4): 607-625.

Hiltrop, J. M. (1999). The quest for the best: human resource practices to attract and retain talent. European Management Journal 17 (4): 422-430.

Lieber, L. D. (2012). Considerations for attracting and retaining a qualified, diverse workforce. Wiley Periodicals 38 (4): 85-92.

Ready, D. A., Hill, L. A. & Conger, J. A. (2008). Winning the race for talent in emerging markets. Harvard Business Review 86 (11): 62-70. Online: http://ehis.ebscohost.com.lproxy.yeditepe.edu.tr/eds/pdfviewer /pdfviewer?vid=8&sid=c82c0a8c-e6fe-45c8-8858-65291b0d63d9%40sessionmgr15&hid=104.

Schuler, R. S., Jackson, S. E. & Tarique, I. (2010). Global talent management and global talent challenges: strategic opportunities for IHRM. Journal of World Business 46 (4): 506-516.

Scott-Ladd, B., Travaglione, A., Perryer, C. & Pick, D. (2010). Attracting and retaining talent: social organizational support as an emergent concept. Research and Practice in Human Resource Management, 18 (2): 1-14. Online:

http://ehis.ebscohost.com.lproxy.yeditepe.edu.tr/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=c82c0a8c-e6fe-45c8-8858-65291b0d63d9%40sessionmgr15&vid=11&hid=2.

Srinivasan, M. S. (2011). An integral approach to talent management. Vilakshan: XIMB Journal of Management 8 (2): 81-90. Online:


54

http://ehis.ebscohost.com.lproxy.yeditepe.edu.tr/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=c82c0a8c-e6fe-45c8-8858-65291b0d63d9%40sessionmgr15&vid=13&hid=2.

Talent. Online: http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/talent_1?q=talent. —. Online: http://www.ldoceonline.com/search/?q=talent. —. Online: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/talent.

USING SOCIAL NETWORKS TO PROMOTE GLOBAL BRANDS

AMONG ROMANIAN YOUNG PEOPLE

LIA-CODRINA CONŢIU AND MANUELA-ROZALIA GABOR

Introduction

Social media has become an essential part of everyday life for people round the world, and it is also increasingly used by companies as part of marketing, customer service, research, and development strategies. Safko and Brake (2009: 6) describe social media as “activities, practices and behaviours among communities of people who gather online to share information, knowledge, and opinions using conversational media.” Social media are “a group of internet based applications that build on the ideological and technological foundations of Web 2.0, and it allows the creation and exchange of user-generated content” (Kaplan & Haenlein, 2010: 61; Laroche et al., 2012). As an effective use of time and resources, social media marketing allows companies better communication grounds with consumers to build brand loyalty beyond traditional methods (Jackson, 2011; Akhtar, 2011; Erdoğmuş & Çiçek, 2012). In an investigation carried out by Info-graphics, it is pointed out that at least half of Twitter and Facebook users say they have become more likely to talk about, endorse or acquire a company’s products after they began engagement with the company on social media (Jackson, 2011; Erdoğmuş & Çiçek, 2012). Businesses can promote products and services, provide immediate support, and/or create an online community of brand enthusiasts through all forms of social media such as social networking sites, content communities, virtual worlds, blogs, microblogging sites, online gaming sites, social bookmarking, news sites, forums and more (Kaplan & Haenlein, 2010; Erdoğmuş & Çiçek, 2012). Customers see social media sites as a service channel, where they can engage on a real-time basis with businesses (Leggat, 2010). The unique aspects of social

Using Social Networks to Promote Global Brands

56

media and its immense popularity have revolutionized marketing practices such as advertising and promotion (Hanna, Rohm, & Crittenden, 2011; Laroche et al., 2012). Social media has also influenced consumer behaviour from information acquisition to post-purchase behaviour such as dissatisfaction statements or behaviours (Mangold & Faulds, 2009; Laroche et al., 2012) and patterns of Internet usage (Ross et al., 2009). These differences and their importance are such that researchers are urged to treat social media as a distinct research area (Hu & Kettinger, 2008; Laroche et al., 2012). The impact of IT & communication development on the communication policy of organizations, regardless of their core activities—tourism, medical care, counselling, decorations, automotive, financial transactions, etc.—has imposed, at a fast pace, a new model of consumption and consumer information. This trend is also supported by organizations that regularly publish studies on top social networks, such as “The Social Brand Agencies” which annually publishes the “Social Brand 100” report. Most often, social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, Brand Blog, Owned Brand Forum, Brand Website, etc. are used to promote brands from various sectors (FMCG, Travel & Leisure, Telecom, Charity, Automotive, Entertainment, Fashion & Beauty, Retail, Media, and so on). The other side of this trend is, in terms of socialization and social aspects, the occurrence of changes in human behaviour, especially among young people, translated into a “reversal” of value systems (depending on variables such as subculture, nationality, culture, etc.). Based on these issues, having both a global and individual impact, we conducted survey-based research on the impact of social networks usage as support in global brand promotion among Romanian young people, between 15 and 25 years of age, a population vulnerable to this trend, with the aim of setting up a consumer profile of such social services:

- H1—Facebook is the most popular social networking site among

Romanian young people when it comes to global brands promotion. - H2—Romanian youths with academic education are sensitive to brand

promotion through social networking sites. - H3—The most powerful promotional source is the internet.

Data Collection and Methodology

The data collection for this study relied on convenience sampling during March and April 2013. We used a self-administered questionnaire whose completion requires 5-10 minutes, and it was pre-tested. In data processing, we used SPSS 17, and the statistical methodology was based

Lia-Codrina Conţiu and Manuela-Rozalia Gabor

57

on weighted arithmetic means, absolute frequencies and relative frequencies in order to calculate the average scores for the variables measured by Stapel and Likert scales. The bivariate χ2 test was used in hypothesis testing. Scales used in the research:

- Likert scale using five statements was used to measure the purchasing

power of respondents’ households; - Stapel scale was used in measuring the sources of information used in

purchasing products and services; - Stapel scale was used to measure the most notable criteria in products

and services purchasing; - Multiple choices scale was used for that variable which assesses social

networking sites used by subjects and for the promotional influences; - Dichotomous scale was used for the following variables: gender,

product purchasing during the “Black Friday” promotional period; - Single responses scale was used for the following variables: age,

education level, professional status, number of people in the household, nationality, frequency of social networking sites attendance, and time spent on these social networking sites.

The structure of the sample used in this study (195 subjects) is as shown in Table 1-18.

Findings

With respect to social networking sites used by subjects, the results are shown in Table 1-19. It is, therefore, apparent that the largest share is held by subjects using Facebook, this confirming the hypothesis that this site is the most popular with young people. The frequency visits to social networking sites indicates that most of the respondents, 39% of the sample, visit these sites extremely rarely, 24% of respondents visit the sites weekly, 16% and 15% respectively of the subjects visit the sites during promotional periods or monthly, and 6% of the 195 subjects visit none of these sites. The average time used in visiting these social networking sites is 2.5 hours per day; 57% of the subjects spent between 2 and 3 hours on these sites, 22% less than 1 hour and 21% between 4 and 5 hours. The most important criteria taken into account by the sample subjects in purchasing products and services, evaluated by the Stapel scale (1-10) and ranked based on the average score, are price-quality ratio (8.81), utility (8.64), price (7.97), promotions or offers (7.67), brand (6.95), fashion trend (6.61), after-sales service (6.29), and the store name


58

(4.80). Among the most important information sources used in purchasing products and services we can include, in order of importance, are recommendations of friends (7.49), which is by far the most notable aspect, then professional media (5.60), promotional leaflets (5.44), and sellers recommendations (5.21). Table 1-18. Sample structure

Characteristics Frequencies

Absolute Relative (%)Gender male

female 84 111

42.4 56.1

Age 15-18 years of age 19-20 years of age 21-25 years of age

9 13 173

4.5 6.6 87.4

Nationality Romanian Hungarian Others

141 49 5

71.2 24.7 2.5

Level of education

Secondary school Vocational school High-school college/university Post-graduate studies

8 2 170 14 1

4.0 1.0 85.9 7.1 0.5

Professional status

pupil student employed

10 175 10

5.1 88.4 5.1

Number of people in the household

1 person 2 people 3 people 4 people 5 people or more

3 10 71 90 20

1.5 5.1 35.9 45.5 10.1

Table 1-19. Social networking sites used by subjects

Social networking sites Absolute frequencies Relative frequencies (%) Facebook 190 95.9 YouTube 95 48.0 Twitter 17 8.6 FourSquare 2 1.0 GooglePlus 62 31.3 Flickr 7 3.5 Hi5 47 23.7 Other sites 3 1.5

To assess the household purchasing power we used statements measured by the Likert scale (5—strongly agree to 1—strongly disagree), whose


59

distribution and mean scores are shown in Table 1-20. It is, therefore, apparent that the statement with the highest value is the one that shows that even if the subjects manage to acquire expensive goods, this involves restricting other expenses of the household (3.66). However, the purchasing power indicates that the household income covers basic expenses (1.66). For the other statements, we recorded average scores indicating neutrality towards these aspects. A promotional event that has a relatively recent history in Romania (for just two years) is “Black Friday,” having an impact on only 24% of the youths included in this research.

Table 1-20. Average means for purchasing power assessment

Average score We can afford everything we need without restrictions in other areas.

3.00

We manage to buy expensive goods, but with restrictions in other areas.

3.66

We have enough money for a decent living, but we cannot afford to buy expensive goods.

3.24

We have money only for basic needs. 2.42 Our income does not suffice even for basic needs. 1.66

Regarding promotional influences, the greatest impacts on the young people researched are given, in order of importance, by (Figure 1-4):

132109

9998

8360

5136

3326

2321

1713

friends / acquaintances advice the same brand that I have used before

ads on the internet TV commercials

promotional leaflets in stores warranty

social networking sites brands promotional leaflets

billboards brands sites

advertisements in newspapers radio commercials

blogs about brands posters on public transport.

Figure 1-4. Promotional influences To analyse whether there are statistically significant differences based on gender regarding the frequency of attendance of social networking sites


60

and time spent, we applied the bivariate χ2 test: the distribution of these variables are plotted in Figures 1-5 and 1-6.

Figure 1-5. Social networking sites attendance

Figure 1-6. Time spent on social networking sites The results of the bivariate χ2 test are presented in Table 1-21.


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Table 1-21. Results of the bivariate χ2 test

Hypotheses Computed χ2

Df Asymp. sig. (2-sided)

Tabulated χ2

Conclusions

There are no statistically significant differences between genders regarding the frequency of social networking sites attendance.

5.548a 2 .062 5.99 H0 is accepted

There are no statistically significant differences between genders regarding the time spent on social networking sites.

5.605a 4 .231 5.99 H0 is accepted

Based on the comparison of the two values of the χ2 statistic (computed and tabulated) for both hypotheses formulated, the null hypothesis is accepted and, therefore, regardless of the gender of subjects, there are no differences between them regarding the frequency of attendance and time spent on social networking sites.

Conclusion

Based on the results, only one of the hypotheses of the study is accepted. Facebook is the most popular social networking site among Romanian young people when it comes to global brands promotion, but the most powerful promotional source is friends/acquaintances advice and Romanian youths are not sensitive to brand promotion through social networking sites.

Global brands should adapt their promotional policy for this segment of the market—young people with academic education who prefer traditional means of brand promotion. Romanian young people have greater trust in their friends or acquaintances advice and less in social networking sites when it comes to purchasing global brands.

If we are to outline a consumer profile of social services, based on the results, our consumers fall within the following characteristics:

The average age of subjects in the sample is 22, there are on average 4 people in their household, they are generally students, mostly of Romanian nationality and mostly having completed high school.


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References

Akhtar, S. (2011) Social Media and Brand Loyalty. Online: http://www.socialtrakr.com/2011/07/12/social-media-andbrand-

loyalty/. Erdoğmuş, I. E. & Çiçek, M. (2012). The impact of social media

marketing on brand loyalty. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 58: 1353-1360.

Hanna, R., Rohm, A. & Crittenden, V. L. (2011). We’re all connected: The power of the social media ecosystem. Business Horizons 54: 265-273.

Hu, T. & Kettinger, W. J. (2008). Why people continue to use social networking services: Developing a comprehensive model. In Proceedings of the 29th international conference on information systems, Paris, France.

Jackson, N. (2011) Info-graphic: Using Social Media to Build Brand Loyalty. Online: http://www.theatlantic.comt/echnology/archive/2011/07/infographicusing-social-media-to-build-brand-loyalty/241701/.

Kaplan, A. M. & Haenlein, M. (2010). Users of the world, unite! The challenges and opportunities of social media. Business Horizons 53: 59-68.

Laroche, M., Habibi, M. R., Richard, M.-O. & Sankaranarayanan, R. (2012). The effects of social media based brand communities on brand community markers, value creation practices, brand trust and brand loyalty. Computers in Human Behavior 28: 1755-1767.

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Mangold, W. G. & Faulds, D. J. (2009). Social media: The new hybrid element of the promotion mix. Business Horizons 52: 357-365.

Ross, C., Orr, E. S., Sisic, M., Arseneault, J. M., Simmering, M. G., & Orr, R. R. (2009). Personality and motivations associated with Facebook use. Computers in Human Behavior 25: 578-586.

Safko, L. & Brake, D. K. (2009). The Social Media Bible: Tactics, Tools and Strategies for Business Success. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.

APPLICABILITY OF THE KAZUYIKO KUROSAWA MODEL TO A PRODUCTION

BUSINESS AS AN EFFECTIVE PRODUCTIVITY ASSESSMENT AND EVALUATION METHOD

ORHAN ELMACI, ŞERAFETTIN SEVIM, AHMET ÖZKAN AND KADIR TUTKAVUL

Introduction

The most important objective of countries today is to assure economic and social stability. Economic development can only be provided by using presently scarce resources in a responsible and productive way, leaving rationality in investment choices, and not compromising economic stability or principles of social justice. Organizations’ effective use of their resources has great importance for both their contributions to national economies and the improvement of quality of services and competition.

Our study has four sections. In the first section, approaches to productivity and productivity management are considered. In the second section, the classifications of productivity measurement models are analysed. In the third section, the “AIPR System of Kazukiyo Kurosawa Model” is analysed and general information about the model is given. In the fourth section, the AIPR system of Kurosawa Model and productivity results of a textile firm are shown.

The Concept of Productivity

In the simplest sense, productivity is used to explain input/output relations. Generally, productivity is measured by proportioning outputs to inputs. Sahney and Warden (1986) suggest that definition of productivity as “output/input” proportion or relation is narrow and they define productivity as quality, timing, and cost effectiveness in fulfilling the organizational objectives (Sahney & Warden, 1986). In this definition,

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productivity does not depend only on outputs of the system in the physical sense. In other words, even if the amounts of outputs do not change, enhancement of output quality will represent an improvement in productivity. Generally, in technical literature, productivity is defined as “the relation between the resources that are used and the amount of acquired output” (Baş & Artar, 1990).

In a manufacturing business, productivity is the proportional evaluation between outputs and inputs of the business. It can be seen as a matter of providing maximum production with specific production resources or providing specific production with minimum resource usage. In other words, it is proportioning inputs to outputs. Another definition for productivity is “the amount of product and service output per worker-hour, staff-hour in a specific work force and production conditions”; in another definition, it is “the proportion of product and service output value to staff-hour output cost size that is used for this business.” Productivity Measurement in Business A variety of methods is used for productivity measurement in businesses. The most common ones are: - Static Productivity Rates; - Dynamic Productivity Rates; - Physical Productivity Rates; - Monetary Productivity Rates (Akal, 2002). Productivity Measurement Models Productivity measurement being perceived as one of the most important tools by which businesses can be productive has caused scientists to address this subject. For this reason, many productivity measurement models have been created. Sciences and scientists have approached productivity measurement from different points of view. While engineering science addresses physical inputs and outputs, economists highlight its monetary aspect. It is possible to say that business sciences approach productivity measurement in the system approach framework. In models, different types of approaches can be seen according to the types of business, purpose and area of the productivity measurement.

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Kazukiyo Kurosawa Model as a Productivity Measurement Model According to Kurosawa, who evaluates productivity particularly with business structure, productivity measurement can be used in creating future plans after analysing the past and establishing information systems (Prokopenko, 1998). Kurosawa’s works on productivity and productivity measurement are internationally recognized. The models presented by Kurosawa are stated below:

- International Productivity and Sectoral Productivity Model; - Workplace Productivity Model (WP MR System); - Value Added Productivity Model; - International Productivity Comparison Model; - Workforce Productivity Model; - Total Productivity Model (AIPR). Total Productivity Model that has been improved by Kurosawa (AIPR Model) Total productivity is calculated by dividing the output that has been derived from a specific production activity by all the production activities that have been used in deriving this output. Its difference from value added productivity is that it takes all expenses and production factors into account. In business, each partial productivity recovery causes an increase in total productivity because total productivity is the contrast of term of fixed price cost (Elmacı, 1990). The AIPR System, which is used in total productivity and profitableness measurement, evaluates the business in all its parts. The AIPR System, which has been developed by Japanese scientist Kazukiyo Kurosawa and is a total productivity model, predicates not only on total cost productivity but also on total profitability. It is, therefore, more comprehensive than most total productivity models. Generally, total productivity models predicate on total cost or on total value added (profitability). When it is evaluated in this sense, the AIPR system can be seen as a component of the two types. In the AIPR system, inputs and outputs are evaluated with current prices and the effect of increases in price is eliminated by the calculation of their base year prices. In this way, the real productivity gainof the business can be calculated. In the AIPR system, profitability being used alongside the total costs makes the model advantageous.

In present economic conditions, the price of the product is determined not by businesses but by market conditions. In this situation, businesses


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should be able to present a product that can create demand in market conditions from a price that can be demanded. In that case, we can divide the factors that affect the economic performance and productivity of a business into two as productive force and market structure. While productive force is the internal factor that a business can control, market effect is composed of the external factors that a business cannot control. A business may not respond to market conditions and external factors. However, it can provide market advantage in comparison with other businesses by decreasing its costs. The business that holds the cost advantage may provide continuity in product demand by creating price flexibility in accordance with the condition of the demand. Besides, in the case that it penetrates further into the market, it can decrease the unit costs in parallel with the production gain and capacity usage ratio.

Application of the Kurosawa Model to a Textile Company

Problem in the Research - Can the total productivity model AIPR System be applied to textile

companies? - If the productivity of a textile company can be measured by the AIPR

System, what sort of advantages will it provide? - In the case of the total productivity model AIPR System being applied

to a textile company, what sort of preferences can it provide in comparison with the other measurement models that are used for textile companies?

Purpose of the Research The main purpose of this research is the application of Kurosawa’s Total Productivity Model AIPR System to textile companies. The function executed is the determination of the productive and unproductive aspects of the textile companies with the help of productivity indicators that are found by calculating all inputs and outputs of a textile business in accordance with Kurosawa’s model and it constitutes a basis for productivity enhancement practices. Importance of the Research The importance of the research is to determine whether textile companies are using resources productively or not within the frame of the AIPR

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system, in order to evaluate how productively work force, time and resources are used in textile companies. Hypothesis in the Research Regardless of the fact that there are many productivity measurement models in literature, there is only one model that can be operated in compliance with all business structures and objectives. If the total productivity model AIPR system is applied to textile companies, it will provide the opportunity to measure more accurately —than models such as capacity usage ratio and staff efficiency that are currently used for textile companies— by adding all inputs and outputs to calculations and determining productivity profitability of the textile companies. Research Restrictions The chosen model in the research has been taken based on three-year total input-output and the periods chosen in the evaluation are years. The costs of the textile company have been collected under three main headings (labour, material and capital) in accordance with the model. Besides, as well as there being an opportunity to evaluate a specific period depending on the base year by choosing a model, in analysis 2007 has been chosen as base year and the years 2008 to 2009 have been subjected to evaluation.

Research Method

Within the scope of research, a resource review of productivity and productivity measurement models in textile companies has been done and interviews have been carried out with knowledgeable people about the subject. That the model that will be used in productivity measurement should be suited to business structure and objectives, the AIPR System has been chosen by reason of its adding all inputs and outputs of the textile company into accounts and providing information about its profitability gain. The inputs and outputs of the textile company have been subjected to two year evaluation (years 2008 and 2009) depending on a chosen period (year 2007) and have been calculated within the frame of the AIPR system. In these ways productivities, rentabilities, and profitability of textile companies have been evaluated with real and current prices and the reasons for unproductiveness of companies have been presented. Data that have been used in the model was acquired from input-output logs/records.


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Conclusion

The productivities of the textile companies are evaluated in a real and nominal way by the total productivity model AIPR system. In the system, by examining the relation between income and expenditure, productivities, rentabilities and profitability of the companies are evaluated according to the base year; alternative cost of the investment and expected output in the current year can be tested. The model is applied to periods that are determined according to the base year and it gives a chance for implementation based on production. As such in our research, in implementations on total costs and total outputs, reasons for unproductiveness and the changes based on input-product can be monitored.

The AIPR system was applied to a textile company and these results have been achieved.

When the activities of the textile company is evaluated within the frame of the AIPR system, the real income increased by the rates of 12% in 2008 and 22% in 2009 according to the base year (2007). The income of the company is seen to have an upward trend. This increase arises from the effect of scale.

The direct labour expenditure of the company increased by the rates of 20.73% in 2008 and 95.77% in 2009 according to base year prices. The reason for this increase is the increase in the staff number.

When the material expenditure of the company is examined, material expenditures increased by 152.21% in 2008 and by 0.26% in 2009. The increase in material expenditures is more than both expenditures and incomes of labour and it affects the productivity of the company negatively.

Capital costs increased by 38% in 2008 and 80% in 2009. Some of the reasons for this are the increase in amortisation costs, privatization of catering services, increase in staff number, and increase in fuel expenditures.

Physical input costs increased by the rates of 37% in 2008 and 54% in 2009. This increase is far more than the increase in labour expenditures and it is seen that the company provided for its expenditure increase with the physical output. The productivity of the textile company decreased by 3.37% in 2008 whereas it increased by 40.47% in 2009.

The real increase in cost price index was 58% in 2008 and 126% in 2009. In 2008, the cost increase rapidity was more than income increase rapidity and it can be said that the company provided its income with the increase in expenditures (particularly physical inputs).

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In the relative price index, real increase of sales and costs are evaluated. The relative price index’s being more than 100 will militate in favour of the business. In this way, the real increase rapidity will be higher than cost increase rapidity. In the case that it is less than 100 then the value will be negative. The price index of the company in the first year was 78.9% and in the second year it was 99.3%. In this case the cost increase rapidity in the first year was higher.

Total cost of the company in the first year increased by 15% and in the second year it increased by 18%. Relative value is the proportion of sales rapidity to cost increase and it represents the real cost productivity. The pure profit in the first year was 201,247.37 TLand in the second year it was 1,005,283.59 TL. Total effect of the productivity increase arises from technical engineering, improvement and the effect of scale. The technical engineering progress of the company is positive.

The expected output in the current period assuming the same stability of productivity as in the base year, the number of outputs that should be achieved is stated by bearable costs in the related period. In the case of business’ gaining more output than this value then real productivity increased will be able to be addressed. The expected output of the company in the current year is 2,236,535.17 TL, and 3,205,694.00 TLrespectively. However, both values are more than the real output and the company did not create an output to provide a productivity increase. It can be said that company provided its output increase by input increase.

Input share of the company in real labour costs, sales and total cost shares gradually increased. Although the material costs among the physical inputs increased in the first year, it was controlled in the second year. However, capital costs were seen every year and they affected the productivity negatively. In particular, catering, amortisation and fuel expenditures are the important factors in capital cost increases.

With fixed prices the company made 668,904.26 TL of profit in the base year, 703,988.81 TL in the first year and 1,674,187.85 TL in the second year. The proportion of the profit to sales with absolute values was the most in the second year (55.20%), and the least in the first year (34.81%).

Absolute value is the current profit that is created by subtracting inputs from outputs and current values; in relative value, it is the proportion of output with current value to inputs. Here, while the value in the base year can be evaluated as productivity, other years are evaluated as rentability. Rentability and profitability decreased in the two years especially in the first year in comparison with the base year.


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References

Akal, Z. (2002). Performance Measurement and Audit in Business. Ankara: MPM Publications.

Baş, İ. M. & Artar, A. (1990). Productivity Audit in Business. Ankara: MPM Publications.

Elmacı, O. (1990). Manufacturing Industry Business Cost Reduction and Application. PhD Thesis. Eskişehir: Anadolu University.

Prokopenko, J. (1998). Productivity Management. Ankara: MPM Publications.

Sahney, V. K. & Warden, G. L. (1986). The Role of Management in Productivity and Performance Management. In Productivity and Performance Management in Health Care Institutions. American Hospital Association: 30.

AN INVESTIGATION OF THE LEVEL OF AWARENESS OF TAXPAYERS’ RIGHTS

UFUK GENCEL AND BURAK SARI

Introduction Taxes have been the most important source of revenue for states, sources they have been unwilling to give up through long periods of history. For this reason, taxes have sometimes been collected illegally and sometimes unfairly at the whim of sovereigns.

Today, the “principle of legality of taxes” is protected by constitution in modern government. In many countries, a “Declaration of Taxpayers’ Rights” has been published with the purpose of ensuring taxpayers take a more active role in the taxation process, to have specific rights and prevent arbitrariness of governments. Despite there being declarations of taxpayers’ rights, taxpayers that occasionally try to obtain their rights clearly or implicitly are unfortunately unaware of their rights regarding taxation. The government and taxpayers obtain many benefits if taxpayers are granted adequate rights. In this survey the concept of taxpayerand of the rights of taxpayers will be examined, taxpayers’ consciousness of their rights will be searched and, in light of the findings, tips on how to create a healthy taxation regime without ignoring taxpayers and taxpayers’ rights will be given.

The Concept of Taxpayers’ Rights

For a better understanding of the concept of the taxpayers’ rights, the concept of taxpayers should be examined primarily. Thereafter the universal taxpayers’ rights in this study shall be discussed. The Concept of Taxpayer The taxpayer is one of the essential components of taxation (Kaneti, 1989: 79). A taxpayer is a person who has many rights and obligations in relation

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to tax law (Gerger, 2011: 24). Turkish Tax Law defines the taxpayer as “a natural person or legal person who has tax liability” (TPL: 8). Taxpayers’ Rights The concept of taxpayers’ rights encompasses the rights of taxpayers regarding tax administration and taxpayers’ rights in law and order. The main aim is to protect taxpayers against tax administration. Protection of taxpayers means protecting taxpayers against excessive taxation or illegal taxation which is done by tax administrations via written or unwritten rules (Van Rijn, 1998: 45).

The protection of taxpayers and the transition towards taxpayers’ rights have occurred little by little. In the first process, a modern tax system is established. In addition, at this stage protection of taxpayers refers to a general constitutional protection. The second process includes the period from the Second World War to the 1970s and in this process, protection of taxpayers is legally regulated regarding the relationship between tax administration and taxpayers. The third process coincides with reforms during the 1980s and 1990’s and these reforms consist of taxpayers’ rights clearly being transported to a wider legal field, the expansion of legal and administrative procedures and publication of the declaration of taxpayers’ rights (Bentley, 1998: 11-13).

To date, no international statement of taxpayers’ collective rights exists, and the release of such a statement is not imminent. Indeed, the OECD’s report (1997) illustrates that its member nations have differing views on the rights they are willing to offer to their taxpayers (Sawyer, 1999: 1346).

Importance of Taxpayers’ Rights

The reasons for increasing importance of taxpayers’ rights can be examined under five main headings: changing the perspective of tax administration regarding taxpayers, tax systems becoming more complex, changes in the international arena, technological developments, increasing importance of taxpayers as voters.

Sources of Taxpayers’ Rights

According to the ideal tax system, tax payable should not be arbitrary; it should be clear, certain and specific. A tax system should be designed with the purpose of preventing arbitrary taxation by governments and have

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inherent characteristics such as firm tax amounts, forms of payment, and timeframe for payments. All of this should be progressive rather than retroactively enforced (Aktan & Gencel, 2003: 6). We can place resources on taxpayer’s rights into three groups: First-degree legal resources consist of constitutions and supra-national resources. Second- degree legal resources consist of laws and the declaration of taxpayer’s rights. Resources arising from administrations are pieces of legislation regulated by executive organs and generally oriented to taxpayers’ rights and generally based on implementation, technique and specialization.

Taxpayers’ Rights in Turkey

Taxpayer’s rights in Turkey are examined in three different cases. The Declaration of Taxpayer Rights was published in 2006 by the Department of Revenue Administration, and in this declaration taxpayers’ rights during the tax examination and later tax examination are referred to in favour of taxpayers. Declaration of Taxpayers’ Rights Turkey issued a declaration (http://www.gib.gov.tr/index.php?id=472) in 2006 by the Department of Revenue Administration to protect the rights of taxpayers. In the Tax Procedure Law, taxpayers’ rights are arranged under fewer than twenty-two titles (Erol, 2011: 3).

Level of Consciousness of Taxpayers’ Rights and Taxpayers’ Perceptions of Administration:

A Field Survey

In this section, a field survey, which has been done on the level of consciousness of taxpayers’ rights and taxpayers’ perceptions of tax administration, is presented. Study Purpose and Importance This survey is very important because it: creates an effective and taxpayer focused taxation; changes thoughts of taxpayers regarding tax administration in a positive way; minimizes some behaviours such as tax evasion and tax avoidance; prevents income losses arising from tax evasion and tax avoidance; raises the levels of tax moral, tax


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consciousness and voluntary tax compliance; and heightens taxpayer awareness of their rights against the tax administration.

Survey Thesis and Sub-thesis The question of the survey is “What is the level of taxpayers’ rights consciousness and which factor or factors are associated with them?”

Sub-Thesis: How are participants’ perceptions on tax administration and the level of consciousness of taxpayers’ rights distributed? (1) Do the level of consciousness of taxpayers’ rights and perceptions on tax administration differ according to gender of participants? (2) Do the level of consciousness of taxpayers’ rights and perceptions on tax administration differ according to educational level of participants? (3) Do the level of consciousness of taxpayers’ rights and perceptions on tax administration differ according to liability of participants? (4) Do the level of consciousness of taxpayers’ rights and perceptions on tax administration differ according to the declared tax base of participants? (5) What is the level of participants’ knowledge of the Taxpayers’ Right Declaration published by the Turkish Department of Revenue Administration in 2006? Study Limits, Model, Universe and Sample

The survey is limited to income tax on income which is gained through commercial income and self-employed income and depends on the Malatya Fırat and Beydağı Tax Administrations since 02/01/2013.

A descriptive survey model has been used in this study. General Screening Models are surveys, which are performed on samples taken from the universe to take the general measure of the universe. In this sense, the survey is a “Relational Screening Model” which is located in General Screening Models. A Relational Screening Model aims to determine the existence of co-changing between two or more variables and establish the degree of change (Karasar, 2012: 79-82). The universe of the study is taxpayers who live in Malatya.

The sample of study is determined via proportional sampling. The taxpayers corporate in the sample with the aim of increasing the power of representation of the sample in terms of gender, liability, declared tax base, activities of economic units and educational level. The sampling rate of the study is 5%.


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Data Collection Tool

In this study, the taxpayers’ survey, which is developed by Güneş (2011), is used as the data collection tool. Two Likert-type scales—24 items (r=.83) to measure the level of consciousness, 10 items (r=.89) to determine the perception of tax administration—are used and fundamental rights which are located in the Declaration of Taxpayers’ Rights are presented in 10 items. Thus, the situation of participants to be aware of these rights is determined. Since the coefficient is in the range of 0, 80-1, 00, the scale is highly reliable (Ozdamar, 1999: 522). Data Analysis The data have been analysed with SSPS 17.00 packaged software. Frequency, percentage, standard deviation, t test and one-way analysis of variance are used to analyse data. A Scheffe test is performed to determine source of significant differences between averages by performing control of homogeneity (Buyukozturk, 2006: 39-45).

Findings and Interpretation

In this section, firstly, the general features of participants will be given. After that the findings regarding the level of consciousness of taxpayers’ rights, perceptions on tax administration and awareness of the Declaration of Taxpayers’ Rights will be given and interpreted. General Features of Participants Participants are classified in terms of gender, educational level, and activity years of their economic units, tax base and liability.

Participants are composed of 23 (17.8%) female and 106 (82.2%) male taxpayers.

Fifty-nine participant taxpayers (45.7%) have graduated from high school, 40 (31%) have graduated from university with bachelors degree or over and 30 (23.3%) have only graduated from primary school.

Fifteen participants (11.6%) of them are in retail, 85 (65.9%) of them are tradesmen and 29 (22.5%) of them are self-employed. 77.5% of them gain a form of commercial income.

There are 23 (17.8%) taxpayers whose economic units have been working in the range of 0-5 years. There are 34 (26.4%) taxpayers whose economic units have been working in the range of 6-10 years and 22


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(17.1%) taxpayers whose economic units have been working in the range of 11-15 years. Next, there are 21 (16.3%) taxpayers whose economic units have been working in the range of 16-20 years. Finally, there are 29 (22.5%) taxpayers whose economic units have been working for 21 years or more.

Seventy-eight (60.5%) taxpayers declared a salary in the range of 0-10000 TL, 32 (24.8%) taxpayers declared an amount in the range of 10001-25000 TL, and 12 (9.3%) taxpayers declared an amount in the range of 25001-58000 TL as a tax base in 2012. Finally, 7 (5.4%) taxpayers declared an amount of more than 58001 TL as their tax base in 2012.

Sixty-seven (51.9%) taxpayers are subject to taxation under the heading of commercial income and 30 (23.3%) taxpayers are subject to taxation under the heading of self-employed income. Finally, 32 (24.8%) taxpayers are subject to taxation under the heading of simple entry. (Simple entry takes place under the provision of commercial income in Turkish Income Tax Law.)

Level of Awareness of Taxpayer’ Rights and Perceptions of Tax Administration In this section, the level of consciousness of taxpayers’ rights and perceptions of tax administration will be defined.

Firstly, arithmetic averages and standard deviation have been calculated. The average rate of level of consciousness is 76.14 and this medium score and perceptions of tax administration is 25.95 and this is a below the grade level score.

Arithmetic averages of the other variance are different from each other (Table 1-22). In addition, we performed one-way analysis of variance to determine whether these differences are significant or not. Some differences are found to be significant statistically (p<.05) and some differences are not (p>.05) (Table 1-24). Moreover, a Scheffe test has been performed to determine source of significant relationship. The significant relationship is between primary education and university level in favour of university level and among first group (0-10000 TL), third group (25001-58000 TL) and last group (58001+ TL) in favour of last group (Table 1-23).


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Table 1-22. Analysis results of arithmetic average and standard deviation

N X S t p The level of consciousness of taxpayers’ rights

129 76.14 13.15

Gender Female 23 73.43 9.94 3.57 .18 Male 106 76.73 13.71

Educational Level Primary Education 30 74.03 12.57 High School 59 75.11 14.27 University 40 79.50 11.77

Tax Base 0-10000 TL 78 74.56 13.56 10001-25000 TL 32 76.12 12.75 25001-58000 TL 12 76.16 9.60 58001+ TL 7 90.42 6.32

Tax Liability Commercial Income 67 76.35 13.47 Self-Employed Income 30 75.40 13.01 Simple Entry 32 76.40 12.97

Perceptions of tax administration 129 25.95 7.47 Gender Female 23 23.95 6.75 1.40 .158

Male 106 26.38 7.58 Educational Level Primary Education 30 24.40 6.65

High School 59 25.27 7.64 University 40 27.17 7.65

Tax Base 0-10000 TL 78 25.9872 7.69 10001-25000 TL 32 24.6875 6.99 25001-58000 TL 12 27.2500 7.72 58001+ TL 7 29.1429 6.81

Tax Liability Commercial Income 67 26.85 7.70 Self-Employed Income 30 23.60 7.78

Simple Entry 32 26.28 6.35 All analysis results show that gender and tax liability are not effective variances on the level of consciousness and perceptions on tax administration. There are significant relationships between educational level and level of consciousness and perceptions of tax administration. As educational level increases, level of consciousness and perceptions of tax administration will increase positively. Finally, there are significant relationships between declared tax base and level of consciousness and perceptions of tax administration. As the declared tax base increases, so do both the other levels.


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Table 1-23. Results of one-way analysis of variance Variance Source df SS QM F p Educational Level Between Groups 2 321.065 160.533 3.93 .04

Within-Groups 126 21813.136 173.120 Total 128 22134.202

Tax Base Between Groups 3 1672.141 557.380 3.41 .02 Within-Groups 125 20462.060 163.696 Total 128 22134.202

Tax Liability Between Groups 2 22.880 10.940 .06 .94 Within-Groups 126 22112.322 175.495 Total 128 22134.202

Educational Level Between Groups 2 321.065 160.533 3.93 .04 Within-Groups 126 21823.136 173.120 Total 128 22134.202

Tax Base Between Groups 3 142.752 47.584 3.84 .04 Within-Groups 125 7008.969 56.072 Total 128

Tax Liability Between Groups 2 223.545 111.772 2.03 .135 Within-Groups 126 6928.176 54.986 Total 128 7151.721

Awareness of the Declarations of Taxpayers’ Rights As is seen in Table 1-24, right number five is the best known right and 24% of participants know this right. Right number eight is least known and 11.6% of participants know this right.

Conclusions and Suggestions

All findings in this study show that taxpayers who participated in the survey have average level taxpayers’ rights consciousness. In the positive sense they have below average level perceptions of tax administration. Gender has no effect on the level of consciousness of taxpayers’ rights and perceptions of tax administration. If the educational level increases, the level of consciousness of taxpayers’ rights and perceptions of tax administration will increase positively. As the declared tax base increases, the level of consciousness about taxpayers’ rights and perceptions of tax administration will increase. Tax liability is not an effective variance on the level of consciousness of taxpayers’ rights and perceptions of tax administration. A great majority of participants have no idea about the Declaration of Taxpayers’ Rights.


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Table 1-24. Frequency and percentage of participants’ awareness

I have an idea

I have no idea

f % f % Right to get clear, reliable and adequate information on time.

30 23.3 99 76.7

Right to be guided by all sorts of information by the Department of Revenue Administration within the framework of the Law of Information Obtaining Right.

23 17.8 106 82.2

Right to be notified of tax improvements via the internet regularly.

21 16.3 108 83.7

Right to be informed about tax improvements from real sources and on time providing that she/he subscribes to an e-mail system.

23 17.8 106 82.2

Right to keep personal and backroom information secret except in cases that Tax Procedure Law requires otherwise.

31 24.0 98 76.0

Right to be provided with all sorts of facilities in the fulfillment of tax obligation.

25 19.4 104 80.6

Right to implementation of tax laws legally, lawfully, objectively and competition-protectively when they pay taxes

23 17.8 106 82.2

Right to claim implementation of law openly, impartially and consistently in the tax examinations and right to get information at every stage of tax examination.

15 11.6 114 88.4

Right to have complaints responded to on time if they give their true identity and communication information

25 19.4 104 80.6

Right to demand the Department of Revenue Administration guarantee renewing itself consistently

16 12.4 113 87.6

Increasing the level of consciousness of taxpayers’ rights is necessary to achieve the best results in the taxation process—which starts with the drafting of law and legislative proposal—to ensure effectiveness of taxpayers in the process of making law, prevent tax losses, ensure the stability of public revenues and solve disputes between taxpayers and tax administration. If taxpayers are aware of their rights on taxation, they will be more willing to pay their taxes and their negative perceptions against both administration and taxation will change positively. As indicated in the previous sections of this study, educational level is the most important factor in raising the level of consciousness of taxpayers’ rights and perceptions of tax administration positively. In this context, training about taxpayers’ rights consciousness for taxpayers and taxpayers-to-be of the next generations should be given. For this reason, tax administration and taxpayers associations, etc. should give training on taxpayer’ rights consciousness.


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References

Aktan, C. & Gencel, U. (2003). Türkiye’de geriye doğru vergileme ve vergilerin hukukiliği ilkesinin ihlali [Backwards taxation and the breach of principle of tax legality in Turkey]. Eylül Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü Dergisi 5 (1): 4-7.

Bentley, D. (1998). Definitions and development. In D. Bentley (Ed.), Taxpayers’ Rights: An International Perspective. Gold Coast, Revenue. Law Journal.

Buyukozturk, S. (2006). Sosyal bilimler icin veri analizi el kitabı [Data analysis handbook for social science]. Ankara: PegemA Publishing.

Department of Revenue Administration. (2006). Declaration of taxpayers’ right. Online: http://www.gib.gov.tr/index.php?id=472.

Erol, A. (2011). Mukellef hakları ve evrensel degerler [Taxpayer rights and universal values]. Journal of Lebib Yalkın Mevzuat 89.

Gerger, G. (2011). Mükellef hakları ve vergiye gönüllü uyum [Taxpayers’ rights and voluntary tax compliance]. Istanbul: LEGAL Bookstoreand Ind. Trade. Co. Ltd.

Kaneti, S. (1989). Vergi hukuku [Legislation on tax]. Istanbul. Karasar, N. (2012). Bilimsel araştırma yöntemi [Scientific method of

research]. Ankara: Nobel Yayın Dağıtım. OECD. (1997). Taxpayers’ rights and obligations a survey of the legal

situation in OECD countries. Paris: OECD Publication. Ozdamar, K. (1999). Paket programları ile istatistiksel veri analizi

[Statistical data analysis via packaged software]. Eskişehir: Kaan Bookstore.

Sawyer, A. (1999). A comparison of New Zealand taxpayers’ rights with selected civil law and common law countries: have New Zealand taxpayers’ been ‘short-changed’? Vonderbilt Journal of Translational Law 32.

Turkish Tax Procedure Law. Online: http://www.mevzuat.gov.tr/MevzuatMetin/1.4.213.pdf. Van Rijn, A. (1998). A competitive study of taxpayer protection in five

member of European Union (taxpayer protection in European Union). Kluwer Law International.

EXTRAVERSION AND NEUROTICISM: HOW PERSONALITY AFFECTS EMPLOYEES’

PERCEPTIONS OF FIT

DORUK UYSAL-IRAK

Introduction

It is believed that when employees achieve high levels of fit with their environment, they are happier and more productive at work (Muchinsky & Monahan, 1987). Because of this, understanding the notion of person-work environment fit may help to predict and influence many individual and organizational outcomes. Person-environment fit studies tend to be grounded in the interactionist theory of behaviour, which considers the effects of personal characteristics in combination with situational factors on important outcomes (idem). Researchers argue that the nature of the work environment is partly determined by the different personalities of the individuals who control those environments (Holland, 1976). Moreover, it is believed that personality affects peoples’ reactions to specific environments as it shapes values and preferences (Judge & Cable, 1997). Judge (2007) emphasized that in order to understand fit perceptions and to gain more comprehensive knowledge more studies investigating the role of personality differences in person-environment fit are needed.

There are two basic perspectives on person-environment fit and a key distinction should be made between supplementary fit and complementary fit (Muchinsky& Monahan, 1987). According to the first perspective, supplementary fit (Kristof, 1996; Muchinsky & Monahan, 1987), people may believe they fit the environment because they share similar characteristics, values, norms, or interests with others in the environment. The second perspective, complementary fit, focuses on improving the link between the person and his or her environment, which may be further divided into two types: needs-supplies fit and demands-abilities fit (Kristof, 1996; Ostroff & Schulte, 2007). Frequently studies measuring person-organization fit used supplementary perspective (Kristof, 1996)

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whilst those on person-job fit used needs-supplies perspective and demands-abilities perspective (Muchinsky & Monahan, 1987).

Despite the importance of personality in terms of its interaction with the work environment and its influence on organizational outcomes, there is relatively little research regarding how different personalities could influence individuals’ fit perceptions in the workplace. Of the research that does exist, most studies focus on either the relation between different personalities and how various traits are attracted to certain environments (Cable & Judge, 1994) or other dimensions such as vocational interests on fit perceptions (Ehrhart &Makransky, 2007). However, personality has not been studied directly in terms of its possible influence on peoples’ perception of their person-work environment fit.

Judge and Cable (1997) noted that personality affects individuals’ reactions to their environments. Thus, researchers believe that personality is a source of employees’ work values and preference. Moreover, values can be like the mediating belief system between traits and the choice of preferred environments (Dawis, 1990). Studies have shown the association between personality and an individual’s judgements and cognitive processes (Judge & Larsen, 2001; Levin & Stokes, 1989). Necowitz and Roznowski (1994) stated that people who are high in negative affectivity tend to report more dissatisfaction with their work environment compared to people who are low in negative affectivity. Various approaches provide support for this claim regarding the influence of personality on evaluations of environments. One theory, Stimulus-Organism-Response theory (Judge & Larsen, 2001), suggests that any event in the environment has an impact on people, but depending on the characteristics of the individual, emotional responses given to the same event will be different among people. This theory states that affectivity influences can be made by creating sensitivity between any event in the environment and an individual. Researchers argue that there are differences in the cognitive processes of individuals who are high in negative and positive affectivity. According to this theory, the same stimulus is perceived differently by people with different personalities. For example, people high in negative affectivity are more likely to have negative job experiences, and people high in positive affectivity are more likely to have positive job experiences (Judge & Larsen, 2001). Hence, cognition bias has an impact on employees’ evaluations of their work environments or their jobs (Levin & Stokes, 1989). Various approaches provide support for this claim regarding the influence of personality on evaluations of environments.

In conclusion it is believed that personality has an influence on how people perceive, explain, recognize, or focus on their environment and

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how they react to their environment. If personality shapes perceptions of person-environment fit, people with specific personalities would often perceive high fit with their environment, compared to others who often perceive low fit with their environment, regardless of their actual fit. In this study personality was studied in terms of two important dimensions of Big Five taxonomy (McCrae & Costa, 1987): extraversion and neuroticism. Extraversion represents tendency to be sociable, assertive, active, and directive. Neuroticism is defined as the tendency to exhibit poor emotional adjustment and experience negative affect such as fear, anxiety, and impulsivity (Judge & Cable, 1997). Studies have shown that extraversion is associated with happiness whereas neuroticism is associated with unhappiness (Costa & McCrae, 1980). According to this, positive affect is a direct outcome of extraversion and negative affect is a direct outcome of neuroticism (idem). Thus, outgoing happy people are more likely focus on positive information but neurotic people more often focus on negative information (Noguchi, Gohm & Dalsky, 2006). In other words, people scoring high on extraversion often perceive situations as being enjoyable whereas people scoring high on neuroticism often perceive negative associations (Rauthmann, 2012). This study aims to examine the role of extraversion and neuroticism on perceptions of person-environment fit in the workplace. It is hypothesized that extraversion and neuroticism will be important determinants of fit. Moreover we expect that people high in extraversion will report higher supplementary fit, needs-supplies fit and demands-abilities fit compared to people low in extraversion. Also we expect people high in neuroticism to report lower supplementary fit, needs-supplies fit and demands-abilities fit compared to people low in neuroticism.

Method

Participants Employed people were recruited through snowball sampling and a paper version of the questionnaire was given to people. In total, there were 285 participants in the study who were working full-time or part-time in private and public organizations from various sectors. Of these, 40% were male and 53% were female, with a mean age of 30.80 (SD=8.61; range 19-69 years). Most of the participants (74%) were working full-time. The majority of respondents (81%) were working in private companies and the mean organizational tenure was 4.7 years (SD=6.64).


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Measures Person-environment fit. When measuring fit, subjective direct fit measures were used in which individuals are only asked to answer questions about how well they believe they fit with the target environment by using two different levels of fit; organization and job (McCulloch & Turban, 2007). Person-organization fit, defined as the congruence between one’s values-personality and the values-personality of the organization, was measured with a five-item scale (Resick, Baltes &Shantz, 2007). Alpha reliability of this scale was .89. In order to measure person-job fit, need-supplies fit items and demands-abilities fit items were used. Needs-supplies fit takes into account how employees perceive their jobs in terms of meeting personal needs and desires and it was measured with a four-item scale from Saks and Ashforth (1997). Demand-abilities fit, defined as the perception of how well individuals believe they fulfil the organizational demands or job demands with their knowledge, skills, abilities and resources, was measured with a two-item scale adapted from Hutcheson (1999). Alpha reliability of the whole scale was .89.

Extraversion and Neuroticism. Extraversion and neuroticism were measured by using Eysenk Personality Questionnaire Revised- Abbreviated Form (EPQR-A) (Francis, Brown & Philipchalk, 1992) standardized to Turkish by Karancı, Dirik and Yorulmaz (2007). The Cronbach’s Alpha of the scale was .76 for extraversion and .74 for neuroticism in this study.

Demographics. Participants were also asked to indicate gender, age, organizational tenure, type of industry, type of employment (full-time vs part-time) and type of organization (private vs public).

Results

A summary of means, standard deviations, internal reliabilities, and intercorrelations among the measures are displayed in Table 1-25. All correlations were significant and in expected direction except extraversion and fit perceptions. In order to provide a comprehensive examination of any possible influence of the demographic variables on measured research variables, we conducted linear regression analyses. The results showed that none of the demographic variables were a significant predictor of person-organization fit, person-job fit, extraversion or neuroticism.

Although no significant correlation was found between extraversion and fit perspectives a series of linear regression analyses were conducted including both extraversion and neuroticism in order to test the main

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hypothesis of the study. Results showed that extraversion was not a significant predictor of supplementary fit, needs-supplies fit or demands-abilities fit. However, analysis showed that neuroticism was significantly related to supplementary fit (R=.28; p=.000), needs-supplies fit (R=.32; p=.000), and demands-abilities fit (R=.19; p=.01). According to the results, people high in neuroticism will often have lower supplementary fit, needs-supplies fit and demands-abilities fit compared to people with low neuroticism. In order to compare individuals with high neuroticism and low neuroticism further analyses were conducted.

In order to test the differences between two groups a MANOVA test was conducted (independent variable: Neuroticism High/Low; dependent variable: supplementary fit, needs-supplies fit and demands-abilities fit). This analysis also confirmed that people high in neuroticism would also have low supplementary fit, needs-supplies fit and demands-abilities fit compared to people low in neuroticism (Wilks λ=.91, F (3.281)=8.96, p=.000, η²=.09, power=.99). Table 1-25. Means, standard deviations, reliabilities, and inter-scale correlations for measured research variables M SD 1 2 3 4 5 Supplementary fit (P-O fit)

18.08 4.83 (.89)

Needs-supplies fit (P-J fit)

14.61 3.91 .56 ª (.89)

Demands-abilities fit (P-J fit)

8.48 1.53 .43 ª .69 ª (.89)

Extraversion 4.70 1.60 .09 .11 .12 (.76) Neuroticism 2.26 1.88 -.28 ª -.32 ª -.18 ª -.35 ª (.74) Note.ª All correlations are significant at p < .01

Discussion

This study aimed to examine the role of extraversion and neuroticism on person-organization fit and person-job fit perceptions. Exploring the relation between the person-work environment fit and personality would not only introduce new perspectives to ways of assessing employee behaviours, it would also be useful for organizational practices such as selection or recruitment, since the notion of fit is important for those practices (Saks & Ashforth, 1997). Moreover, if personality has an impact on the fit perceptions of employees, the association between fit and individual outcomes, such as satisfaction or stress, would also need to be


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reassessed. Also, organizational practices and interventions would need to be revised considering the impact of personality in the workplace.

Although it was hypothesized that both personality dimensions would be significantly related to fit in this study, only neuroticism was found to be significantly related to fit perceptions. This study demonstrated that not focusing on more positive outcomes but focusing more on negative outcomes were important in determining perceptions of person-environment fit. From early studies it is known that there are differences between extraversion and neuroticism in terms of their relation to various outcomes (Costa & McCrae, 1980). For example neuroticism was related to higher perception of stress, lower life satisfaction and poorer perception of health, but extraversion did not relate to any of those outcomes in some studies (Otonari et al., 2012). Moreover, it has been shown that negative affect, which is highly related to neuroticism, was more related to general emotionality, fear and anger whereas positive affect, which is highly related to extraversion, is more related to sociability, tempo and vigour (Costa & McCrae, 1980). Costa and McCrae (1980: 674) state that “neurotic traits predispose one to suffer more acutely from one’s misfortunes, but they do not necessarily diminish one’s joy or pleasures.” Whilst good health may not be an antecedent of joy, poor health can make that person unhappy. Thus, from this perspective our conclusion would be that focusing on negative outcomes may have more influence on someone’s perception compared to focusing on positive outcomes. Therefore, employees who are high in neuroticism may have lower perception of fit compared to other employees having lower levels of neuroticism due to focusing on negative factors around them in the workplace. It is important to discuss in new studies whether it will be possible to use these outcome-personality differences as a predictor of fit perceptions when hiring employees in different jobs.

More studies are needed to replicate this study and to confirm the results. In new studies other personality variables could be included such as agreeableness or conscientiousness. Moreover, different measurement techniques in measuring fit, such as actual fit, would be beneficial to explain the difference between extraversion and neuroticism and/or differences between measurement techniques of person-environment fit.

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References

Cable, D. M. & Judge, T. A. (1994). Pay preferences and job search decisions: A person organization fit perspective. Personnel Psychology 47: 317- 348.

Costa, P. T. & McCrae, R. R. (1980). Influence of extraversion and neuroticism on subjective well-being: Happy and unhappy people. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 38 (4): 668-678.

Dawis, R. V. (1990). Vocational interests, values, and preferences. In M. D. Dunnette & L. M. Hough (Eds.), Handbook of industrial and organizational psychology. Palo Alto, CA: Consulting Psychologists Press. 833-871.

Ehrhart, K. H. & Makransky, G. (2007). Testing vocational interests and personality as predictors of person-vocation and person-job fit. Journal of Career Assessment 15 (2): 206-226.

Francis, L. J., Brown, L. B. & Philipchalk, R. (1992). The development of an abbreviated form of the Revised Eysenk Personality Questionnaire (EPQR-A): its use among students in England, Canada, the USA and Australia. Personality and Individual Differences 13: 443-449.

Holland, J. L. (1976). Vocational preferences. In M. D. Dunnette (Ed.), Handbook of industrial and organizational psychology. Chicago: Rand McNally. 521-570.

Hutcheson, J. M. (1999) An examination of three levels of person-environment fit. PhD dissertation, University of Houston, United States, Texas.

Judge, T. A. (2007). The future of person-organization fit research: Comments, observations, and a few suggestions. In C. Ostroff & T. A. Judge (Eds.), Perspectives on organizational fit. New York, NY: Lawrence Erlbaum. 417-446.

Judge, T. A. & Cable, D. M. (1997). Applicant personality, organizational culture, and organization attraction. Personnel Psychology 50: 359-394.

Judge, T. A. & Larsen, R. J. (2001). Dispositional affect and job satisfaction: A review and theoretical extension. Organizational Behaviour and Human Decision Processes 86 (1): 67-98.

Karancı, N. A., Dirik, G. & Yorulmaz, O. (2007). Eysenck kişilik anketi-gözden geçirilmiş kısaltılmış formu’nun (EKA-GGK) Türkiye’ degeçerlik ve güvenilirlik çalışması [Reliability and Validity Studies of Turkish Translation of Eysenck Personality Questionnaire Revised-Abbreviated]. Türk Psikiyatri Dergisi 18 (3): 254-261.


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Kristof, A. L. (1996). Person-organization fit: An integrative review of its conceptualizations, measurement, and implications. Personnel Psychology 49: 1-49.

Levin, I. & Stokes, J. P. (1989). Dispositional approach to job satisfaction: Role of negative affectivity. Journal of Applied Psychology 74: 752-758.

McCrae, R. R. & Costa, P. T. Jr. (1987). Validation of the five factor model of personality across instruments and observers. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 52: 81-90.

McCulloch, M. C. & Turban, D. B. (2007). Using person-organization fit to select employees for high-turnover jobs. International Journal of Selection and Assessment 15 (1): 63-71.

Muchinsky, P. M. & Monahan, C. J. (1987). What is person-environment congruence? Supplementary versus complementary models of fit. Journal of Vocational Behaviour 31: 268-277.

Necowitz, L. B. & Roznowski, M. (1994). Negative affectivity and job satisfaction: Cognitive processes underlying the relationship and effects on employee behaviours. Journal of Vocational Behaviour 45 (3): 270-294.

Noguchi, K., Gohm, C. L. & Dalsky, D. J. (2006). Cognitive tendencies of focusing on positive and negative information. Journal of Research in Personality 40: 891-910.

Ostroff, C. & Schulte, M. (2007). Multiple perspectives of fit in organizations across levels of analysis. In C. Ostroff & T. A. Judge (Eds.), Perspectives on organizational fit. New York, NY: Lawrence Erlbaum. 3-69.

Otonari, J., Nagano, J., Morita, M., Budhathoki, S., Tashiro, N., Toyomura, K. & Takayanagi, R. (2012). Neuroticism and extraversion personality traits, health behaviours, and subjective well-being: the Fukuoka Study (Japan). Quality of Life Research 21: 1847-1855.

Rauthmann, J. F. (2012). You say the party is dull, I say it is lively: A componential approach to how situations are perceived to disentangle perceiver situation, and perceiver x situation variance. Social Psychological and Personality Science 3 (5): 519-528.

Resick, C. J., Baltes, B. B. & Shantz, C. W. (2007). Person-organization fit and work related attitudes and decisions: Examining interactive effects with job fit and conscientiousness. Journal of Applied Psychology 92 (5): 1446-1455.

Saks, A. M. & Ashforth, B. E. (1997). A longitudinal investigation of the relationships between job information sources, applicant perceptions of fit, and work outcomes. Personnel Psychology 50: 395-426.

EFFECT OF FEEDBACK ON FEELING-OF-KNOWING

METEHAN IRAK AND CANSIN ÖZGÖR The Relationship between metamemory accuracy and feedback has been investigated in previous studies with varying results. In general, the relationship between feedback (giving information about participants’ memory performance, e.g. correct or incorrect) and metamemory accuracy seems to depend upon variables such as; type of feedback (verification vs elaboration), response dependent feedback (correct responses vs incorrect responses) and task dependent feedback (episodic vs semantic memory) (Nelson & Narens, 1990). The results of previous studies show that improvement in metamemory accuracy is affected by self-generated feedback (Lovelace & Stock, 1984) and item-by-item feedback (Stock et al., 1992). These results suggest that feedback might have a significant effect on metamemory performance, either because subjects learn from their mistakes between recall accuracy and confidence judgments, or because they learn to adjust either their low confidence levels on easy items or overconfidence on difficult items. Schwartz and Metcalfe (1994) suggested that feedback might increase metacognitive accuracy when it helps people learn task structure. On the other hand, Mason and Thompson (1987, in Thompson, 1998), and Nelson and Narens (1990) did not find any relationship between feedback and general metamemory and feeling-of-knowing (FOK) accuracy. FOK judgments are believed to rely on partial access to the semantic, perceptual, or affective attributes of a target (Koriat, 1993), familiarity of the cue (Metcalfe, Schwartz & Joaquim, 1993), or a combination of the two processes (Koriat & Levy-Sadot, 2001). According to Koriat’s (1993) accessibility model of FOK, FOK judgments are based on feedback resulting from one’s attempt to retrieve a target from memory. Confidence in performance is related to preconceived beliefs and competence. Thus, metacognitive feelings are sometimes related to feedback from self-initiated object-level processes. It is known that FOK judgment is an evaluation comprised of people’s predictions about remembering currently unrecallable information in a future task

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(Hart, 1965). In a classic FOK task, people make predictions about their future task performance regarding unrecallable items. Following this idea, if metacognitive judgments are related to preconceived beliefs and competence, “contradictory information,’ such as incorrect feedback regarding one’s recall performance (even though the answer was correct) should not influence metacognitive judgments. However, individual differences, such as having high or low levels of confidence (LC) about recall performance and task type might be related to feedback effects The main aim of the present study is to investigate how incorrect feedback about recall performance influences FOK judgment. More specifically, we hypothesized that people having high LC are not affected by incorrect feedback, thus their FOK judgments will not change.

Experiment 1

Method

Participants: Fifty-four university students (41 female, 13 male) voluntarily participated in the study. Age range of the subjects was 18 to 24 years (M=20.57, SD=1.13). All participants reported they are free of any neurological or psychiatric problems.

Materials: Two word-pair lists were used in the study. One hundred and seventy-six words were selected from a word-frequency database in Turkish (Göz, 2003). All words were high frequency nouns, five or six letters long. Eighty-eight word-pairs were designed by randomly matching the words. Next, these word-pairs were randomly assigned to one of the two word-pair lists (referred to as List A and List B). List A was used in the first phase, and List B was used in the second phase of the experiment. Each list consisted of 44 word-pairs, but eight word-pairs (two at the beginning and two at the end of each list) were not included in the statistical analyses in order to minimize primacy and recency effect.

Design and Procedure: The design was a 2 x 2 between subjects factorial design, where participants’ former level of confidence (LC: high vs low), and feedback type (incorrect vs correct) were the between-subjects variables. The FOK experiments consisted of two phases. The aim of the first phase was to determine the subjects’ LC. In the first (learning) phase, each word-pair (List A) was initially presented, and there was no time limit in the learning phase. At the end of the learning phase, participants were informed about the upcoming cued-recall test and the FOK judgments. Then the first word of each word-pair was presented, and the participants were asked to remember the word that was paired with that

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word. At the same time, participants indicated their LC for each answer. Participants were asked to use a 6-point Likert-type rating scale for their LC (1: definitely not sure, 6: definitely sure). Then, for the words they failed to remember, they were asked to give a FOK judgment. They were given explanations about what FOK judgments referred to, and were asked to make their FOK judgment on the basis of the following question: “Even though I don’t remember the answer now, do I know the answer to the extent that I could pick the correct answer from among several choices?” Participants were asked to use a 6-point Likert-type rating scale for their FOK judgment (1: definitely will not be able to find the correct answer, 6: definitely will be able find the correct answer). After completion of the cued-recall, LC, and FOK judgments, participants were given a recognition test, in which each cue word was presented along with five alternatives. Then the FOK accuracy value of each participant was calculated by using the Goodman–Kruskal’s Gamma correlation. FOK accuracy refers to how well people are able to predict their future memory performance and the best measure of FOK accuracy is Goodman–Kruskal’s Gamma correlation (Nelson, 1984). In the second phase, participants were divided into two groups, high (n=25) and low (n=29), according to their mean LC (2.61) in the first phase. Then each of these groups was randomly divided into two groups. Therefore, there were four experimental conditions in the second phase: high LC and correct feedback (n=15), high LC and incorrect feedback (n=10), low LC and correct feedback (n=13), and low LC and incorrect feedback (n=16). Application of the procedure was the same as for the first phase, except for the incorrect feedback condition. In the incorrect feedback condition, participants were asked to give a FOK judgment for all the words they failed to remember, as well as 50% of the words they did remember correctly. For instance, if the participant recalled 20 words out of 40, during the FOK judgments s/he was presented 30 words in the recognition phase (20 words that s/he actually failed to remember, and 50% of the 20 previously remembered words). The 50% of the words which participants correctly remembered were randomly selected from the list by using a computer program. So, the gamma correlations were calculated accordingly for these 30 words. All testing occurred across two days for each participant in a specific testing room, and application procedures were identical for all participants. The experiment was programmed using Visual Studio 2010 Ultimateher. The program was run on a Windows XP computer with a 21-inch monitor. Each word-pair was typed in black Arial 24-point uppercase letters on a white background.


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Results

A 2 x 2 MANOVA was carried out. In the analysis, group status (LC group: high and low) and type of feedback (incorrect and correct) were independent variables, as recall, recognition, FOK judgment and FOK accuracy (Gamma r) for the second phase were dependent variables. Results indicated that type of feedback main effect was significant on recognition F (1.51)=29.67, p< .01, η2=.49 and FOK judgment, F (1.51)=7.13, p< .05, η2=.19. Participants who were in the correct feedback condition had higher recognition (M=25.54, SD=4.94) and FOK judgment scores (M=4.98, SD=.87) compared to the participants in incorrect feedback condition (M=22.0, SD=6.03 and M=3.05, SD=1.01, respectively). In addition, a MANCOVA was carried out to control possible effects of actual memory performance (recall performance). In the analysis: group status (LC group: high and low), and type of feedback (incorrect and correct) were independent variables; recognition, FOK judgment, and FOK accuracy (Gamma r) were dependent variables; and recall performance for the second phase was a covariate variable. Results indicated that covariance effect was not significant.

Experiment 2

According to the results of Experiment 1, feedback type had a significant effect on FOK judgment. This effect might vary according to the type of material used to measure performance. To address this possibility, we replicated Experiment 1 using general information questions instead of word-pairs.

Method

Participants: Forty-four university students (32 female and 12 male) participated in the second experiment, none of whom had participated in the first experiment. The mean age was 21.3 (SD=1.25). All participants reported that they are free of any neurological or psychiatric problems.

Materials: Eighty general information questions were selected from a general knowledge question database. The normative difficulty of the questions ranged between 0.10 and 0.92 (Tekcan, Topcuoglu & Kaya, 2007). The 80 questions were randomly divided into two lists (lists A and B) and each list consisted of 40 questions. List A was used in the first phase of the experiment and List B was used in the second phase. The same computer program and settings were used as in the first experiment.


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Design and Procedure: The design was a 2 x 2 between subjects factorial design, where participants’ LC (high vs low), and feedback type (incorrect vs correct) were the between-subjects variables. All applications and procedure was the same as in the first experiment. For the second phase of the experiment, participants were divided into two groups, high (n=19) and the low (n=25), according to their mean LC (3.03) in the first phase. Then, each group was randomly divided into two groups, and were named according to the LC in the first phase (high and low LC group), and type of feedback (correct and incorrect feedback) in the second phase. Therefore, there were four experimental conditions in the second phase: high LC and correct feedback (n=11); high LC and incorrect feedback (n=8); low LC and correct feedback (n=11); and low LC and incorrect feedback (n=14).

Results

A 2 x 2 MANOVA was carried out. In the analysis, group status (high and low LC) and type of feedback (incorrect and correct) were independent variables, as recall, recognition, FOK judgment and FOK accuracy in the second phase were dependent variables. Results indicated that group status was significant on recall performance only, F (1.44)=7.87, p< .01, η2=.16. High LC group’s recall performance (M=11.89, SD=2.64) was significantly higher than low LC group’s recall performance (M=9.68, SD=2.69). On the other hand, further main and interaction effects were not significant.

General Discussion

The present study showed that when word-pairs were used, incorrect feedback had a significant effect on FOK judgment, but only for participants with low LC. The results indicate that given an episodic memory task, FOK judgments of participants with low LCs were influenced by incorrect feedback. These participants decreased their FOK judgments, even though they had previously remembered these items. On the other hand, FOK judgments of participants with high LC were not affected by incorrect feedback. Despite that, given a semantic memory task, incorrect feedback did not have a significant effect on FOK judgments. There are consistencies within people’s metamemory across different judgment domains (Nelson & Narens, 1990). Also, according to previous results (Hosch, 1994; Payne, Bettman & Johnson, 1988) even though situational factors play an important role in people’s general


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cognitive functions, confidence in memory and accuracy of memory is stable in individual cognitive styles. These two points can help explain why FOK judgments were influenced by incorrect feedback only among subjects with low LC under an episodic memory task in our study. On the other hand, our study did not support previous research discussed above (Nelson & Narens, 1990) which indicated no relationship between feedback and general metamemory accuracy. Another explanation for the effects of one’s subjective belief on FOK performance may be the relationship between confidence and accuracy. According to Bandura (1977), one of the major determinants of people’s metacognitive judgments is their perceived self-efficacy. In fact, Koriat (2007) argued that people’s preconceived notions regarding their skills in specific fields predicted their evaluation of how well they did on an individual task. In addition, Perfect (2002) suggested that even though people’s confidence in their responses is usually predictive of the accuracy of these responses with respect to general-knowledge questions, this is not applicable in the case of eyewitness memory. According to Perfect (2004), this is because people’s confidence is based in part on their preconceptions regarding their capabilities. This idea parallels our results showing people’s confidence in their memory performance varied according to the type of stimuli. In fact, in the second experiment, incorrect feedback had no significant effect on FOK judgment measured using a semantic memory task. Dunning et al. (2003) suggest that people’s perception of performance is one of the basic elements of their preconceived notions about their skills. They state there is no correlation between these notions and objective performance, yet they can lead people to make decisions concerning performance that have little to do with actual accomplishment. In addition, Koriat (2007: 302) argued, “people’s confidence in their performance seems to be based in part on their preconceived beliefs about their own competence in the domain of knowledge tested.” Consequently, these explanations and our results imply that FOK judgments of people having high preconceptions (or preconceived beliefs) about their own competence (or perceived self-efficacy) are not affected by incorrect feedback. However, this effect is also influenced by memory task. Thus when an episodic memory task was used, FOK judgments of people with low preconceptions about their competence were affected by incorrect feedback. As a speculation, incorrect feedback has less impact on memory confidence or beliefs related to semantic information and knowledge than memory confidence and beliefs related to new (or episodic) learning. It should be mentioned that individual differences (having high or low LC) and type of memory task are important variables to explain the effects of


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feedback on FOK judgment. We do not know which other psychological characteristics, such as personality types or metacognitive beliefs, might be linked to this pattern, or whether they correlate with FOK judgments. On the other hand, recent studies (Irak, 2012; Magnussen et al., 2006) showed that beliefs about memory and metacognitive performance significantly correlated with cognitive confidence and levels of self-esteem. It would also be interesting to investigate relationships between feedback, actual memory performance, FOK judgments, other metacognitive and personality characteristics in future studies.

References

Bandura, A. (1977). Self-efficacy: Toward a unifying theory of behavioural change. Psychological Review 84: 191-215.

Dunning, D., Johnson, K., Ehrlinger, J. & Kruger, J. (2003). Why people fail to recognize their own incompetence. Current Directions in Psychological Science 12: 83-87.

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A CRITICAL APPROACH TO PRIVATIZATION POLICIES IN THE GLOBAL ECONOMY

AND THE ROLE OF COOPERATIVES IN THE PRIVATIZATION PROCESS

ABDULLAH ÖKCESIZ

Introduction

In this essay, our purpose is to discuss how globalization has impoverished people and harmed world peace while gaining speed within the privatization process as well as proposing ideas about how cooperatives can contribute to the solution process by acting in financial communion. In this context, we also aim to make an animadversion and give information about privatization and globalization, and to indicate the importance and necessity of cooperatives.

Privatized State Economic Enterprises (SEEs) had been administratively ignored and thus their profitability and efficiency had decreased, and they had lost money (Gül, 2004). This situation was regarded as an opportunity or an excuse for their privatization, and SEE fields have become commercial fields for global capitalists. Today, not only SEEs but also underground and overland spaces have been left to native and later foreign entrepreneurial fields of interest. In fact, these SEEs were supposed to be pioneering organizations in entrepreneurship, focusing on the good of the public interest when they were first established. Having become a state within a state, and by using the parliamentary system, the private sector and foreign capital have come into possession of everything without regard for public interest. These establishments, founded by the state in the name of the public, are now being sold unfairly and unscrupulously (Idem).

Supposedly, public borrowing would decrease, the public sector deficit would be eliminated, the state’s interference with the economy would be minimized and, with market transition, the public sector’s burden would have been lightened and social and economic welfare would be established

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by the private sector. Largely due to the competition factor, pricing would be in favour of consumers. However, the result has been price monopolies and other cartels. On the other hand, with an important place in the world economy, the Chinese factor has caused global capital to lose the wind from its sails. The more China is regarded as a threat in developed and developing economies, the less this monopolization can be realized. Therefore, product prices have remained at the same level, and countries’ inflation positions have not dropped, which is a positive situation for the people of the world.

Globalization

Starting in the 1970s, because of changing economic conditions and new means of competition, provisions and the demands of developing countries, state authority in the economy began to be limited, leaving the economy to the private sector and restructuring it accordingly.

The globalization phenomenon, which started with Laissez Faire—Laissez Passer and adopted the idea of free trade, has now begun to establish its foundation and organization in the field of the economy. Globalization has had two main waves: the first was the Gold Standard that was used between the years 1850-1914. The result of quitting this standard was the Great Depression that began in 1929. If it were not for such economic depressions, which emerge about once every century, globalization would have happened much sooner. This process was interrupted by the world wars and the great depression in the 20th century, and for this reason the second wave appeared only after the 1960s, which continues to the present.

Globalization is a new term mentioned for the first time in the 1951 edition of Webster’s Dictionary. In the background of globalization are evolution and change, and following the effects of social, political and economic change, and development in the world, countries are getting closer to each other, the period characterized by these affiliations being called globalization (Bakkalcı, 2010: 11).

Privatization

Especially from the 1980s, following the tendency toward globalization, privatization has stood out as a type of economic policy. Privatization is the process of transferring the ownership of health, education, justice, security and large-scale investments to the infrastructure from the public to the private sector, aiming to decrease legal, structural and economic

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interference so that free enterprise can function. In this sense, “privatization is the opposite of nationalization” (Karluk, 1990: 123):

“In other words; privatization involves the transfer of publicly owned property through sale (denationalization),decreasing or removing public control over and interfering with markets (liberalization), going towards competition and together with these, in socialist countries, transition to private ownership and regulating the market.” (Hartley & Parker, 1993: 11)

In respect of their objectives and principles, cooperatives are the ideal enterprises if we watch both public and individual interests in privatization, which is defined as ending public ownership through selling the wealth gained for public benefit over time to private enterprises.

Social Effects of Privatization

We can explain the social effects of privatization (Gül, 2004: 62-71) under eight main headings: - Effects on financial and economic targets: Public enterprises,

production and marketing are carried out considering and aiming for the public benefit. With privatization, we will drift from this target, adopting a more profit-oriented production and marketing policy. This will also involve increases in product prices and price cartels leaving little space for competition.

- Effects on social and political targets: Maintaining its importance, employment in SEEs have prevented unfair distribution of income and provided social justice. In addition, it has limited domination of foreign capital in the country. With privatization, the private sector will be unable to provide such effectiveness (Kül, 1994: 13).

- Effects on unions: The most negative effect of privatization on union activity is de-unionization, although this situation is seen more often in countries where union activity is not well developed, as well as in other societies with low individual awareness levels.

- Effects on wages and income: Income injustice will increase with the sale of SEEs to high-income groups, and after privatization it is certain that unemployment will increase and wages will decrease as private employers act with a profit motive, and thus will try to pull down costs by keeping wages low.


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- Effects on the market: In every field, either state or private, monopolization is at stake. Yet with privatization, public monopoly will be replaced by private monopolies.

- Effects on public resources: With privatization, public resources are transferred to the private sector, and this directly and negatively affects the public good. The fact that they are given to private entrepreneurs, who invest them in the country’s economy, means giving their power to those who were once dependent on them. That strategic resources, such as mines and water, change hands means deliberately buying such poverty through privatization. We cannot call this selling something that earns money– instead it can be called the privatization of poverty. As the world goes through financially difficult times, or because developed countries will always be in need of those resources, their importance will always increase. Therefore, there is much good in holding those resources in hand, as mining and water sources are likely to be aspects of social security and the means of public living in the future. Instead, they are being taken away.

- Effects on independence: Considering the effect on public resources, the country whose resources have been sold off will be made to be dependent for no reason at all. It looks as if countries and families with the biggest shares in the IMF are aiming to control economies that are likely to be rivals in the future, and to stay strong forever or create new billionaires in the world.

- Effects on the unity and territorial integrity of the country: We know that private sector entrepreneurs invest their money in rich areas that can bring them a higher income and where they can maximize their profits. This will maintain the difference between local development levels. Reducing the state’s economic wealth can threaten the unity and territorial integrity of the country and cause ethnic and religious factors to emerge, causing them various worries. The fact that the public wealth has changed hands brings the impression that the assurance given by parens patriae has ended, causing everyone to think that it is now every man for himself. This situation will influence individual fidelity to the state, accelerate social disintegration and cause people to lose their confidence in or their loyalty to the state.

Globalization, Privatization and Cooperatives

Developed countries in possession of high technologies are in need of more supplies, raw materials and intermediate goods to sustain their development. For that reason, they are dependent on the raw materials and

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natural resources of various countries. Therefore, they are trying to appropriate these resources or obtain them cheaply through the governments of countries with underground and surface resources.

Through privatization laws and with a commercial treaty, ownership is transferred, as title or rental, to another person or company. This cannot be regarded as an ethical, publicly approved process if some public benefit is not involved in the action.

It is sometimes observed that governments are not able to use the income obtained from the sale of these properties rationally, and even squander them. It is certain that it costs a lot when they want to replace the transferred properties, which means that this wealth has slipped from the hands of the public. Besides, as there is no deterrent such as compensation for the loss, privatization can be wrong and arbitrary.

Apparently, as they are not instructed what to do step by step in constitutional law, especially on issues such as the sale of land and privatization, which should normally have been subject to a referendum, the elected body tends to regard themselves as righteous and fully authorized in every field, which is not acceptable at all. Over the course of time, these kinds of rights and practices cause arbitrariness and an oligarchy or monarchy of the people who are elected. We can see that it is not welcomed by the public to transfer ownership of the state-controlled property to private individuals through privatization, especially in communist or socialist countries.

In capitalist countries, people are only seen to react to privatization when they feel that they are being impoverished and the understanding of the social state is being abandoned. With the socialistic and capitalist characters of cooperatives, the reaction can be softened if the privatizations happen through cooperatives. It seems unacceptable to transfer the ownership of the SEEs to someone else because they are regarded as the manifestation of an abstract concept of state and were founded with a public agreement. Therefore, their economic asset is believed to belong to the public, and there are psychological reactions to privatization when considering how much people have sacrificed on various conditions such as inflation, drought, poverty and high taxes.

Countries such as Hungary are going through this process. Foreign investors are buying most of the privatized companies, and this situation disturbs Hungarian people a great deal. For instance, the sale of five public power plants and electricity distribution utilities happened very problematically. Hungarian people objected to the sale and the implementations were greatly delayed. Therefore, a smoother transition had to be carried out by the government (Pappy, 1996: 43).


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We must protect the public by forming cooperatives instead of the franchising businesses of global capital and SEEs in such as health, education, communication and energy, all of which constitute an important amount of people’s expenditure and thus bring in a lot of money. This way, dissatisfaction and suffering created by privatization of those sectors in question could be prevented, or at least reduced.

If money-box foundations (the ones which bring in a lot of money) especially, such as energy and communication, are owned by the public as cooperative properties, the satisfaction people gain from rapid earning will be increased. The psychology of gaining an awareness of the costliness of products to be bought will be weakened and, gradually, this psychology will turn into a kind of acceptance.

Because of inequality of opportunity and injustice in income distribution, the pace of keeping up with every development and change is slow in some communities. For that reason, it gains importance to protect underground and surface sources of that country such as mines, water and natural beauty. Public companies are forced to operate in the red and are therefore transferred to the private sector and global capital through privatization. It is not always possible to continuously protect the treasures of a country through public limited companies, and therefore an organization like the cooperative is needed in order not to lose the natural heritage.

Conclusion

Using both private sector and cooperatives in privatization will ease the distribution of wealth among the vast majority of the public. Annihilating social and economic hostility and jealousy, the cooperation of these two sectors will put an end to individual, organizational and ethnic anarchy. Hence, when cooperatives are involved in the process as a reflex to global commercial entities they are likely to be important actors in sharing fortunes and calamities.

Especially because of building societies, the misunderstanding of cooperatives has decreased sympathy for and interest in them in Turkey. Therefore, a new concept and idea of cooperatives should be produced through various activities as well as education and marketing initiatives. It must be emphasized that cooperation is a good medicine for the illnesses caused by capitalism and other systems. While taking various measures against the operation and rules of capitalism or proposing an alternative system are possible, with any of these systems global imperialism is trying to reach its aims and by using all kinds of means. Whereas the cooperative

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system, which is the collective belief, religion and conscience of economic life, disallows imperialism by restraining economic greed in people, unfortunately the means globalization uses to reach its aim are the governments and bureaucracy of countries, and the method is privatization.

We especially need organizational structures to make up for the economic weaknesses of people. For example, if social security systems work with mutual contributions of people and state, and people can obtain a benefit such as an old age pension, they will have a continuous share of this interest and a lifetime benefit from this wealth with a cooperative organization

While global capital is getting richer all round, monopolizing and seizing resources through privatization, there seems to be a need for a socialistic economic structure in order to provide social, political and economic peace and protect the public against possible harms. The best such solution and structure is the cooperative organization.

As globalization has created new perceptions of fortune and calamity in society, there seems to be a tendency and inclination towards systems that will bring fairer distribution and order concerning solutions. In not having a one-sided globalization in favour of capitalism, not accumulating wealth in one part of society, preventing events such as war, terror, and greed especially arising from economic distribution and struggles, preventing political power, people and institutions from being used for these aims, and in encouraging the destruction of the arms culture and industry, we can regard all underground and surface natural resources of countries as the common natural heritage of humanity and share them through cooperatives as an attractive global proposition.

In the last twenty years, we have witnessed the operation of the world economy according to a 20/80 ratio, which had been previously designed. As global capital owners, we will see ten family corporations establish their state in the future (Martin & Schumann, 1997: 16).

Most of us will probably not have a place on this scale!

References

Bakkalcı, A. C. (2010). Küreselleşme [Globalization]. Online: http://sagem.pau.edu.tr/dersnotlari.html. Gül, H. F. (2004). Özelleştirme ve Sosyal Destek Programları,

[Privatization and Social Support Programs]. A. Ü. Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü, Yüksek Lisans Tezi, Ankara. 62-71.

Karluk, R. (1990). Türkiye’de Kamu İktisadi Teşebbüsleri [State Economic Enterprises in Turkey]. Ankara: Gerçek Yayınevi.


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Kül, Y. (1994). Özelleştirme Üzerine [on Privatization]. Ankara, Haziran. Martin, H. P. & Schumann, H. (1997). Globalleşme Tuzağı Demokrasiye

ve Refaha Saldırı [The Global Trap: Globalization and the Assult on Prosperity and Democracy]. Ankara: Ümit Yayıncılık.

Pappy, B. (1996). The Next Stop. Business Central Europa, December 1995.

CHANGING THE MEANING OF “CONTROL” DUE TO THE TRANSFORMATION OF THE LABOUR

MARKETS FROM FORDISM TO POST-FORDISM

HANDE ŞAHIN

Introduction Many developments have been experienced with the transformation of labour markets from Fordism to post Fordism. Many of them have been carried out to rearrange labour markets to increase labour productivity. The reorganization of the labour markets to increase labour productivity has required the revision of the “control” phenomenon. Today the concept of control is divided into two main axes. The first is direct control. Forms of direct control forms today show parallelism with forms in Fordism. This kind of control is direct, external, and ensured by methods such as hierarchical authority structure. The second is indirect control. Indirect control mechanisms have been made to overcome the stiffness of the mechanisms of Fordism. It has been attempted to reduce the pressure of control with the help of techniques of post Fordism such as total quality management, quality circles, lean manufacturing. These techniques aim to control with the help of self-policing. For this reason, they are intended to provide internal discipline. These techniques require the employees control each other and themselves. However, it is wrong to say that techniques of post Fordism fully depend on compliance of employees. Many of them contain a hidden coercion and compliance.

The structure of Post-Fordism, based on flexibilities, includes many features that can be threatening for workers. All kinds of flexibilities allow the implementation of control mechanisms. In addition, they become control mechanisms in their own right. For example, the fear of losing a job has become one of the largest control mechanisms nowadays. This study aims to question the implementation of these mechanisms in relation to the labour market transformation and analyses the differences and similarities between control mechanisms of Fordism and post Fordism. Factories are important examples to demonstrate all of these aims because

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they have been a part of the social form of capitalist society and power relations within it (Foucault, 2005: 126). Factories provide the observation of all control mechanisms in conformity with modes of production. In addition, they provide insight into power relations and forms of control in the society.

“Control” in Fordism and Post-Fordism

All kinds of control mechanisms in production relations cannot be understood without the help of socio-economic structure analysis. Every kind of power relation will be more meaningful in its context (Thompson, 1989: 167-169). Material conditions must be questioned for every kind of analysis of social relations in the production process because these relations have been generated and re-generated by material conditions. Therefore, it is quite important to understand material conditions behind the transformation from Fordism to post-Fordism. After World War II, rapid industrialization was determinant in the development process of nations-states. In that process, Fordism has been pivotal for both production and labour organization.

Fordism is a system that aims to achieve productivity with the help of detailed division of labour and narrowly defined routine job. There is a stable relationship between labour and machinery. In this system, competitiveness depends on producing any product cheaper and in greater quantities (Yentürk, 1993). However, the system, based on standard consumer goods, experienced a crisis due to growing international competition, falling profit margins, inadequacy in the face of rapidly changing consumer demands, increase in stock costs, and market saturation of mass production (Taymaz, 1993: 11). This crisis has led to the restructuring of the capitalist system.

Production and consumption patterns have changed. Flexible manufacturing, based on consumer-oriented production, was adopted instead of standard mass-production. Large-scale organizations have been replaced by small and medium sized businesses. Companies have experienced organizational change to adapt to changing market conditions (Aytaç & İlhan, 2008: 184). Competitiveness has become much more difficult than in previous periods. It has become imperative that Fordism revises its basic features in the face of this situation.

In this sense, the world of the 1970s did not lead to restructurings only at the macro level. Also at the micro level, in work relations, some changes have occurred. This dynamic process has experienced a number of changes on both the macro and micro level (Ercan, 1997: 663). The

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rigidities of Fordism have been overcome with the help of post-Fordism. The first argument of post-Fordism is to overcome limitations of Fordism regarding waste of time and quality. The other argument is to minimize the problems caused by the organization of labourunions (Belek, 1999: 169).

The organization of work has undergone a radical change in post-Fordism. Horizontal organizations have been increased; in this way, multi-faceted links have been established between units. A new working class has been created in line with the new model. In the new model, workers have become able to work in different units by horizontal integration (Uyanık, 2003: 3). Thus, it has become possible to produce for an ever-changing and demand-oriented market.

The meaning and the content of “work” have changed in post-Fordism. Gorz (2001: 83) points out that meanings of the concepts related with work—such as collective, business, hours, wages, weekly and yearly—have changed generally. New forms of work led to the emergence of a new working class. The members of the new working class are varied people who come together to do a job and then quickly separate from each other. These people need never have established deep relationships with each other. All these features of post Fordism have led to re-consideration of the phenomenon of labour relations and control. Post Fordism has developed new strategies for controlling both production and labour.

Depending on changes in the labour market from Fordism to post Fordism, the content and sense of control underwent many significant alterations. The first systematic mechanisms of control are embodied in the principles of “the scientific method of Taylor”. In Taylor’s view, control is provided with the separation of small sections of production and supervision of the time and space. Machinery, assembly line and the chronometer are the main tools of control. In Fordism, labour is controlled by the labour process itself (Munck, 1995: 218).

Fordism has largely achieved control through central planning, hierarchical authority and detailed work descriptions. However, from the late 1960s, rapidly changing markets and customer demands have necessitated more intense control in different levels of production and marketing. For Senett (2002: 61), because of the flexibilisation and decentralization of work, the owners of capital have wanted more control than in any period before. This situation led to new control mechanisms. In this system, control gets a fringed structure. The control mechanisms of Fordism, which depends on coercion, are generally direct and impersonal. In the post Fordism period, it is very difficult to instigate them. Anyhow, control has been distributed to every point of production. This can only be possible by providing an internal control. Internal control can be achieved


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by direct control mechanisms, transferred from Fordism, and also ideological control forms. It can be considered as the biggest break in the name of control in the post-Fordism period. Workers control themselves through total quality methods, quality circles, etc. They believe that they control themselves and other workers. In a new stage of capitalism, the control includes an implicit pressure as well as a liberating effect. New mechanisms of control that are based on consent help the organization of production. On the other hand, they prevent from the start any kind of resistance that may result in a loss of time.

Control is provided by means of creating consent instead of coercion. This situation increases the need for new consensual control mechanisms. However, coercion should not be understood to have disappeared in this situation. During this period, control has become much more important because of sensitive power relations.

In post-Fordism, quality control, time management in-plant inspection and computerized automation are the main control systems. They are also indirect and aim to create internal control of workers. Total quality management and quality circles are the most significant examples of these control mechanisms. These mechanisms control workers through a consensus based on mutual consent.

Lean production and flexible specialization are two important systems of post-Fordism. Lean production is a customer-oriented system that is based on manufacturing without stock. It is designed to include total quality management, quality circles, full-time production systems and every kind of flexibility. With these systems, the occurrence of faulty products is prevented at the production stage; in this way efficiency and competitiveness will be provided (Bozkurt, 1996: 66).

Total quality management can be summarized as a management system that depends on customer-focused organization that includes all employees in continual improvement. It uses different kinds of strategy, data, effective communications and involvement of all levels of employees to integrate the quality discipline into the culture and activities of the organization (Ahire, 1997: 91-95). Total quality management production aims to prevent the occurrence of a defective product. Systems in the factory are arranged to reveal who makes a mistake. Thus, each employee becomes responsible for his or her failure. In this connection both control of employees and the production process can be ensured.

Quality circles is a system whereby workers come together on a voluntary basis and share ideas about solving problems (Dicle, 1995: 150-153). In teamwork, workers control other groups of workers. By this method, workers become responsible for the entire production process of

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the work and other workers (Tokol, 2001: 112). Thus, workers feel themselves a part of the business and of production. This kind of autonomy is a “responsible autonomy.” Responsible autonomy is a strategy that prevents conflict and resistance by giving limited autonomy to workers and improving the sense of participation in the management. According to Delbridge (1995: 185), there are two important purposes of this method. The first one is to improve the fidelity to the workplace by giving responsibility to workers. The second is to provide seamless control by continuous surveillance. Some companies use these methods to gather information from workers about their friends (Sewell, 1998: 403). On the other hand, the need for trade unions is reduced by supporting workers’ individual actions. Control of both production process and the workers’ movement are aimed for by these applications. The most important evidence of this situation is that the first instance of this kind of application in Turkey occurred after The Experience of Spring Demonstrations in 1989 (important labour movement in Turkey). The efficiency of that movement has shown the necessity of control of every kind of workers’ movement that could cause loss of profit margins. A study that supports this claim has been conducted in one of Turkey’s largest tyre companies. In the factory, there are 123 quality circles that consist of 6-10 workers. Wages, employee benefits and company rules are forbidden to be spoken of in each of these circles (Yıldırım, 2000: 271).

In addition, all these mechanisms are very dangerous in terms of shading existence of power (Senett, 2002: 21). Through these mechanisms, the workers feel themselves valued; on the other hand, they feel close to managers in terms of status. However, in reality, there is no such convergence. Workers and managers come together spatially. Nevertheless, workers do not have the right to an equal voice with them. In the true sense administrators cannot be friends with workers. For example, according to Sugur’s research results (2004), workers can eat a meal with managers at the same cafeteria but they do not dare to sit at the same table. All these mechanisms let workers become alienated from each other. While workers are controlling their friends, they become afraid of each other at the same time. They seek to maintain their existence in the system through individual efforts. Workers become alienated from the collective identity so that they become much more open to any kind of control.

In post Fordism, the other important control mechanism is to create a culture of fear in workers. This mechanism aims to provide hidden and indirect coercion. All types of flexibility applications serve the creation of this culture. They are faced with indirect and hidden threats through flexibility applications. For example, workers are afraid that other workers


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will take their own place because of horizontal integration. Moreover, increasing rates of unemployment and subcontracting are considerable threats for workers. Thus, internal control is provided through the uncertain and insecure conditions of the markets of post Fordism.

The idea of inability to adapt to changing circumstances has caused an intense fear of losing jobs and of internal control (Senett, 2002: 191). This fear also directly affects the process of individualization of workers that will be discussed later. It makes control of workers easy and keeps them away from all kinds of collectives. In addition, the increasing rates of unskilled labour strengthen the capacity of control of capital.

In this process, scattered observation has taken the place of central oversight. The scattered observation leads to the deepening of oversight on everyday habits of workers by new technologies (Lyon, 1997: 177). In this process, the workers are also aware of being watched by other workers (idem: 176). Production lines are designed to be visible from a single centre. This structure is reminiscent of the concept of Bentham’s panopticon. A panopticon is a form of architecture that allows continuous observation of workers, patients or criminals and is built around a central control tower. In this system, everything can be seen by a controller at the same time, and he can camouflage himself by means of shutters, partitions or glass objects. However, not everyone knows that he is there and who is he (Foucault, 2005: 224). For this reason, the panopticon, in fact, aims to establish a system of power over the mind. It ensures that persons act in compliance with rules. The architectural form of panopticon is a means of providing power on its own because it always perpetuates control. People will be subject to non-tangible power by means of these applications. For Gorz (1986:51-58), power is not a person or intuition in this system: workers are not subject to tangible power in these system but they always feel pressure. Power is embodied by means of its rules. These rules legitimize power (Rouse, 1994: 95-96). The study of Suğur, Nichols and Suğur (2004: 131-133), which includes 356 workers in seven large factories, is about total quality systems and gives important clues about the panopticon. Supervisors who participated in this study said that they would control and eye workers in more comfort with a panopticon system.

Conclusion

There are many differences between the control mechanisms of Fordism and post Fordism. In Fordism, control has been more technically based and direct. Control is achieved inside the factory. In post Fordism, the control mechanisms are more indirect. Technical control is mainly

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provided by cameras and technical devices placed on the assembly line. Control mechanisms of post Fordism have two main advantages. The first one is that workers know that they are controlled constantly. The second is that the occurrence of faulty products can be prevented at the production stage. Which worker has made a mistake can be detected immediately. The interiors of the factories are designed to enable continuous supervision and control over the workers. Another big difference of post Fordism is much common use of ideological forms of control. Ideological control can be handled on a very large scale. A significant difference between the control applications of Fordism and post Fordism is that control becomes independent of time and place in post Fordism.

References

Ahire, S. L. (1997). Management Science - Total Quality Management interfaces: An integrative framework. Interfaces 27 (6): 91-105.

Aytaç, Ö. & İlhan, S. (2008). Yenikapitalizmin Kaotik Evreni: Belirsizlik, Sömürüve Ahlaki Kriz [New Capitalism’s ChaoticUniverse: Uncertainty, Exploitation and Moral Crisis]. Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi (1): 182-210.

Belek, İ. (1999). Post capitalist Paradigmalar: Postkapitalizm, Endüstri Ötesi Toplum, Post Fordizm, Esnek Uzmanlaşma, İkinci Endüstriyel Bölünme, Enformasyon Toplumu, Disorganize Toplum [Postcapitalist Paradigms: Postcapitalism, Industrial Society, Post Fordism, Flexible Specialization, the Second Industrial Division, Information Society, Disorganize Society]. Istanbul: SorunYayınları.

Bozkurt, V. (1996). Enformasyon Toplumuve Türkiye [Information Society and Turkey]. Istanbul: Sistem Yayıncılık.

Delbridge, R. (1995). Surviving JIT: Control and resistance in a Japanese transplant. Journal of Management Studies 32 (6): 803-817.

Dicle, Ü. (1995). Kalite Kontrol Grupları Seminerleri [Quality Control Groups Seminars]. Ankara: MPM Yayınları.

Ercan, F. (1997). Tarihselvetoplumsal Bir Süreç Olarak Kapitalizmve Esneklik, 95-96Petrol-İşYıllığı [Capitalism as a Social Process and Flexibility, 95-96 Almanac of Petrol]. Istanbul: Türkiye Petrol Kimya Lastik Sanayi İşçileri Sendikası Yayınları.

Foucault, M. (2005). Büyük Kapaltılma [The Great Confinement]. Istanbul: AyrıntıYayınları.

Gorz, A. (1986). Elveda Proleterya [Goodbye to the proletariat]. Istanbul: AfaYayınları.


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—. (2001). Yaşadığımız Sefelet, Kurtuluş Çareleri [Misery, Remedies of Independence]. Istanbul: İletişimYayınları.

Lyon D. (1997). Elektronik Göz [The Electronic Eye]. Istanbul: Sarmal Yayınevi.

Munck, R. (1995). Uluslararası Emek Araştırmaları [New International Labour Studies: An Introduction]. Ankara: Öteki Yayınları.

Rouse, J. (1994). Power/Knowledge. In The Cambridge Companion to Foucault. Cambridge: CUP. 92-114.

Senett, R. (2002). Karakter Aşınması: Yeni Kapitalizmde İşin Kişilik Üzerindeki Etkileri [The Corrosion of Character: The Personal Consequences of Work in the New Capitalism]. Istanbul: Ayrıntı Yayınları.

Sewell, G. (1998). The Discipline of Teams: The Control of Team-Based Industry through Electronic and Peer Surveillance. Administrative Science Quarterly 43(2): 397-428.

Suğur, N., Nichols, T. & Suğur, S. (2004). Türkiye’ de Toplam Kalite Uygulamaları: Beyaz Eşya, Otomotivve Tekstil Sektörü Üzerine Bir Araştırma [Turkey’s Total Quality Applications: Research on Textile, Automotive, White Goods Industries]. Ankara Üniversitesi Siyasal Bilgiler Dergisi (2): 59-2.

Taymaz, E. (1993). Krizve Teknoloji [Crisis and Technology]. Toplumve Bilim, Bahar: 5-42.

Thompson, P. (1989). The Nature of Work: An Introduction to Debates on the Labour Process. London: Macmillan.

Tokol, A. (2001). Endüstri İlişkilerive Yeni Gelişmeler [Industrial Relations and Recent Developments]. Bursa: Vipaş A.Ş.

Uyanık, Y. (2003). İşgücü Piyasalarında Esneklikve Bölünme [Flexibility and Division of Labour Markets]. Kamu-İş7 (2):1-17.

Yentürk, N. (1993). Post Fordist Gelişmelerve Dünyaİktisadi İşbölümünün Geleceği [Post Fordist Developments and the Future of the World EconomicDivision of Labor]. Toplumve Bilim, Bahar: 56-61.

Yıldırım, E. (2000). Türkiye’ de Toplam Kalite Yönetimi Uygulamalarının İşçilerve Endüstri İlişkileri Üzerindeki Etkileri [Impacts of Total Quality Management Practices on Workers and Industrial Relations in Turkey]. Toplumve Bilim, Güz (86): 260-281.

EMPLOYERS’ DEMAND FOR LABOUR FORCE IN GEORGIA’S BIG CITIES

MZIA SHELIA

Introduction The development of labour relationships of a new type under the conditions of the economic transformation underway in Georgia has made the study of the functioning of the labour market a rather topical issue.

Studying the demand for labour force started in the countries with transitional economies in the 1990s. First, there the demand for labour force was studied via surveying of employers by questionnaires. The works based on such methods initially appeared in Yugoslavia, and later on in the Czech Republic, Russia, Poland, Hungary, etc (Estrin & Svejnar, 1993).

Our work has been based on methodology already approved in the above countries, in particular, the so-called in-depth surveying method, i.e. structured survey by questionnaires. Up to 100 employers (directors of enterprises) in Kutaisi and Rustavi cities were surveyed overall. The enterprises were selected by taking into account their field of activity and the number of persons employed: 51% of the surveyed organizations were industrial enterprises. Apart from small enterprises, medium and, mostly, large enterprises were studied. The duration of the functioning of the last named is 15 years on the average, i.e. twice as long as that of the small enterprises.

The questionnaire designed for the study included 48 questions both closed and open-ended, with 323 possible answers. Together with assessing production and labour potential, the questionnaire considered the employers’ demand for labour force.

With the number of their inhabitants, Rustavi and Kutaisi belong to the group of big cities (according to the data provided by the National Office of Statistics of Georgia, in 2011, the population of Kutaisi was 194,700 and of Rustavi, 120,800), which play a significant role within Georgia’s system of settlement. Their socio-economic advancement is key for both

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the industrial and social development of the country as well as for the reduction of the flow of individuals intending to go into labour emigration, and the reintegration of returned migrants.

Our goal was to find out the following issues for the above two cities: - Whether there is currently an employers’ demand for personnel; - Of personnel of which professions and qualifications the employers

have a shortage; - Which factors cause the emergence of the employers’ demand; - For which category of personnel might the demand by the employers

be in the nearest future.

Survey Results

The study has identified that 42% of the enterprises investigated have no shortage of personnel of any profession. All the other subjects surveyed point out a lack of personnel of various professions, in particular a metalworker, a welder, a joiner, a founder, a turner, a roller, a cook, a woodworker and a stylist. Most of all there has been identified the shortage of the following two professionals, especially in Rustavi: a mechanical engineer and an electrician. As for Kutaisi, there is a lack of construction workers and woodworking specialists.

In response to the question: “The personnel of which category do you find most difficult to employ?” the respondents noted that the hardest thing is to get specialists with extensive experience (24.0%), while it is relatively difficult to get an experienced qualified worker (22%) and a young qualified specialist (22%) (Figure 1-7).

The diagram demonstrates that along with qualifications, experience too is of great value for the employer. The shortage of experience could not be ascribed only to the area of educational services since the professional experience can be gained by working at stable jobs for years. Thus, while developing employment policy, we should rely not on the creation of the capacity for occasional irregular seasonal employment opportunities but the generation of stable jobs. Otherwise, there will be a constant shortage of qualified personnel.

Only 9% of the respondents point out that the problem of finding appropriate employees is associated with the absence of the opportunity to train respective specialists in Georgia. The answers provided by the majority of the respondents are distributed in the following way:

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Figure 1-7. Distribution of respondents according to their answers provided to the question “The personnel of which category do you find most difficult to employ?”

- Job seekers are not satisfied with the amount of wage and working

conditions offered by employers (32%); - Employers are not content with their qualifications (28%); - No flexible system for finding appropriate personnel is operating in the

country today (18%) (Figure 1-8). Thus, the shortage of qualified personnel in the enterprises has mainly been conditioned not by the physical lack of the employees needed in general but by the low efficiency of market-based selection mechanisms, low labour costs and challenging working conditions.

The presence of an inflexible personnel search system is further confirmed by the fact that employers are searching for appropriate employees mainly using personal contacts and recommendations.

Our research has confirmed that personnel at any specific enterprise are selected by its manager, i.e. the employer (72%). Only 19% of the respondents point out that this function is performed by the head of the unit which needs to hire new employees. It can be concluded that the role of the personnel management department at enterprises has been neglected entirely. Respectively, only a very small proportion (0.8%) of the employers develops standards for determining professional skills for their


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prospective employees and sets up an information data base of job seekers and vacancies.

Figure 1-8. Distribution of the respondents according to their answers provided to the question “Why can you not find appropriate employees?”

An interview is the most common method for personnel selection, used by 53% of the respondents. Only 17% of them (mostly the representatives of large enterprises) noted that they worked on a regular basis in order to create their personnel reserve. Hence, we can conclude that most of the companies use those methods for personnel selection and evaluation that help minimize the costs for their hiring. However, the use of ineffective methods of hiring leads ultimately to the shortage of qualified staff and the necessity to incur additional costs in the future.

It is a well-known fact that investing in personnel development provides no less profit than investing in stock market. The study done has revealed that a considerable proportion of the respondents either does not care to enhance their personnel qualification (21%) or does so rarely (19%) (primarily, medium and small enterprises). Half of the respondents point out that, from time to time, they are able to provide for the qualification upgrade of their employees (including 60% of large enterprises). Only 9% of the organizations surveyed, mostly highly profitable enterprises, indicate that they do this systematically.

It has been identified that the main measure taken for the enhancement and development of personnel qualification are training at work places

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(38%), sending employees to various training-retraining centers (18%) and arranging for the study of interdisciplinary professions at the enterprises (16%).

The basic challenge for training and retraining personnel is lack of finances (46%). The activities designated for enhancing qualification are funded mainly by the enterprises themselves (68%). The respondents also indicate the low qualification of the trainers (19%) (Figure 1-9).

Figure 1-9. Distribution of the respondents according to their answers provided to the question “Which challenges are you facing while training-retraining your personnel?”

We presume that along with increasing the quality of the system for vocational training, the quality of the functioning of retraining centers should improve as well. In particular, the standards for their functioning need to be elaborated further and the retraining centers need to be staffed with highly qualified specialists. It is noteworthy to mention that the employers responded to the question “The personnel of which sub-unit of your enterprise require retraining most of all?” in the following way: marketologists (33.3%) and workers of the enterprise (24%). None of the respondents referred to the need of retraining the personnel department.

The personnel department needs to be retrained inasmuch as it has been identified that similar units are staffed with less qualified specialists most of which are not compatible with the positions occupied in


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professional terms; neither are they specialized in either the labour market or personnel management subjects.

The shortage of labour market and personnel management specialists existing on the labour market has also been caused by the factors associated with their training. Currently, none of the higher education institutions trains specialists of similar profile. There has been identified a great demand for business-oriented professions (accountants and financiers). We consider that the state support in the area of training specialists of economic profile undertaken lately has been a timely measure. The retraining of the specialists of the labour economy needs to be resumed as well.

Conclusion

Prospective demand for the labour force according to individual professions varies in Rustavi and Kutaisi cities.

Entrepreneurs in Rustavi point out that they will need to employ mechanical engineers and power engineering specialists within the next two years most of all, while there is the greatest demand for welders, electricians and metal craftsmen in the area of workmanship as well as for ICT specialists. In Kutaisi, there is the biggest demand for marketologists, construction workers, industrial engineers and PR managers as well as woodworkers (a joiner, an engraver, etc.) in the area of workmanship.

References

A Survey on Employer Demand for Workforce in Georgia. IOM. USAID. 2008.

Employer Workforce Demand. IOM. 2008. Estrin, S. & Svejnar, J. (1993). Wage determination in labour managed

firms under market-oriented reforms. Journal of Comparative Economics 17 (3): 687-700.

Labour Market and Reintegration of Returned Migration Georgia. (2012). Tbilisi: Universali.

Regional Labour Market Survey in Adjara. IOM.2008.

IMPACT OF CUSTOMER AND TECHNOLOGY ORIENTATIONS ON PERFORMANCE OF NEW PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT:

A STUDY BASED ON TURKISH MANUFACTURERS

TULIN URAL AND GÖZDE-GÜLIN OTKEN

Introduction

New product development is one of the most important competitive challenges that firms face today. The majority of the research in literature has identified various internal variables and external variables that can enhance or impede new product performance (Calantone & Di Benedetto, 1990). Past research shows that the strategic orientations of a firm can play a critical role in managing the new product development (NPD) process (Gatignon & Xuereb, 1997).

This study aims to answer two research questions: first, what level of internal (organizational support) and external variables (market and technological turbulences) facilitate or impede the implementation of NPD strategies effectively? The second is what level of customer- and technology- oriented strategies affect NPD performance? A conceptual framework has been designed to integrate key organizational variables, strategic orientation variables and consequences of new product development (Kumar, Stern & Anderson, 1993). Given that innovation performance can be measured in various ways, the study examines new product development performance from three different perspectives: customer acceptance, technical performance and profitability of new product. This study investigates these issues with empirical evidence collected through a survey of small and medium scale Turkish manufacturing firms.

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Conceptual Framework and Hypotheses

The conceptual framework depicted in Figure 1-10 has been designed in line with the NPD model developed by Jeong, Pae and Zhou (2006). Internal and external antecedents of firm are posited to have a direct influence on each of the strategic orientation variables, which in turn have a direct impact on each of the performance variables.

Internal variable

●Organizational

support

Strategic orientations

●Customer orientation

●Technology orientation

New product development Performance

●Customer acceptance ● Technical performance ● Profitability

External variables

●Market

turbulence ●Technological

turbulence

Figure 1-10. Conceptual framework: The effects of firm’s internal and external variables and strategic orientations on new product development performance (Jeong, Pae & Zhou, 2006) Effects of Organizational Support and Environmental Turbulence on Strategic Orientation Organizational support refers to the level of support within an organization towards new product development. Put differently, organizational support includes many approaches such as the commitment of management for product development, recognizing the importance of new products for corporate survival and allocating significant resources to product

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development. The supportive firm culture can facilitate implementation of marketing strategy effectively (Han, Kim & Srivastava, 1998; Damanpour & Gopalakrishnan, 1998). Organizational support may have a direct effect on strategic orientations such as customer and technology orientation. - H1a. The greater the level of organizational supports for NPD is, the

greater the level of customer orientation. - H1b. The greater the level of organizational supports for NPD is, the

greater the level of technology orientation. The performance of NPD depends on the conditions of market in which the firm sells its products. A key challenge faced by NPD projects is how to cope with environmental turbulence in order to reduce the risk of failure of either the project or the resulting product (Calantone, Garcia & Dröge, 2003; Cooper, 2003; Balanchandra & Friar, 1997). Environmental turbulence may increase a firm’s strategic tendency.

- H2a. The greater the level of market turbulence is, the greater the level

of customer orientation. - H2b. The greater the level of technological turbulence is, the greater

the level of technology orientation. Effects of Customer and Technology Orientations on NPD Performance Customer orientation typically manifests itself by prioritizing resource allocation to provide superior value and customer satisfaction (e.g. Narver & Slater, 1990; Noble, Sinha & Kumar, 2002). The literature of marketing strategy emphasizes the importance of customer orientation strategy in developing and managing new products (Day, 1994; Deshpande, Farley & Webster, 1993; Deshpande & Webster, 1989; Shapiro, 1988), because of the need to incorporate customer needs and satisfaction into new product development efforts. These attempts at considering customers are likely to help the firm to achieve superior new product performance over competitors (Jeong, Pae & Zhou, 2007). - H3a. The greater the customer orientation of the firm is, the better the

performance of new products in terms of customer acceptance. - H3b. The greater the customer orientation of the firm is, the better the

performance of new products in terms of technical performance.


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- H3c. The greater the customer orientation of the firm is, the better the performance of new products in terms of profitability.

“Technology orientation should lead to the development of more innovative, technologically superior products compared to those offered by competitors” (Jeong, Pae & Zhou 2006: 352). Montoya-Weis and Calantone (1994) and Gatignon and Xuereb (1997) found that technical proficiency is an important factor for new product success. The firm that has such a technological superiority is likely to achieve competitive advantage better which in turn will gain superior performance from its new products.

- H4a. The greater the technology orientation of the firm is, the better

the performance of new products in terms of customer acceptance. - H4b. The greater the technology orientation of the firm is, the better

the performance of new products in terms of technical performance. - H4c. The greater the technology orientation of the firm is, the better

the performance of new products in terms of profitability.

Method

To test the hypothesized associations, the survey was conducted on the small and medium sized manufacturing firms that do business in Antakya, Turkey. Sample sizes were determined by formula n=p.q/(e/z)2

(confidence level: 0.95, tolerance level: 0.10, max. variance p=q: 0.50, n=96). The sample consists of 100 manufacturers (n=100). It was randomly generated from databases of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry. The marketing manager or owner of a firm who is responsible for NPD was asked to participate in this study. Data Analysis A reliability test based on Cronbach’s alpha, helps to assess whether study scales are consistent and reliable or not. We found Cronbach’s alpha values for the organizational support scale: 0.67; the market turbulence scale: 0.64; the technological turbulence scale: 0.67; customer orientation scale: 0.82; technology orientation scale: 0.78 and customer acceptance scale: 0.85. The results of this procedure indicate that the constructs possessed approximately adequate measurement properties.


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Effects of Firms’ Internal and External Factors on Strategic Orientations of Firm Multiple regression models test the study’s hypotheses employing ordinary least square (OLS) estimation. The estimation model is given below and is estimated separately for customer and technological orientations (dependent variables). Independent variables are determined as the organizational support, market turbulence and technological turbulence. - CUSTOMER ACCEPTANCE=β0 + β1 (organizational support) + β2

(market turbulence) + β3 (technologic turbulence) + error. - TECHNOLOGICAL ORIENTATION=β0 + β1 (organizational support)

+ β2 (market turbulence) + β3 (technologic turbulence) + error. Table 1-26 combines two regression model results. Based on correlation matrices, the levels of correlations between all independent variables are lower than 0.70 for each of the regression models. The issue of multicollinearity is resolved because variance inflation factor measures have accessible level. Table 1-26. Effects of internal and external factors on strategic orientations

Variables Customer orientation

Technological orientation

Beta p Beta p Constant Organizational support Market turbulence Technological turbulence

0.46 0.04 0.09

0.00 0.00*** 0.65 0.30

0.42 -0.18 0.33

0.00 0.00*** 0.11 0.00***

R2=0.30; F=13.913; Sig.F=0.00; Dur.W.=1.807;

R2=0.23; F=9.833; Sig.F=0.00; Dur.W.=1.429.

- Hypothesis 1a predicts that the level of organizational support for NPD

relates positively to customer orientation. The result supports this hypothesis (p<0.01). The direction of the relationship is as predicted


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and the standardized regression coefficient is positive (β=0.46). That is, higher level of organizational support of management results in greater customer orientation.

- Hypothesis 1b predicts that the level of organizational support for NPD relates positively to technology orientation. The result supports this hypothesis (p<0.01). The direction of the relationship is as predicted and the standardized regression coefficient is positive (β=0.42). That is, higher level of organizational support of management results in greater technology orientation.

- Hypothesis 2a predicts that the level of market turbulence relates positively to customer orientation. The result does not support H2a.

- Hypothesis 2b predicts that the level of technological turbulence relates positively to technology orientation. The result supports this hypothesis (p<0.01). The direction of the relationship is as predicted and the standardized regression coefficient is positive (β=0.33). That is, higher level of technological turbulence results in greater technology orientation.

Effects of Customer and Technology Orientation on NPD Performance The estimation model is given below and is estimated separately for customer acceptance, technical product performance and profitability (dependent variables). Independent variables are determined as the customer orientation and technology orientation.

- CUSTOMER ACCEPTANCE=β0 + β1 (customer orientation) + β2

(technology orientation) + error. - TECHNICAL PERFORMANCE=β0 + β1 (customer orientation) + β2

(technology orientation) + error. - PROFITABILITY=β0 + β1 (customer orientation) + β2 (technology

orientation) + error. Table 1-27 combines three regression model results.


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Table 1-27. Effects of strategic orientations on NPD performance

Variables Customer acceptance

Technical product performance

Profitability

Beta p Beta p Beta p Constant Customer orientation Technology orientation

0.10 0.32

0.00 0.34 0.00***

0.25 0.04

0.00 0.02** 0.67

The model is insignificant.

R2=0.14 ; F=8.347 Sig.F=0.00 Dur.W.=1.694

R2=0.07 ; F=4.176 Sig.F=0.01 Dur.W.=1.812

F=0.762 Sig.F=0.46

- Hypothesis 3a predicts that the level of customer orientation of firm

relates positively to customer acceptance. The result does not support H3a.

- Hypothesis 3b predicts that the level of customer orientation of firm relates positively to technical product performance. The result supports this hypothesis (p<0.05). The direction of the relationship is as predicted and the standardized regression coefficient is positive (β=0.25). That is, higher level of customer orientation of firm results in greater technical product performance.

- Hypothesis 3c predicts that the level of customer orientation of the firm relates positively to profitability. The result does not support H3c.

- Hypothesis 4a predicts that the technology orientation of the firm relates positively to customer acceptance. The results support this hypothesis (p<0.01). The direction of the relationship is as predicted and the standardized regression coefficient is positive (β=0.32). That is, higher level of technology orientation results in greater customer acceptance.

- Hypothesis 4b predicts that the technology orientation of the firm relates positively to technical product performance. The result does not support H4b.

- Hypothesis 4c predicts that the level of technology orientation of the firm relates positively to profitability. The result does not support H4c.


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Discussion and Conclusion

This study examines the role of internal and external factors in new product development processes, and the effects of strategic orientations on NPD performance.

The research results show that organizational support influences positively the customer orientation and technology orientation. Thus, it appears that innovative culture in organization to be established by top management facilitates the implementation of the customer orientation strategy. Managers should place the existence of supportive environment towards new product development at the forefront of organizational priorities. Similarly, firms should invest to enhance their technology capacity for implementation of technology orientation strategy. The level of technological turbulence as an external environmental factor influences the level of technological-orientation in a positive direction. In particular, rapid change of technology is causing highly competitive situations (Liu, 2000). Firms increasingly need to meet market needs in order to survive and grow in the current intensive competition environment.

The findings also demonstrate that proposed strategic orientations have important performance implications. Customer orientation leads to better technical product performance. To serve customer needs better relative to its competitors, the firm should make more efforts to improve the technical dimension of its new products. It is interesting to note that the strong customer receptivity market toward high-technical products exists in Turkey. Managers should monitor the preferences of customers toward the technical dimension of new products. The level of technology orientation of the firm affects positively the customer acceptance of the new product. Ilory, Oke & Sanni (2000) also support this finding. However, the relationship between customer orientation and profitability is statistically insignificant. Similarly, the relationship between technology orientation and profitability is insignificant as well. The lack of relationship may result from the characteristics of Turkish firms and other market conditions.

This study is, however, affected by several limitations. Although high reliability coefficients of scales may reflect strong evidence about the scale power, researchers would need to adapt them for different groups and in a multi-national context. All participants responded within a particular time frame and were only given a single opportunity to respond.

Finally, the present study may be a guide for getting better NPD performance and better resource allocation decision-making for marketing managers.


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References

Balachandra, R. and Friar, J. H. (1997). Factors for success in R&D projects and new product innovation: a contextual framework, Transactions on Engineering Management 44 (3): 276-287.

Calantone, R., Garcia, Rosanna & Dröge, Cornelia. (2003). The effects of environmental turbulence on new product development strategy planning. Journal of Product Innovation Management 20: 90-103.

Calantone, R. J., and Di Benedetto, C. A. (1990). Successful industrial product innovation: An integrative literature review. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.

Cooper, L. P. (2003). A research agenda to reduce risk in new product development through knowledge management: a practitioner perspective. Journal of Engineering and Technology Management 20: 117-140.

Damanpour, F. & Gopalakrishnan, S. (1998), Theories of organizational structure and innovation adoption: the role of environmental change, Journal of Engineering and Technology Management 15 (1): 1-24.

Day, G. S. (1994). The capabilities of market-driven organizations. Journal of Marketing 58: 37-52.

Deshpande, R. & Webster, F. E. (1989). Organizational culture and marketing: Defining the research agenda. Journal of Marketing 53: 3-15.

Deshpande, R., Farley, J. U. & Webster, F. E. (1993). Corporate culture, customer orientation, and innovativeness in Japanese firms: A quadrant analysis. Journal of Marketing 57: 23-37.

Gatignon, H. & Xuereb, J. (1997). Strategic orientation of the firm and new product performance. Journal of Marketing Research 34 (1): 77-90.

Han, J. K., Kim, N. & Srivastava, R. K. (1998). Market orientation and organizational performance: Is innovation a missing link? Journal of Marketing 62: 30-45.

Ilory, M. O., Oke, J. S. & Sanni, S. A. (2000). Management of new product development in selected food companies in Nigeria. Technovation 20: 333-342.

Jeong, I., Pae, J., H. & Zhou, D. (2006). Antecedents and consequences of the strategic orientations in new product development: The case of Chinese manufacturers. Industrial Marketing Management 35: 348-358.


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Kumar, N., Stern, L. W. & Anderson, J. C. (1993). Conducting interorganizational research using key informants. Academy of Management Journal 36: 1633-1651.

Liu, W. (2000). Governmental policy of the generation of technical change: the case of the People’s Republic of China. In Mimeo, Fogelman College of Business and Economics. University of Memphis.

Montoya-Weiss, M. M. & Calantone, R. J. (1994). Determinants of new product performance: A review and meta-analysis. Journal of Product Innovation Management 11: 397-417.

Narver, J. C. & Slater, S. F. (1990). The effect of a market orientation on business profitability. Journal of Marketing 54: 20-35.

Noble, C. H., Sinha, R. K. & Kumar, A. (2002). Market orientation and alternative strategic orientations: A longitudinal assessment of performance implications. Journal of Marketing 66: 25-39.

Shapiro, B. P. (1988). What the hell is ‘market oriented?’ Harvard Business Review 66: 119-125.

STATE MECHANISM TO ENSURE ENTERPRISE COMPETITIVENESS

IN TEXTILE AND CLOTHING INDUSTRIES: USE OF INTERNATIONAL EXPERIENCE

FOR KAZAKHSTAN

SVETLANA YEPANCHINTSEVA

Introduction Textile and clothing industries are of great social and economic importance because of their significant role in ensuring employment of a population. The importance of these industries is also determined by the fact that consumption of their products is second only to food consumption. In addition, they affect a country’s defence. That is why these industries became launch-pads for the economies of developed countries and are selected as high-priority ones by developing nations. International experience shows that the achievement of competitiveness in the textile and clothing industries is the result of a deliberate development strategy undertaken at three levels: macro, branch and micro levels. Development of the textile and clothing industries in most countries is associated with active governmental intervention (Yepanchintseva, 2012).

The role of the state under current conditions is to prevent spontaneous development and to provide business with a fair competition environment (Yesmagulova, 2008). Developed programs assume direct state support for the industries, preferential taxation policy, customs regulation, support of export-oriented enterprises, construction and improvement of production infrastructure and promotion of technological modernization. State support of the textile and clothing industries is very important in the initial stage of their development.

The textile and clothing industries of Kazakhstan are characterized by a high dependence on imports. Production of textile and clothing satisfies only 10% of home demand (Khudova, 2012). The remaining 90% is

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provided by imports. Under these circumstances it is necessary to take measures to raise competitive capacity of enterprises in these industries and to solve the problem of import substitution.

Methodology

The methodology of this study is a conceptual attempt to revise the existing literature, draw conclusions and give some suggestions on the use of international experience to ensure the competitiveness of the textile and clothing industries of Kazakhstan.

The Main Body

To ensure competitive power of an industry there is a need for some mechanism allowing an effective use of available resources and factors of competitiveness. The term “mechanism” is defined as a set of methods and means of influence on economic processes and their regulation (Yesmagulova, 2012). A mechanism for ensuring competitiveness is a set of mechanisms that are implemented through specific methods of influence on enterprise competitiveness: - A mechanism for ensuring competitiveness by the enterprise itself. For

enterprises of the textile and clothing industries in Kazakhstan the most important things are: a) improvement in management and marketing for reducing production costs, b) renewal of assortment, fast response to changes in demand and fashion, and c) introduction of modern technologies and modernization of production.

- A state mechanism for ensuring competitiveness. This mechanism is the most efficient and effective one. Measures undertaken by the enterprise itself are insufficient to develop the industry and to ensure its competitiveness. One of the features of the textile and clothing industries is the fact that they are largely subjected to external factors. These include the world market, state, material and technical base, infrastructure, tariff and taxation policies, etc.

International experience shows that those countries have an advantage in a competitive struggle where the home demand is focused on domestic goods (Yesmagulova, 2012). A government plays different roles in the formation of enterprise competitiveness in different countries. Its influence varies by scales, forms and methods. There are two main directions for state activity in ensuring enterprise competitiveness:

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- Policy of import substitution. Within this framework, the government creates favourable conditions for the operation of domestic enterprises, strengthens control over unfair competition, strengthens customs control to prevent the importation of counterfeit goods, etc.

- Export promotion. The state creates the interest of domestic producers to export products with high added value. This is mainly achieved through a relevant tariff policy. Also the government can assist in conclusion of contracts with foreign partners, as well as organize participation of domestic enterprises in international exhibitions, etc.

Figure 1-11 shows the state mechanism to ensure enterprise competitiveness in the textile and clothing industries.

The textile and clothing industries in Kazakhstan are in a protracted crisis. Today, these sectors satisfy only 10% of home demand. The remaining 90% is covered by imports (Khudova, 2012). To take the textile and clothing industries of Kazakhstan out of crisis it is possible to use the experience of some other countries (Table 1-28).

The economy of the People’s Republic of China is a shining example of the fact that the development of the textile and clothing industries can be an effective basis for the construction of an industrial society. The achievement of competitiveness in this field became a platform for the development of other industries, including production of industrial equipment and machinery (Yepanchintseva, 2012). At present, China is a world leader in production and export of textiles and clothing (26% and 34% of the corresponding world markets) (Korkmaz & Medeni, 2012). Other factors beside government regulation contributed to the success of the Chinese textile industry. These are chiefly a large amount of low-cost labour and their own natural resources. In Kazakhstan a policy for promotion of non-primary exports can be used which was previously successful in China. This measure would be very relevant, as Kazakhstan exports about 90% of its primary goods (cotton, lint, raw wool, leather, etc.). Meanwhile, textile producers have to work with expensive imported materials (fabric, yarn, accessories, etc.). Also there is practically no export of goods with high added value.

The success of the development of the textile and clothing industries in Turkey was achieved through a deliberate strategy which was implemented in stages: 1) restoration of production, 2) the saturation of the domestic market, 3) entrance to the world market, and 4) technical and technological modernization. Since 1933 and up to the 1990s, the development of these industries was fully regulated by the government through the state holding “Sümerbank.” Because of this these branches


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satisfy the home demand by more than 85% (Gyunesh, 2010). In addition, Turkey is a major global exporter of textiles and clothing (Korkmaz & Medeni, 2012). At present, there are no special state programs for support of the textile and clothing industries in Turkey. In Kazakhstan the government has also adopted a strategy for the development of these industries, the aims of which are to solve a problem of import substitution by 2014 and to set up the manufacture of products with high added value.

Figure 1-11. State mechanisms for ensuring enterprise competitiveness in the textile and clothing industries

State mechanisms for ensuring enterprise competitiveness

Direct regulation Indirect regulation

attraction of investments

organization of special exhibitions

Enterprise competitiveness in the textile and clothing industries

Solving the enterprise problems

Problems of textile and clothing enterprises:

1) shortage of working capital, 2) low innovation activity, 3) small demand for home products, 4) imperfection of management and marketing.

1) unfair competition, 2) shortage of primary goods, 3) lack of information, 4) shortage of skilled personnel.

Influence Influence

long-term financing

conclusion of contracts for export delivery

state orders

fiscal regulation

tariff regulation

provision of consulting services

establishment of training centers

export promotion


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Table 1-28. International experience of state support of the textile and clothing industries Country Government measures for regulation of the textile and clothing

industries

People’s Republic of China

• Use of five-year development plans; • construction of production infrastructure; • governmental export promotion: granting of preferential purpose-oriented credits; • promotion of non-primary export and restriction of primary one through tariff policy.

Turkey • Use of government strategies, timely and accurate fulfilment of state programs for the development of the industries; • active interaction of government and business; • attraction of direct foreign investments; • construction of production infrastructure; • active promotion of products into the market by producers (holding of specialized exhibitions, in particular).

Republic of Korea

• State policy of protectionism; • establishment of the National Human Resource Development (NHRD) Plan and introduction of new approaches to personnel management.

Uzbekistan • Active attraction of direct foreign investments through exemption from all taxes except VAT and duties for companies with foreign capital; • granting of cost benefits for the purchase of raw materials for enterprises that export more than 80% of their products; • provision of state educational grants for training of specialists in the textile and clothing industries abroad.

Kyrgyzstan • Development and implementation of government programs for support of the textile and clothing industries; • systematic involvement of the state in solving various problems of the industries, including those connected with supply of primary goods as well as human resources; • granting of significant tax benefits to enterprises of the textile and clothing industries.

Lithuania • Government investments in modernization of production and innovations; • assistance in conclusion of contracts for the supply of products into the European market; • introduction of dual licensing for imported textiles and clothing while removing restrictions on Chinese imports.

Kazakhstan can use the experience of the Republic of Korea in following a policy of protectionism. However, such measures can only take place until its accession to the WTO. A new approach to the human resource


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management applied in Korea is based on the change of the paradigm of competitiveness: in the past, material resources were its most important factor, but at present and in the future they are substituted in this role by human resources and knowledge. Knowledge has been assessed to be the most important resource of production, which displaces capital and labour (Textile Technology Seminar, 2012). This approach can also be applied in Kazakhstan, as new methods of motivating the staff are very relevant.

To support its textile and clothing industries Kyrgyzstan took quite a liberal path: an exemption of enterprises in these industries from all taxes except VAT (Khudova, 2011). Taxation policy is however quite a subtle mechanism and its application may be ineffective and even bring damage to the state budget. In this regard this measure is not currently being considered in Kazakhstan.

State support for the textile and clothing industries in Uzbekistan has led to their intensive growth. They now bring 20% of GDP, and employ a third of the working population of the country (Boltabayev, 2008). The government has created favourable conditions for foreign companies to work together with the domestic enterprises. In addition, many textile and clothing enterprises fulfil orders of European firms. That is quite similar to the activities of companies in Lithuania where there is mastered mass production of clothing on order of traders for delivery to Western Europe (Levchenko, 2009). That was facilitated by Lithuania’s accession to the EU, and the availability of relatively cheap human resources.

Kazakhstan has already taken some steps to establish joint projects with other countries. In particular, the state organizes a participation of domestic companies in special exhibitions abroad. Besides, the state pays for lease of exhibition areas and registration fees. Also, it issued special catalogues containing information about the textile and clothing enterprises and their products. These catalogues are distributed through the diplomatic missions of Kazakhstan and at the international events held by KAZNEX INVEST (Operativnaya otchetnost po monitoringu gosudarstvennoi programmy ‘Programma razvitiya legkoi promyshlennosti Respubliki Kazakhstan na 2012–2014 gg.’, 2012).

One should note the low innovation activity of textile and clothing enterprises in Kazakhstan. It is connected with low ability to research and to introduce new technologies. Wear of equipment in enterprises is on an average 80% (Khudova, 2011). As the researchers note, the textile and clothing industries are traditionally considered to be labour-intensive, but in recent years they became more knowledge-intensive (Korkmaz & Medeni, 2012). The use of scientific advances in the production becomes one of the most important competitiveness factors. Therefore, to support


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the industry at early stages, it is desirable that the state finances innovations. Kazakhstan has already considered a proposal for duty-free import of high-tech equipment, spare parts, and resources (accessories, chemical products) for manufacture of textiles and clothing. However, a decision on the matter is still pending (Operativnaya otchetnost po monitoringu gosudarstvennoi programmy ‘Programma razvitiya legkoi promyshlennosti Respubliki Kazakhstan na 2012–2014 gg.’, 2012).

The major problem faced by the enterprises of the textile and clothing industries in Kazakhstan today is active competition from importers. According to the Association of Light-Industry Enterprises of Kazakhstan, illegally imported goods amount to about 80% of the market (Khudova, 2012). The solution to the problem is to strengthen customs control.

Conclusion

The state mechanism for ensuring enterprise competitiveness in the textile and clothing industries is the most efficient and effective one in all the totality of mechanisms. International experience of states ensuring competitiveness shows that this mechanism is twofold. It is necessary: a) to satisfy the home demand while solving the problem of import dependence, and b) to create conditions for the export of products with high added value. The textile and clothing industries in Kazakhstan are high-priority ones because of their social and economic significance. It is necessary to use all the international experience to be competitive in this field. The most important tools for that should be: state support of innovations, flexible tariff policy, export promotion, establishment of optimal connections between the production of primary and final goods, attraction of foreign investors, and the providing of favourable conditions for joint production.

References

Boltabayev, M. (2008). Legkaya promyshlennost Uzbekistana [Light industry of Uzbekistan]. Online:

http://institutiones.com/agroindustrial/126-2008-06-12-18-02-01.html (In Russian)

Development Strategy of Textile and Tailoring Industries of the Kyrgyz Republic on 2010–2011. (2010). Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan.

Gyunesh, V. V. (2010). Legkaya promyshlennost Turtsii: strategiya uspekha [Light industry of Turkey: strategy of success]. Online:

http://rustm.net/catalog/article/1850.html.


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Khudova, L. N. (2011). Opportunities of Light Industry in the Republic of Kazakhstan under the Conditions of Manufacturing Modernization. Innovative Technologies for the Production of the Goods, Quality and Safety Improvement of the Products in the Light Industry. Proc. Internat. Sci. Pract. Conf., Almaty, April 28-29, 2011: 6-10.

Khudova, L. N. (2012). O tekushchei situatsii v legkoi promyshlennosti v Respublike Kazakhstan [On current situation in light industry in the Republic of Kazakhstan]. Innovative Technologies for the Production of the Goods, Quality and Safety Improvement of the Products in the Light Industry. Proc. Internat. Sci. Pract. Conf., Almaty, May 25, 2012: 59-61. (In Russian)

Korkmaz, H. O. & Medeni, T. D. (2012). Effects of Clusters on Competitiveness of Textile and Clothing Industries: Role of Technology and Innovation.International Journal of eBusiness and eGovernment Studies 4 (1): 11-21.

Levchenko, S. (2009). Legkaya promyshlennost [Light industry. Lithuanian-Russian Business Portal]. Online: http://www.lietrus.ru/ru/litmarket/158-legprom.html.

Ministry of Industry and New Technologies of the Republic of Kazakhstan. (2012). Operativnaya otchetnost po monitoringu gosudarstvennoi programmy ‘Programma razvitiya legkoi promyshlennosti Respubliki Kazakhstan na 2012–2014 gg.’ [Current report on monitoring of the state program ‘Program of development of light industry of the Republic of Kazakhstan for 2012–2014’]. Almaty.

Textile Technology Seminar. (2012). Kazakhstan–Korea Textile Technology Cooperation Project. Almaty Technological University, Kazakhstan, Oct. 31, 2012.

Yepanchintseva, S. E. (2012). Razvitiye legkoi promyshlennosti: opyt zarubezhnykh stran [Development of light industry: experience of foreign countries]. KazEUKhabarshysy, 3, 107-114.

Yesmagulova, N. D. (2008). Mechanism to ensure competitiveness of enterprises of light industry. Online:

http://www.rusnauka.com/31_PRNT_2008/Economics/36311.doc.htm —. (2012). Konkurentosposobnost predpriyatii legkoi promyshlennosti

Respubliki Kazakhstan [Competitiveness of enterprises of light industry of the Republic of Kazakhstan]. Online: http://arbir.ru/articles/a_3123.htm.

CONCEPT OF LEADERSHIP IN ANCIENT HISTORY AND ITS EFFECTS

ON THE MIDDLE EAST

ERCÜMENT YILDIRIM

Introduction

The Middle East has had very different cultural, ethnical and social structures in every period of history. The lands of the Middle East that communities have settled from the earliest times of history, have witnessed very many immigrations, comparable to no place in the world (Lipiński, 1995: 221-233; Bertman, 2003: 62-67). The greatest change in the Middle East, found on the connecting route of the continents Africa, Asia and Europe known as the old world, occurred through the establishment of states with the result that people adopted a sedentary life. The “Fertile Crescent,” forming a part of the Middle East, became the region in which the first agricultural economics developed and city-states were established (McIntosh, 2005: 7-15; Kuiper, 2011: 32-34; Potts, 1997: 6-11). The Sumerians solved the two important problems that they met on the route to urbanization with the help of clay abundant in the region. Firstly, they used adobe produced from clay both for the construction of residences and temples because there was no wood in great quantities. Therefore, they built cities formed of houses whose surroundings were encircled with walls and had more than one room. The second important problem was to keep economic and religious records. They solved this by pressing reed on wet clay tablets; in the end this led them to invent a new writing formed of signs after the pictures of earlier times (Potts, 1997: 91-97; Kramer, 1963: 73; Armstrong, 2002: 11). When villages of forty or fifty people formed of five or six houses gave way to great cities like Lagas composed of nineteen thousand, there arose problems of governance – for the governors and the governed. Since people living in villages established in the earlier periods of the Neolithic Age had consanguinity with each other, a leader they chose among themselves, we can call him clan leader as well, could solve daily problems by taking the rules applied

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beforehand: that is to say, sustaining the tradition or easily enabling the rule of the people that he was responsible for (Snell, 2005: 391-394; Mieroop, 2004: 197-203; Charvat, 1993: 196-205). As these villages founded with an agricultural purpose began to develop and urbanize and their populations started to reach a few thousand, the clan leaderships began to give their power to kingdoms, and the traditions gave way to written laws (Bederman, 2004: 21-23; Kuiper, 2011: 24). A clan leader could sustain daily processes through his simple orders to those around him without needing any organization. In those vital cases relating to all of the clan, it was possible to make a decision through a short discussion with the elders of the clan. Since everybody participating in this meeting could express an opinion for the decisions to be made, later on there was no revolt or inconsistency (Algaze, 2008: 40-42; Chavalas, 2006: 169-175). When the populations of Sumerian villages increased five or six thousand years ago, this system ceased to be useable for a population reaching thousands. Moreover the extant political, social and economic structure went out of use. Then the city public began to search for a solution. Primarily a gabionade (outer curtain wall) was built by means of common labour of the public in order to determine the borders of the city and enable its security (Bertman, 2003: 262-263; Hamblin, 2006: 215-217; Maisels, 2001: 215). To preserve these bulwarks constructed from adobe, a military class to continually serve emerged. Since in earlier periods everyone obtained production for their needs, they consumed what they produced. However, the yield suddenly increased through the application of agricultural production made by simple devices and animal power, and people began to produce much more than they needed. This surplus revealed the need to keep the product in stores or sell, so this led to occupational groups arising, which needed proper organizations in themselves such as trade and storage and in which some people had to specialize (Mieroop, 2004: 176-178; Leech, 2007: 8; Bulliet & Crossley, 2001: 20-21). This rapid development brought about two necessities. The first of these was record keeping that led to the invention of writing. Secondly, as human relations developed with the emergence of different occupations and life styles, the rules coming from tradition were not sufficient. Thus, every Sumerian city developed and recorded their own rules and therefore rules of law emerged. People who, a short while beforehand, were leading a simple life suddenly specialized in different occupations. Life rapidly progressed in developed cities in which people stratified into various social classes primarily as military and religious, daily life was determined with written law (Nejat, 1998: 116; Charvat, 1993: 216; Schomp, 2004: 74-76).

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Over the years, thousands of views have been presented to define the concept of “Leadership” and many academic studies have been made on this subject. In the 20th century, approximately 5000 studies were conducted and there were over 400 definitions (Rost, 1993: 7-19; McFarland, 1969: 153-171; Erçetin, 2000: 3). In Middle Eastern communities, much thought related to what qualities a leader should have rather than the concept of leadership. There has been an extant leadership structure in the mind of the Middle Eastern person since ancient ages. Thus, he has some basic expectations from the people who desire to govern him. Apart from these expectations, Middle Eastern communities separated the concepts of leader and governor. According to the perspective of these people, while a governor was trying to preserve the status quo, a leader had to take the society or the state he governed further (Metcalfe & Mimouni, 2013: 12-17; Ciulla, 2004: 7-10; Molchanov, 2009: 37-38). While the systematization of the concept of “Leadership” in a modern sense arose in the 19th century, Western thinkers made definitions by using the internal dynamics of their own societies as a base. In spite of this, they supposed that the governmental philosophy of the Middle Eastern communities that they saw as backward was formed by the thought of “obedience based on fear.” The fact that governmental development of Middle Eastern communities with complicated social structure could not be explained so simply emerged in a later period (Lindholm, 2004: 440-441; Ismael, 2010: 3-9; Reid, 2000: 181-187). When we have a look at the civilizations that the first city-states composed, we see that the personal qualities which the leaders governing the society have determine the extant situation of the state. Yet as the institutionalization of bureaucracy did not completely occur, the fate of society depended upon the decisions and success of the leader. Therefore, when the states rapidly gained strength and developed under powerful and skilled rulers, the death of these people carried these states into a process of decline (Kramer, 1963: 74-75; Johnston, 2007: 167-169; Gates, 2003: 31; Smith, 2008: 56-57). In time it transformed state government fixed to the success of leaders into personalized rulership. Due to these personalized rulerships, due to the intelligence, courage and skill that the person in power has, his prestige in society is admitted by people, and the power gains legality. The communities thought that the person to lead them had to have more superior qualities than they had. From earlier periods, leaders had tried to present this legality by either attributing to themselves religious power or by using violence, fear and pressure (Beck,


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2013: 155-156; McIntosh, 2005: 129; Orlin, 2007: 41). The rulership provided by despotism was more short-lived than other legality-based systems. This is because the rulerships formed by pressure and fear may collapse with the sudden removal of the fear factor over the defeat of the leaders in a war or a disease. In some cases the dimensions of the fear that the leader spread were very great. Even his death led the community’s respect mixed with fear for him to continue for centuries. In communities governed by despotism, it is asked that every individual obey the orders of the leader (Karlovsky, 1996: 74-75; Kellerman, 1983: 56-59; Fairfield, 2008: 6-8). From ancient history, another source of rulership is the phenomenon of religion. The leaders who had power did not avoid using religious beliefs to conduct the society they governed in a particular direction (Holland, 2010: 282-285; McIntosh, 2005: 129-131).

Leadership in Today’s Middle East

The concept of leadership in today’s Middle East was shaped after the First World War. Before the First World War, under the domination of the Ottoman Empire that continued for roughly five centuries, the ethnic and religious groups in the Middle East did not display any attempt to rebel. Both the thought that it was impossible to resist the great power of the Ottoman Empire and the Ottoman’s “Tolerance” policy combined with the understanding of justice prevailed in this. From the end of the 18th c., the fact that the Ottoman Empire lost power to European states and the thought of nationalism that the French revolution spread led the people to move against central government first in the Balkans then in the Middle East (Pappe, 2010: 15-16; Akgündüz & Öztürk, 2011: 431-432). From the 19th c., the fact that the Middle East was the place where the thoughts of freedom and democracy that spread across the whole world found least support, and were applied the least, resulted from the qualities of the leaders in Middle Eastern countries. At this point, to understand the perspective for the ruling structure of these leaders gained importance. Today the individuals of communities who are used to being governed by democracy consider the state an organization formed to make society live comfortably and peacefully and in which every citizen is represented equally. However, today’s Middle Eastern leaders see state as an organization that they create to sustain their legality. To put it more simply, Middle Eastern leaders consider the fate of state as their own fate. According to the discourses of these leaders on the justification of their rule, it is the case that he rules the country for its best and there is no country if he is absent. The communities to whom this black propaganda


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was performed were conditioned to see their leaders as indispensible (Peretz, 1994: 135-137; Kamrava, 2011: 303-310; Metcalfe & Mimouni, 2013: 78-85; Khoury, 1991: 74-82). It should not be thought that today’s Middle Eastern leaders govern countries by themselves. The family or clan of the leader has a great importance in the state government. The leaders who appear before the public as the symbol of power and charisma share the state government among their families and relatives. The system in which the close relatives of the head of state behave like a “Dynastic Family” bring about much injustice and the waste of resources of the country. The public is classified according to affinity to the leader. That is to say, while the communities that belong to the same ethnic, religious or denominational rank form the upper class of the society, other ethnic ranks and those who believe in different religions and sects are kept in lower groups. The share of the richness of the country is made in line with this system. This case led to those living close to the leader or the head of the state to gain great wealth, and the great multitudes of people to live in poverty (Wingate, 2004: 26-32; Darra, 2007: 60-66; Reed, 2007: 23-30; Hourani, 1993: 593-597). A particular importance was given to nobility derived from family in Arabian communities that composed the majority of the Middle Eastern population. This case led the leaders to consider their family superior to other multitudes of people forming the state. This formation, which we can call tribalism or micronationalism, prevented the society from adopting each other and becoming a “Nation”. Right after the end of the domination of the Ottomans, the Middle Eastern communities to be nationalized by the Western countries could not enter into the process of being a “State” from “Tribalist” culture (Khoury, 1991: 294-297; Brynen, 1995: 67-71). In the two-pole world after the end of the Second World War, the Middle Eastern communities that were gradually saved from mandate rule were directed by Western states to establish national states. These states composed outside natural processes of formation found themselves involved in the Cold War in a short time. During the Cold War, the first thought that Arabian leaders clung to was Pan-Arabism. Because leaders realized that tribalism was not enough to form a state, they tried to establish national states with Pan-Arabist ideology that they saw as a formation to embrace the whole society. During the establishment of national states there was no significant development on behalf of democracy; the leaders were only content with establishing councils to clear themselves (Roy, 2009: 79-87; Curtis, 1986: 21-33; Brown, 2006: 109-111; Anderson, 2000: 298-301). During the Cold War the Middle Eastern leader supported the USA or USSR in line with his interests. This case enabled the two great states to have an influence on the Middle East.


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Some leaders who blended Pan-Arabism and Socialist ideology with Islamic thought tried to reveal new governance models. The states that engaged with the USA tried to make the public accept a governing model we can define as “Traditional Religious Monarchy.” As these two governing systems were not derived from the internal dynamics of the Middle East, they were not accepted (Ashton, 2007: 1-12; Vatikiotis, 1997: 44-59; Milton-Edwards & Hinchcliffe, 2007: 36-51). Another event that gave the mentality of the Middle Eastern people a deep shock came in the last decade called the internet age. The young population that has rapidly increased in the Middle East began to be interested in various countries of the world and accept the thought that despotic rule was not their fate. The facts that the great economic income they had was not shared fairly, that they had no voice in state government, that they were subjected to ethnic and religious discrimination, that they were repressed under pressure and deterrent policies, and that other publics and nations live in democracy fearlessly turned into a rebellion under the leadership of the youth. What the result will be of these rebellions, popularly known as “The Arabian Spring” and which spread from one country to another, is not definite. Because of this movement, whether the Middle Eastern communities will reveal new despotic leaders or governments in which the conditions of democracy are enabled has not become clear (Panara & Wilson, 2013: 77-99; Manhire, 2012; Bradley, 2012).

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Algaze, G. (2008). Ancient Mesopotamia at the Dawn of Civilization. Chicago, IL: UCP.

Anderson, E. W. (2000). The Middle East: Geography and Geopolitics. London: Routledge.

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Ashton, J. (2007). The Cold War in the Middle East. London: Routledge. Beck, H. (2013). A Companion to Ancient Greek Government. Oxford:

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Bulliet, R. & Crossley, P. (2001). The Earth and Its Peoples: A Global History. London: Wadsworth Publishing.

Charvat, P. (1993). Mesopotamia before History. London: Routledge. Chavalas, M. W. (2006). Ancient near East: Historical Sources in

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London: Routledge Publishing. Hourani, A. H. (1993). The Modern Middle East. Place: UCP. Ismael, T. Y. (2010). Governments and Politics of the Contemporary

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End of the Cold War. London: Routledge. Wingate, B. (2004). Saddam Hussein. New York, NY: Rosen Publishing.

CHAPTER TWO

INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

DESTINATION IN THE MIDDLE OF THE BUZZ

GÖKÇE ÖZDEMIR-BAYRAK AND FERIKA ÖZER-SARI

Introduction There is no consensus on what buzz marketing exactly is or not. Some authors identify buzz marketing with “stealth marketing,” “viral marketing,” “word of mouth marketing,” “covert marketing” or “masked marketing” while others depict the concept of buzz marketing with nuances. In the modern communication age, brands are delivering various messages to consumers to attract attention and stand out from their competitors. In that regard, destinations as brands also benefit from many marketing tools to expand their message to both individuals or groups of buyers and intermediaries in the tourism business. In their study, Kaikati and Kaikati (2004) mention that the initial message can be expressed in such forms as physical, verbal and virtual/viral—or a mixture of them.

Word-of-mouth (WOM), which can be defined as the oral transferring and sharing of one’s knowledge or own experiences related to a certain service or product, is a very common phrase in services marketing literature. Many researchers indicate that WOM influences consumers’ buying decisions (Sheth, 1971; Day, 1971; Litvin, Goldsmith & Pan, 2008) and that consumers’ affective commitment is positively related to word-of-mouth communication (Harrison-Walker, 2001). According to Sheth (1971), WOM is more effective and credible than media advertising in increasing awareness of a new low-risk product. Besides, Day (1971) stresses that the ability of a brand (both new brands and established brands) to generate favourable WOM is substantially associated with the ultimate product success.

In particular, one class of covert marketing known as stealth marketing uses hidden techniques that do not show the true relationship with the company sending the marketing message and involves taking advantage of social relationships with the aim of achieving effectiveness (Martin & Smith, 2008: 2). Thus, stealth marketing refers to communications aimed

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at “flying under the (consumer) radar” (Dahlen, Lange & Smith, 2010). This is a point of view where the ethics of such covert marketing strategies’ reliance on deception was questioned. Another view suggests that instead of aggressively announcing a product to the public, stealth marketing tends to whisper occasionally to a few good people who can spread the buzz around the product or service (Kaikati & Kaikati, 2004). In that regard, viral marketing can be described as a tool of stealth marketing. However, viral marketing is a strategy to bring consumers to share a marketer’s message, often through e-mail or online video, in a way that spreads dramatically and quickly (Pride & Ferrell, 2011: 386). After all these explanations related to word of mouth, stealth, covert and viral marketing, buzz marketing will be examined below.

The Concept of Buzz Marketing

Company-sponsored word of mouth promotions or “buzz marketing” are the newest way for companies to grab attention for their products (Lamb, Hair & Carl, 2009: 46). Buzz marketing as a type of word-of-mouth marketing is using high-profile entertainment or news to get people to talk about a company’s brand (Kotler, Shalowitz & Stevens, 2008: 491). Because interpersonal communications play such a central role in influencing consumers’ attitudes and actions, brand marketers have found it essential to influence what is said about their brands proactively rather than simply hoping that positive word of mouth is occurring; it is this proactive effort that marketing practitioners refer to as creating the buzz (Shimp, 2010: 549). In other words, through the approach of buzz marketing, marketers attempt to incite publicity and public excitement surrounding a product through a creative event (Pride & Ferrell, 2011: 386). According to Kotler and Armstrong (2008: 135), marketers often try to identify opinion leaders for their products, and direct marketing efforts toward them. In this process of creating and spreading of buzz, Boone and Kurtz (2010: 321) stress that “influencers,” or early adopters of products, are ideal carriers of buzz marketing messages because their credibility makes their choices valuable among their peers. The aim is to disguise the source of the message so that marketing communications are not perceived by consumers as being company sponsored, even though the caller might be both the initiator and sender of the communication (Dahlen, Lange & Smith, 2010). In that regard, buzz marketing is considered to be particularly effective with teenagers because they watch less TV, and are cynical about the many marketing messages that bombard them daily (Lamb, Hair & Carl, 2009: 46).

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Marketers use buzz marketing by enlisting or even creating opinion leaders to spread the word about their brands (Kotler & Armstrong, 2008: 135). Boone and Kurtz (2010: 321) also imply that buzz marketing gathers volunteers to test products and then relies on them to talk about their experiences with friends and colleagues. However, the technique of buzz marketing is especially designed to get teens talking about products in their ordinary, everyday conversations (Lamb, Hair & Carl, 2009: 46). To make the conversations help people understand your views the first step is to make sure conversations have meaning, not only buzz (Kelly, 2007: 21). On the other hand, conversational marketing starts by having something interesting to talk about, something that piques customers’ interest and helps them better understand what the company is all about. (idem, ibid.) Thus, buzz marketing is primarily dependent on the data flow through the interaction between people about a product or a service. In the presence of something that attracts and excites consumers, the buzz spreads rapidly through various communication channels. Buzz marketing is regarded as a risky strategy but it is also a cost-effective and efficient marketing tool in communicating the brand message. In fact, dissemination of the brand message through buzz is much faster than any other forms of communication.

Buzz marketing works best as a part of an integrated marketing communication program that also uses advertising, personal selling, sales promotion, and publicity (Pride & Ferrell, 2011: 386). One of the basic tenets of integrated marketing communication is a consistency of message across different media (Pike, 2008: 234). It should be emphasized that although buzz or advertising may spark interest, creating meaning builds understanding (Kelly, 2007: 26).

Previous Research on Buzz Marketing

In the existing literature on buzz marketing, Thomas Jr (2004) proposes a conceptual model with practical information on converting uncoded buzz to codified buzz. In addition, Ashley and Leonard (2009) empirically examined how consumers respond to covert marketing actions and the relationship between emotional attachment and the loss of trust and allegiance. Other research done by Mohr (2007) analyses buzz marketing as it pertains to six movie differentiation strategies (differentiation with cosmetic movie features, differentiation to reach market segments, growing a movie segment, positioning to support the movie image, positioning to extend the movie image, and differentiation via non-traditional channels) and offers steps for its successful implementation. A


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more recent study by Karniouchina (2011) focuses on the impact of consumer buzz on film distribution and box office success by examining the impact of buzz generated around the individual stars and about the movie itself. Holdford (2004) suggests that pharmacists can also use buzz marketing to promote innovative services such as pharmaceutical care. The author concludes that it works best when patients perceive the benefits of innovations. Another interesting piece of research about buzz aims to investigate teenagers’ perceptions of disclosure in buzz marketing which was conducted by Ahuja et al. (2007). The authors reason that teenagers like being buzzed agents, they consider this role as a job, they usually mask the fact that they are buzzing agents but they generally see no ethical dilemma in not disclosing their status. Hence, the study of Kennett and Matthews (2008) focuses on providing a detailed analysis of the way in which undercover marketing violates the role boundaries between commercial agent and friend by targeting and exploiting the main disposition of close friends to be drawn by each other. Another study that compares college students’ responses to a traditional advertising and a buzz approach was realized by Notarantonio and Quigley Jr (2009).

Methodology and Findings

This paper aims at examining buzz through internet forums and blogs that are important feedback mechanisms for marketers to observe consumer perceptions and opinions on a real time basis. Govers and Go (2009: 242) imply that as with any experiential product, what also are essential agents for changing perceived images are the experiences that people share with others; that is, word-of-mouth or word-of-mouse—the online variant exchanged through virtual communities, online reviews, videos and blogs. The subject of the research is based on the Epinions.com website, which is run by eBay Commerce Network that is Kotler’s best example of buzz marketing. This study of buzz focuses on Epinions.com, a general consumer review site, to analyse the travel and tourism related content of Turkey. This site was chosen because of its popularity, its professional design and wide experience since 1999. On this site, people can read reviews about a large number of items to help them decide on purchasing goods and services. A total of 144 reviews posted of Turkey were transferred into a single document as the dataset and then the text was classified into sections as specified in the website in terms of content analysis. The dataset was analysed according to basic sections and titles of Epinions.com. On the site, each review has one page including the title of the review, the date of the written review, rating, pros, cons, review text


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and the webpage footer In addition, comments from other people can be reached through a special link at the end of every single review. Initially, the dataset was examined semantically within this framework. As a result, it was found that 124 of the reviews were entirely positive which comprises 86% of total reviews. The rest of the reviews (13%) were neutral having both positive and negative statements, but only one review was regarded as wholly negative. It is also the one that received 17 comments from other web users, most of them regarding the review as being excessively harsh Then each review was content analysed and categorized according to the subject-focus of the reviews. It was noted that the following topics were frequently mentioned: attractions (84), food (60), accommodation (51), shopping (44), transportation (43), culture (32), local people (30), hospitality (29), weather (27), nature (20) and history (17). In the “Pros” section of the review pages, 81 reviews have one of such positive adjectives to define the destination Turkey as beautiful, amazing, wonderful, fascinating, fabulous, great, stunning, lovely, spectacular, gorgeous, nice or fantastic. In addition, six of the reviews regard Turkey as excellent or perfect.

Additionally, 26 reviews describe Turkey as being friendly, 16 as historical, 14 as cheap, 10 as exotic, 8 as scenic and 7 as unique. In the “Cons” section of the review pages, the most frequent words are crowded (12), hassle (12), hot (7), expensive (6) and traffic (6). Interestingly, 17 of the total of reviewers expressed “none” as cons of destination Turkey. In addition to these, 19 of the reviewers left the cons space blank, which can be viewed as “none.” Additionally, there are several issues that derived from the whole dataset and which are interpreted individually. The titles of each review were grouped according to whether they either refer to the whole of Turkey as a single destination, or to a single city/town. When the rubrics of the tourists’ reviews were analysed, it has been noted that the most frequent subject is Istanbul with an occurrence of 42 of 142 reviews in total. There are only two reviews that the tourists have not titled. Then Istanbul is followed by Turkey in general with a total of 39. The rest of the titles in order of occurrence are about Bodrum (11), Ephesus (10), Cappadocia (9), Antalya (9), Ankara (5), Troy (3)and Fethiye (3). In addition to them, the least frequent destinations mentioned in the deed of conveyance of the reviews are Trabzon, Gelibolu and Bergama with a rank of 2, Mudanya, Konya, Urfa, Kars, Çamlık, Amasra Safranbolu and Akyaka with a rank of 1.

It has also been observed that there are many natural or man-made attractions at the destinations stated in the reviews such as valleys, museums, mosques, bazaars, waterfalls, castles, antique theatres and


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towers. In addition to the attractions, Turkish pop singers Tarkan and Sertab, jeep safaris, beaches and resort destinations such as Çeşme, Fethiye, Bodrum and Kuşadası were also observed. On the other hand, Efes Pilsen, Turkish beer brand and rakı, the national drink of Turkey were indicated. The rubrics of the reviews are also important to draw attention to the reviews as a whole. Most of the titles are pretty short such as “I fell in Love,” “Real History,” “Ibiza of Turkey,” “Piece of Delight” just like slogans whereas the others are quite long such as “Used to Western Cities? You won’t believe your eyes [...],” “Not paradise anymore but I’ll still recommend it [...],” “My (All Too Brief) Love Affair with Turkey,” “Istanbul: Still feels like an adventure gateway to the East.” On the other hand, only 31 of the 144 reviews mentioned their travel dates in the relevant section of the website. The travel dates of the reviewers range from 1980 to 2011. Some of the reviewers mention the exact dates and duration of their trip to Turkey, such as “April 29-May 5,” 2000, and some of them mentioned that they have visited Turkey several times such as “1st: 1996, 2nd: June 2000.”

The Epinions.com website also has its own rating system of the reviews based on the community members’ ratings. Review ratings by the users range from not helpful to most helpful. These ratings give clues to the users whether the review is worth reading or not depending on what the user searches. Therefore, the ratings also affect the buzz created by the reviews, for reviews with a low rating may just be ignored by the website users, namely the Epinions community. So, basically the ratings of the reviews such as not helpful, somewhat helpful, helpful, very helpful, most helpful and off topic with their meanings are explained in Table 2-1.

Conclusion

Through this research, the authors aimed to assess the general structure of buzz that addresses Turkey as a travel destination in the international marketplace. Since destination products involve many risks for tourists, they tend to rely more on primary knowledge. However, in the absence of primary knowledge, relatives or friends’ ideas are regarded as trustworthy. Keeping this in mind, destination marketers try to manage the image of the destination to some extent; and then they spread relevant buzz to leaders of thought. On the other hand, buzz cannot always be under the control of the destination marketers. For instance, social media create opportunities to share tourists’ first-hand experiences, which can result in buzz. Epinions.com is one of the well-known social media tools that enable tourists to write about the destination they have visited. There are millions


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of people who track tourism forums, blogs or tourism websites before they make their decision about a destination. For sure, tourists travelling to the same destination may experience very different things depending on the components of the destination product as well as the inner motives of tourists. Still, tourism forums are very popular, especially among tourists that are capable of using the Internet effectively. A destination, that is the combination of various products and services, comprises of experiences that is hard to manage and market. Word of mouth referrals and repeat visitation are the ultimate measure of a consumer’s loyalty toward a destination (Pike, 2008: 363). Although word-of-mouth advertising plays an important part in the promotion of any holiday destination, it is consumer awareness created through marketing and communication campaigns, supported by appropriate collateral, that is the key to increasing awareness levels of a destination in its core markets (Crockett & Wood, 2004: 197). The website of Epinions.com with a slogan of “Unbiased Reviews by Real People” also allows users to make comments about the consumer-generated reviews. In fact, this website enables the creation of buzz through its users and it may expand with their neighbours, acquaintances, colleagues, friends and relatives. Social media such as Twitter and Facebook can also be used to spread the buzz created by the reviews on the website more rapidly by specifying the link of the relevant review or simply mentioning the issue as a buzz. The total comments posted by the users of the website are equivalent to 228. Although this is not an exact indication of the spread of buzz from users to others, it is the starting point of buzz from which users are given reactions to the reviews. Unfortunately, there is no function on the website showing the number of users that have visited the related reviews or categories. However, it has been written in Wikipedia that the total number of users of Epinions.com in 2003 was 5.8 million. Possibly, since then there have been more people visiting the web site each day, not only for travel and tourism but also for various other kinds of products and services.


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Table 2-1. Meanings of the review rating ranges

Range Explanation Off topic The review is posted under the wrong subject. Not helpful

No detail, opinion, or personal experiences provided. Overwhelmed by writing errors, inaccuracies or bad presentation. Offensive. Spam. Copied from another source. Breaks the site rules.

Somewhat helpful

On-topic. Does not violate the site rules. Offers shoppers some detail or opinion. May have minor writing or presentation problems.

Helpful Accurate and well presented with helpful details about the subject of the review and an overall recommendation for shoppers.

Very helpful

Exceptionally accurate and well presented. Offers in-depth experiences and details about the subject. Thorough and well organized. Expresses a clear recommendation for shoppers.

Most helpful

The review stands out from other reviews of the same product as the best. Only Advisors and Category Leads can apply this rating, and it should only be used when more than one review is available for a specific subject.

In this study, the authors investigated the buzz marketing concept in general and then analysed Epinions.com in terms of buzz on the destination Turkey or its sub-destinations. Content analysis of the dataset revealed that the buzz about Turkey as an international travel destination is becoming remarkable such that 144 people posted their opinions on the site, and they received comments from another 228 people, which makes a total of a 372-person conversation. As a result, Turkey seems to be a popular destination and almost all the reviews are favourable with a percentage of 86% purely positive and 13% neutral. It is clear that Turkey seems to be an attractive destination with many sub-destinations and attractions in the international tourism market. Since the Internet enables people to share individual experiences and opinions, buzz spreads relatively more easily and quickly than previously. Thus, the analysis of Turkey through Epinions.com provides destination managers with useful information to enhance the quality of a destination’s properties by tracking the reviews and comments. It is significant that Turkey has a positive image in the minds of the tourists despite still having some handicaps.


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Although the buzz about Turkey seems to be generally positive, it should still be traversed with care by tourism organizations and agencies.

References

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Ashley, C. & Leonard, H. A. (2009). Betrayed by the Buzz? Covert Content and Consumer–Brand Relationships. Journal of Public Policy & Marketing 28 (2): 212-220.

Boone, L. E. & Kurtz, D. L. (2010). Contemporary Marketing. Farmington Hills, MI: South Western Cengage Learning.

Crockett, S. R. & Wood, L. J. (2004). Western Australia: building a state brand. In. N. Morgan, Annette Pritchard & R. Pride (Eds.), Destination Branding: Creating the Unique Destination Proposition. Oxford: Elsevier Butterworth-Heinemann.

Dahlen, M., Lange, F. & Smith, T. (2010). Marketing communications: a brand narrative approach. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.

Day, G. S. (1971). Attitude change, media and word of mouth. Journal of Advertising Research 11(6): 31-40.

Govers, R. and Go, F. (2009). Place Branding: Glocal, Virtual and Physical Identities, Constructed, Imagined and Experienced. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmıllan.

Harrison-Walker, J. A. (2001). The Measurement of Word-of-Mouth Communication and an Investigation of Service Quality and Customer Commitment As Potential Antecedents. Journal of Service Research 4: 60.

Holdford, D. A. (2004). Using Buzz Marketing to Promote Ideas, Services, and Products. Journal of the American Pharmacists Association 44 (3): 387-396.

Karniouchina, Ekaterina V. (2011). Impact of star and movie buzz on motion picture distribution and box office revenue. International Journal of Research in Marketing 28: 62-74.

Kelly, L. (2007). Beyond buzz: the next generation of word of mouth marketing. New York, NY: AMACOM Books.

Kennett, J. & Matthews. S. (2008). What’s the Buzz? Undercover Marketing and the Corruption of Friendship. Journal of Applied Philosophy 25 (1): 2-18.

Kotler, P. & Armstrong, G. (2008). Principles of Marketing. London: Pearson Prentice Hall.


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Kotler, P., Shalowitz, J. & Stevens, R. J. (2008). Strategic Marketing for Health Care Organizations: Building A Customer-Driven Health System. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.

Lamb, C. W., Hair, J. F. & Carl, D. M. D. (2009). Marketing. Farmington Hills, MI: South Western Cengage Learning.

Litvin, S. W., Goldsmith, R. E. & Pan B. (2008). Electronic word-of-mouth in hospitality and tourism management. Tourism Management 29: 458-468.

Mohr, I. (2007). Buzz marketing for movies. Business Horizons 50: 395-403.

Notarantonio, E. M. & Quigley Jr., C. J. (2009). The Effectiveness of a Buzz Marketing Approach Compared to Traditional Advertising: An Exploration. Journal of Promotion Management 15 (4): 455-464.

Pike, S. (2008). Destination Marketing: An Integrated Marketing Communication Approach. Oxford: Elsevier Butterworth-Heinemann.

Pride, W. M. & Ferrell, O. C. (2011). Foundations of Marketing. Farmington Hills, MI: South Western Cengage Learning.

Sheth, J. N. (1971). Word of mouth in low risk innovations. Journal of Advertising Research 11: 15-18.

Shimp, T. A. (2010). Advertising, Promotion, and Other Aspects of Integrated Marketing Communications. Farmington Hills, MI: South Western Cengage Learning.

Thomas Jr., G. M. (2004). Building the buzz in the hive mind. Journal of Consumer Behaviour 4 (1): 64-72.

THE INFLUENCE OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS ON THE STATUS

OF THE RUTHENIANS, THEIR LANGUAGE AND CULTURE

MIHAJLO FEJSA

Introduction

The Ruthenians/Rusyns who inhabit the territory on both sides of the Carpathian Mountains belong to the Slavic branch of Indo-European peoples (Fejsa, 2000: 277). For centuries, they lived within the borders of the Hungarian kingdom. They lived in the northeast Hungarian counties, namely in Zemplen, Saros, Abauj-Torna, Borsod, Szabolcs, Ung, Ugocsa, Maramoros and Gemer. Most of these counties are today in Eastern Slovakia and others in Hungary, Ukraine and Romania (Fejsa, 2010: 112).

The Ruthenians have called themselves or have been called by others Carpatho-Rusyns, Carpatho-Russians, Uhro-Rusyns, Ruthens, Ruthenians and Rusnaks, amongst others. All the mentioned names relate to their origin and traditional association with the East Slavic people of the Rus` (Русь). There were several Rus`es (Руси): Kievan Rus`, Novgorod Rus` (their descendants are Russians and Ukrainians), White Rus` (their descendants are White Russians), Black Rus` (descendants in White Russia/Belarus), Red Rus` (descendants in Galicia, part of Ukraine), Subcarpathian Rus` (sometimes called Carpathian Ruthenia), etc. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruthenia). The most famous one was the one centred in Kiev.

This also applies to Suleiman’s favourite wife, Hurem, as the Turks called her, or Roxolana/Roxelana, as European sources called her. If we keep the Slavic root of her name, she would be Rus-lana (Рус-лана) or, simply Rus-inka (Русинка), in English: Ruthenian girl/Ruthenian one. She was born in Rohatyn (a major city of the Ruthenian Voivodeship in the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland; today in western Ukraine) c. 1500/06 as Alexandra Anastasia Lisowska. She was taken as a hostage to Istanbul; she

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has been resting in Suleiman`s Mosque since 1558. Her ethnicity is not Ukrainian (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roxelana) since there was no Ukrainian ethnicity at that time in these parts of Europe. Ukrainisation was imported into the region that was home to the Ruthenians a couple of centuries later.

When the Ottoman empire retreated from the Southern counties of the Austro-Hungarian empire in 1699, the Austro-Hungarian authorities needed a greater population in the south of their state and supported colonization by Germans, Hungarians, Slovaks and others, among them Ruthenians (Gavrilović, 1977: 153). The year 1745 has been taken as the year of Ruthenian settlement in Bačka. In time, Ruthenians made progress in their economic, national and cultural life. They succeeded in preserving their identity. They formed their language (Fejsa, 2004: 373-383).

Between the Two World Wars

At the end of the First World War, the Austro-Hungarian Empire collapsed. All branches of the Rusyn people had, until the year 1918, lived and developed within the framework of a single state, the Habsburg Monarchy. Now for the first time several branches of the Rusyn people were somehow cut off. The Rusyns in Bačka had to find their own way.

Within Serbia (or the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenians, or, later, the Kingdom of Yugoslavia), the Ruthenians were permitted to form national and cultural institutions by virtue of the collective rights of all national minorities, which was not the case in their homeland. They were granted the status of national minority of Slavic origin in 1919, first and for many years to come the only one among their relatives in the Carpathian area. This was an event of utmost importance, which opened the way for their national and cultural development (Fejsa, 2010: 115-116).

The Carpatho-Rusyns in both the United States and in the European homeland supported the idea of autonomy and called for union with Hungary, Russia, Ukraine, or Czechoslovakia. Finally, in May 1919, the Central Rusyn National Council met in Uzhhorod and decided that Rusyns living south of the Carpathians would unite with Czechs and Slovaks (Magocsi, 2006: 71). The province of Subcarpathian Rus` was created. It was given a certain degree of self-government that was guaranteed by international treaties at the Paris Peace Conference (St. Germain, 1919; Trianon, 1920) and by the constitution of Czechoslovakia (ibid.: 71-72). Alongside the Czech language, Rusyn functioned as an official language and it was used in the provincial governmental administration and schools

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throughout the province. A national symbol was designed for Subcarpathian Rus` (featuring the Rusyn bear) and a national anthem (sung to the words “Subcarpathian Rusyns, Arise from Your Deep Slumber”) was played alongside the Czechoslovak state anthem at all official functions (ibid.: 76).

Although the government of Czechoslovakia did not grant them the full range of political autonomy it had promised (by the new country`s founding president, Tomaš Masaryk) more important was the cultural renaissance that began to take root. Carpatho-Rusyns developed their own schools, cultural organizations, theatres, and literature. The cultural revival also stimulated discussion about whether Carpatho-Rusyns were part of the Russian or the Ukrainian nationality (Magocsi, 1989: 30-31). Because of that, there were three national orientations—Russian, Ukrainian, and Rusyn—each with its own organizations, newspapers, and publications.

The national situation in the Carpathians caused by international influences was reflected in the national situation of the Ruthenians in the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenians/the Kingdom of Yugoslavia.

The Second World War split the Carpatho-Rusyn homeland. Hungary and Germany ruled over the territory of Carpathian Rus’ until the final months of World War II. During the war, the Allied Powers (the United States, Great Britain, France, and the Soviet Union) agreed that Subcarpathian Rus’ should remain part of a restored Czechoslovak state. In October 1944, however, the Soviet Generalissimo, Josef Stalin, suddenly changed his mind. With the help of local Communists, the Soviets laid the groundwork for annexation of Subcarpathian Rus’, now called Transcarpathian Ukraine, to the “Soviet Ukrainian motherland.” Within less than a year Transcarpathian Ukraine, designated simply Trancarpathia, was reduced to the status of a region (oblast) like any other within the Soviet Union (Magocsi, 2006: 91).

Under Communism

After the Second World War the Carpatho-Rusyns found themselves divided among several states, all functioning as satellites of the Soviet Union. Under communism, the previously dominant role of religion in Carpatho-Rusyn life was lessened. The Greek Catholic Church was outlawed between 1946 and 1950, with its members forcibly transformed into adherents of Orthodoxy or, as was more often the case, urged by officially atheistic governments to cease their Christian practices altogether. At the same time that these changes in religious life were being enforced, the people were compelled to abandon their ethnic name. The


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older names—based on the root Rus’ (Rusyn, Rusnak, Ruthenian, etc.)—were no longer recognized; Soviet, Czechoslovak, and Polish officials declared everyone in the group to be Ukrainian (Magocsi, 1989: 35).

The last of the countries to become Communist was Czechoslovakia, in 1948. That same year Yugoslavia freed itself from the Soviet bloc although remaining Communist (Magocsi, 2006: 93).

As far as the Ruthenians in Serbia are concerned, they may say that they were lucky for having their own way. They should be thankful to Josip Broz Tito for saying the historical no to Iosif Visarionovič Stalin in 1948. While Stalin’s policy made the Carpatho-Rusyns disappear for four decades in the Carpathian area (today mostly in Slovakia, Hungary, Ukraine and Poland), Tito’s policy enabled the Yugoslav Ruthenians both to exist and to develop (idem: 150).

Тhe Autonomous Province of Vojvodina gained extensive rights of self-rule under the 1974 Constitution, which defined Vojvodina as one of the subjects of the Yugoslav federation. The Ruthenian language became one of the five official languages of the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina. For the first time it was possible to use the Ruthenian language in court, in offices, on public signs, etc. Ruthenian translators were employed in municipalities where there were a significant number of members of the Ruthenian national community.

In order to enhance further knowledge and use of the Ruthenian language, in 1973—the Professorship of the Ruthenian Language, and by 1981—the Department of the Ruthenian Language and Literature was established at the University of Novi Sad.

Favourable International Conditions

The 1981 European Parliament Resolution on a Community Charter of Regional Languages and Cultures and on a Charter of Rights of Ethnic Minorities, requested national, regional and local authorities to allow and promote the instruction of regional languages and cultures in official curricula from nursery school up to university level; to allow and to ensure sufficient access to local radio and television; and to ensure that individuals are allowed to use their own language in the field of public life and social affairs in their dealings with official bodies and in the courts (para. 1). The Resolution recommended, furthermore, that regional funds should provide assistance for projects designed to support regional and folk cultures and regional economic projects (paras. 4 and 6). Finally, Parliament called on the Commission to review all Community legislation or practices which discriminate against minority languages (para. 5) (Toggenburg, 2000: 4).

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Several categories of languages other than official languages can be identified in the European Union and its member states: a) minority languages specific to a region of one or more member states; b) languages spoken by a minority in one member state but which are official languages in another EU country; c) non-territorial minority languages; d) non-indigenous languages—languages of recent immigrants who came to EU-member states as Gastarbeiter; e) dialects of official or minority languages (Šmihula, 2008: 52). The Ruthenian language belongs to the a) category together with Basque, Breton, Catalan, etc.

Serbia ratified the most important international documents that ensure the existence of the Ruthenian minority (e.g., the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages—2005 and the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities—2001).

Taking into account the international conditions, they are favourable. Only did Ukraine refuse to admit existence of the Ruthenian minority, their language and culture up until last year when, finally, the Law on minority and regional languages was passed and the Ruthenian language was recognized. Even now some Stalinist relicts try to prevent the Law or, at least, to prevent the Ruthenians from expressing themselves as Ruthenians, and prevent them from stating that they use the Ruthenian/Rusyn language. We must bear in mind that if there is no place in Ukraine, whose population is 10-15 % Ruthenian, the Law was passed in vain.

The latest example is the case of the Memorandum of the Carpatho-Rusyn Consortium of North America: Carpatho-Rusyn Research Centre, Inc., New York, New York; Carpatho-Rusyn Society, Inc., Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Rusin Association, Minneapolis, Minnesota; Lemko Association, Inc., Higganum, Connecticut; Rusyn Association of North America, Kitchener, Ontario; Rusyn-Saskatchewan Ruthenian Association, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan; World Academy of Culture, Toronto, Ontario (March 8, 2013). Among other things, the Memorandum says, “We, the undersigned, representing the seven largest organizations of Carpatho-Rusyns in the United States and Canada, and in solidarity with Carpatho-Rusyn organizations in the Transcarpathian oblast of Ukraine, express strong opposition to any efforts that would remove Rusyn from the list of legally approved regional languages in Ukraine. To do so would be a violation of the European Charter of Human Rights to which Ukraine is a signatory. The Rusyn language and the Rusyn nationality are officially recognized by neighbouring countries of the European Union—Poland, Slovakia, Romania, and Hungary—as well as by Serbia and Croatia, where Carpatho-Rusyns also live. The Rusyn language has been codified,


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it is taught in schools, and it is used in civic and cultural affairs in all those countries. Only Ukraine refuses to recognize Carpatho-Rusyns as a distinct nationality and Rusyn as a distinct language…The argument for excluding Rusyn, allegedly because it is a “dialect’, is not only politically motivated but intellectually dishonest.”

Partitions in regards to the issues, such as “who are we and what are we,” and “are we Ruthenians or Ukrainians” represent the greatest obstacles in solving acute problems since they bring about futile disputes, exhaust the energy of the community, create inertia and passivity or escape into assimilation (Hornjak, 2006: 65). In fact, the disputes do not concern ethnic background or national identity at all, but specific foreign political interests. Disputes have been brought in from the outside—by the state Ukraine, based on Ukrainian ethnocentric politics which does not recognize Ruthenian national identity in Ukraine and neighbouring countries, as well as in Serbia (ibid.: 65-66).

According to the 2011 census, there are 14,246 Ruthenians in Serbia, or 13,928 in Vojvodina. Ruthenians make up 0.2% of the population of Serbia and 0.72% of the population of Vojvodina.

Towards the European Union

The democratic changes in Serbia in 2000, among other things, resulted with the new approach of the government of the Republic of Serbia to national minorities. The Vojvodinian Ruthenians in Serbia have, as along with other members of national communities, the possibility of preservation and development of their national identity in the fields guaranteed by the Constitution and the laws. The new legal status has enabled the Ruthenian community to establish two very important institutions—the National Council of the Rusyn National Minority and the Institute for Culture of the Vojvodinian Ruthenians. Whereas the Institute for Culture of the Vojvodinian Ruthenians has been established for culture in the broadest sense, the National Council of the Rusyn National Minority has been established for the four fields in which the Ruthenian community has guaranteed rights—for culture, for education, for information, and for official use of the language and script. The members of the Ruthenian minority are entitled to officially use their language within the municipality or locality in which they form 15 % of the local population. The Law also provides for the official use of the Ruthenian language in judicial procedures, as well as for electoral materials. The Ruthenian minority is granted the right to name streets and other topographical indicators in its language. In areas where the Ruthenian minority makes up

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15% of the local population, the state’s legislation is to be issued in the Ruthenian language. The case of the Ruthenian language which has been in official use for several decades, both in the provincial organs and in the territory of six municipalities in which the Ruthenians live in a significant number, is by all means a prominent example for many developed European societies and states. One of the noteworthy provisions is the right granted to members of national minorities to freely establish and maintain relations with legal subjects resident in foreign states, with those to which they bear some collective, cultural, linguistic or religious similarities. Eleven biennial World Congresses of Rusyns/Rusnaks/ Lemkoes have played an important role in bringing Carpatho-Rusyns together, despite their separation by the borders of several countries. The twelfth Ruthenian World Congress will be held on the 12th to 14th of July in 2013 in Ukraine (Mukačovo and Svaljava). The aim is to exert influence on the Ruthenians in Ukraine to freely express themselves as Ruthenians at the Census 2013 next autumn and consequently to enjoy as high a degree of minority self-government as possible. The various Ruthenian organizations have the opportunity of establishing links with newly organized education centres in the Carpathian area such as Prešov (Slovakia), Krakow (Poland), Nyíeregyháza and Budapest (Hungary) and Užhorod (Ukraine). Student exchanges can also be organized.

Conclusion

Since the Serbian/Vojvodinian authorities do their best to implement international conventions it may be said there is much hope for the Ruthenians in the new Serbia to preserve their culture and national identity in the future, especially in a new Europe without borders. The Vojvodinian Ruthenians are looking forward to erasing borders that divide the countries of the Carpathian area, and to uniting all the countries of the Carpathian area in the European Community. In the new Europe without borders, the Ruthenians expect to be one of the distinct peoples numbering possibly up to several hundreds of thousands of members. The mutual contacts among all Carpatho-Rusyns will certainly have positive effects on raising their awareness of national identity. Such contacts will also be very useful in promoting intellectual, cultural, personal and linguistic relations. Today, the governments of Slovakia, Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania, Serbia and Croatia recognize Carpatho-Rusyns as a national minority. The Ruthenians of Serbia’s Vojvodina are not alone as they were in the past.


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Acknowledgement

The paper is a product of projects No 187002 and No 187017, funded by the Ministry of Science of the Republic of Serbia.

References

Fejsa, M. (2000). Juhoslavjanski Rusini (Rusnaci)/Ruthènes de Yougoslavie [Yugoslav Rusyns (Ruthenians)]. In M. Meaufront (Ed.), Multilingual European Guide of Cultural Communities and of Maisons de Pays of Europe. Le Cannet: European Federation of the Maisons de Pays. 267-278.

Fejsa, M. (2004). Sociolingvistični aspekt ruskoho jazika: Vojvodina. [Sociolinguistic Aspect of the Ruthenian Language: Vojvodina]. In P. R. Magoocsi (Ed.), Rusin`skyj jazyk. Opole: Uniwersytet Opolski, Instytut Filologii Polskiej. 373-383.

Fejsa, M. (2010). Nova Srbija i njena rusinska manjina/Nova Serbija i jej ruska menšina [The New Serbia and Its Ruthenian Minority]. Novi Sad: IK Prometej—KPD DOK.

Gavrilović, S. (1977). Rusini u Bačkoj I Sremuodsredine XVIII do sredine XIX veka [The Ruthenians in Bačka and Srem from the Middle of the 18th Century to the Middle of the 19th Century]. Godišnjak Društvaistoričara Vojvodine. Novi Sad: Društvoistoričara Vojvodine, 153-215.

Hornjak, M. (2006). Bačko-sremski Rusini [Bačka-Srem Ruthenians]. In Rusini/Rusnaci/Ruthenians (1745-2005) I. NoviSad: IKPrometej—Filozofskifakultet - Odsek za rusinistiku—KPD DOK. 23-73.

Magocsi, P. R. (1989). The Carpatho-Rusyn Americans. NewYork—Philadelphia: Chelsea House Publishers.

Magocsi, P. R. (2006). The People from Nowhere. Užhorod: Valerii Padiak Publishers.

Šmihula, D. (2008). National Minorities in the Law of the EC/EU. Romanian Journal of European Affairs 8 (3): 52-81.

Toggenburg, G. N. (2000). A Rough Orientation Through a Delicate Relationship: The European Union`s Endeavours for (its) Minorities. Online: http://eiop.or.at/eiop/texte/2000-016a.htm.

Roxelana. Online: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roxelana. Ruthenia. Online: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruthenia.

THE ITALIAN RENAISSANCE AND THE ORIGINS OF TOTALITARIAN THOUGHT IN GERMANY

DENIS FORASACCO

Introduction This article centres on the influence of Renaissance arts and figures (Machiavelli, Savonarola, Giordano Bruno) and on the German culture from the Wilhelminian Era until the fall of the Nazi regime. By analyzing exemplificative texts and images, the paper will illustrate how the Italian Renaissance offered fictional archetypes and figures of identification for the self-celebration of Prussian power ultimately legitimizing the culture of totalitarianism and fanaticism in the Germany of the Third Reich. While doing that, the methodology of comparative literature (i.e. thematology) applied in the paper can contribute to an interdisciplinary approach to intellectual history.

Manipulative Function of Arts in the Renaissance

“To be one with all—that is the life of the divinity, that is the heaven for man. […] To be one with all that lives! With these words virtue removes its wrathful armour, the spirit of man lays its sceptre aside and all thoughts vanish before the image of the world’s eternal unity [...]O man is a god when he dreams, a beggar when he thinks […].” (Hölderlin, 2008: 12-13)

The desire of man has always been to join the immortals. Religion and philosophy, but also letters and arts, above all painting, have always tended towards this purpose—the coincidentia oppositorum theorized in medieval mystical thought by figures such as Master Eckhardt, Jacob Böhme, Paracelsus and Giordano Bruno.

“Painting contains a divine force, which not only makes absent men present, […] but moreover makes the dead almost seem alive [...]. Some think that painting shaped the gods who were adored by the nations. It certainly was their greatest gift to the mortals, for painting is most useful to

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that piety which joins us to the gods and keeps our souls full of religion.” (Alberti, 1980)

During the Italian Renaissance, above all in Florence of the 15th century, the Medicis liked being depicted within holy representations, as in Sandro Botticelli’s Adorazione dei Magi (c. 1475), or as the family Strozzi in Gentile da Fabriano’s L’adorazione dei magi (1423). Without considering the well-known praise function and psychological importance of the portraits, the widespread iconography representing the city and the Medicis assumed a particular relevance: St. Sebastian, the martyr symbol of constancy and courage for his ideals and faith, persecuted under the Roman Emperor Diocletian—the supreme emblem of the diaphanous ethereal “Apollonian” beauty (in the late opinion of Nietzsche, Thomas Mann or Gabriele D’Annunzio); the martyr is symbol of the divine election in the Venetian version of San Sebastiano by Andrea Mantegna (1490). The “Dionysian” force is represented instead by Hercules: i.e. Hercules and Antaeus by Antonio del Pollaiuolo (1460-1470). The theme of the hero who overcomes adversity by combining the physical and intellectual qualities embodied a humanistic ideal. However, the myth of power could also be represented by Tiziano’s Ratto di Europa—and in Germany by Albrecht Dürer’s studies on the Raub von Europa (1494-1495). Painting and aesthetics have a political meaning in the Renaissance, as Jacob Burckhardt affirms in his work Die Kultur der Renaissance in Italien (1860). The Signorie were indeed works of art.

“The better and nobler features of the Italian despotisms are not to be found among the princes of this line; all that they possessed of the art and culture of their time served the purpose of luxury or display.” (Burckhardt, 1878: 17)

Holy painting was a surface for the projection and identification of power, which sought for its self-celebration and self-legitimization. The dream of being elected by the gods was symbolized by Ganymede, the young representing for the New Platonism the same furor divines as illustrated in Correggio’s The Abduction of Ganymede (1531). As Ganymede was abducted to Olympus, Dante was brought by the eagle to the door of the Purgatorio and in the ninth canto, Ganymede symbolizes for Dante the mens humana loved by God and represents the uniomystica (Ritter-Santini, 1998: 68). The Medicis’ Age was a mythical Golden Age, as Aurelio Lippi Brandolini wrote:

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“Aureafalcifero non debent saeculatantum,/Nectantum Augusto saeculapulchrasuo/Quantum nostra tibi, tibi se deberefaentur/Aurea, Laurenti, munerefactatuo.” (Roscoe, 1861: 285)

Referring to and emphasizing antique tradition, religion and myth were essential to the propaganda of 15th_century Florence, as it will be for the totalitarian thought of the 20th century. As Ernst G. Gombrich maintains,

“Propaganda […] is the art of imposing a pattern on reality, and to impose it so successfully that the victim can no longer conceive it in different terms. Such a pattern will be the more likely to exert its spell the deeper it is rooted in tradition, the more affinity it has with the typical nightmares and dreams of humankind. The Messianic Ruler who brings back the Golden Age is precisely such a perennial dream.” (Gombrich, 1966: 31)

Renaissancismus in German Fin de Siècle

In Germany nationalist and totalitarian thought, whose roots might be recognized already in Romantic culture, knew this well. In literature Friedrich Hölderlin, the “messianic ruler” of the Holy Roman German Empire, was rediscovered in 1910 by Norbert von Hellingrath, one of the Kosmiker symbolist authors around Stefan George and Karl Wolfskehl. The Kosmiker-circle in Munich, where George was idolized like a messianic prophet, was also pervaded by feelings and ideas such as conservatism, fanaticism and imperialism. Mysticism, beauty, art and politics were linked in the Wilhelmine Era as was the case during the Renaissance. A similar reactionary circle of literates is described by Thomas Mann in Doktor Faustus. In this symbolic and critical novel, where the obscure roots of the fascination of German fanaticism are represented and analysed, Mann evokes, 1947 from his exile in the US, a fictive George-Circle of Munich, attended by Gilgen Holzschuher, an important expert of the Renaissance painter Albrecht Dürer. German culture and the arising political power of the Wilhelminian bourgeoisie took possession of the Italian Renaissance. The Myth of ascent in contemporary German history began precisely in Munich, when Ludwig I of Bayern decided to embellish his city in Florentine style (cf. the Residenz with Palazzo Pitti and the Feldherrnhalle with Loggia dei Lanzi). The Maniera Grande of the Renaissance returned as an aesthetic canon for the artists, who celebrated in the Fin de siècle the edification of the power of the Prussian Bourgeoisie following the Franco-Prussian War (1870-1871) (Ritter-Santini, 1978). In literature, it was above all Heinrich Mann, who celebrated this power and inaugurated Renaissancismus.


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“I have discovered a new genre, I call it secretly: the hysterical Renaissance! Modern triviality and perversities I dress up as eye shadow with superior skill that they seem to take part in the full humankind of the golden age.” (Mann, 1969: 273)

Thomas Mann, the purest interpreter of the Germanentum in the cultural battle—Kulturkampf—between the Northern-Lutheran world and the Romance-Catholic world, criticized the barbarian Renaissancismus of the brother. In the short tale Gladius Dei (1902) Munich, the city of Nazional-Socialismus propaganda and of Hitler’s Putsch (1923), is ironically described in its Renaissance and Baroque splendour.

“Munich was luminous. A radiant, blue-silk sky stretched out over the festive squares and white-columned temples, the neoclassical monuments and Baroque churches, the spurting fountains, the palaces and gardens of the residence, and the latter’s broad and shining perspectives, carefully calculated and surrounded by green, basked in the sunny haze of a first and lovely June day.” (Mann, 1999: 7)

Mann’s fictional rebellion against the Renaissancismus brought back the antagonist of Lorenzo de’ Medici, the ascetic Dominican friar and apocalyptic preacher, Girolamo Savonarola (1452-1498), who was able to fascinate the masses in Florence through his charismatic words until he become the leader of the Florentine theocratic republic. Savonarola is the protagonist of Thomas Mann’s drama Fiorenza (1906), which stages the conflict between progressive hedonism and reactionary asceticism, the decadent struggle between desire-power-beauty embodied by a dying Lorenzo il Magnifico and spirituality-obscurantism-fanaticism personified by the prior of San Marco. “For Savonarola, works of art produced in the Medici era served a culture that was itself politically dysfunctional.”

“Quattrocento artists […] were exclusively interested in exploring and advertising the capacity of their profession to render visible highly personalized fantasies beyond belief, and their work was thought to instantiate a culture of seeing and being seen that only served a small group of men gathered around the Medici powerbase, not society at large.” (Keizer, 2008: 25)

Savonarola’s diatribes in the name of freedom actually brought about tyranny. Savonarola’s psychogram was analysed by Nietzsche in The Antichrist (1895):

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“The believer is not free to answer the question, ‘true’ or ‘not true,’ according to the dictates of his own conscience: integrity on this point would work his instant downfall. The pathological limitations of his vision turn the man of convictions into a fanatic—Savonarola, Luther, Rousseau, Robespierre, Saint-Simon—these types stand in opposition to the strong, emancipated spirit. However, the grandiose attitudes of these sick intellects, these intellectual epileptics, are of influence upon the great masses—fanatics are picturesque, and humankind prefers observing poses to listening to reasons [...].” (Nietzsche, 1969: 235)

Resuscitating Savonarola was not only an aesthetic question but also a political and conservative action. The German playwright Christian Morgenstern (1871-1914) planned a Renaissance dramatic trilogy inspired by Savonarola. In his notes, he wrote:

“Ad Savonarola. ‘Christ King of Florence’—what Savonarola actually means nobody can understand (sic), just because he only feels the Eternal, the total presence of Christ in the individual (think of Lagarde: Christ is a truth).” (Morgenstern, 1987: 474)

The hint at Paul de Lagarde is here emblematic. The author of the Deutsche Schriften was one of the main thinkers theorizing the “Germanisation” of Palestine and the “German religion.” He belonged to the group of conservative and totalitarian philosophers such as Julius Langbehn (Rembrandt als Erzieher), the theorist of the noble anarchism (Edelanarchismus) and Arthur de Gobineau, the author of Essai sur l’Inégalité des races humaines, the upholder of the myth and cult of the blond race (Forasacco, 2008: 219-29). Reviving Savonarola or the barbarian philosophy of Niccolò Machiavelli was therefore related to the popular feeling of totalitarianism around 1900. Rainer Maria Rilke had already warned in 1898 in his Florentine Diary against the dangerous comeback of asceticism and fanaticism:

“Savonarola always comes back. Be on guard against his recurrence. If you want to spare, deny yourselves. He wants you poor. However, the will of your art is to make you cheerful, wide and rich.” (Rilke, 1981: 105)

Thomas Mann recognized this in 1939, when he wrote from his exile the essay Bruder Hitler, where he forswore his youthful conservatism and his fictive archetypes of aesthetic and political value—Savonarola or Gustav von Aschenbach:


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“I was very young when I let flow into ‘Fiorenza’ the rule of beauty and education on the pile of the social and religious fanaticism of the monk, who announced ‘the reborn miracle of impartiality.’ The ‘Death in Venice’ knows much of the rejection of the psychologism of time, of a new resolve and simplification of the soul, with which I was able to bring it to a tragic end. I was not without contact with the ideas and ambitions of the time, with what was coming and should be coming, with aspirations that were the cries of the street twenty years later.” (Mann, 1974: 850)

Thomas Mann recognizes several affinities between “Bruder Hitler” and “Bruder Savonarola”: both have “effective-mass eloquence,” “hysterical” and “comedic” aptitude, “magnetism,” “moral mortification,” “level-headedness” and both are “ironic partisans of life.” Hitler read Savonarola’s oratory and from his charismatic discourses, he drew inspiration for his speeches. After aspiring to become a painter, the Führer loved surrounding himself with works of art in the celebratory Renaissance style. He embellished his headquarters, the Berghof, for instance, with Paris Bordone’s Venus and Amor (1558-1560). His favourite painter of the 19th century was Alfred Böcklin (1827-1901), a Swiss “Renaissansist” inspired after reading his compatriot Jacob Burckhardt by the magnificence of Michelangeloand Caravaggio’s styles. As such models belonged to the decline of the Renaissance, that is to say to Manierismo and Barocco, Böcklin’s style and subjects announced the Age of Decadence. The dream of the Third Reich was projected and was culturally based upon a utopia—that is to say, the Italian Renaissance, which was a “Proteus” and it was sung by Lorenzo il Magnifico as follows (Huizinga, 1991):

“How beautiful our Youth is That’s always flying by us! Who’d be happy, let him be so: Nothing’s sure about tomorrow.”

A Song for Bacchus was already the hymn to fleeting youth in 1490. This cultural phenomenon, according to which the dream of ascent of the Wilhelminian Bildungsbürgertum and of the Nazi Reich was based upon the projection of the Italian Renaissance, is confirmed by the fictive Archetype chosen by German culture to restore equilibrium. In German culture, which arose from the rubble of totalitarianism and National-Socialist fanaticism, it was necessary to discover figures antagonistic to those dear to Fascism such as Savonarola. Giordano Bruno (1548-1600), a martyr for freedom, became the spontaneous and efficacious figure of identification for all of those who had been persecuted by systems of

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power. The exiled Bertolt Brecht in the dark decade makes Bruno the protagonist of the Kalendergeschichten’s short-story Der Mantel des Ketzers and recalls his martyrdom through opposing him to Galileo’s controversial “morality of compromise” in Leben des Galilei (1938-56). Bachmann saw that Bruno continued to be burned every day in Rome: if in the lines of the collection Anrufung des Großen Bären the poet experienced the Brunian intoxication of the infinite possible and narratable worlds of the imagination, in the Italian capital she recognizes the danger of the looming fanaticism of the 1960s. Rolf Dieter Brinkmann and Arno Schmidt make Bruno into a bulwark of anti-clericalism and anti-authoritarianism in their criticism of the Church’s complicity in power.

Conclusion

In Germany still today the massive presence of Bruno is most certainly not accidental. Since 2008 in the subway station at Potsdamer Platz in Berlin, perhaps one of the most significant sites of contemporary European memory, Alexander Polzin’s monument to Giordano Bruno has stood, a bronze copy of the wooden original, which was inaugurated in 2001 in Budapest. In one of the most central of transit points in the city and for the whole of Europe, Bruno reminds the millions of today’s passengers/travellers/migrants that only the culture of freedom and of tolerance can keep the German, Slavic and Romance worlds of our continent united. The Bruno of Potsdamer Platz no longer carries the encomiastic-monumental signs of the hieratic and obscure brother of Campo de’ Fiori—the typical aesthetic canons of pre-fascist fin de siècle taste. Here the monk holds his limbs to the sky between the flames; here the flames, the sacrifice and the silence strike both the viewer and the contemporary conscience. Here fire once again becomes a sacred element of catharsis. The eye (Fritz Lang spoke precisely of the Augenmensch to indicate the modern individual) and memory are symbiotically irritated. In addition, the monument turns from a sign of memory into a sign of admonition (from Denkmal to Mahnmal).

References

Alberti, L. B. (1980). De Pictura [On Painting]. Roma/Bari: Laterza. Burckhardt, J. (1878). The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy,

Translated by S. G. C. Middlemore. Vienna: Phaidon Press—New York: Oxford University Press.


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Forasacco, D. (2008). Girolamo Savonarola in der deutschen Dichtung um 1900 [Girolamo Savonarola in the German Literature around 1900]. Hamburg: Kovač.

Gombrich, E. H. (1966). Gombrich on the Renaissance 1. London: Phaidon.

Hölderlin, F. (1979). Hyperion oder der Eremit in Griechenland [Hyperion or The Hermit in Greece]. Frankfurt/Main: InselVerlag.

Huizinga, J. (1991). Das Problem der Renaissance. Renaissance und Realismus [The Problem of the Renaissance. The Renaissance and Realism]. Darmstadt: Wagenbuch.

Keizer, J. P. (2008). History, Origins, Recovery: Michelangelo and the Politics of Art. Leiden: University Press.

Mann, H. (1969). Minerva. In Die Göttinnenoder die drei Romane der Herzogin von Assy 1. Hamburg: Claassen.

Mann, T. (2004). Gladius Dei. In T. J. Reed (Ed.), Große Kommentierte Frankfurter Ausgabe (GKFA) 2.1. Frankfurt/Main: Fischer.

Mann, T. (1974). Bruder Hitler [Brother Hitler]. In Gesammelte Werke 12. Frankfurt/Main: Fischer.

Medici, L. de. (1958). Tutte le opere [All the Works]. Ed. by G. Cavalli, Milano: Rizzoli.

Nietzsche, F. (1969) Der Antichrist [The Anti-Christ]. In Nietzsche Werke—kritische Gesamtausgabe 6, III. Edited by Giorgio Colli and Mazzino Montinari. Berlin: Walter De Gruyter Inc.

Morgenstern, C. (1987). Savonarola (Dramatisches aus dem Nachlaß 1894-1912). In H. Gumtau, R. Habel & E. Kretschmer (Eds.), Werke und Briefe VI. Stuttgart: Urachaus.

Rilke, R.-M. (1981). Das Florenzer Tagebuch [The Florence Diary]. Milano: Rizzoli.

Ritter-Santini, Lea. (1998). Il volo di Ganimede [Ganymede's Flight]. Venice: Marsilio.

Ritter-Santini, Lea. (1978). Maniera Grande [Great Style]. In Lesebilder. Stuttgart: Klett-Cotta. 176-212.

Roscoe, W. (1861). Leben Lorenzo de Medici, genannt der Prächtige [The Life of Lorenzo de' Medici, called the Magnificent]. Übers. von Friedrich Spielhagen. Leipzig: Verlagsbuchhandlung Carl Corck.

ON THE CONCEPT OF DIASPORA

KÜBRA HIDIROĞLU

Introduction The term “diaspora,” whose origin dates back to ancient times, has taken an important place in the literature of western social science. The origins of the term in the ancient Greek “dia” and “speiro/sperien” sum up what it means, referring to a society which dispersed and migrated to different parts of the world, especially those formed following forced displacement. Yet, diaspora implies neither emigration nor other similar terms. Because of this feature, “diaspora” is used more than other terms with similar meanings. The fact that its origin contains the factor of “emigration” breeds the obligation of using of this term alongside many others, and the formation of diaspora as a process breeds the obligation of being examined from many different angles.

Khacig Tololyan, editor of Diaspora, reported that the concept of diaspora had been used to describe 38 different groups by authors in his journal. This statement means that the term covers a very large area. While making definitions, conditions which cause dispersal, and whether there are any physical, cultural or emotional links between community/group and homeland, are mostly not taken into consideration. Consequently, William Safran (2004) says, “in short, the label has been stretched to cover almost any ethnic or religious minority.” In that case, what we should now ask is, “What does diaspora mean?” or “What is a diaspora?”

History of the Concept of Diaspora

As a metaphor, diaspora refers to human populations displaced from the area identified as their homeland through migration or exile. There is a debate about when the concept was used for the first time, by whom and for which groups.

The earliest known usages derived from the Greek concept of diaspeiro as early as the 5th century BC by Sophocles, Heredotus and Thucydides. However, the author of the Diasporas, Stephanie Dufoix

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(2008), says that the concept showed up as a tautology in the Greek translation of the Torah by the legendary seventy Jewish scholars of Alexandria in the 3rd century BC, and Dufoix adds that the concept of diaspora is used twelve times in the Septuagint, the earliest known translation of the Torah. Larissa Remennick (2007), the author of the article on diaspora in the Blackwell Encyclopedia of Sociology, defines it as follows:

“In modern parlance the term diaspora usually refers to ethnic groups whose sizable parts have lived outside their country of origin for at least several generations, while maintaining some ties (even if purely symbolic or sentimental) to the historic homeland.”

This definition involves the closest meaning of the current use of “diaspora,” but we can say that this is just one of several different usages of the term with regard to current experiences, giving new meanings to it. Remennick (2007) says:

“The ‘classic’ diasporas in terms of the ancient history of dispersion are Jewish, Armenian, and Greek; the more modern (and also more numerous) diasporas include the African (‘Black American’) diaspora resulting from the forced migration of slaves to the Americas, and Irish, Italian, Polish, Chinese, and Indian diasporas resulting from voluntary migrations. Today the word diaspora is applied to a broad range of migrant populations whose current or historic uprooting was politically or economically motivated, including political refugees, voluntary migrants, guest workers, expatriates, stable ethnic minorities, and other dispersed groups.” (Remennick, 2007)

Thus, we can say that when we look at the historical use of the concept, diaspora refers to communities or peoples dispersed from their homelands and establishing colonies in various parts of the world. From the sociological point of view, diaspora is a social structure based on group identity, shared history, cultural practices, narratives and imagination. According to Kalra, Kalhoun and Hutynuk (2005):

“If diaspora implies a relationship between more than one society, one culture, one group of people, then this is a useful starting point for considering how it has impacted upon politics and economics.”

They identify three social areas:

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- the dispersed group who have some form of collective identity or process of identification;

- the contexts and nation-states in which these various groups reside; and - the nation-states to which an affiliation is maintained, through a series

of social, economic and cultural ties. (Kalra, Kalhoun & Hutynuk, 2005)

This relation or connection, among dispersed groups and nation states where these groups live and continuing relations give form to diasporic formations and debates, is a key feature. If we look at this triple perspective, according to Kalra, Kalhoun and Hutynuk (2005), “diaspora contains within it a central tension which invokes at least two places—once again, home and abroad.” This implies that diaspora, in its broadest sense, must have a homeland and a notion of absence from home/homesickness.

As I mentioned before, varieties of the meaning of the concept are increasing. The editors of “Theorizing Diaspora,” Braziel and Mannur (2003), state this as follows:

“The term ‘diaspora’ has been increasingly used by anthropologists, literary theorists, and cultural critics to describe the mass migrations and displacements of the second half of the 20th century, particularly in reference to independence movements in formerly colonized areas, waves of refugees fleeing war-torn states and fluxes of economic migration in the post-World War II era.”

However, the most common use of the concept refers to dispersal of Jews in the world after the 5th century BC Babylonian exile (or Babylonian captivity). One of the reasons for this reference is most probably the verses about dispersal and exile in the Old Testament:

“Then the Lord will scatter you among all nations, from one end of the earth to the other. There you will worship other gods of wood and stone, which neither you nor your ancestor have known.” (Deuteronomy 28:64)

However, of course the concept has a broader meaning than the Jewish exile as we have seen. Gabriel Sheffer (2003) says that the concept has a broader meaning than Jewish exile and this meaning has been seldom used, emphasizing that “the concept has been used for Aeginaian’s dispersion in Thucydides’ History of The Peleponnesian War (II, 27).”

In fact, all definitions refer to dispersion from a homeland. This point raises the question of whether this means that all dispersed groups, ethnic


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minorities or otherwise, which live outside a homeland, are diasporas. On this, we can refer to debates about criteria used in identifying a diaspora. A number of modern political and social thinkers such as William Safran suggest some relevant criteria, which I think help us to overcome this “problem.” As an example, we should firstly look at William Safran’s analysis. According to Safran, the concept of diaspora can be applied when the community, which lives outside its home, shares several of the following features:

- They or their ancestors, have been dispersed from an original “centre”

to two or more foreign regions; - they retain a collective memory, vision or myth about their original

homeland including its location, history and achievements; - they believe they are not—and perhaps can never be—fully accepted in

their host societies and so remain partly separate; - their ancestral home is idealized and it is thought that, when conditions

are favourable, either they, or their descendants, should return; - they believe all members of the diaspora should be committed to the

maintenance or restoration of the original homeland and to its safety and prosperity; and

- they continue in various ways to relate to that homeland and their ethno-communal consciousness and solidarity are in an important way defined by the existence of such a relationship (Safran, 1991).

Here we should focus on the fact that nearly all criteria imply a relation to a homeland. Therefore, relation to homeland is as important as dispersion/scattering from the original homeland named as diaspora. According to Robin Cohen, the author of Global Diasporas, Safran’s list is very useful but four of the six features are concerned with the relation between diasporic group and original homeland. Based upon Safran, Robin Cohen builds upon a new framework of diasporic group criteria:

- Dispersal from an original homeland, often traumatically, to two or

more regions; - alternatively, the expansion from a homeland in search of work, in

pursuit of trade or to further colonial ambitions; - a collective memory and myth about the homeland, including its

location, history and achievements;

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- an idealization of the putative ancestral home and a collective commitment to its maintenance, restoration, safety and prosperity, even to its creation;

- the development of a return movement that gains collective approbation;

- a strong ethnic group consciousness sustained over a long time and based on a sense of distinctiveness, a common history and the belief in a common fate;

- a troubled relationship with host societies, suggesting a lack of acceptance at the least or the possibility that another calamity might befall the group;

- a sense of empathy and solidarity with co-ethnic members in other countries of settlement; and

- the possibility of a distinctive creative, enriching life in host countries with a tolerance for pluralism. (Cohen, 1997)

Except for dispersion and relation with homeland, Cohen deals with labour migration, return movement and ethnic group consciousness. These characteristics cover larger groups and communities to be named as diasporic than Safran’s. Cohen, starting from this comprehensive explanation, presents types of diaspora in relation to the emergence of forms. These types of diaspora are: - Victim Diasporas (Jewish, Palestinian, Irish, African, Armenian

diasporas); - Labour and Imperial Diasporas (Indians who worked in British, Dutch

and French tropical plantations from the 1830s to about 1920 are labour diasporas; The Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, German, French and British colonists who established their own diasporas abroad are imperial diasporas);

- Trade Diasporas (Chinese and Lebanese Diasporas); - Cultural Diasporas (the Caribbean case) (idem).

References

Braziel, Jana Evans & Mannur, Anita. (2003). Nation, Migration, Globalization: Points of Contention in Diaspora Studies. In Jana Evans Braziel & Anita Mannur (Eds.), Theorizing Diaspora. Hoboken, NJ: Blackwell.

Cohen, R. (1997). Global Diasporas. Berkeley, CA: UCP.


178

Dufoix, Stephanie. (2008). Diasporas. Berkeley, CA: UCP. Kalra, V., Kalhon, R. K. & Hutynuk, J. (2005). Diaspora and Hybridity.

London: Sage. Remennick, Larissa. (2007). Diaspora. In G. Ritzer (Ed.), The Blackwell

Encyclopedia of Sociology. London: Blackwell. Safran, W. (1991). Diasporas in Modern Societes: Myths and of Homeland

and Return. Diaspora, Spring 1991. —. (2004). Deconstructing and Comparing Diasporas. In W. Kokot, K.

Tölölyan & Carolin Alfonso (Eds.), Diaspora, İdentity and Religion. London and New York: Routledge.

Sheffer, G. (2003). Diaspora Politics. Cambridge: CUP.

ONE PIECE OF THE KYRGYZ CULTURE: THE EPIC OF MANAS

VEFA KURBAN

Introduction Epics play a major role in learning about our history. One of these epics is the Kyrgyz Manas epic. In Kyrgyz, culture epics are written in the form of a poem and are known as “epos” or “comok.” They are about the adventures of a certain person, wars with internal and external enemies and heroic feats. Manas, volume wise, is the world’s longest oral epic. For example the three volumes written by manaschi Sayakbay Karala’s son consist of a total of 500 thousand verses. The Epic of Manas contains valuable geographical sources for old Turkish history. In the 19th century the world famous scholars Ç. Valihanov, V. Radlov and others claimed that the epic was an invaluable and unique source in learning about the different aspects of the Kyrgyz people’s, philosophy, ethnography, artistic creativity, language, psychology, geography, medicine, and spiritual, cultural and social life.The epic mentions the names of more than 500 geographic regions along the Silk Road. While discussing the Epic of Manas, the meaning of the word “Kyrgyz,” the Kyrgyz way of life, cultures, religious beliefs and other issues are also discussed.

Who are the Kyrgyz?

If it is necessary to give an explanation regarding the etymology of the word “Kyrgyz,” it can be said that the first information concerning the use of Kyrgyz can be found in the work of Chinese researcher Sima Tsyan which is called Şı-Tsı (145-86 BC). This work has great importance in the history of Kyrgyzstan. In the light of this information, it is not wrong to suggest that the word “Kyrgyz” is one of the most ancient words among the peoples of Turkish origin. Turkish ethnonyms such as Turkmen, Uzbek, Kazakh, Bashkir and Uyghur emerged later in history than Kyrgyz.

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Chinese people called the Kyrgyz Tszsiyanguns. This word can be translated as “iron people/folk”. Chinese epistles suggest that Kyrgyz people had copper, iron and gold and they paid particular attention to iron meteorites (asteroid, aventurine). Hence, they used that material as the raw material for some strong weapons. According to Chinese records, the processing method of the material for arms production was kept secret by the Kyrgyz. That is the reason why Chinese people named the Kyrgyz Tszsiyanguns (Osmonov, 2012: 82).

The Chinese used words such as Ge-kun, Jian-kun, K’i-ku and Hegu in their records to refer to Kyrgyz Turks (Kasapoğlu, 2002: 578). Chinese records indicate that the Kyrgyz have been known since 201 BC with the name of Gekun. It is also known that Kyrgyz people lived in the Valley of the Yenisei River and on the Sayan Mountains (Türkmen, 1995: 1). After the collapse of Göktürks, Uyghurs took the rule of the region and the Kyrgyz lived under the rule of Uyghurs till 840 AD. Afterwards, with the fall of Uygurs, the Kyrgyz founded a new government for themselves. During that period, Kyrgyz tribes living in different regions settled into Tien-Shan, Talas Ala, Isık-Köl and the Pamir Mountains. The Kyrgyz living in the Yenisei Valley continued their existence as small principalities until the Russian invasion. The Kyrgyz residing in Tien-Shan left their settlements and moved into the valleys of the Altai and Irtish Rivers when Genghis’s invasion started (13th century). These people lived under the rules of Jaghatai, Mongol and Cuci until the end of the 15th century. With the collapse of the Mongols in the 16th century, the Kyrgyz migrated into the region which is known as Alatoo today (Türkmen, 1995: 1).

In short, in the 1st and 2nd centuries BC, The Kyrgyz established an autonomous government called Kien-Kun in the region between the east of the Tien-Shan Mountains and Tannu-ola, and then they spread to steppes north of the Aral Sea and the Caspian Sea and also to the Tien-Shan Mountains (Arat, 1977: 737; İnan, 1987: 39; Kasapoğlu, 2002: 578).

In the 2nd century BC, the Kyrgyz became part of the Great Hun Empire, and in 560 they became tied to the Göktürks (Saray, 1996: 198; Gömeç, 1991: 101; Kasapoğlu, 2002: 578). When it comes to the year of 758, the Kyrgyz came under the domination of the Uyghurs that took the place of the Göktürks. Defeating theUyghurs in 840, the Kyrgyz settled in Ötüken and founded a state which was wiped off the face of the earth in 924. The Kyrgyz, becoming a part of Jaghatais during the rule of the Mongol Empire, fought with the Kalmucks and Mongols during the 16th and 17th centuries, and finally joined the Hokand Khanete in the 18th century. The Chinese government, being uncomfortable because of the

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strengthening of the Turkestan Turks, defeated East Turkestan in 1757 and the Hokand Khanete afterwards. The Uzbeks, Kyrgyz, Kipchaks and Kazakh Turks within the Hokand Khanete were always in struggle with one another in the ensuing years. Taking advantage of the internal disorder within the Hokand Khanete, the Russians started occupying Turkmenistan in the year of 1852 (Kasapoğlu, 2002: 578).

According to their epics, the word Kyrgyz is explained as kırk (forty) and kız (girls), in other words “the descendants of forty girls.” In other explanations, Kyrgyz is interpreted as a composition of kırk (forty) and oghuz (a Turkic tribe) and sometimes as “oghuzs living in the wild.” It is observed that studies in the 16th century tried to explain the meaning of Kyrgyz ethnonym according to rendering of people. In the 16th century Yuan Şi’s identified Kyrgyz in his work called Yuan Dynasty History as the descendants of a union formed by forty Chinese girls and the Us People living in northern area. According to information suggested by Seyfettin Ahsıkent, when Sultan Sencer attacked to the East Fergane (in the 12th century) forty “Uzgen Oghuzs” escaped to Khujand (North Tajikistan) and settled there and the Kyrgyz are descended from these Uzgen Oghuzs. According to another epic, forty girls met thirty boys on Fergane mountains and that is how the Kyrgyz tribe came into being. Clans and tribes within Kyrgyz peoples interpreted their names in various ways. For example, according to Bugus, a tribe of Kyrgyz, their ancestors are descended from a beautiful deer. While the Bagish tribe believed that their origin came from a black deer, and the Yellow Bagish tribe believed they came from a yellow deer who is the lord of the forests. Also, there were people suggesting that their own ancestors are descended from a white panther. These epics arise from Kyrgyz origins, their totemic deities and transfer of these deities to the next generations. Kyrgyz verbal genealogy—Sanjirs—are very valuable sources related to Kyrgyz origins. According to these sources, the mythological ancestor of the Turks is a wolf. It had four sons: the older son Nodulu Şat was the founder of Aşen which was an ancient Turk dynasty. Another son ruled the Tsyigu (Kyrgyz) area between the Afu and Gan rivers. Hive Khan Muhammed Ebül Gazi Batır Khan (1603-1664), a famous historian and one of the most important scientist studying in the field of Turkish-speaking peoples, mentioned in his work called Turks Genealogy that the Kyrgyz are descendants of Oghuz Khan; in other words, he emphasized that the Kyrgyz are ancestors of modern Turks (Osmonov, 2012: 85-86).

It is known that the word Kyrgyz (Likety, 1925: 235-249; Pulleyblank, 1990: 98-108) was mentioned as Kırkız in Göktürk scripts and as Gir-kis in Tibetan sources. According to some researchers, Kyrgyz is composed of

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two words: namely, kır (the wild) and gez (walk) meaning “a person walking in the wild” (Kasapoğlu, 2002: 578).

In Chinese records regarding the end of the 6th century, the word Khakas is used to refer the Kyrgyz. In the same records, Khakas people were defined as tall and ruddy-cheeked people with blond hair and blue eyes (idem, ibid.).

Moreover, the Kyrgyz have been called blackkyrgyz and buruts. Kyrgyz origins are relevant to peoples such as Sak (Akişev & Kuşayev, 1963: 88-89) and Huns (Abramzon, 1971: 48). In the 6th to 10th centuries, the Kyrgyz blended in with the peoples living in Sayan-Altai, Irtish and South Tyan-Shan areas. After Mongols attacked Kyrgyzstan and Central Asia, some Turks living in that area moved to Central and West Tyan-Shan, and then to the South, namely to Pamir. They formed the basis for generation of Kyrgyz peoples around Tyan-Shan. Furthermore, Qarluqs, Uyghurs, Mongols and Kazakh-Nogai peoples, during the 16th and 17th centuries, became a part of that composition (Sredney, 1963).

In the early 16th century, the Kyrgyz were known as peoples who had complicated ethnic composition in Tyan-Shan. Formation of a Kyrgyz folk/community was completed in the second half of the 18th century (ACE Encyclopaedia of Soviet Azerbaijan, 1979: 171).

Some ancient Turk inscriptions such as Kültegin, Bilge Khagan, Tonyukuk, Moyun Çur, Bars Beg and Kyrgyz Oglu monuments in Suci mention Kyrgyz as a very powerful Turkish tribe and the four monuments found in Talas which are related with Kyrgyz are some evidence strengthening the idea that the Kyrgyz had a very sophisticated writing tradition. It is worthy of note that, the Epic of Manas, dating back at least one millennium, suggests that all communications were provided via correspondence and it was an ordinary situation regarding the conditions of the day (Cumakunova, 2002: 597).

Epics: Manas

The backbones of the Turkish epic are Oghuz and Mongol traditions. The most powerful and richest epic which is still alive belongs to the Mongol period (Togan, 2002: 597). In Kyrgyz culture, epics defined as works in the form of a narrative poem ordinarily concerning a person’s adventures and the wars against internal and external enemies,always told with details of heroic deeds are named as epos and/or comok (Yıldız, 2002). Kyrgyz Turks have been able to keep the epic tradition alive up to now. Beside old epics such as Manas, Ertabıldı, Teyitbek, Seyitbek, Coloy Kan, Kurmanbek and Kococaş, there are other epics called kence comok which have been

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created in recent centuries and have undertaken the function of folktales in the Anatolian area, such as Kulmırza Menen Aksatkın, Calayır Calgız, Ak Möör, and Bozton. Some researchers call these epics new epics while others consider them to be realistic epics (Yıldız, 2002: 348). The oldest Kyrgyz epic is the Epic of Manas. Also, regarding its volume, it is the longest verbal epic in the world (Akayev, 2002: 23).

One of the most common starting points of epics is “the birth of the hero.” Longing for a child and developing pattern complexes depending upon it are notably common in narration like tale, story and epic (Köksal, 2002: 583). The Epic of Manas begins by instilling indications about the birth of Battal Gazi in dreams (idem: 584).

In Turkish tradition, one of the precautions for protecting the child after birth and assisting him in the ways leading to a good and successful social life is the name giving ceremony. According to the information obtained from existing epics, stories and ethnographic-folkloric reviews, that tradition first appeared in Central Asia (Ülkütaşır & Koşay, 1938: 3301; Ekici, 1989: 12-14; Köksal, 2002: 584). In the Epic of Manas, the name giving tradition has an Islamic feature (Radlov, 1995: 17-18; Köksal, 2002: 585). Manas is a multi-variant work. Today, it is known that there are eighty-six versions of Manas which consist of three books. While some versions of the aforementioned work narrate events thoroughly in an order with thousands of lines, others are limited to short descriptions. While some narrators tell the epic using their own ability and by extending and enriching chapters, others tell the epic as it is (Orozbakoğlu, Musayev & Uraimova, 2007: 510-511).

Three books of Manas—Manas, Seytek and Semetey—were written by Sayakbay in the 1930s and 40s as a poem with 500 553 lines (idem: 15). The total volume of the three books written by the writer of Manas, namely Sayakbay Karalaev, is five hundred thousand lines (Osmonov, 2012: 13).

Considering its properties, Manas can be regarded as a heroic epic. (Abramzon, 1968) In the 19th century, world renowned scientists including Ç. Valihanov (1985), V. Radlov (1985) and some others reported that the Epic of Manas is a priceless and unique resource for learning history, philosophy, ethnography, artistic creativity, language, psychology, geography, medicine, moral culture, and different aspects of social life of the Kyrgyz people (Osmonov, 2012: 13). There are different ideas regarding the emergence of the epic. V. Radlov compiled an important part of the Manas epic in 1869 and published it in 1885 with its German translation within the scope of the work called Turkish Folk Literature. That compilation consists of 12 452 verses. Moreover, there was another

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epic called Yolay Khan composed of 5322 verses and connected with the epic of Manas. The plot of Yolay Khan revolves around a series of events experienced by Er-Yolay who is one of the protagonists in the Epic of Manas. Consequently, there were a total of 17 774 verses in the published text (Türkmen, 2007: 3).

Orientalist L.Von Almasy saw a manuscript regarding the Epic of Manas whereupon he published an article. In his article, Almasy explains that there 20 000 manuscripts about Manas and 30 000 manuscripts about Semetey and Seytek together in the triplet of Manas-Semetey-Seytek. Within the scope of his work, Almasy introduces a text of 72 verses regarding Manas’ saying goodbye to his son Semetey before the expedition to Beijing, and Almasy also offers the German translation of the work (idem, ibid.).

According to researchers including S. Malov, V. Jimurinskiy, B. Yunusaliev (Yunusaliyev, 1956) and K. Rahmatullin, the Epic of Manas reflects the events regarding the strengthening of the Kyrgyz community living in Yenisei during the 9th and 10th centuries and other historical events occurring in connection with that. However, M. Auezov (1985) and A. Bernştam (1934) believe that the epic had emerged much earlier and the onset of the events mentioned in the epic are based on developments in the 7th century (Osmonov, 2012: 4).

In Mecmuatü’t-Tevarih written in the 16th century, the protagonist Manas is mentioned as a friend of Toktamış Khan. Unfortunately, none of the Chinese, Persian or Turkish sources give sufficient information on the Kyrgyz. However, it is not surprising, because the Kyrgyz who were adapted to nomadic life could not make time to write down history as they were too busy experiencing life (Türkmen, 2007: 1).

The Epic of Manas coincides with the foundation of the Great Kyrgyz Khaganate in Yenisei during the 9th and 10th centuries. However, that information does not sweep away the other opinion suggesting that the emergence of the epic goes back to much earlier centuries because the Kyrgyz peoples living in the centre of the Yenisei Valley were always in struggles for independence with the Turkish, Qarluq and Uyghur Khaganates that were in power in Central Asia. Chinese records and Orhon-Yenisei records present information regarding these events (Osmonov, 2012: 15).

In the Epic of Manas, the name of the Beshbaliq is mentioned several times. Famous historian O. Karaev believes that the first stories related to the city of Ordu-Baliq changed after the invasion of Beshbaliq by Yenisei Kyrgyz (Karayev, 1989). Beshbaliq (Besim, 2006; İzgi, 1989) is one of the biggest cities in East Turkmenistan (close to the region called Urumchi

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today) (Osmonov, 2012: 16). Uyghurs under the control of Pan-Tegin, who were escaping from Yenisei, laid over in that region and resisted the Kyrgyz fiercely. After a harsh war, the Kyrgyz captured the area from Beshbaliq to Uqturpan and settled there. As of the 10th century, the Kyrgyz started calling the Li-i-de-tszyan River in the region “Manas.”

In all versions of the epic, the Kalmyk are traditional enemies of the Kyrgyz. The term “Kalmyk” appeared in the middle of the 13th century and was initially used to define the tribes moving into Altai and Khangai (Kangay) terrains. During that period, the Kalmyk were neighbours with some Kyrgyz tribes and had military, economic and other kinds of relations with them. In the 14th century, the Kalmyk established a state known as “Derben (Four) Oyrat.” In one version of Manas, Almambet was named as the son of the ruler of the “Four Oyrats’ Sultanate.” It only stands to reason that “Four Oyrats” implies the four tribes composing the sultanate. Relying on historical monuments, Barthold (2002: 37-125) emphasizes that after the foundation of the sultanate, the Kalmyk continuously attacked Mongolia.

Moreover, the Epic of Manas is a source of geographical data regarding history. That is to say that the names of governments, peoples, geographical areas, rivers and regions are clearly stated in the epic. This confirms that imparted situations are real situations. Moreover, the Epic of Manas includes information about the historical Silk Road. The names of more than 500 geographical regions on the Silk Road are mentioned in the epic (1978: 216-217).

One of the other important issues in the epic is that it provides information about old clan alliances and other ethnic unions. It mentions 113 ethnic names in S. Orazbakov’s version. M. Kaşgari, one of the famous scientists of the middle ages (11th century), identified 73 names stated in the Epic of Manas in his work Turkish Idioms Dictionary (Ubukeev, 1998).

A large number of stories within Manas tell of the contests among Kyrgyz people. It is surely beyond doubt that horse racing was one of the most important games: horse running (running horse to different distance), jorgo unleashing (yorga running), messengers rating (goat fighting), soldiers appearing (fighting while riding horse), soldiers ranking (wrestling while riding horse). Apart from these, there are other games mentioned in the stories, such as kuroş (wrestling), ordo (bone game) and toroz korgool (public chess). While the epic gives information about the war-horses of heroes, it also expresses the difficulties of horse riders (sayakper) with a bright artistry (Osmonov, 2012: 17-20).

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In the practice of most epic writers, the epic doesn’t end with the death of Manas but continues with other events. When Manas has died, Kanıkey is pregnant. The epic goes on with the adventures of Semetey, born after Manas’ death (Hatto, 1995: 73-152).

Semetey is not such a foresighted khan as his father. After he gives his dear horse to his cousin in return for his kidnapped fiancée, his enemies kill him at an early age. When he dies, his wife Ayçörök is pregnant; consequently a third cycle of the epic continues with Semetey’s son Seytek born after Semetey’s death. Thus, the trinity of the epic is completed (Baydjiev, 1999). Some Manas narrators (authors), including Sayakbay Karala Uulu and Gusup Mamay, have added a new cycle to the epic concerning the next generations of the family. Some others have become skilled at only the second and third cycles of the epic, and thus, practice them (Yıldız, 2002).

Conclusion

In conclusion, it should also be emphasized that Manas is not only a historical and poetical work for Kyrgyz peoples, but it is also of cultic value. That is, Manas is the resource from which the Kyrgyz have learnt governance, national integrity, fidelity and loyalty to nation, and to exist and perpetuate a humane nobility across the centuries. These aspects have facilitated the existence of Kyrgyz peoples and the maintenance of a dignified stance in bad situations. There should be further studies in order to reveal new bright frontiers of the epic’s effect on the history of Kyrgyz peoples.

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Akayev, A. (2002). Kırgızskaya Gosudarstvennost i Narodnıy Epos “Manas” [The Kyrgyz Statism and Public Epic of Manas]. Bishkek.

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Akişev, K. A. & Kuşayev, G. A. (1963). Drevnyaya Kultura Sakov i Usuney Dolinı Reki İli [Old History of Sacs and Usuns]. Alma-Ata.

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SPACE AND POLITICS: CHANGING OF SOCIAL ACTIVITIES

IN TAHRIR SQUARE, EGYPT

USAMA NASSAR

Introduction Urban space is a component of a city that changes during the history of a nation over several periods. While public spaces must provide users with a sense of attachment and identity, both emotionally and visually, certain urban public spaces seem to embody the cities in which they are found. Tahrir Square is considered one of the most significant spaces in Egypt. It was originally named “Ismailia Square” after the 19th-century ruler Khedive Ismail, who built the new downtown district’s “Paris on the Nile” design. After the Egyptian Revolution of 1919, the square became known as Tahrir (Liberation) Square. Public space is taken by many to refer to things like the media, the internet and networks of citizens in civil society, such that “the literal meaning has almost been wiped out” (Hénaff & Strong, 2001). Thus, this paper aims to examine the dramatic changes in the daily social activities in Tahrir Square over the past few years following political events. To achieve this, the study will start with an overview of the urban context and its historical development for the square up to its recent form, taking into account all the political events which occur there. Following this, the study will monitor all the added social activities and behavioural maps through various tools to reach the main conclusions, which in turn will clarify the direct link between how people react to the space and the significant political events.

Urban Context

According to AlSayyad (2011), Tahrir Square came into existence 140 years ago during the time of another ruler who was considered ruthless, Ismail, after he had lived in Haussmann’s Paris and saw the changes that

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came about in France under Napoleon III, leading to his desire to remake Cairo in the image of Paris. Since that, the square has gone through huge urban growth and changes of boundaries.

Urban Growth and Visual Perception. According to Moughtin, the role as a visual edge to urban development is still performed by rivers such as the Thames in London or the Seine in Paris. A particular treatment of a watercourse and the architecture along its banks can imbue a city quarter or district with unique qualities, distinguishing it from adjacent areas (Moughtin, 2003). The dynamic nature of Tahrir Square and its vital location on the waterfront were the reason for rapid urban growth both in the nearby buildings and major surrounding roads. Figure 2-1 shows the development of the square since its northern side was the Ismailia canal, in becoming a vital axis for the 6th of October bridge and Ramsis street.

Figure 2-1. Urban development for Tahrir Square (Egyptian Geographic Society Maps, Egypt)

Lynch (1960) describes the urban form experience as “imageability,” or the ability to stimulate a strong visual image in the eye and mind of the

1894 1986 1990

1894 1905

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viewer. Tahrir Square is a very significant image for the user, with its unique surrounding architecture and building uses, as shown in Figure 2-2.

Figure 2-2. Visual image change in the square (Old issues of Alahram newspaper, www.ahram.org.eg/pdf) Tahrir Square today. Tahrir Square is not only the center of Cairo, it is home to some of the city’s most significant buildings and a constant headline-maker in the local press. Whatever happens in Tahrir immediately becomes a national concern (Farag, 1999), and hence it is the place for the most important governmental, political, cultural and touristic buildings. Figure 2-3 shows the the current visual image of the square.

Figure 2-3. Current urban form and building uses of Tahrir square (U. N.)

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Politics and Tahrir Square

Public use and demonstrations. Traditionally, the site of any democratic performance has tended to be squares, parks, avenues and plazas where protestors gather to impress their displeasure upon their representatives (Bailey & Iveson, 2000). Tahrir Square has always been the traditional site for many major protests and demonstrations through the years, starting in 1919 when Egypt demanded independence from the UK and up to the revolution in January 2011 against corruption. These political events can be listed as: 1919 Egypt demands independence from UK 1946 Student protests 1951 Protests against the British presence in the canal area 1952 Riots (the Cairo Fire) 1972 Student riots on 24 January 2011 Egyptian revolution

Egyptian Revolution in 2011. Recently, Tahrir Square was the main platform for the 2011 Egyptian Revolution, and it became established as a focal point and a symbol for the ongoing Egyptian democracy demonstrations. Figure 2-4 shows a diagram for the square’s usage by the protesters, which would later be reflected through social activities and newly added behaviour in the square.

Figure 2-4. Diagram of protests in Tahrir Square in January 2011 (Google Earth, adapted by U. N.)

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Monitoring Social Activities in Tahrir Square

Parkinson (2012) states that democracy depends on the availability of physical public space, even in an increasingly digital world. This section of the paper aims to explore how democracy and politics affect physical environment and types of social activities in Tahrir Square, considering values of culture in the Egyptian environment.

Data sampling. DeFazio (2011) argues that culture and urban sociology are linked in a strong way, and every social change in the space is always affected by political changes and urban development plans. The research will investigate this through the field study.In this section of the study, the data were mainly derived from observation, documented photos during the day and designed questionnaires, which were distributed randomly to the local visitors and hawkers in the square (tourists were excluded), and the questionnaire was carried out all day long. In total, 100 questionnaires were distributed and collected on site. The return of questionnaires was 100%. Finally, 88 respondents who answered all questions and had valid responses to the relevant variables were included for this analysis.

Analysis and discussion. The analysis from the expert interview survey data and observation are shown in the form of a diagram and a flow-chart: - Stage 1: literature overview of the Tahrir Square context; - Stage 2: research domains (Social behaviour—Day activities - Space

perception); - Stage 3: significant contribution of politics to the place. This analysis highlights the perceptions of the positive and negative implications of space and politics. The initial data collected from the interviews have also been divided into three stages as a reference for continued study, which are: - Stage 1: literature review; - Stage 2: survey and analysis; - Stage 3: recommendations from users. Quantitative analysis in Figure 2-5 will be followed by behavioral maps showing the distribution of various activities in Tahrir Square (Figure 2-6), and documented pictures for the space usage (Figure 2-7).

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Stage 1—Literature Review

Stage 2: Survey and analysis

Stage 3: Recommendations from users

Figure 2-5. Quantitative analysis findings on the perception of negative and positive social behaviour and activities in Tahrir Square (U. N.)

Social Behavior

Perception of positive implications: • Small discussion circles. • The square acts as

socializing tool. • Interactive behavior &

willingness to change. • Attracting more tourism.

Perception of negative implications: • Lack of safety, comfort

and convenience. • Aggressive behaviour. • Incompatibility between

pedestrian and vehicle movement due to the absence of connection.

Day Activities

Perception of positive implications: • Passive and active

leisure. • Performance & Cultural

events. • Open photo gallery. • Graffiti on the walls.

Perception of negative implications: • A lot of unorganized

hawkers. • Lack of night-time

activities. • Lack of activities for

different age groups. • Unplanned sitting area. • Illegal car parking.

Space Perception

Perception of positive implications: • A free place for all

different views. • Enormous feeling of

belonging. • Symbol for unity and

achievement. • A source of pride.

Perception of negative implications: • Disorder and lack of

respect for others. • Randomness and lack of

security. • Traffic congestion • Land use conflict. • Illegal sidewalk use.

Positive implications: • Friendly and multi-cultural activities. • Focal point for all major political

events. • Visual function of connectivity with

the Nile waterfront. • Strong visual image.

Negative implications: • Lack of future vision for planning. • Lack of positive nightlife activities. • Neglect of pedestrian paths. • Approach to tourism and

governmental use rather than local users and recreation.

Develop positive implications: • Provide a central pedestrian path

running through the square. • Change the space into an open

museum for political events. • Activate the link between the space

and adjacent waterfront.

Address negative implications: • Design open spaces for local users

to adapt democratic discussions. • Develop urban screen concept as a

form of better communication. • Embrace the creative arts, open

galleries and cultural events.

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Figure 2-6. Distribution of activities in Tahrir Square (U. N.)

Figure 2-7. Types of activities in Tahrir Square (April 2013 by U. N.)

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Conclusions

Although Tahrir Square has some negative attributes, it has a high potential for capturing the positive activity that enhances the quality of the urban city and to crystallize the definition of democracy as a place not only to protest, but also to represent the identities and aspirations of the people, such that its transcends the diversity of beliefs. It is notable that current activities in Tahrir Square were affected by significant political events in a form of clear social interaction in the hot spots of the space, especially near Qasr Elnile bridge (the pedestrian entrance).

This paper illustrates the relation of urban space and politics to pinpoint the positive and negative perceptions of experts towards the research domains, which is very important to ensure that any proposed development plans for Tahrir Square will work well with the existing characteristics of community behaviour and its needs towards the demands of democracy.

Overall, the study finds that people who are using the square are doing so for social and cultural activities by day, and only for recreation by night. The conducted survey demonstrates that users are from different age groups and genders, indicating that the space efficiently attracts all users and could encourage urban social relationships among the community.

Figure 2-8 shows some recommendations regarding the proposed behavioural activities and uses in Tahrir Square, derived from users’ answers and personal observations.

Figure 2-8. Proposed activities and uses in Tahrir Square (U. N.)

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Appendix

Figure 2-9. Tahrir Square through history (1905, 1919, 1941, 1945 and 1969: www.ahram.org.eg/pdf) (2011 and 2013: U. N.)

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References

AlSayyad, N. (2011). Cairo: Histories of a City. Place: Harvard University, Belknap Press.

Bailey, J. & Iveson, K. (2000). The parliaments call them thugs: public space, identity and union protest. The Journal of Industrial Relations 42 (4): 517-534.

DeFazio, K. (2011). The City of the Senses: Urban Culture and Urban Space. New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan.

Farag, F. (1999). Center of the Center. Online: http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/1999/445/feature.htm.

Hénaff, M. & Strong, T. (Eds.). (2001). Public Space and Democracy. Minneapolis, MI: University of Minnesota Press.

Lynch, K. (1960). The Image of the City. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. Moughtin, C. (2003). Urban Design: Street and Square. Place:

Architectural Press. The Battle for Tahrir Square. (2011). Online:

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2011/02/03/world/middleeast/20110203-tahrir-square-protest-diagram.html?_r=0#panel/5.

Parkinson, J. R. (2012). Democracy and Public Space: The Physical Sites of Democratic Performance. Oxford: OUP.

ADMINISTRATIVE REFORM IN THAILAND: WHO GETS WHAT?

ARUNEE SANTHITIWANICH AND BIDHYA BOWORNWATHANA

Introduction

In 1997, administrative reform in Thailand was driven by two major factors, the Asian economic crisis and the 1997 Constitution of the Kingdom of Thailand. The Thai public administration was forced to re-organize by the International Monetary Fund (IMF)-favoured concept of New Public Management (NPM) (Hood, 2007: 495). The Office of the Civil Service Commission (OCSC) deemed NPM and Governance as the ‘panacea’ with which to overcome the bureaucratic syndromes of red tape, goal displacement, unresponsiveness, authoritarianism, double standards, and patron-client relationships.

However, different actors using NPM have different objectives and alter reform policy to their advantage, making the ends of administrative reform unclear (Considine, 1994). Administrative reform directly affects the authority, functions, interests and privileges of public officials, and this group has tried to influence the policy formulation of reform to meet its own needs (Painter, 2004; Moe, 1995; Rouban, 2007). Bowornwathana (2006: 39-40) stated that despite the reasons for reform, the results are always in favour of highly placed public officials. Peters (2001: 363) regarded administrative reform as an instrument used by politicians to decrease the power of bureaucrats and increase voters’ support. This type of reform is a political output of the power relations between elected politicians and bureaucrats (Bowornwathana, 1999: 70-71; Cheung, 2005: 262).

This article seeks to discover who gets what from administrative reform in Thailand by the exploration of the demands and visions of each of the actors in the process. The author uses structural reform as a case study to show the outcomes of this administrative reform.

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What Drives Actors to Support Reform?

This article views a policy actor as an individual who has different values, beliefs, ideas, preferences and skills that result in different behaviours (Parker Follett, 2005: 152) caused by different interpretations of the same situations (Simon, 1946: 121-122). Thailand’s interpretation of governance depends on agenda-setting conditions and political demands of others who push their needs and preferences in different ways to maximize the benefits from the reform (Bowornwathana, 2002; Cheung, 2005: 261).

Hojnacki nominated three motivators in administrative reform, politician-driven, bureaucracy-driven, and society-driven (Cheung, 2005: 262). What Motivates Politicians to Shape the Reform Process? Politicians want votes so they can retain their positions in government and hold political positions (Cleaves, 1974: 147; Cheung, 2005: 262). Peters (2001: 365) stated that politicians view administrative reform as a political strategy for the next election campaign because improvements in public services have direct benefits for citizens and, in this way, voters are led to believe by politicians that their election will result in an improvement in the bureaucracy. Politicians also control public bureaucracy by the appointment of their trustees into key positions so that the politicians’ policy promises are effectively implemented by their nominees (Bowornwathana, 2002: 78; Bendor & Moe, 1985: 757).

Reform is politically and financially beneficial to bureaucracy. In 2002, a reform of the Thai government structure resulted in increases from 15 ministries and 123 departments to 20 ministries and 146 departments. This case showed that administrative reform expands the pies of politicians and bureaucrats (Bowornwathana, 2002). What Motivates Bureaucrats to Shape the Reform Process? Bowornwathana (1999), Jacobsen (2005) and Heady (2001) explained that bureaucrats view administrative reform as an opportunity to decrease control by politicians and maintain and enlarge their own decision-making power, compensation and other benefits. They believe that politicians seek short-term interest in office and do not understand public administration (Bowornwathana, 1999: 70-73). Peters (2001: 21) stated that strong bureaucracy is partially a result of unstable government relying on the ability of bureaucracy. Only bureaucrats who have political connections

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with powerful politicians or titans can access the centre of reform decision-making, and thus affecting their power, authority and interests (Hood, Peters & Lee, 2003: 5; Bowornwathana, 2010: 208) .

Bowornwathana (2006) discovered that Thai administrative reform is the incremental improvement of power and interests of highly placed public officials since the bureaucrats can access the centre of policy-making to acquire more benefits, such as the maintenance of elite status, informal rewards, concealed information and being in the right place at the right time. What Motivates Society to Shape the Reform Process? Globalization has made the business sector more efficient in its efforts to satisfy customers. Citizens also expect higher standards from bureaucrats in terms of responsiveness, accountability, transparency, equality, and efficiency and effectiveness.

Pollitt and Bouckaert (2004: 19) stated that society should have direct benefits from administrative reform but it has been blocked from the policy process. It only acts as a receiver of outputs of reform and does not participate in it in a democratic way. Administrative reform is a continuous power game between elected politicians and bureaucrats (Bowornwathana, 1999: 72; Moe, 1989: 268) and both of them have used the public’s interests as pretences to push for reform.

Research Methods

The study investigated the structural reform of public agencies in Thailand from 2001 to 2010 using a case study approach involving in-depth interviews, story-telling, and documentary research.

Structural Reform in Thailand

Administrative reform in Thailand involves a number of factors by which powerful actors manipulate the process to expand their domains and enhance power and influence.

Firstly, reform involves a quantitative increase. More ministries and departments mean more highly placed public official positions, such as ministers and deputies, permanent secretaries and deputies, secretary-generals, director-generals and deputies, and new ministerial assistant positions for elected politicians who fail to be appointed to ministerial positions. The Act on Organization of Ministries, Sub-Ministries and


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Departments, B.E. 2545 (2002) increased the numbers of ministries and departments respectively from 15 and 123 to 20 and 146, resulting in at least 20 new ministerial assistants, 5 new ministers, 5 new permanent secretaries and 23 new director-generals.

More highly placed public official positions mean more public expenditure in the long term. Bowornwathana (2006: 46) described how the highly placed position in public bureaucracy is attached to formal rewards such as personal safety, high salaries, position money, meeting payments, official car, traveling expenses, visiting and travelling and other facilities.

Secondly, reform in Thailand involves a qualitative increase, such as upgrades of organizational mission values and divisions of ministries into smaller institutions. For example, the Department of Accelerated Rural Development and the Department of Community Development moved from the Ministry of Interior to become the new Ministry of Social Development and Human Security. Part of the Department of Public Works constituted the new Ministry of Energy. OCSC, the focal administrative reformer in the Thai Rak Thai government, upgraded its re-organization and standardization functions to become a new department, Office of the Public Sector Development Commission (OPDC). Such developments were designed to decrease the tension between competing highly placed bureaucrats and create more opportunities for positions in grade A ministries with higher budgets.

Thirdly, Thai administrative reform is being completed for technical reasons. Techno-bureaucrats categorized the organizational functions of each ministry to be mission groups. It was designated that each mission group must be under the control of a deputy minister, thus increasing the number of senior executive positions, such as deputy ministers and deputy permanent secretaries. Results of the study’s interviews with retired bureaucrats showed that this method guaranteed that there are multitudes for all government functions.

An increase in functions in Thai bureaucracy meant more structures and more senior bureaucratic positions. Such a reform was in opposition to the government’s policy promises of small government that implied fewer bureaucrats. This situation occurred because of two launches of an early retirement project to remove street bureaucrats from Thai bureaucracy and replace them with retired officials in senior bureaucratic positions.

Lastly, administrative reform in Thailand involves a widening of the government’s authority. An example of this was the establishment of six new ministries by the Act on Organization of Ministries, Sub-Ministries and Departments, 2002. These new ministries were the Ministry of


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Tourism and Sports, Ministry of Culture Thailand, Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, Ministry of Social Development and Human Security, Ministry of Information and Communication Technology and Ministry of Labour. Those advocates of administrative reform stated that globalization leads to new social problems and social works and that it is necessary to create new public agencies to deal with these problems. Inevitably, these new ministries require financial support.

Officials involved in the process of reform are able to occupy positions in the new public agencies. For instance, the Ministry of Justice established seven new departments and the highly placed bureaucrats who had influenced the formation of the new departments inside and/or outside the Ministry of Justice became director-generals and deputy directors in the new agencies.

Reform involves a form of patron-client relationship between highly placed public officials and politicians as it provides opportunities of positions for the officers and the politicians who control the budget. For example, the Head of OCSC was granted a new agency (OPDC) by the Prime Minister while the Prime Minister in return received the minister’s assistant positions from the OCSC.

Expansion of areas of responsibility is accompanied by increases in public expenditure, and some of this has been used by senior bureaucrats and elected politicians for the creation of luxurious work environments (Gains & John, 2010: 456), including expensive foreign cars, furniture and technological equipment.

These benefits, accompanied by more power and increased authority for elected politicians and senior bureaucrats, provide little for ordinary people, except an increase in tax.

Conclusion

Increases in efficiency and satisfaction of the public interest have been used as a discourse to launch administrative reform but this case study demonstrated that the actors in the process, elected politicians and highly placed public officials, are interested in increasing their power and benefits.

To successfully achieve reform, it was found to be necessary for the actors to co-operate with others in authority (Pfeffer, 1992; Yitzhak, 2005: 114). Those with similar interests coalesced to satisfy the desires of the group.

This research confirmed the argument of Miller and Moe (1983: 319-320) that the administrative reform was not designed to realise the


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purported social ends. The more powerful actors were the winners in this reform game as they had authority and controlled the rules of the game while ordinary people were the losers as they were excluded from the game.

Acknowledgements

This research is funded by Chulalongkorn University Graduate Scholarship to commemorate the 72nd Anniversary of His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej as well as the 90th Anniversary of Chulalongkorn University Fund (Ratchadaphiseksomphot Endowment Fund). The authors thank Bob Tremayne of the Office of International Relations at Ubon Ratchathani University for assistance with English.

References

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Bowornwathana, Bidhya & Poocharoen, Ora-orn. (2010). Bureaucratic Politics and Administrative Reform: Why Politics Matters. Public Organizations Review 10 (4): 303-321.

Bowornwathana, Bidhya. (1999). Administrative Reform and the Politician-Bureaucrat Perspective: Vision, Processes, and Support for Reform. In H.-K. Wong & H. S. Chan (Eds.), Handbook of Comparative Public Administration in the Asia-Pacific Basin. New York, NY: Marcel Dekker. 69-78.

—. (2002). Joined at the Top and Structural Reform of Thai Ministries: More Government, Not Governance. In M. Considine (Ed.), Knowledge, Networks and Joined-Up Government: Conference Proceedings. Melbourne: University of Melbourne. 77-93.

—. (2006). The Thai Model of Rewards for High Public Office. In D. H. Unger & C. D. Neher (Eds.), Bureaucracy and National Security in Southeast Asia. DeKalb, IL: Northern Illinois University. 33-55.

—. (2010). Bureaucrats, Politicians, and the Transfer of Administrative Reform into Thailand. In J. Pierre & Patricia W. Ingraham (Eds.), Comparative Administrative Change and Reform: Lessons learned. Montreal—Kingston: McGill-Queen’s University Press. 207-231.

Cheung, A. B. L. (2005). The Politics of Administrative Reforms in Asia: Paradigms and Legacies, Paths and Diversities. Governance: An International Journal of Policy, Administration, and Institutions 18 (2): 257-282.


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Considine, M. (1994). Public Policy: A critical approach. Hong Kong: Macmillan.

Gains, Francesca & John, P. (2010). What Do Bureaucrats Like Doing? Bureaucratic Preferences in Response to Institutional Reform. Public Administration Review 70 (3): 455-463.

Heady, F. (2001). Public Administration: A comparative perspective. New York, NY: Marcel Dekker.

Hood, C. (2007). A Public Management for All reasons? In J. M. Shafritz & A. Hyde (Eds.), Classics of Public Administration. Boston, MA: Wadsworth Cengage Learning. 495-407.

Hood, C., B., Peters, G. & Lee, Grace O. M. (Eds). (2003). Reward for High Public Office: Asian and Pacific Rim states. London: Routledge.

Jacobsen, Dag Ingvar. (2005). Sand in the Machinery? Comparing Bureaucrats’ and Politicians’ Attitudes toward Public Sector Reform. European Journal of Political Research 44 (6): 767-799.

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TURKISH PERCEPTIONS OF THE EURO-ZONE CRISIS AND EU NORMATIVE POWER

BEYZA-ÇAĞATAY TEKIN

Introduction

How can the European Union (EU) represent a global normative power, a centre of gravity, and a role model for its immediate periphery, while it is increasingly being perceived as a “problem-ridden,” self-interested entity? The euro-zone crisis and continuing restructuring in the EU economic governance pose an important challenge today for the EU’s international identity; the question above requires an urgent answer that goes to the heart of European integration. The conceptualization of the EU as a normative actor that is capable of diffusing its own norms and values to the rest of the world has long been promoted as the basis of the EU international identity. However, self-ascribed identity claims acquire meaning only through recognition by others; whether the EU is a normative power relies not only on the EU self-descriptions and declaratory policies, but also on outsiders’ assessments and perceptions of the normative dimension of the EU. This article studies the impact of the euro-zone crisis on EU normative power, its global leadership role, and its capacity to represent a centre of gravity for its immediate periphery, by examining Turkish perceptions of the EU during the euro-zone crisis. This article analyses Turkish political discourse on the continuing economic crisis and restructuring in the euro-zone, as a case study of external images of the EU, in an attempt to inquire into the true conditions of the EU’s self-asserted claims of international identity. Consequently, by focusing on the “intersubjective” dimension of identity formation and studying Turkish perceptions of the EU during the crisis, this study attempts to contribute to debates over the nature of the EU as a global actor. This study aims to contribute to the literature on outsiders’ perceptions of the EU’s international identity (Barbé & Johansson-Nogués, 2008; Chaban et al., 2013; Lucarelli, 2007; de Zutter, 2010; de Zutter and Toro, 2008). Turkish perceptions of the EU provide an exceptionally interesting research

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question, not only because Turkey is a country in close proximity to the EU, having strong economic ties with the EU, but also because Turkey is a candidate country, which has been subject to the democratic conditionality regime of the EU for about two decades now. Turkish perceptions of the EU during the euro-zone crisis thus can provide us an invaluable opportunity to observe the limits of EU normative power and transformative capacity, either through its “carrot and stick” strategy, or by leading by example. Turkish perceptions of the EU are important in themselves also because Turkey has historically been among the major radical Others of Europe, playing a constitutive role in European identity formation. This article is organized under two sections. The first section of the article provides an overview of the International Relations (IR) literature studying the EU international identity as “civilian,” “civilizing,” “ethical,” “soft” or “normative” power in world politics, its global leadership role, as well as its transformative capacity in its immediate periphery. The second section of the article examines Turkish power holders’ perceptions of the euro-zone crisis, and the EU in the face of the crisis, placing the emphasis on the increasing suspicions about EU normativity, and the legitimacy of its leadership role.

EU Normative Power, International Identity, and Leadership Capacity

Following Hay (1995: 191), power can be defined as “a question of agency,” as an actor’s capacity to influence structures, set contexts and determine the agenda and array of possibilities in the international political system. In the last few decades, power has increasingly come to be seen as gaining a “less fungible, less coercive and less tangible” form (Nye, 1990: 188). It has been argued that the “soft power” of norms, values and ideas has come to replace the “hard power” of military means and economic capacities. In this context, many scholars in IR saw the EU as the example par excellence for a global soft power, with a considerable transformative capacity, both in the international system and in its entourage. Today, there is a wide literature on the claim that the EU corresponds to a civilian, ethical, normative or soft power in world politics (Diez, 2005; Eriksen, 2006; Manners, 2002; Nicolaïdis & Howse, 2002; Scheipers & Sicurelli, 2007; Smith, 2000). According to Manners (2002: 252), who introduced the concept of “normative power EU” as distinct from Duchêne’s (1972) notion of a “civilian power EU,” the central factor today shaping the international identity of the Union “is not what it does or what it says, but what it is.” In this view, the EU is understood as representing a Kantian

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polity, which adheres to, and is capable of promoting, a set of particular norms and values in world politics, because of its historical evolution, constitutional configuration, and its hybrid polity (Manners, 2002: 252). In this context, it has been argued that the EU represents a “force for goodness in international society” (Jørgensen & Laatikainen, 2004: 15), and a “centre of (normative) gravity” (Sjursen, 2006), having a considerable transformative power simply by “leading by example.” The EU normative power and transformative capacity are also seen as the basis of the Union’s global leadership role. The normativity of the EU is sought in both its internal and external relations, but first in the EU commitment and capacity to place universal norms and principles at the centre of its external relations (Manners, 2002: 241). The evidence for the transformative capacity of the EU is more than often found in the EU’s recent enlargement towards the formerly Eastern Block member countries. The influence of the EU on its periphery is argued to rest chiefly on its being a normative centre of attraction, which, in turn, crucially depends on the EU external image of a prosperous and politically and economically stable entity, its image of an island of stability and welfare in an unstable region amidst political uncertainty and economic problems. This conceptualization of the EU as a normative power has long been promoted as a salient part of the EU international identity in both the academic and official discourse (Diez, 2005: 614; Diez & Manners, 2007: 174). This self-image of the EU has also been inserted firmly into the main documents and treaties of the Union such as the Treaty on European Union (TEU) or the Lisbon Treaty (de Zutter, 2010). Identities are “inherently relational”; as Wendt (1999: 224) argues, identity formation necessarily entails an intersubjective dimension. International identities of states are constructed intersubjectively, in dialogical interactions with other actors in the international system. The cultural constitution of identity or subjective claims of identity represent merely a form of power (idem: 177). Self-ascribed identity claims of actors in world politics acquire sense only on recognition by Others; that is, for realizing identity claims in the international realm, what matters is “the testimony of Others, past and present” (idem: 175). It is the “generalized Other” who determines “what counts as such” and who decides whether an international actor is what it claims to be (idem: 176). It is this intersubjectivity that provides “truth conditions” for identity claims (idem: 177). The EU self-asserted, ideational identity claims, such as “civilizing,” “normative,” or “ethical” power, force or centre of attraction in world politics, all depend crucially on recognition of these claims by the Other(s). It is extensively accepted that the EU “can only achieve the leadership role to which it aspires


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through the example it sets to its partners and other States” (Alston & Weiler, 1999: 7). This is because the EU builds its power and greater legitimacy upon its fundamental norms and values (Manners, 2002: 244). The EU leadership role, as well as its status of great power in world politics, thus crucially depends on its normative power, on its reputation as a role model. Recently flourishing literature on ‘role theory’ in IR suggests that the leadership capacity of international actors crucially depends on the responsiveness of the followers (Bengtsson & Elgström, 2011: 117; Harnisch, Frank & Maull, 2011). Leadership further requires legitimacy, of not only the objectives as an international actor, but also of its material and ideational means and capacities for supporting such a role.

Turkish perceptions of the EU

The eruption of the Greek sovereign debt crisis and the ensuing economic turmoil in the euro-zone led Turkish observers to reconsider the nature of the EU, meanings of EU membership and the EU international identity. An almost immediate reaction, at the level of both the general public and political elites in Turkey was to see the Greek default as clear-cut proof of the righteousness of the Turkish thesis that the EU has long been conducting an overtly exclusionary and discriminatory attitude towards this country’s membership to the Union. The collapse of the Greek economy and deteriorating economic conditions in other euro-zone countries, as well as successive calls by the new south-east European members of the EU for financial help from the Union were all considered as evidencing how ill placed were the harsh criticisms of Turkey and its failure to meet with the high standards of the EU with regard to economic stability. The EU is represented as having consistently, and purposely, ignored economic and political achievements Turkey recently realized. It can be said that the euro-zone crisis triggered, first, a questioning of the EU normativity claims, in the form of loudly spoken suspicions regarding EU fairness, lack of consistency in EU applications and pursuits of norms, rules and principles. Turkish observers understood the Greek “default” and economic problems in other euro-zone countries as evidencing how inconsistent the EU was in the pursuit of the ideas, norms, rules and principles it has been promoting for a long time. In this context, the :Greek default” is perceived by top level Turkish authorities as “showing to the world” the EU “double standards” and “hypocrisy” in its dealings with Turkey. The contours of Turkish debates on the euro-zone crisis are set by declarations by leading political figures of the governmental Justice and Development Party (AKP) and the members of the government, narrating


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how the EU was far less than it claims to be, both in economic terms and in terms of adherence to, and total respect for, the set of norms and values it has been promoting as the basis of its international identity. The following statement by Prime Minister Erdoğan is a good example of how Turkish authorities have understood the Greek default and the ensuing economic turmoil in the euro area:

“Despite all double standards, all injustices, we are determined to continue the reform process […] Let them continue to do their small tricks; let them not respect their promises given to us. Believe me, when we talk to them face to face, they can’t provide us an explanation; they can’t defend their attitude. Why? Because they are not right; in fact their present situation is obvious: they are plummeting, their everything is plummeting… It is obvious what is happening in their currency, the ECB is trying to feed them with money, printing fiduciary notes. But Turkey is afoot by the power of its own nation. The [European Commission’s] Progress Report shows us once again that the EU is suffering from a serious ‘eclipse of reason.’” (Erdoğan, 2011)

In public speeches delivered by Turkish government members, the EU is frequently openly referred to as a declining economic power, lacking political leadership and direction, and incapable of providing help to its members hit by the crisis. This perception of the EU as an economically burdened entity represents a structural break in the image of the EU in Turkey, which has been far more positive in previous decades. The EU, in Turkish political discourse, is far from representing an island of prosperity and stability, a centre of attraction as it was once. Quite frequently, these representations of the EU are also supported by the claim that Europe, today, is in need of Turkey, more than Turkey needs the EU. As evident in the above utterances by Prime Minister Erdoğan, the euro-zone crisis challenged not only the material capacity of the EU and its leadership role, but also the ideational capacity and legitimacy of the Union in the eyes of Turkish observers. Turkish authorities have seen the EU “Eclipse of Reason” as the reason for why the EU has been faced with such a deep economic and political crisis. In that context, the EU is represented as an increasingly self-centred, self-focused international actor, flawed by an openly exclusionary attitude towards outsiders, obsessed with its exceptional role and stance in world politics, and having aspirations far beyond its capacity. The incapacity of the EU to open itself to culturally different European countries, hiding behind nonsensical excuses and fabricated reasons, such as the non-conformity of Turkey with EU standards are also extensively reported as reasons for questioning the EU normative power and legitimacy of the Unions’ leadership role. The


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eruption of the Greek debt crisis generated stark binary oppositions between Turkey and the EU. Table 2-2 presents auto and xeno stereotypes and images in Turkish political discourse on the euro-area crisis.

Table 2-2. Auto and xeno stereotypes in deliberations of Turkish political actors

Turkey Europe Self-confident Hostage to its own, unfounded fears and

prejudices Young, growing and dynamic (society and economy)

Ageing, senile and crisis-ridden

Open-minded and tolerant Self-focused and exclusionary A role model for the Middle East and the Mediterranean

No longer a modernity anchor or a centre of attractions

Not in need of financial support from the IMF

In need of IMF, the global lender of last resort

At the core of these comparisons remains the discourse about a Turkey that is exceptionally successful in getting part of global markets. On various occasions Turkey has been declared as more successful at integrating in global markets, competing in international markets and in respecting the rules of the market compared to Greece and other euro-area members. Competitiveness, productivity and efficiency in production are more than often put forward as the main reasons why Turkey differs in a positive sense from its neighbour. Here we observe a strict use of a neoliberal ideology of the primacy of the market. In some cases evaluations of the Turkish power holders come very close to self-glorification/self-beatification supported by heavy rhetoric about Turkey’s exceptional recent economic performance in global markets. A prominent theme in the statements of Turkish political actors talking about the reasons for the euro-zone crisis is the discourse of a “new Turkey” that is not only better than the old one, but also superior to most of the EU members in terms of economic performance and democracy.

Conclusion

We argue that Turkish perceptions of the EU during the euro-zone crisis relate to debates about the international role of the EU as a normative power. The findings suggest that the crisis has undermined both material capabilities and the ideational credentials of the EU, making it more difficult for the EU to represent itself as a normative power, a global leader and a centre of attraction. From the Turkish point of view, the EU


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does not appear credible in terms of either its potential ability or ideational nature in the pursuit of promoting its laws and norms. It is difficult to claim that Turkey perceives the EU as acting in a normative way and as a force for good; in the eyes of the Turks, EU actions do not substantiate its normative power but are reflective of its self-interested policy/nature.

Acknowledgement

We gratefully acknowledge the financial support extended for this research from Galatasaray University Scientific Research Projects, Grant no: 12.101.001.

References

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Barbé, E. & Johansson-Nogués, E. (2008). The EU as a modest ‘force for good’: the European Neighbourhood Policy. International Affairs 84 (1): 81-96.

Bengtsson, R. & Elgström, O. (2011). Reconsidering the European Union’s roles in international relations: Self-conceptions, expectations, and performance. In S. Harnisch, C. Frank & H. W. Maull (Eds.), Role Theory in International Relations: Approaches and Analyses. London: Routledge.

Chaban, N., Elgström, O., Kelly, S. & Yi, L. S. (2013). Images of the EU beyond its Borders: Issue-Specific and Regional Perceptions of European Union Power and Leadership. Journal of Common Market Studies 51 (3): 433-451.

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De Zutter, E. & Toro, F. (2008). Normative Power is in the Eye of the Beholder—An Empirical Assessment of Perceptions of EU Identity at the WTO. UNU-MERIT Working Paper. Online: http://arno.unimaas.nl/show.cgi?fid=14207.

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Jørgensen, K. E. & Laatikainen, K. V. (2004). The EU and the UN: multilateralism in a new key? Paper presented at the Second Pan-European Conference on EU Politics, ‘Implications of a Wider Europe: Politics, Institutions and Diversity’, Bologna, 24–26 June.

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Manners, I. (2002). Normative power Europe: a contradiction in terms? Journal of Common Market Studies 40 (2): 235–58.

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Smith, K. E. (2000). The end of civilian power EU: a welcome demise or cause for concern? International Spectator 35 (2): 11-28.

Wendt, A. (1999). Social Theory of International Politics. Cambridge: CUP.

2012 FRENCH AND GREEK ELECTION RESULTS: AN ASSESSMENT

NIHAT YILMAZ

Introduction

France and Greece are two important countries of the European Union. In 2012, elections were held in both countries. Results of these elections are a significant indicator that the European Union is currently facing critical problems. Increasing extremism in the political preferences of the European community, in particular extreme right-wing trends, is the most significant of these problems. Even in Sweden, which has been a representative of the traditional liberal democracy, right-wing politics has started to be represented in 2010 for the first time ever in Swedish history. There are many reasons for this increase in extremism in Europe. Primary among these factors are economic crises, pressure of migration and the fact that the centerist parties have replaced extreme rightist elements in cental politics, which have been encouraging the community to opt to follow extreme right-wing parties (Elmas & Kutlay, 2011: 3-4). In this study, this increasing extremism in Europe is reviewed on the basis of 2012 elections held in France and Greece.

The main goal of the declaration is to examine the 2012 French and Greek elections in the context of extremism in particular, and to determine the main motives behind the increase or decrease in the voting rates of political parties. Therefore, within the scope of this study, reviewed are the change in the voting rates of the French and Greek political parties and the factors that were influential in this change. In brief, political trends are being formed concretely by reviewing the results of the elections held in these countries.

Review of the 2012 French General Elections

Compared to other European countries, France is perceived as a constitutional state with deeper roots. This state tradition has seriously affected the constitutional-democratic development of other countries in

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Europe (Backes, 2011). However, despite this positive effect of France on the constitutional-democratic development of other European countries, political extremism has survived in France and other European countries as well. In many countries, radical political parties seem to retain their power in the political arena (Election Guide, 2013).

The rise of political extremism in France can be examined on the basis of 2002 elections. In the first round of the 2002 French elections the RPR (Rally for the Republic) of Jacques Chirac received 19.88% of the votes whereas Jean-Marie Le Pen, president of the extreme right-wing FN (National Front), came second with 16.88% of the votes. While such growth in the extreme right-wing created a panic in France, Jacques Chirac won the second round of the elections by a wide margin of 82.21% of the votes and became the president, thus enabling the community to overcome the negative conditions (Election Guide, 2013). However, in the next French elections, the extreme right-wing party has managed to sustain its power in the political arena. In the first round of the 2012 Presidential Elections, Le Pen came third with 17.90% of the votes (Table 2-3).

Table 2-3. 2012 Presidential First Round Election Results - France Totals

Candidates Party % [of Valid Votes] Nicolas SARKOZY Union for a Popular

Movement-UMP 27.18

François Gérard Georges HOLLANDE

SocialistParty-PS 28.63

François BAYROU DemoraticMovement 9.13 Marine LE PEN National Front-FN 17.90 Jean-Luc MELENCHON Left Front 11.10

Despite the rising influence of the right-wing in the French elections, in May 2012, François Hollande, president of the left-wing Socialist Party, has become the French President after receiving 51.63% of the votes. On the other hand, François Sarkozy, competitor of Hollande and the president of the Union for a Popular Movement (UMP) received 48.37% of the votes (Kalb, 2012: 1) (Table 2-4).

Winning the 2012 elections, François Hollande has become the second socialist president of the fifth French Republic after François Mitterrand (Gey & Schreiber, 2012; Clift, 2013). Sarkozy’s UMP, on the other hand, lost the 2001 Cantonal and Senate Elections thus paving the way for a left-wing politician to become the head of the senate for the first time since 1968 (Gauin, 2012) .

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Table 2-4. 2012 Presidential Runoff Election Results - France Totals

Candidates Party % [of ValidVotes] Nicolas SARKOZY Union for a Popular

Movement-UMP 48.37

François Gérard Georges HOLLANDE

SocialistParty-PS 51.63

Review of the 2012 Greek General Elections

In 2012, two general elections were held in Greece, respectively on May 6th and June 17th. According to the results of the general election that was held on May 6th, 2012, none of the parties involved could manage to come to power alone and attempts to form a coalition government failed as well. As a consequence of this, on June 17th, 2012, a second general election was held. Again, none of the parties could come to power alone. This time, however, New Democracy, PASOK (a social-democratic party) and Democratic Left (DIMAR) has formed a three-party coalition government (Heilig & Haselbauer, 2012).

Since the abolishment of military dictatorship in 1974, Greece had been traditionally enjoying a two party system. With this election, however, the two-party system ended. This means, the social democratic party PASOK, which had been holding political power for many years and representing the center-left, and the conservative New Democracy Party (ND), which represents the center-right, could not gain power singlehandedly (Heilig & Haselbauer, 2012).

The socialist SYRIZA party made a surprise rise in the 2012 Greek elections. Having received 4.60% of the votes in the 2009 elections, SYRIZA increased its vote to 26.89% thus becoming the second party in the elections. Communist Party of Greece (KKE), on the other hand, increased its vote, which was 7.54% in the 2009 elections, up to 8.48% in the May 2012 election but the rate dropped to 6.92% in the June 2012 election. Other than these parties, Independent Greeks (ANEL), which was formed by former New Democracy Party members, with 7.51%; and Democratic Left (DIMAR), which was formed by former members of both PASOK and SYRIZA, with 6.25% of the vote, were the other two parties that passed the 3.00% threshold thus entitled to be represented in the parliament (Nevserhilioglou, 2012). The 2012 elections ended up in failure for PASOK. While there were many factors involved in this result, the success of SYRIZA, which was formed by the Coalition of Radical Left of Greece, in the elections was one of the most important of these factors


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(Heilig & Haselbauer, 2012). Another prominent situation in the 2012 Greek Elections was the fact that the Neo-Nazi Golden Dawn Party (XA) succeeded in entering parliament. Greece is not the only country where Neo-Nazis are represented in parliament. In many European countries extreme right-wing parties have had seats in parliament. Having had a vote rate of 0.30% in 2009, the racist Golden Dawn Party increased its vote rate up to 6.92% in the June 2012 election (Table 2-5).

Table 2-5. Results of 2009 and 2012 general election

Part

y

Oct

ober

200

9 E

lect

ion

(%)

Part

y

May

201

2 E

lect

ion

(%)

Part

y

June

201

2 E

lect

ion

(%)

Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK)

43.92 New Democracy (ND)

33.47 New Democracy (ND)

29.66

New Democracy (ND)

33. 48 Coalition of the Radical Left (SyRizA)

16.78 Coalition of the Radical Left (SyRizA)

26.89

Greek Communist Party (KKE)

7.54 Panhellenic Socialist Movement (Pasok)

13.18 Panhellenic Socialist Movement (Pasok)

12.28

Popular Orthodox Rally (LAOS)

5.63 Independent Greeks (AE)

10.60 Independent Greeks (AE)

7. 51

Coalition of the Radical Left (SyRizA)

4.60 Greek Communist Party (KKE)

8.48 Golden Dawn (XA) 6. 92

Golden Dawn (XA)

0.3 Golden Dawn (XA) 6.97 Democratic Left (DIMAR)

6. 25

Democratic Left (DIMAR)

- Democratic Left (DIMAR)

6.11 Greek Communist Party (KKE)

4.50

Many factors have affected the creation of the current political environment in Greece. The Euro Zone economic crisis that has been persisting since 2007 is one of the leading factors thereof. Furthermore, following that crisis a social breakdown was experienced. While the unemployment ratio exceeded 20.00%, the youth unemployment rate

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reached over 40.00%. In addition to that, massive deductions have been made to salaries and pensions, and debts of the state increased to 142.80% of GDP. Also, the VAT rate has been raised to 21.00%, and salaries of state officers have been deducted (Heilig & Haselbauer, 2012). All this burden imposed by the economic crisis made Greek society suffer a strict austerity policy which caused major social uprising. According to the results of the public survey conducted in March 2013, the popularity of SYRIZA, political party of the Coalition of Radical Left in Greece, has been rising continuously. Rising poverty and unemployment rates indicate that SYRIZA has got stronger against the current government. Persistent demands of the European Union and the IMF, which include strict austerity measures, are causing the Greek community to turn to left-wing parties such as SYRIZA (DWN, 2013). Not only parties of the left but also radical parties seem to have increased their popularity seriously as well. According to March 2013 public surveys, SYRIZA has increased its vote rate to 29.50% whereas the vote rate of New Democracy, the current governing party, has dropped down to 28.50%. Extreme right-wing Golden Dawn, on the other hand, has increased its vote rate up to 10.00%. Most significantly, the vote rate of PASOK, one of the two central parties of the Greek political environment, has dropped down to 7.50%. In short, the latest elections held in Greece caused both the extreme right-wing and also the radical left-wing to get stronger. Reaction of the community against strict austerity policies is an important factor in the increase of the vote rate of such parties as SYRIZA, the radical left coalition, and Neo-Nazi Golden Dawn. That is, issues in such fields as food, health, unemployment, safety, etc. which emerged due to the economic crisis, have caused the vote rate of the radical parties to rise (Koronaiou & Sakellariou, 2013: 332).

Conclusion

The latest elections and ensuing public surveys held in two important countries of Europe, France and Greece, have indicated that there has been a massive increase in the vote rate of extremist parties. Both the economic crisis in Europe and also crises experienced by the domestic economies and markets are gradually transforming into a social and political crisis. These crises, in turn, are causing extremist political parties to enjoy higher vote rates. However, economic crises are not the sole cause of the increase in political extremism. In addition to these, extreme nationalistic views may have emerged within the community. If political extremism continues to increase thus, it is possible that countries will suffer larger economic


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crises. To prevent such a threat, necessary measures must be taken both at national and international level.

References

Backes, U. (2011). Extremismus in Frankreich [Extremism in France]. In E. Jesse & T. Thieme (Eds.), Extremismus in den EU-Staaten. Wiesbaden: VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften.

Clift, B. (2013). Le Changement? French Socialism, the 2012 Presidential Election and the Politics of Economic Credibility amidst the Eurozone Crisis. Parliamentary Affairs 66: 106-123.

Election Guide. 2012 Presidential First Round and Runoff Election Results. (2013). Online: http://electionresources.org/fr/president.php? election=2012&region=FR.

Elmas, F. Y. & Kutlay, M. (2011). Avrupa’yı bekleyen Tehlike: Aşırı Sağın Yükselişi [The Danger of Waiting for Europe: The Rise of the Far-Right]. Uluslararası Stratejik Araştırmalar Kurumu (11): 1-22.

Europa: Griechenland auf dem Weg zur Sozialistischen Republik [Europe: Greece on the way to the Socialist Republic]. (2013). Online: http://deutsche-wirtschafts-nachrichten.de/2013/03/15/europa-griechenland-auf-dem-weg-zur-sozialistischen-republik/.

Gauin, M. (2012). Hollande Fransa’nın Obama’sı mı? [Is Hollande France’s Obama?]. Online: http://www.usak.org.tr/myazdir.asp?id=2668.

Gey, P. & Schreiber, B. (2012). Frankreichvor den Parlamentswahlen. Welche Mehrheitfür François Hollande? [France before the parliamentary elections: Which majority for François Hollande?]. Friedrich Ebert Stiftung: 1-7.

Heilig, D. & Haselbauer, T. (2012). Griechenland vor der Wahlist Nach der Wahl [Greece before the Wahlist After the election]. Standpunkte 8: 1-6.

Kalb, A. (2012). Länderanalyse Frankreich [Country Report France]. Bayernlb: 1-5.

Koronaiou, A. & Sakellariou, A. (2013). Reflections on ‘Golden Dawn’, communityorganizingandnationalistsolidarity: helping (only) Greeks. Oxford UniversityPressandCommunity Development Journal 48 (2): 332-338.

Nevserhilioglou, A. (2012). Greek Elections of June 17th 2012: Through the prism of the Greek press. International Relations Quarterly 3(1): 1-5.

THE IMPORTANCE OF COMPARISON IN POLITICAL SCIENCE

NIHAT YILMAZ

Introduction Comparing is one of the basic human actions that we utilize almost every time we have to make a choice or take an option, either consciously or not. For which nominee we will vote, what car we purchase, what kind of a career we will pursue, what alternatives we have; all in all, the most efficient tool of decision making, without a doubt, is comparison. Comparison, in terms of Politics, is generally utilized for the analysis of differences and similarities in political systems. In this context, analyses of Comparative Political Science do offer such information as performance, organization, characters and political processes of political systems, states and governments. In terms of Politics, such information has myriad benefits to offer. One of the most important of those benefits is to get an overview about the political organizations, processes and actions of different countries thanks to comparison, thus eliminating any preexisting prejudices about countries mentioned (McCormik, 2010: 1). Therefore, in this article, primarily, Comparative Political Science will be defined. Thereafter, the importance of comparison in Politics will be emphasized.

The Idea of Comparative Politics

The comparative technique has very deep roots in Politics. First, in the Ancient Greek era successful and failed governmental regimes were compared as the basis for classifications of political systems (Lauth & Wagner, 2010: 17). In later periods, due to the prominent influence of religion, Comparative Politics lost its significance. While in modern times Comparative Politics has been revived, it was used as an efficient field of science in the intelligence activities after the Second World War. Today, Comparative Politics or Comparative Political Systems are terms usually used in the English Literature. The concept of Comparative Politics is used

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as the Comparative Political Systems in the German Literature (Stykow, 2007: 17).

In general, Comparative Politics deals with regimes and organizations. For instance, governments emphasize these subjects as political parties, legislative organs, pressure groups and bureaucracies must be examined within the scope of Comparative Politics (Blondel, 2005: 183).

Comparative Politics is the review and comparison of the politics within the frame of countries. Such review of the politics helps us to examine some important queries about the politics. For instance, Why do some countries enjoy a democratic regime while others experience authoritarianism? Why and how do regimes change? Why do some countries enjoy prosperity and a fast pace of growth while others suffer poverty and recession? All in all, Comparative Politics defines and analyses the political systems of different countries. Comparative Politics focuses on such subjects as significant geographic and demographic characteristics of countries, emergence and progress of each state, political regimes of the countries, countries’ political struggles and political competition methods, organizations, political economies and relations with other countries, etc. (O’Neil, Fields & Share, 2010: 2).

Importance of Comparison in Politics

Comparative Politics deals with systematical analysis and comparison of political activities, processes and behaviours (Rutgers, 2013). Comparative Politics has a wide assortment of motives for dealing with states, regimes and political systems. These motives emphasize the importance of Comparative Politics. First among these motives is to help citizens to better understand their own political systems (Tan, 2010). That means, with comparison, political organizations, processes and actions are emphasized thus rendering political systems more comprehensible. As a consequence, information on the inner dynamics of countries is made available to anyone to give an overview. Without comparison, any interpretation of the overview of a country would be prone to inaccuracies. For instance, a statement like “patriotism is strong in Turkey,” uttered without examining the rate of patriotism in other countries would be a deficient hypothesis. However, establishing such a hypothesis by collecting information on the patriotism in other countries will increase its verifiability. Therefore, any study conducted without accessing data from other political systems would be deficient (McCormick, 2010: 2). Comparison is intensively required to fix these deficiencies.

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The famous statement of James Coleman, “If you do not compare, you cannot be scientific,” that he used to tell his students, indicates the great significance of comparison within the scientific field. Coleman requires that the question, “Compared to what?” should occasionally be asked to have clearer ideas about politics (Roskin, 2011: 15). As with the above mentioned example, in which the rate of patriotism in a country is dealt with, accurate results can be achieved with an answer given to the question, “Compared to what?”

None of the reliable political scientists can establish theories or rules about the political order in a community without examining governmental regimes, political structures or values of other countries. Accordingly, it might be said that the comparative method helps hypotheses to be developed and tested. Therefore, comparison gives us certain ideas about the rules by which political systems of countries operate. This is a factor that makes comparison important. Moreover, comparison is a scientific method that helps us to better comprehend ourselves. Self-consciousness of communities depends on how much these communities know about other communities. After reviewing how other countries are governed, we can achieve a better comprehension of our own political system and the characteristics, roots, strengths and weaknesses of our regime. Only in this way can we answer the question, “What is our position in the world?” accurately. Briefly, comparison grants communities a wider perspective on the positions of their countries in the world (McCormick, 2010: 2-3).

Enabling communities to know about other countries, comparison has an important place in politics. Countries live in a global community that comprises multiple states and communities, which have different values and priorities. Comparative examination of other countries gives us information on the problems, perceptions and priorities of other countries. This type of comparison helps countries to understand each other better. Many problems may emerge between countries if these countries do not comprehend each other. Comparison undeniably plays an important role in the elimination of these problems and disputes that may arise from prejudices, which, in turn, emerge if countries do not understand each other well. In other words, countries may strip away their prejudices by realizing that the information they previously thought to be accurate is in fact not accurate using the comparative method. Thanks to this, countries may avoid ethnocentrism. Therefore, a country, which has been criticized due to inaccurate information, may be praised thanks to the opportunity given by comparison to know that country better (idem: 3).

Another factor that indicates the importance of comparison for politics is that comparison gives countries multiple alternatives by which to solve


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their problems. Comparative examination of other countries gives us an insight about their problems, perceptions and priorities as well. The path followed by a political system for the solution of a problem may give an alternative to other countries that may face the same problem. Therefore, comparative examination of other political systems allows us to better comprehend the problems and the respective solutions developed by these political systems against these problems and to know which path to follow if we experience the very problems that are examined. For this reason, comparison may give us some ideas about certain alternatives on the direction of development of our countries and help us to avoid mistakes made by other countries. For instance, methods and processes developed by other countries to get air and water pollution under control (idem, ibid.). By learning these methods and processes, you can preclude possible future air and water pollution. Likewise, terrorism can also be given as an example on this subject. Efforts made by another country that has suffered terrorism previously may give you many alternatives to solve this problem. Ultimately, comparison embodies alternative solutions as to the paths to be followed before and after suffering a problem.

Comparative political scientists work to explain and understand some important questions for the science of comparative politics. These are (Rutgers, 2013):

- What are the factors that facilitate and prevent a successful

democratization process? - What are the connections between democratic and economic

transitions? - How do institutions shape national and international processes? - What kind of relationship exists between politics and culture? Comparative political scientists examine these problems both through deep, locally based research and through research covering two or more countries (Rutgers, 2013).

The answers to the question: “Why do some countries need to adopt different political systems?” will be basic arguments highlighting the importance of the science of comparative politics. The science of comparative politics is a very useful science in understanding why some countries have a stable political system and some have periodical revolts. There are many other similar questions highlighting the importance of comparative politics.

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Conclusion

Comparative Politics is a discipline of the Science of Politics, the importance of which increases gradually. Comparison is required to allow countries to establish good relations with each other and create alternative solutions to their problems. However, comparison may become a hostile tool in the hands of countries with imperialistic ambitions. Imperialist countries can easily pinpoint the weaknesses of the countries they intend to exploit using the comparative method. Once its weaknesses are disclosed, a country becomes vulnerable to the malicious interests of imperialistic countries. Put simply, the comparative method may yield advantageous results when used in a positive way whereas, if used for malicious ambitions, may cause trouble.

In a positive way, the comparative method can be used as an efficient instrument to eliminate the problems suffered by the countries of the world. Countries may overcome any problems between them by benefiting from the solutions offered by Comparative Politics. This way, countries may follow a peaceful route both in their domestic and international policies thus contributing to world peace.

References

Blondel, J. (2005). The Central Role of Comparative Politics in Political Analysis. Scandinavian Political Studies 28 (2): 183-191.

Lauth, H.-J. & Wagner, C. (2010). Gegenstand, grundlegende Kategorien und Forschungsfragen der Vergleichenden Regierungslehre [Article, categories and research questions of Comparative government teachings]. In H.-J. Lauth (Ed.), Vergleichende Regierungslehre: Eine Einführung. Wiesbaden: VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften: 17-39.

McCormick, J. (2010). Comparative Politics in Transition. Boston, MA: Wadsworth.

Newmann, B. (2012). The Comparative Method. Online: http://www.people.vcu.edu/~wnewmann/CompMeth.htm. O’Neil, P. H., Fields, K. & Share, D. (2010). Essentials of comparative

politics. New York, NY: W. W. Norton & Company. Roskin, M. G. (2011). Çağdaş Devlet Sistemleri, Siyaset, Coğrafya, Kültür

[Countries and Concepts: Politics, Geography, Culture]. Ankara: Adres Yayınları.

Rutgers (2013). Program in Comparative Politics. Online: http://polisci.rutgers.edu/graduate/areas-of-study/450--program-incomparative-politics.


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Stykow, P. (2007). Vergleich politicher Systeme [Comparing Political Systems]. Paderborn: Wilhelm Fink GmbH & CO Verlag.

Tan, P. J. (2010). Introduction to Comparative Politics. Online: http://people.uncw.edu/tanp/introcp.html.

CHAPTER THREE

SOCIOLOGY

EXPECTATIONS FROM THE “PRODIGAL SON”: METAPHOR AS METHODOLOGY

MUHAMMAD TANWEER ABDULLAH, OMAR ZAYYAN AL-SHARQI

AND KHADIJA NOWAIRA ABDULLAH

Introduction

A popular maxim associated with Abraham Maslow is that: “when the only tool that you have is a hammer then every problem looks like a nail.” This seems true for our choice of social research methods that often fail us in size and sophistication, and the degree of penetrability into complex settings. There is little capacity to rationalize, comprehend, and bring to the surface, as evidence, the deep-seated and complicated processes in human cognition.

As a result, we often find ourselves making quality precision cuts in a diamond with a kitchen knife, or trying to catch a whale with ordinary fishing tackle. We deem our research projects as successful and our findings complete, while they are not. In our findings, some evidence remains hidden or unapproachable. Our anxieties on this data are rarely recognized. As pragmatists, objectivists, relativists, and empiricists, we have to follow and rationalize all methodological norms in data collection, its processing and interpretation. Still, we often carry along a “parallel” sense of curiosity in our mind to explore the hidden realities. This tendency has been common to all traditions of the sciences and the social sciences. During the past several decades, among others, the philosophies of Polanyi, Gadamer, and Merleau-Ponty have reasserted the presence of parallel influence of intuitive, emotive and imaginative reflections through the course of our social research. This influence, generally explained as “tacit knowledge,” has been recognized and substantiated in literature (Lakoff & Johnson, 1999; Flyvbjerg, 2001; Wolcott, 2001; Brown, 2003; Greenwood & Levin, 2004).

Beyond postmodernism, several shifts are observed in the ethos of our intellect. Here, we discuss two. First, while the “straw man” of strictly-

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defined empiricism is indeed uprightly structured, it is “lifeless” in the main. In a reemergence of ethical intuitionism, social justice and moral conscientiousness, we may now question the methodical accuracy of research inquiries (Audi, 2004). So, when and where empiricism fails to make a complete sense of the world around us, we could try to fill in the evidence gap, and lean on “tacit” insights to create evidence in its support. Second, we have learned to realize that in our research projects and our subjects, and within our own selves, everything is in a flux. Time and place relativism may not only be described physically but creatively. The once rigidly determined boundaries of exploratory or anthropological narrative are fusing into literary and non-fiction journalism. Within this “blurring epistemological genre,” therefore, we must be able to take up the challenge of sense-making beyond a mechanistic-methodological contestation of the present, and prepare to enter into an era that Denzin and Lincoln (2005) call the “eighth moment” in qualitative researching. This is the normative position that we take in writing this paper.

Rationale and Significance

Over the past 12 years, I have attempted to identify the inability and weakness of mainstream social science research methodologies vis-à-vis the need for “parallel thinking” and approaches that should address challenges of mainstream complexities (Abdullah, 2000a; 2000b; 2004; 2005a; 2005b; 2006; 2008a; 2008b; 2010). It is in this milieu that we introduce metaphor’s potential as a parallel methodology that could allow a researcher’s tacit insights to reinterpret empirical data. We put to test a serendipitous and heuristic function of metaphor to creatively interpret deep-seated human psyches and hidden agendas.

This is a concept paper. The rationale in the notion of the prodigal son is derived from the biblical fables. Expectations are built upon metaphor’s unique potential we find in humans: Prodigal—the violator, nonconformist, unconstrained, distal, and ubiquitously wasteful, in terms of figurative thought that lives on creative insights and interprets complexity. We complement this with another human trait: the Prodigious—the resourceful genius that is compliant, proximate, and disciplined that we find in the literal discourse. It is this concurrent shift, from the “prodigious” (linguistic or literal) to the “prodigal” (conceptual or perspectival) tendency that we have recognized and wish to distinguish and establish in a methodological comeback of metaphor. Gibbs’s (1994) views are in further support of this:

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“Figurative language is not the novel creation of unconstrained imaginative thinking…but a systematic and orderly part of human cognitive process… figuration is not an escape from reality but constitutes a way we ordinarily understand ourselves and the world in which we live.” (Gibbs, 1994: 454, Emphasis added)

In this regard, the prodigal son’s own (parallel) experience of the world finds support in the words of Gibbs (1994): his is the unconstrained imaginative thinking; whilst a systematic and orderly part of human cognitive process is sought in the prodigious, to offer us flexibly viable constructs for parallel sense-making that we could claim as evidence. This approach might “deliver” as a surrogate methodology where mainstream empiricism fails to interpret complexity around us (Abdullah, 2010).

Potential of Metaphor as a Methodology

Metaphor carries a unique representation of figurative thought. While feeding only on critical insights, it allows both for recurrence and concurrence. This is described as the perspectival uniqueness of metaphor (Kittay, 1987). Perspectival metaphor is a two-edge performer: self-sustaining and self-reflecting, open-learner and compliant, wild and robust but innovative; as such it is nourished from and survives in a wide range of dynamic cognitive-socio-linguistic contexts—beyond the media speech of a politician, and the library hours of a scholar. Every time perspectival metaphor reinterprets, it adds more insights to our sense-making.

We now examine and discuss the potential of perspectival metaphor as a methodology that may create parallel evidence, or reinterpret evidence, in the course of qualitative research. Why Metaphor? Aristotle (1459: 5) celebrates the eternal legacy of metaphor in Poetics: “But the greatest thing, by far, is to be a master of metaphor.” This phrase serves as the most concise review of the strength of metaphor in the pre-Aristotelian era, as much as a comprehensive overview. To commemorate metaphor, little could be said further, but we must take this as a secretive hint, and make sense of the message. Through the demeanor that could be built upon “alethic hermeneutics,” metaphor continues to provoke our intellectual capacities, but since its revival in the 1980s we have established a conceptual-cognitive function of metaphor. Since the mind is inherently embodied and abstract concepts are interpreted mostly as metaphor (Lakoff & Johnson, 1999; Gibbs, Lima & Françozo, 2004), we

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may examine how metaphor could be utilized as a social research methodology to inquire into complexity. Can Metaphor Probe into Untouchable and Unapproachable Evidence? We refer to Spitzer’s (2004) account of “metaphor epistemology,” symbolized as Aristotelian Telescope. With the illustration of observing the sun through the telescope, Spitzer points to metaphor’s unique utility that investigates into entities (like the sun) that are otherwise “untouchable and unapproachable.” He also describes the return of metaphor to the humanities since the 1980s as the enhanced “cognitive capital,” and signifies the function of metaphorical analysis: “to reprove blemishes on a perfect body…to which we can never have direct access” (Spitzer, 2004: 1-2). This rationale opens for us possibilities of drawing upon a researcher’s tacit insights that are hidden or inaccessible, and bringing these to a parallel support, to reinterpret hard empirical evidence (…a perfect body!) through metaphor analysis.

As I argue elsewhere (Abdullah, 2010), we traditionally conceive the “evidence” in data to be physical. Evidence is found to have a weight, a body, or a perfect body. It is viewed as hard or soft. Through this we can distinguish how and why many empirical researchers tend to project only a physical profile of the data—its features and figures—and appreciate the trends, styles, and demeanor in its “visual” presentation. A representative “body” of data is showcased in indented interview quotations, boxed observations, pie-diagrams, and the database index. Such physical configuration is also expected to ensure data sanctity by “visually confining” human cognitive parameters, of the researcher and the subject—as if that were possible! Can Metaphor Produce a Unique Paradoxical Utility? Kittay’s (1987) account of metaphor as the prodigal son, allows us to compare and examine the strengths and weaknesses of the literal vis-à-vis the metaphorical discourse:

“Like the Prodigal Son, who violates the rules of the community by straying off but, on returning home, is still more prized than the ever obedient child, metaphorical use of language is often more valued than literal use. Its contribution is not only linguistic but conceptual, for the violation of conceptual constraints inherent in the meanings of the terms


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brings about a new conceptualization, a new way of conceiving some content domain.” (Kittay,1987: 177)

It is through this capacity that we expect metaphorical content of qualitative data to violate the relativist norms and scientific criteria of social research and explore the scope of evidence (discussed in the previous section) beyond its contemporary epistemological and pedagogical norms. In support of our prodigious vs. prodigal argument, we revert to Aristotle (1459: 5):

“It (metaphor) is the one thing that cannot be learnt from others, and it is also a sign of genius since a good metaphor implies an intuitive perception of similarity of dissimilarities.” (Emphasis added)

The prodigal identity is complemented by the prodigious: the literal coherence and discipline that may help in negotiating mainstream complexity with an equally tricky tool of analysis. Here, Basso’s notion of creativity (1976, in Kittay, 1987) offers an interesting support:

“[…] creativity in metaphor consists in the use of existing structure to forge new ones…what distinguishes the two more sharply […] is that the former is achieved through adherence to grammatical rules while the latter is achieved by breaking them.” (Kittay, 1987: 117)

From Plato to Chomsky, philosophers have recognized the figurative aspects of metaphor: from literature, aesthetics, and art, to education, technology, and medicine. However, this unique paradox, that is, a parallel divergence and convergence in thought processes that we suggest in prodigal vs. prodigious identities, has been little attended to. Can Metaphor Create Cognitive-Operational Hypotheses? Gibbs (1994) provides three reasons why metaphor is preferred over literal use. With regards to the prodigious vs prodigal identities discussed earlier, we identify reasons as the three operational hypotheses of the metaphor methodology: - Inexpressibility hypothesis: Metaphor can convey ideas that might be

difficult to put together, such as emotional and conceptual paradoxes. It interprets as evidence fairly complex mindsets, messages and hints between the lines, and tacit insights, etc.; for instance, “our health system is a chronic patient.” (Abdullah, 2000)


- Compactness hypothesis: Metaphor could interpret complexly configured information succinctly, for instance, when we say that the eternal sources of all conflicts are: “turf, money, and ego.” (Abdullah, 2004); and

- Vividness hypothesis: Metaphor’s capacity to convey detailed and clearer images of what may otherwise be quite subjective experiences. Upon breaking the atom, Rutherford explained that concept to his fellow scientists as “a mini solar system.”

In differentiating metaphorical content from the literal, these hypotheses serve as foundations of metaphor methodology. Here, for our complex cognitive constructs, we find it difficult as much as undesirable to try drawing a line of demarcation between the two identities, or suggest geometrical continuums or overlaps, either to locate or to “confine” where one identity begins and the other ends, or even try to see one set of attributes as better than the other. This appears to create a utility in metaphor as a uniquely flexible methodology. By Changing Metaphor Can We Adjust the Method? Richardson and St Pierre (2005: 961) suggest that: “Language does not ‘reflect’ social reality but rather produces meaning and creates social reality.” They explain how the typical “theory building metaphor” (extending to “foundation,” “construction,” and “deconstruction,” etc.) could be substituted with metaphors that were less common. As such, the cognitive constructs of “realities” of social research, say, a triangulation of methods, could be replaced by another choice (another set of realities), such as the crystal, if that makes a better sense.

This explains how a “methodology metaphor” breaks the boundaries of the genre it borrows the conceptual strength from: “to crystallize…(is) moving from the plane geometry of research to light theory.” (idem: 963) This utility of metaphor is illustrated further:

“[…] The central imaginary is the crystal, which combines symmetry and substance, with an infinite variety of shapes, substances, transmutations, multi-dimensionalities, and angles of approach. Crystals grow, change, and are altered, but they are not amorphous. Crystals are prisms that reflect externalities, and refract within themselves, creating different colors, patterns, and arrays, casting off in different directions.” (ibid.)

Crystallization allows open-ness, diversity, and reflexivity in conceptualizing social research. The thought processes do not imply or


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lead to data confinement. In choice of “triangulation” as a methodology there is a tendency to take into account a conceptual map of not more than three groups of methods. It is inconsistent with the mainstream practice, because triangulation is employed to cross-examine evidence or issues under study through multiple sources.

One metaphor gives way to another that is more viable to our cognitive constructs. A choice of the crystal metaphor dissolves the confined cognitive constructs and the conformist notions of validity. It creates an opening for our eternal intellectual urge: reaching out to the truth, as: “there is always more to know.” (ibid.: 963) This explains why a reemphasis on metaphor coincides with postmodern and deconstructionist thought, first in explaining and eventually pervading it; and why social and organizational analyses since Morgan (1986; 1987; 1997) allows us to hold multi-perspective views and metaphorical interpretations, and even conduct our social inquiries “beyond method.” Can Metaphor Help Us “Dropping Our Tools”? There has been a debate in the past two decades over the issue of “dropping our (research) tools.” (Calas & Smircich, 1999) While we may drop or reject a tool, i.e. the method, we can never drop the research methodology. That stays. In view of metaphor as methodology that is multi-perspective and cognitively viable, we can even allow ourselves to drop our tools. While we design a conceptual-methodological framework for social research, covering its rationale, purpose and operational hypotheses, we can allow deconstruction, redefinition, and adjustment to the method. One choice of method may take over from the other: the crystal may substitute for triangulation. Indeed, metaphorical surrogates deconstruct the method through imagination, and allow us to drop our tools for our own ultimate “methodological” survival (Abdullah, 2010). This argument finds sufficient support in recent literature on qualitative research that encourages openness through metaphorical insight and imagination (Richardson & Lockeridge, 2004; Richardson & St Pierre, 2005; Brady, 2005).

Also, we often come across paradoxes and dilemmas when the strength of a methodology is paralyzed by criteria of inclusion and exclusion. In our effort to produce pertinence we are unable to see the “forest for the trees” just the same as the “trees for the forest.” Hence, we often fail in precision, and when we manage a precise analysis, we tend to lose a comprehensive coverage. The prodigal vs. prodigious model helps us here. It addresses the depth vs. width, or thickness vs. thinness dilemma that we


are constrained with through the course of social research. As a parallel advantage, metaphor methodology stretches out our imagination to its conceptual limits, in Richardson and St Pierre’s words (2005: 963), through: “an infinite variety of shapes, substances, transmutations, multi-dimensionalities, and angles of approach.” In a prodigal vs. prodigious utility of metaphor we are able to make it for a return simultaneously—to celebrate a rationalized and experiential “homecoming.”

Discussion

In this paper we differentiate literal or linguistic discourse as the prodigious, the perspectival or conceptual metaphor as the prodigal, and attempt to describe metaphor methodology as a paradoxical utility of both tendencies that could help allow parallel thinking and create or reinterpret empirical evidence. In this pursuit, we make some provisional generalizations.

First, as a metaphor methodology, Kittay’s (1987) notion of “perspectival metaphor” feeds on critical insights along rigorous processing and validation, through all the stages of what Lakoff and Johnson (1980) call “imaginative rationalization.” This rationalization process covers metaphor’s initial inception, its progressive growth and maturity, and ultimate demise. Still, we notice that beyond a typical methodical analogy, atom with the solar structure being quite popular, or bringing in the notions of “culture” and “system” from biological sciences to mainstream social and organizational theory (where these are more fashionable!), little effort is made to create a methodological utility of the prodigal tendency.

Second, we use metaphorical discourse to identify and shape methodological conceptions: i.e. comparing and interpreting context with content, objectivity with subjectivity, thickness over thinness, and rationality with abstraction, etc., serving the key question that we still expect an answer in the prodigy of metaphor. The future holds for it. We must however suggest that by using metaphor that portrays human characteristics we actually induce our methodologies to become more sensitive to interpreting complex human behaviour.

Third, our concerns voiced initially produce two warnings: existence of gaps in qualitative research, and their ubiquity. I presume that we, as social researchers and as laypeople, usually deal with these through a surrogate utility of both metaphor and imagination. That is how we inherently “connect the dots” of the missing data in our cognitive maps. This cognition is so ordinary and ubiquitous that we hardly notice


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ourselves going through its processes. Perhaps, this is an embodied phenomenon (Varela, Thompson & Rosch, 1992; Lakoff & Johnson, 1999). In leaning on metaphorical insights, we exploit analogical reasoning to interpret and transform; and throughout this process, we keep symbolizing, comparing, and evaluating. Through the preference of a metaphor we facilitate the process of shaping the abstractness around us. Metaphor has been our best intellectual tradition, but short of a methodology. The history of science is marked with examples of technical and experimental discoveries through metaphorical reasoning (Brown, 2003). In the case of social research, we often engage cognitive constructs to create a suitable method for us. Some examples are “snowballing,” “double-blind trials,” “triangulation,” and “crystallization.” We keep reasoning through further faculties, such as physics, geometry, cosmology and so on; rigorously, and serendipitously: to interpret, transform and “contour” our thought processes and attempt bringing a universal consistency in these. This is depicted in the cognitive illustrations of our metaphorical choices, in the case of geometry, for instance: the “hermeneutic circle,” “Cartesian dualism,” “reflex arc,” and “cognitive space,” among scores of others, as we take up the tasks, first, to define, and then, to determine, the success and failure of our methods and methodologies.

Fourth, the cognitive fuzziness and relativist norms that interpret the “prodigal” attribute are persuasive and fulfilling but, however, remain only individual choices. Here, the strength of metaphor may appear to be its weakness. Yet, the two examples that we mentioned earlier, that is, “culture” and “system,” signify the staying power of strong metaphors, making sense over longer periods of time and spatial coverage, for cognitive viability and universality. The same could be true for metaphors of “triangulation” or “crystallization.” Still, the inclusivity or open-endedness in metaphor methodology allows one choice of metaphor to “give way” to another that is cognitively more viable. Hence, metaphor allows our contextual viabilities (cultural, social, linguistic, etc.) to correspond and adjust to our cognitive constructs, and through this process we renounce but equally get along with the conventional paradoxes.

Conclusions

In producing a methodological utility, metaphor may not violate conventional methodological norms. It only creates and establishes parallel concepts and inquiries that are insightful and cognitively viable. It is through these concepts that we have a deeper look into the data context.


Yet, violating conventional norms is by no means desirable and straightforward. Even when the family embraces the representativeness in metaphor’s “prodigal” character, the conformist and the disciplined son, that is the literal data, always questions its deviance. In metaphor methodology, we assert the weight-age of deviance, because there is little difference between deviance and evidence. The parallel evidence that we seek is only in the deviance!

References

Abdullah, M. T. (2000a). Analysis of the Challenging Environment of Inter-Agency Collaboration for Primary Health Care in Pakistan. PhD thesis submitted to Lancaster University, UK.

—. (2000b). Challenges of Inter-Agency Collaboration in the Health Services: Metaphorical Analysis. Seminar paper presented, 10 February, at the Institute for Health Research and the Management School, Lancaster University, UK.

—. (2004). Creative Inter-Organizational Diagnosis: Towards a Framework for Interpreting the Practice of Inter-Agency Collaboration by Metaphor. Seminar paper presented at the TIDE Series No. 15, 6 October, at the Tavistock Institute of Human Relations, London, UK.

—. (2005a). Metaphorical Imagination as Creative Evidence (I): some preliminary thoughts. Journal of Law and Society XXXII (45): 39-47.

—. (2005b). Metaphorical Imagination as Creative Evidence (II): provisional conceptual framework. Journal of Law and Society XXXIII (46): 81-95s.

—. (2006). Metaphorical Imagination as Creative Evidence (III): provisional methodological framework. Journal of Law and Society XXXIV (47): 131-138.

—. (2008a). Organizational Analysis and Qualitative Social Research: Some Inherent Challenges. Conference paper, presented 10 June 2008, at the University of Peshawar, under the auspices of the Institute of Management Studies and the HEC, Pakistan.

—. (2008b). Organizational Analysis and Qualitative Social Research: Future Scenarios. Conference paper, presented 11 June 2008, at the University of Peshawar, under the auspices of the Institute of Management Studies and the HEC, Pakistan.

—. (2010). Metaphorical Imagination: A Surrogate Methodology for social inquiry. Conference paper, presented at the “Vital Signs 2:


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Realities” under the theme: “Engaging Research Imaginations,” at the University of Manchester, UK, Sept 7-9. Online: www.manchester.ac.uk/realities/events/vitalsigns/programme.

Aristotle. (1459). Poetics. Translated by W. D. Ross. Oxford: OUP. Audi, R. (2004). The Good in the Right: A Theory of Intuition and

Intrinsic Value. New Jersey, NJ: Princeton University Press. Brady, I. (2005). Poetics for a Planet: Discourse on some problems of

being-in-place. In N. K. Denzin & Y. S. Lincoln (Eds.), The Sage Handbook of Qualitative Research. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Brown, T. L. (2003). Making Truth: Metaphor in Science. Urbana-Champaign, IL: University of Illinois Press.

Calas, M. B. & Smircich, L. (1999). Past Post-modernism? Reflections and tentative directions. Academy of Management Review 24 (4): 649-671.

Denzin, N. K. & Lincoln, Y. S. (Eds.) (2005). The Sage Handbook of Qualitative Research. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Flyvbjerg, B. (2001). Making Social Science Matter: Why Social Inquiry Fails and how it can succeed Again. Cambridge: CUP.

Gibbs, R. W. (1994). The poetics of Mind: Figurative thought, language, and understanding”. Cambridge: CUP.

Gibbs, R. W., Lima P. & Françozo, E. (2004). Metaphor is Grounded in Embodied Experience. Journal of Pragmatics 36: 1189-1210

Greenwood, D. J. & Levin, M. (2005). Reforms of the Social Sciences, and the Universities through Action Research. In N. K. Denzin & Y. S. Lincoln (Eds.), The Sage Handbook of Qualitative Research. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Kittay, E. F. (1987). Metaphor: Its Cognitive Force and Linguistic Structure. Oxford: Clarendon Press.

Lakoff, G. & Johnson, M. (1999). Philosophy in the Flesh: The Embodied Mind and the Challenge to the Western Thought. New York, NY: Basic Books.

Morgan, G. (1986). Images of Organization. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. —. (1997). Imaginization: New Mindsets for Seeing, Organizing, and

Managing. San Francisco, CA: Barrett-Koehler Publishers. Morgan, G. (Ed.) (1983). Beyond Method: Strategies for Social Research.

Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Richardson, L. & Lockeridge, E. (2004). Travels with Ernest: Crossing the

Literal/Sociological Divide. Walnut Creek, CA: Alta Mira. Richardson, L. & St. Pierre, E. A. (2005). Writing: A Method of Inquiry.

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Spitzer, M. (2004). Metaphor and Musical Thought. Chicago, IL: UCP. Varela, F., Thompson, E. & Rosch, E. (1992). The Embodied Mind:

Cognitive Science and Human Experience. Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press.

Wolcott, h. F. (2001). The art of fieldwork. London: Sage.

DIVORCE IN TURKISH SOCIETY: PEOPLE’S REASONS FOR AND OPINIONS

ABOUT GETTING REMARRIED

FATMA ARPACI AND ŞADAN TOKYÜREK

Introduction This study was carried out to clarify the reasons behind divorces in Turkey and the opinions of people about re-marriage and forming a family again. Divorce sometimes means the termination of the marriage union in an undesirable way. The couples may have psychological, social and economic problems after divorce. It is reported that divorced couples may face such problems as economic difficulties, the oppression of the social medium and of the parents, molestation—especially on women, settling custody of the children, decrease in the chance of getting married again, psychological damage upon children, adaption to a second marriage, etc. (Yazıcıoğlu & Kayhan, 2002).

The continuation of the family union established by a marriage for a lifetime is the ideal result for both the welfare of the family and the society. However, there are conditions where the termination of this union is much better than the maintaining it for the sake of all parties involved. Even though divorce is regarded as a solution to problematic marriages, it causes grave economic, sentimental and social problems for couples (Özçakır, 2004).

Divorce is the legal termination of a legally established family union. If we take the issue from a sentimental point of opinion, divorce is a very destructive and complicated social issue:separation or complete dispersion of the family and shakes all the family members and the people in the close vicinity of the divorced people. The worst affected people in this process are the children (Türkaslan, 2007). According to Turkish Civil Law, divorce is decided by the court upon the provision of the valid and cogent evidence for it. The number of divorce cases has had a two-fold increase since 2005 (Uçan, 2007). According to the figures of the Turkish Statistical Institute, the number of marriages was 184 206 in 2012 while

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the number of divorces during this period was 25 295 and the divorce rate is 13.0%. In these figures, 38.3% of the divorces took place in the first five years of the marriage and 24.8% of them occurred in couples married for more than 16 years (TÜİK, 2012). In a study entitled “The Investigation of the Turkish Family Structure,” the most prominent reason was found to be adultery at the rate of 75.7% and intense incompatibility between the couples with a 66.1% rate (Yazıcıoğlu & Kayhan, 2002; A Study in the Structure of Turkish Family, 1993). It was also found that the divorce rate in the western part of Turkey was higher. Almost half of the divorced people have no children and it is much more prominent in urban regions compared to rural ones (Yazıcıoğlu & Kayhan, 2002).

It was found that the divorce and remarriage rates were increasingly higher in wealthy people, and people with a high level of education, a good job and income have a relatively higher probability of remarriage (Yazan, 1989).

It is a well-known fact that divorced people are very reluctant to be remarried and have reservations in forming a family again. The biggest problem encountered by people is the hostile attitude of their children, the problems created by the ex-spouse, and the difficulties encountered in the adaptation to the new roles and relations (Korkut, 1990). In particular, people with children are very sensitive about their children and the possibility that the children may be regarded as stepchildren. It was found that 80.0% of the divorced people in the US were remarried but 40.0% of these marriages ended in failure (Özçakır, 2004). Another study by Tor (1993) carried out over divorced women revealed that 55.0% of the women had no intention of getting married again. This study is expected to contribute to the maintenance of the family institute for the sustainability of society by encouraging people to be remarried. It is also thought that the current study would elucidate the reasons for divorce and the opinions of divorced people on getting married again.

Method

This study was carried out to investigate the reasons behind divorce in Turkish society and the opinions of divorced people about remarriage. The sample of the study was made up of 186 divorced people randomly selected in Ankara province who volunteered to participate in the study. The data were collected using a survey form between October 1, 2010 and December 30, 2010. The data obtained were analysed using SPSS 15.0 (for Windows) statistical software package. The data with regard to the demographic features of the participants, the reasons for divorce, whether

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they had any assistance from experts and the relations with their ex-spouse were all given as frequencies. The opinions of the divorced people towards remarriage were obtained from the answers given to Likert type statements. There were five choices to the statement:“definitely agree,” “agree,” “don’t know yet,” “disagree” and “definitely disagree.” The data were graded 1 to 5 or 5 to 1 depending on whether the statement was positive or not. The effect of gender and educational status of the divorced people in terms of re-marriage were investigated by t-test and One-Way ANOVA at 0.05 and 0.001 significance levels, respectively. In the case where the one-way analysis results were significant, the group, which caused the difference, was investigated using Scheffe Test.

Results and Discussion

Demographic Features of the Participants (Table 3-1) Table 3-1. Demographic features of the participants (N=186)

Variables Number % Variables Number % Gender The way previous marriage was made Women Men

108 78

58.1 41.9

Through friends or relatives After courting

81 105

43.5 56.5

Age The pre marriage period (years) ≤ 30 31 - 40 41 ≥

59 85 42

31.7 45.7 22.6

≤ 5 6 - 10 11- 15 16 ≥

102 39 17 28

54.8 21.0 9.1 15.1

Educational status The person who demanded the divorce Elementary school or less Secondary school College

38 82 66

20.4 44.1 35.5

Me My wife/husband Through family pressure By agreement

66 13 28 79

35.5 7.0 15.1 42.5

Occupational status The time elapsed since the divorce Working Not working

150 36

80.6 19.4

≤ 1 1.1 - 3 3.1- 5 5.1 ≥

58 69 27 32

31.2 37.1 14.5 17.2

The presence of the kids Present Not present

109 77

58.6 41.4


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As given in Table 3-1, 58.1% of participants were female and 31.7% were young, in their 30s or below. The ratio of people with a secondary school education was 44.1% and more than a third (35.5%) had a college education. As for occupational status, 80.6% of the participants were still working and 58.6% had kids. The rate of marriages made through the mediation of other people was 43.5% and that of people getting married after a period of flirtation or a period of friendship and acquaintance was 56.5%. Fifty-four point eight percent of participants expressed that they spent a pre-marital period of over 5 years. These results indicate the high prevalence of young marriages and divorces. It was found that 55.5% of participants got divorced of their own will and 15.1% under pressure from parents. On the other hand, 68.3% of the participants got divorced in the last three years. The ratio of people who got divorced 5 or more years ago was 17.2% (Table 3-1). Demirkan et al. (2009) stated that 40.0% of the divorced people had a primary education level, 44% of them had been married for 5 years while 23% of the women and 18% of the men got married through the mediation of other people. Reasons for People to Get Divorced (Table 3-2) Table 3-2. Reasons for people to get divorced (N=186)

Reasons for people to get divorced Yes No

Number % Number % Disagreement 143 76.9 43 23.1 The difference in social origin and failure to adapt to it

101 76.9 85 23.1

The intervention of parents and other relatives

94 50.5 91 49.5

Economic reasons 79 42.5 106 57.5 The psychological problems of couples 69 37.1 117 62.9 The use of psychological and physical force 53 28.5 133 71.5 Adultery 51 27.4 135 72.6 Addiction to alcohol and other narcotics 49 26.3 137 73.7 The difference in educational levels 34 18.3 152 81.7 Working of women 33 17.7 153 82.3 Sexual incompatibility 25 13.4 161 86.6 The excessive difference in age 19 10.2 167 89.8 Religious differences 16 8.6 170 91.4 National differences 10 5.4 176 94.6 Physical disability and physical problems 9 4.8 177 95.2 Others 7 3.8 179 96.2


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It was found in the research that the most prominent reason for divorce was disagreement and difference in opinions with a rate of 76.9%. It was followed by difference in social environment and adaptation to problems at the rate of 54.3%, intervention of parents and other relatives as 50.5%, economical reasons at 42.5%, the psychological problems of couples at the rate of 37.1%, the use of psychological and physical force at 28.5%, adultery with 27.4%, addiction to alcohol and other narcotics at 26.3%, educational difference at 18.3%, working of women with a rate of 17.7% and sexual incompatibility at 13.4% (Table 3-2).

In a study carried out over 772 people who filed a case for divorce, the most prevalent reason for divorce was disagreement between couples with a rate of 86.9%, which was followed by maltreatment at 27.6%, and incompatibility at the rate of 17.9%, which was in good accordance with the results obtained in this study (Battal, 2008). Demirkan et al. (2009) found that the major reasons for divorce were the intervention of the parents of the couple into the interfamily affairs at a rate of 47.8%, the adverse features of the spouses as 54.8%, oppression of spouses with a rate of 40.7%, the oppression stemming from a difference in religious beliefs at 36.7% and economic difficulties throughout the marriage (male 26% and female 18%).

Getting Consultancy throughout the Divorce Process, the Relations between Ex-Spouses and Opinions about Getting Married Again

Of the participants, 54.8% did not take any sort of advice from anybody whatsoever during the divorce process and 32.8% of the participants sought advice from their friends, 11.3% consulted a psychologist and 1.1% consulted an educator. While 46.2% of the divorced people do not talk to their ex-wife or husband, 40.3% of the participants have an intention to get married again. On the other hand, 35.5% are not certain, and 24.2% are seriously considering getting married again. Demirkan et al. (2009) found that 42.4% of the females and 64.0% of the males were considering to be remarried again.

Opinion of Divorced People about Getting Re-Married

Upon the analysis of the effect of gender on the opinions of the divorced people about remarriage, it was found that there were significant differences between the males and females on the following statements: “one needs to get an expert opinion about getting re-married” (t=-2.11, p<0.05), “it is important that the person to be re-married attains better


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educational, occupational and economic status beforehand” (t=-4.14, p<0.01) and “the people to be married should give certain economic insurance to the other party” (t=-3.66, p<0.01). The divorced women had much stronger opinions about the idea that the person to be re-married should have much better educational, economic and occupational status beforehand and the idea of demanding economic insurance compared to the males. There were no gender differences for the statement “divorced people should get re-married to people who have never been married before” (t=2.68, p<0.01). However, the number of males thinking so was larger than that of the females.

According to the data obtained, men scored higher (3.53, 4.21, 2.75, 3.38, 3.21, 2.46, 3.35 and 2.24 respectively) than women (3.52, 4.11, 2.47, 3.07, 3.13, 2.39, 3.25 and 2.22 respectively) regarding the following statements: “divorced people can be happy again,” “divorced people take a decision to get divorced after getting married more easily,” “divorced people should be married to people who have not been married before,” “divorced people must definitely get married again in order to maintain their status in society,” “it is much better to marry people with no children,” “the children from previous marriages cause problems in remarriages,” “the marriage of divorced people to other divorced people results in unhappiness,” “in remarriages people make their own decision without the influence of others,” and “people with children should not consider getting married again.” However, there was no statistically significant difference between them (p>0.05). In other statements, although women scored higher than men did, the difference was not statistically significant (Table 3-3).

Demirkan et al. (2009) stated that the major reasons for people to get remarried were the suitability of the person (69.4%) and the fear of being alone (19.4%). The maintenance of family is of paramount importance for Turkish society and most people believe in a child-centered family. This fact is verified by the fact that 91.6% agreed on the statement “couples should sacrifice in marriage as much as possible.” However in the same study, 60.6% of people agreed with the statement “couples who were unable to manage together should not hesitate to get divorced,” showing that the significant portion of society sees divorce as a way out (A Study into Familial Values in Turkey, 2010).


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Table 3-3. Effect of gender on getting married again

Opinions of the Divorced People about Getting Married Again

Women ⎯X ± SD

Men ⎯X ± SD

t p

Divorced people can be happy again 3.52±1.15 3.53±1.26 0.06 0.952 People who got remarried should be careful not to make the mistakes they did in the past

4.11±0.93 4.21±0.86 0.79 0.427

Divorced people must definitely get married again in order to maintain their social status

2.47±1.16 2.75±1.11 1.67 0.097

Divorced people take the decision for the divorce much more easily when they are married again

2.88±1.00 2.87±0.99 -0.11 0.909

It is much better to remarry with someone who has no children

3.07±1.11 3.38±1.11 1.87 0.063

One should take expert opinion before getting married again

3.62±1.18 3.25±1.12 -2.11 0.036*

Divorced people should marry with someone who has not been married before

2.18±0.90 2.58±1.14 2.68 0.008**

There should be a flirting period or a period of friendship and acquaintance before remarriage

4.01±1.03 4.00±1.01 -0.12 0.904

Society does not agree with remarriages very much 2.97±1.23 2.67±1.11 -1.66 0.098 Children from previous marriages cause problems in remarriages

3.13±0.98 3.21±1.00 0.538 0.591

Children from previous marriages should grow up in a family environment

3.02±1.05 2.97±1.00 -0.34 0.729

Adverse effects of previous marriages affect the remarriages

3.55±1.04 3.33±0.97 -1.47 0.143

Divorced people must definitely marry again in order to relieve themselves from family pressure

2.41±1.10 2.32±0.99 -0.61 0.543

The educational, occupational and economic status of the person to be remarried should be much better beforehand

3.47±1.29 2.70±1.17 -4.14 0.000**

There should be no outside intervention on the married couples

4.03±1.15 3.75±1.20 -1.60 0.110

The marriage of a divorced person to another divorced person results in unhappiness

2.39±1.09 2.46±0.96 -0.41 0.682

In remarriage logic must take place of love 3.17±1.20 3.15±1.14 -0.12 0.900 Divorced people want to get remarried for fear of being alone

3.20±1.08 3.08±0.99 -0.73 0.465

People form their own opinions about their new spouses in remarriages without the influence of others

3.25±1.04 3.35±1.12 0.62 0.535

People with children should not think getting married again

2.22±1.01 2.24±0.98 0.14 0.886

People getting remarried should demand an economic insurance from the future spouse

3.29±1.36 2.58±1.18 -3.66 0.000**

People who got remarried should never compare their ex-spouses with the new ones

4.28±1.04 3.32±0.93 0.22 0.822

Divorced people should not make the age difference a problem when they are getting remarried

3.08±1.23 3.01±1.26 -0.38 0.704

**p<0.01 *p<0.05 Women N=108 Men N=78


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Upon analysis of the effect of the educational status upon the opinions of divorced people about getting remarried, the following statements were found to be related to the educational status of people. “Divorced people can be happy again” (F=4.739, p<0.05). “There should be a flirting period or a period of friendship and acquaintance before the re-marriage” (F=3.340, p<0.05). It was found that there was a significant relation between the people with elementary and secondary level education with the statements “divorced people could be happy again” and “there should be a flirting period or a period of friendship and acquaintance before getting re-married.”

On the other hand, there was a significant difference between those with a secondary education and those with a higher education on the statements “divorced people must definitely get married again in order to maintain their social status” (F=4.323, p<0.05), “divorced people must definitely marry again in order to relieve themselves from family pressure” (F=5.434, p<0.01), “the educational, occupational and economic status of the person to be re-married should be much better than before” (F=4.930, p<0.01) and “in re-marriage logic must take the place of love” (F=5.700, p<0.01). There were significant differences on the statements “the remarriages should be made with people who have no children” (F=4.205, p<0.05) between the people who have an elementary education and higher education. There was a significant relation between the statement “people make their own decision without the influence of other people about choosing their new spouses” (F=5.501, p<0.01) and the educational status, and there was a significant difference between the people with elementary education, secondary education and higher education. There was also a significant difference between the people with elementary education and the people with higher education in terms of the statement “the people who are getting remarried should demand economic insurance from the person they are going to marry” (F=9.128, p<0.01).

Conclusion

This study, which relates to divorces in Turkish society and the underlying reasons and the opinions of people about getting married, again showed the prevalence of young marriages after a flirting period or a period of friendship and acquaintance and early divorces. The couples largely get divorced upon mutual agreement. The major reasons behind the divorces were disagreement and difference in opinions, followed by failure to adapt to the new environment, the intervention of family or relatives, the presence of psychological problems, economical reasons, and the use of


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psychological and physical force. Other emerging reasons are adultery, addiction to alcohol or other narcotics, working status of women and sexual incompatibility.

There were great differences between the divorced men and women regarding getting remarried. The divorced women were found to attach importance to getting an expert opinion before remarriage, the educational, occupational and economic status of the person to be remarried and the demand of economical insurance for the future. The divorced men support the idea that divorced people should get married to people who have never been married before compared to divorced women.

The opinions of the divorced people toward getting remarried varied according to educational status. These data revealed the fact that divorced people should be encouraged to get married again in Turkish society. People should be provided with psychological support for marriage and the preparation for a family life. The divorced people should not be left alone but should be provided all sorts of social support. Otherwise, the resulting condition would not only harm the related people but their children as well. People should be given information in educational institutes and through other social media tools about family relations, family life and communication in the family.

References

—. (2010). A Study of Family Values in Turkey. Ankara: T. R. Prime Ministry, General Directorate of Family and Social Researches.

Battal, A. (2008). Reasons for Divorcing (Results of the Practice in a Scientific Research Project). Ankara: T. R. Prime Ministry, General Directorate of Family and Social Researches and the Association of Academic Researches and Development Publications.

Demirkan, S. Y., Ersöz, A. G., Şen, R. B., Ertekin, E., Sezgin, Ö.,Turğut, A. M. & Şehitoğlu, N. (2009). An Investigation into the Reasons for Divorcing. Ankara: T. R. Prime Ministry, General Directorate of Family and Social Researches.

Korkut, Y. (1990). Divorce as a Transition Crisis. Unpublished Master Thesis, Istanbul: Boğaziçi University.

Özçakır, A. (2004). The Effect of a Separated Life on Husband-Wife and Children. Family Psychology and Education. Eskişehir: Anadolu University.

State Planning Agency—General Directorate of Social Planning. (1993). A Study of the Structure of Turkish Family. Ankara.


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Tor, H. (1998). A study into Divorce and psychosocial and economic status of the Divorced women. Unpublished Doctorate Thesis. Istanbul: Istanbul University.

TÜİK. (2012). News Bulletin 10909. www.tüikgov.tr. Türkaslan, N. (2007). The Negative Effects of Divorcing on Children and

the Ways to Cope with it. Journal of Aileve Toplum 1: 99-108. Uçan, Ö. (2007). A Retrospective Evaluation of Women Applying the

Crisis Center in the Process of Divorce. Journal of Klinik Psikiyatri 10: 38-45.

Yazan, Ü. M. (1989). A Study into the Union of Family in Advanced Industrial IU. Journal of Sociology 1: 147-174.

Yazıcıoğlu, Y. & Kayhan, Ü. (2002). Depression at Family and Dispersion of Family. Familial Structure and Relations. Eskişehir: Anadolu University.

FAMILY STRUCTURE AND FAMILY TIES DEPENDING ON GENERATION

HÜSNE DEMIREL AND GÜRCÜ ERDAMAR

Introduction

The first and most important social environment in which an individual experiences mutual interaction is family. Family is a complex social system that simultaneously is affected by its environment and the people within it constantly and at different levels. These systems not only enable children to socialize, grow up and develop character, but also reflect the structure, values, expectations, rules and culture of the society. Building and protecting ties between generations, the family creates a unique environment by combining communication, interaction with the external environment and characteristics of the individuals within the family (Todd, 1985; Öner & Usluer, 1990; Tezcan, 1990; Berger & Berger, 1991; Yörükoğlu, 1993; Uslu, 2011). The family also has social and cultural functions. It provides the continuation of heritage, psychological development, economic socializing and education, cultural affinity and community, leisure time activities and so on. There is a mutual and strong relationship between these functions (Uslu, 2011; Özgüven, 2001; Yazıcıoğlu & Kayhan, 2007). For this reason, a weakness or improvement in any family function affects other functions. Today, Turkey has been experiencing transition on a variety of levels, and these social changes have had a significant effect on the family system. Harmonization with social conditions, coping with challenges resulting from these conditions and carrying out family functions and responsibilities depends on strong family structure and ties. For this reason, it is especially important to understand the complex workings of family structures and family ties. The aim of this study is to evaluate family structure and family ties according to generations and to examine the relationship between family structure and family ties.

Family Structure and Family Ties Depending on Generation

252

Method

Participants

In order to determine the difference between generations, people were divided into four different age groups. These groups were defined as early adulthood (18-25), mid-adulthood (26-40), older adulthood (41-55) and late adulthood (56+). Data for the early adulthood group were collected from students in different faculties at Gazi University. Data for the mid-adulthood adult group were collected from people working in various public institutions in Ankara. Finally, data for the late adulthood group were collected from residents living in an elderly clubhouse or senior centre. 960 adults between early and late adulthood living in Ankara participated in the study. However, since the participants in the late adulthood group reside in a senior centre and do not live in a family environment, the AYDA scale was not applied to them. Consequently, the number of those whose family structures were examined was 719. Demographics are as follows: 54.2% of participants were married, 33.3% were single and the others made up 14.5%. As for educational levels, 28.6% of participants were university educated and 27.5% were high school graduates, while 24.7% were students at the time of the study. 19.2% had low educational levels: 8.9% were secondary school graduates, 6.6% were primary school graduates, 2.9% did not have any formal education but were literate, and .08% were illiterate. Most, in fact, 78.3%, of the participants lived in nuclear families, 16.9% lived in extended families and 4.8% had divorced families. Participants on average had three siblings.

Data Collection Instruments

The Family Information Sheet, Family Structure Assessment Device (AYDA) and Family Ties Scale were used to collect the data. In the study, the Family Information Sheet was prepared to gather the families’ demographic information. On this questionnaire, participants were asked about their gender, age, educational background, and whether their family was nuclear or extended. The Family Structure Assessment Device (AYDA), which was developed by Gülerce (1996), was used to evaluate family structures. The AYDA consists of 36 items and its aim is to evaluate interfamilial relationships, requirements, family structure and holistic relationships in Turkey. In the scale, there are five sub-dimensions: communication, unity, management, competence and

Hüsne Demirel and Gürcü Erdamar

253

emotional context. The answers given correspond to a 10-point Likert type response i.e. from “similar to ours” to “the opposite of ours.” Each question has a response range between one and five. 180 is the highest score and 36 the lowest. The high score refers to good and healthy harmonization within a family. The scale’s internal consistency coefficient, which was .82, was determined by the AYDA scale Cronbach Alpha’s reliability coefficient. The reliability coefficients were as follows: .73 for communication, .67 for unity, .67 for management, .76 for competence and .65 for emotional context. In order to evaluate individual family ties, the Family Ties Scale, a 5-point Likert type with 17 items that was developed by Demirel and Koç (2009) was used. The Family Ties scale consists of two sub-scales: “importance/value assigned to family” and “allocating time for family.” The “importance/value assigned to family” sub-scale consists of ten items and the “allocating time for family” consists of seven items. Response options and scoring are as follows: 5=strongly agree, 4=mostly agree, 3=agree, 2=disagree, 1=strongly disagree. For the Family Ties Scale, the minimum score is 17 and the maximum score is 85. The high score refers to strong family ties. The scale’s internal consistency coefficient was determined by Cronbach Alpha. The reliability coefficients for the “importance/value assigned to family” and “allocating time to family” sub-scales were .91 and .87, respectively. The Family Ties Scale reliability coefficient was .92.

Data Analysis During the data analysis, the mean and standard deviation values related to the participants’ family ties and family structures were presented. Additionally, the age factor was used to evaluate the difference between family ties and family structure according to generations. The effects of age and educational level on family ties and family structure were evaluated by variance analysis. In order to determine the relationship between family ties and family structure, correlation was used.

Results

Descriptive statistics related to family structure and family ties are presented in Table 3-4. The results are as follows: 45 for communication, 45 for unity, 40 for management, 25 for competence, and 25 for emotional context. Notably, the participants’ highest scores were for communication and competence. Furthermore, the total sub-scale results were 40.07 for family ties, and 24.80 for “allocating time to family.” It can be said that


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the scores for family ties and family structures were at a good level. When comparing family structures and family ties by age (Table 3-5), it is evident that the importance of communication, emotional context and family structure, increases with age. The difference between groups were significant (p<.001) and the difference results from the ages of 18-25 and 26-40; and 18-25 and 41-55. Management scores were higher in the 41-55 age group and the difference between groups was found to be significant (p<.001). Accordingly, it was found that age does not have any effect on unity and competence (p<0.05). Table 3-4. Descriptive statistics of family structure and family ties N Minimum Maximum X S Communication 719 12 45 41.47 7.45 Unity 719 14 45 33.42 4.20 Management 719 14 40 31.39 4.82 Competence 719 5 25 22.37 3.29 Emotional Context 719 5 25 18.59 3.02 General Family Structure 719 60 180 147.25 15.96 Importance/value Assigned to Family

960 10 50 40.07 7.15

Allocating Time to Family 960 7 35 24.80 5.38 General Family Ties 960 17 85 64.89 11.13

While the average score for the “importance/value assigned to family” sub-scale increased for the 41-55 age group (40.79) the average for the late adulthood group (38.39) was found to be less than the average for the 18-25 age group (39.41). Overall, the difference between groups was found to be significant (p<.001). While “allocating time to family” increases by age, there is a remarkable reduction in score between older adulthood (average 26.35) and late adulthood (average 6.05). The difference between groups was found to be significant (p<.001). While the family ties scores increase with age, this score falls (average 64.94) in late adulthood. The difference between groups was found to be significant (p<.001). These results lead to the conclusion that family structure and family tie scores of people differ between generations. When family structure and family ties are compared according to their educational level (Table 3-6), it was found that the scores of communication (average 44.51), management (average 32.90), competence (average 23.24), emotional context (average 19.31) and family structure (average 153.03) were higher for university graduates. This leads to the conclusion that educational level affected family structure (p<.001). While family ties score (average 66.69) and “value assigned to family” (average 41.60) were higher in university


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graduates, “allocating time to family” scores were higher in secondary school graduates or those with lower educational levels (average 26.07); the difference was found to be significant at .001 level. Table 3-5. Comparison of family structure and family ties depending on age N X S F P Difference

Between Groups

Communication 16.696

.001

1-2 1-3

18-25 26-40 41-55

243 238 238

39.37 41.96 43.12

7.88 7.02 6.92

Unity .437

.646

- 18-25

26-40 41-55

243 238 238

33.22 33.46 33.57

4.48 3.97 4.14

Management 11.893

.001

1-3 2-3

18-25 26-40 41-55

243 238 238

30.39 31.28 32.50

4.94 4.96 4.30

Competence 2.275

.104

- 18-25

26-40 41-55

243 238 238

22.01 22.60 22.50

3.60 2.99 3.23

Emotional Context 17.073

.001

1-2 1-3

18-25 26-40 41-55

243 238 238

17.69 19.05 19.05

3.39 2.70 2.69

Family Structure 16.950

.001

1-2 1-3

18-25 26-40 41-55

243 238 238

142.69 148.38 150.76

17.68 14.66 14.25

Importance/value assigned to family 6.524

.001

1-2 2-4 3-4

18-25 26-40 41-55

243 238 238

39.41 41.36 40.79

8.12 6.60 6.89

56 and older 241 38.89 6.60 Allocating time to family

36.042 .001

1-2 1-3 1-4 2-3

18-25 26-40 41-55

243 238 238

22.02 24.82 26.35

5.24 5.18 5.00

56+ 241 26.05 5.00 Family ties

12.881 .001

1-2 2-4 3-4

18-25 26-40 41-55

243 238 238

61.37 66.18 67.14

11.82 10.65 10.53

56+ 241 64.94 10.65


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Table 3-6. Comparison of family structure and family ties depending on education N X S F P Diff. Communication

23.414

.001

1-3 2-3 2-4 3-4

Secondary school and lower level 88 39.18 7.98 High school graduate University graduate University student

175 219 237

41.68 44.51 39.34

6.32 6.48 7.88

Unity 2.075

.102

-


175 219 237

33.78 33.04 33.22

4.11 3.57 4.50

Management 13.036

.001

1-3 2-3 3-4


175 219 237

31.45 32.90 30.36

4.67 4.48 5.04

Competence 8.691

.001

1-3 2-3 3-4


175 219 237

22.30 23.24 21.91

3.23 2.81 3.68

Emotional context 12.096

.001

2-4 3-4


175 219 237

18.86 19.31 17.70

2.88 2.47 3.37

Family Structure 19.293

.001

1-3 2-3 2-4 3-4


175 219 237

148.10153.03142.55

14.25 13.05 17.80

Importance/value assigned to family

8.513

.001

1-2 1-3 3-4


264 275 237

40.31 41.60 39.40

6.14 7.17 8.17

Allocating time to family

28.140

.001

1-4 2-4 3-4


264 275 237

25.95 25.09 22.21

4.96 5.38 5.30

Family ties 10.983

.001

2-4 3-4


264 275 237

66.26 66.69 61.62

9.96 11.37 11.91


257

The relationship between family structure and family ties are presented in Table 3-7. The sub-scales of family structure—communication, management, competence, and emotional context—are associated with the sub-scales of “value assigned to family” and “allocating time to family” at .01 levels. This confirms that there is a relationship between family structure and family ties (p<.01). In other words, family structure and family ties mutually affect each other. Table 3-7. Relationship between family structure and family ties

Impo

rtan

ce/v

alu

e ad

ded

to

fam

ily

Allo

catin

g tim

e to

fam

ily

Fam

ily ti

es

Com

mun

icat

ion

Uni

ty

Man

agem

ent

Com

pete

nce

Em

otio

nal

Con

text

Importance/ value added to family

-

Allocating time to family

.570** -

Family ties .918** .849** - Communication .354** .280** .364** - Unity .048 .076* .067 .109** - Management .315** .283** .339** .579** .139** - Competence .373** .257** .364** .506** .078* .508** - Emotional Context

.352** .284** .364** .440** .093* .397** .376** -

Family structure .417** .343** .434** .858** .390** .789** .688** .617** *p<0.05 **p<0.01

Discussion

This study was conducted with the purpose of evaluating family structure and family ties according to generations and examining the relationship between family structures and family ties. Accordingly, the data reveals that participants had the highest scores for communication and competence. This leads to the assumption that family structures are healthy and in harmony. In a study conducted by the Turkish Ministry of Family and Social Policies to investigate family structure, 71.2% of participants stated that they have good relations with their spouse, 62.6% stated good relations with their mothers, 47.2%, 60.6% and 63.3% stated that they have good relations with their fathers, daughters and sons,


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respectively (Uslu, 2011). The scores for family ties and for the sub-scales of “importance/value assigned to family,” and “allocating time to family” were found to be at higher level. Alesina and Giuliano (2007) emphasized that family ties in Turkey can be considered as strong as their data collected from 78 countries. However, they stated that there is a weakness in these ties compared to previous years. Family ties in Germany, the Netherlands and Northern European countries were found to be weak and those in Mexico, Poland, Latin America, Canada and Southern European countries were found to be strong. While the data revealed that age does not have any effect on the family structure sub-scales of unity and competence (p<.05), its effects were found to be statistically significant for communication, management, emotional context and general family structures (.001). Muluk (2004) reported an opposite result assuming that the age of mother is not effective in family structure. The scores obtained from family structure and family ties (“importance/value assigned to family” and “allocating time to family”) increase by age; however, there is a decrease for the 56+ age group. A relationship between age and the sub-scales of family structure and family ties was noted (p<.001). The fact that participants in the 18-25 age group were primarily students and were in contact with their friends more than their families could have impact on the lower scores for family ties compared to other age groups. In addition, the fact that people in the late adulthood group were residing in a senior centre and their adult children were married and living elsewhere could explain the low family ties scores. It was found that education has no effect on the unity sub-scale of family structure that refers to dependence, solidarity and harmonization with family members and environment. While it was found that family structure and communication, competence and emotional context scores of secondary school and lower level graduates were close to those of university students, these scores were higher in university graduates. In other words, university level education affects family structures. İnceoğlu, Erkman and Aytar (1991) found that educational level of family has an impact on family life. Muluk (2004) reports that as the educational level of mother rises their emotional relationship becomes more successful. Atalay (1992) touched upon the fact that interfamilial diversity of opinions reduces with educational level. It is seen that people with higher educational levels are more interested in their spouses and children and have a wider social life outside of family life (Davis-Kean, 2005). While it was found that higher education has an impact on family ties and “importance/value added to family;” the research revealed that participants with secondary school education and lower allocate more time to their families. This could be explained by the


259

fact that as educational level increases, people work in more qualified jobs and thus spend most of their time at work. A positive significant relationship was found between family structures and family ties. In other words, as family structure scores increase, family ties scores also increase. Family ties not only help people to live more healthily in harmony with family but also impact and strengthen healthy family structure and family ties.

Conclusion

In this study conducted to evaluate family structure and family ties according to generation and to reveal the relationship between family structure and family ties, it was found that the family structure and family ties of participants are at a good level, age and education affect family structure and family ties, and there is a positive significant relationship between family structure and family ties. As attitudes and behaviours in a family will be effective in compatible family structure, it is recommended that: all family members and particularly parents should develop a democratic attitude based on mutual love, tolerance, interest, trust and support; they should exhibit open communication in interfamilial relationships; they should ask for consultancy from a pedagogue, psychologist, guidance or family consultancy centres in case of failing to cope with problems in the family; and they should spend quality time with family members in order to strengthen family ties. In addition, considering the effect of education on family structure and family ties, it is recommended that families should give necessary importance to the education of their children and use all means for the education of both girls and boys.

References

Alesina, A. & Giuliano P. (2007). The Power of the Family. Bonn: IZA Discussion Paper No: 2750.

Atalay, B. (1992). Türk Aile Yapısı Araştırması [Turkish Family Structure Survey]. Ankara: Devlet Planlama Teşkilatı, Sosyal Planlama Genel Müdürlüğü.

Berger, B. & Berger P. (1991). The Family and Modern Society in the Family Experience a Reader in Cultural Diversity. New York, NY: Macmillan.

Davis-Kean, P. E. (2005). The Influence of Parent Education and Family Income on Child Achievement: The Indirect Role of Parental


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Expectation and the Home Environment. Journal of Family Psychology 19 (2): 294-304.

Demirel, H. & Koç Erdamar, G. (2009). Examining the Relationship Between Job Satisfaction and Family Ties of Turkish Primary School Teachers. Procedia Social and Behavioral Sciences 1 (1): 2211-2217.

Gülerce, A. (1996). Türkiye’de Ailelerin Psikolojik Örüntüleri [Psychological Patterns of Families in Turkey]. Istanbul: Boğaziçi Üniversitesi Matbaası.

İnceoğlu, D., Erkman, F. & Aytar, G. (1991). Yurt Dışından Kesin Dönüş Yapan Ana-Babaların Aile Yaşamı ve Çocuk Yetiştirme Tutumu Açısından Türkiye’deki Ana-Babalarla Karşılaştırılması [Comparison of Parents who Live in Foreign Countries with Turkish Parents in terms of Family Life and Child Rearing Attitudes]. Ankara: T.C. Başbakanlık Aile Araştırma Kurumu.

Muluk, E. G. (2004). Alt ve Üst Sosyo Ekonomik Düzeydeki Ailelerin Aile Yapıları ve Anne-Çocuk İlişkisinin İncelenmesi [Lower and Upper Socio-Economic Level of Families and Mother-Child Relationship of Family Structure]. Yüksek Lisans Tezi. Ankara: Gazi Üniversitesi.

Öner, N. & Usluer, S. (1990). Aile Ortamı Ölçeğinin Türkçeye Uyarlanması, Serbest Bildiri Raporu [Turkish Adaptation of Family Environment Scale]. VI. Ulusal Psikoloji Kongresi, 5-7 Eylül, Istanbul.

Özgüven, İ. E. (2001). Ailede İletişim ve Yaşam [Family Communication and Life]. Ankara: Pdrem Yayınları.

Tezcan, M. (1990). Toplumsal Değişme ve Aile, Türkiye Aile Yıllığı [Social Change and Family]. Ankara: T. C. Başbakanlık Aile Araştırma Kurumu.

Todd, E. (1985). The Explanation of Ideology-Family Structures and Social Systems. Hoboken, NJ: Blackwell.

Uslu, İ. (2011). 2011. Türkiye’de Aile Yapısı Araştırması [Family Structure Survey in Turkey]. Ankara: T. C. Aile ve Sosyal Politikalar Bakanlığı, Avşaroğlu Matbaası.

Yazıcıoğlu, Y. & Kayhan, Ü. (2007). Aile Yapısı ve İlişkileri [Family Structure and Relationships]. Eskişehir: Anadolu Üniversitesi Web-Ofset Tesisleri.

Yörükoğlu, A. (1993). Çocuk Ruh Sağlığı [Children’s Mental Health]. Istanbul: Özgür Yayınevi.

CONSTITUTIONAL ROLE OF ISLAM IN PREDOMINANTLY MUSLIM COUNTRIES AND ITS EFFECTS ON WOMEN’S RIGHTS

SENEM ERTAN

Introduction One of the important aspects of research on women’s rights in Muslim countries deals with the effects of the legal role of religion on Muslim women. The constitution is the highest framework of a country’s legal system and is one of the most important documents where religion can play an effective role in a state. Constitutions have great influence on women’s rights because they establish the highest framework of legal structure that identifies fundamental social and political principles. Official state religion is a crucial indicator of secularity not only because it authenticates structural relationships between religion and the state but because it also has a deep regulatory effect on the characteristics of law systems and on the production of any kind of legal documents of a country. Fox (2011) demonstrates that the constitutional role of religion is an important predictor of religious legislation in a state. Thus, the role of the constitution in a country’s legislation is an empirically proven fact. Additionally, as far as constitutions affect the legislation of a country, they must also have an unavoidable effect on regulating women’s daily lives. This article questions this impact and poses the following research question: “Is the involvement of religion in constitutional frameworks an important factor in the subordination of women in Muslim societies?” The core argument of this article is that the involvement of religion in constitutional frameworks has a negative effect on women’s rights in Muslim countries. Although the constitutional declaration of religion is accepted as one of the main indicators of secularity, it composes only one dimension of secularity. The other dimensions include the implementation of religious laws, official support for a particular religion or a religious institution, or restrictions on religious political parties. However, due to

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space limitations, this study does not aim to analyse the impact of other dimensions of secularity.

According to Inglehart and Norris, there is a gender equality and sexual liberalization fault line between the Muslim world and the West (Inglehart & Norris, 2003; Inglehart & Norris, 2004). They argue that the modernization process has transformed values in post-industrial societies by creating a rising tide of support for equality between men and women (Inglehart & Norris, 2003: 68). They demonstrate that while the young generations in western societies have become more egalitarian on gender issues, their coequals from Muslim societies remain as traditional as their grandmothers are (Inglehart & Norris, 2003; Inglehart & Norris, 2004). At this point, they argue that the secularization process triggers gender egalitarian attitudes in industrial societies whereas in Muslim societies where this process does not proceed yet, gender equality remains inadequate. However, some scholars argue that even though such a fault line exists, we cannot simply apply the notion to all Muslim countries (Spierings, Smits & Verloo, 2008). The Muslim world is too big to have such a general statement applied because the gender practices of countries may differ sharply. The understanding of gender equality may even differ in a single country due to regional differences, such as those from rural areas and urban areas or with varying education levels. Thus, in this study we are focusing on the variation of women’s rights in Muslim countries. By doing that, the study aims to argue that not all Muslim countries perform equally well or badly on women’s rights issues.

Some scholars such as Azam Kamguian argue that separation of mosque and state is a precondition to any improvements on women’s status in Middle Eastern countries. She asserts that women’s oppression in the region is a result of Islam’s involvement in the institutions of the state. Thus, the only way to liberate women would be full secularization of the state through eliminating religion from law systems and education and then identifying religion as the private affair of individuals (Kamguian, 2003). Similarly, Sweeney argues that countries where religion (including all major world religions) is highly involved in the policy-making process, will be most likely to reduce the protections of women’s rights (Sweeney, 2006: vi, 5). Countries that unify state and religion are most likely to produce oppressive practices against women (Sweeney, 2004). Therefore, she suggests that countries which are in the process of state building and constitution design, can foster and improve women’s rights by adopting the principle of institutional secularity (Sweeney, 2007: 5). This paper builds upon these previous studies, and questions Sweeney’s argument that “political secularization is the key to the advancement of women’s

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rights cross-nationally” (Sweeney, 2006: 191). In her time series cross-national comparative studies, she argues that the realization of women’s economic, social and political rights will be higher in secular countries than religious countries (idem, 2007). The aim of this article is to test whether this hypothesis holds in a sample of predominantly Muslim countries. The following hypothesis is drawn for the purpose of this study:

Hypothesis: Constitutional declaration of an official state religion will have a negative influence on women’s social, political and economic rights in predominantly Muslim countries.

Typology for Comparisons, Data and Method

According to the data of the U.S. Commission on Religious Freedom, there are 44 countries, which have Muslim populations greater than 50 percent (US State Department, 2005). Stahnke and Blitt in their study entitled The Religion-State Relationship and the Right to Freedom of Religion and Belief classify these 44 countries in four categories according to the constitutional provision of religion (Stahnke & Blitt, 2005). However, in this study only 38 predominantly Muslim countries are included because there are missing data points in the Cingranelli-Richards Human Rights Dataset. Thus, six countries—Comoros, Lebanon, Somalia, Maldives, Qatar and Djibouti—are excluded from the analysis.

Table 3-8 highlights predominantly Muslim countries classified by the constitutional role of religion. The highest impact of religion in state policies exists in Group 1—declared Islamic states—and lowest impact in Group 4—secular states (Stahnke & Blitt, 2005: 7). Islamic countries differ from other states by placing Islam and shari’a at the centre of all kinds of state policies. Islamic states are governed solely by Islamic Law while countries that declare Islam as the state religion—Group 2— do not always recognize religion as the supreme force in the country and might hold it under the administration of the state (Walseth & Fasting, 2003: 46). In contrast, the fourth group of the typology includes 11 countries, which have declared the state secular. Although there are different forms of secularity, declaration of secularity in the constitution means that the administration of these states do not build on religion but instead on secular law. The third group of the classification includes the countries that do not have any statements in their constitution declaring secularism or a state religion.


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Table 3-8. Predominantly Muslim countries classified by constitutional role for religion (Stahnke & Blitt, 2005)

Declared Islamic States (Group 1)

Declared Islam as State Religion (Group 2)

No Constitutional Declaration (Group 3)

Declared Secular States (Group 4)

1. Afghanistan 2. Bahrain 3. Brunei 4. Iran 5. Maldives* 6. Mauritania 7. Oman 8. Pakistan 9. Saudi Arabia 10. Yemen

Ten Islamic states and: 11. Algeria 12. Bangladesh 13. Egypt 14. Iraq (TAL) 15. Jordan 16. Kuwait 17. Libya 18. Malaysia 19. Morocco 20. Qatar* 21. Tunisia 22. U.A.E.

1. Albania 2. Lebanon* 3. Syria 4. Indonesia 5. Comoros* 6. Djibouti* 7. Gambia 8. Sierra Leone 9. Somalia* 10. Sudan* 11. Uzbekistan

1. Burkina Faso 2. Chad 3. Guinea 4. Mali 5. Niger 6. Senegal 7. Azerbaijan 8. Kyrgyzstan 9. Tajikistan 10. Turkey 11. Turkmenistan

*These countries are excluded from the analysis because for each country more than 10 years are coded as missing for women’s rights variables in the CIRI dataset.

This study utilizes quantitative research methods and runs various descriptive and statistical mean comparisons. For all the analyses of this study, the data by the Cingranelli-Richards Human Rights Data Project (CIRI) is used (http://www.humanrightsdata.org/documentation.asp). It includes a four-point standards-based ordinal measure for women’s social, political and economic rights that includes both extensiveness of law, and government practices for over a twenty-five year period (1981-2010). However, for the purposes of this study I am only analyzing the period from 1990 to 2010 because our cases include post-Soviet states and previous years for these countries are not available in the dataset.

Impact of Constitutional Declaration of Religion on Women’s Rights

Table 3-9 presents the mean level for each group of states comprising their annual results for women’s political, economic and social rights between 1990 and 2010. Remarkably, the averages of women’s political, economic and social rights in Islamic states are the lowest among predominantly Muslim countries. On the other hand, women in secular states on average achieved higher social and political women’s rights. Surprisingly,

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women’s economic rights are the greatest in the countries where Islam is the state religion. Table 3-9. Descriptive statistics of women rights indicators in predominantly Muslim countries (1990-2010)

Score Level Political Rights

Economic Rights

Social Rights

Declared Islamic States (Group 1)

Zero 63 84 107 One 81 78 28 Two 37 19 1 Three 1 0 0 Mean 0.86 0.64 0.22

Declared Islam as the State Religion (Group 2)


No Constitutional Declaration (Group 3)


Declared Secular States (Group 4)


Note: The scale ranges from 0 (no women’s rights) to 3 (good women’s rights) Confirming Sweeney’s (2006) findings, the mean of women’s political rights is higher than the mean of women’s economic and social rights for all groups. One of the reasons why political rights of women are higher than social and economic rights is that the government has the capability to directly influence women’s political rights through some legal measures such as electoral gender quotas (Sweeney, 2007: 37). Furthermore, social rights represent the lowest level of women’s rights attainment in each group of states. This might be related to the fact that Islamist political parties are more resistant when reforming social policies rather than political or economic ones because social rights policies regulate the private life of people and they are particularly related to personal status


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rights which include issues such as sexuality, reproduction and family that, for a long time, have been regulated by religious authorities (Jamal & Langohr, 2010).

Developments in the three Macro Issue Areas of Women’s Rights Over Time

Figure 3-1 shows the important changes to women’s rights levels in Muslim countries over time (1990-2010). A sub-classification was developed in order to analyse changes in time. The first group of countries, which I refer to as religious states, consists of states declared as Islamic states and countries that declare Islam as the state religion and the second group, non-religious states, combines secular countries and the countries without any constitutional declaration of religion. The rationale for regrouping these countries is that secular countries and countries without any constitutional declaration of religion do not differ very much in their average values but they differ considerably from countries which declare Islam as the state religion. In addition, this regrouping allows us to compare the countries where there is a certain level of impact of religion on the constitution to those where there is no impact.

Figure 3-1. Mean of women’s economic rights in religious and non-religious states 1990-2010 (Scale: 0=worst 3=best)

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Figure 3-2. Mean of women’s political rights in religious and non-religious states 1990-2010 (Scale: 0=worst 3=best)

Figure 3-3. Mean of women’s social rights in religious and non-religious states 1990-2010 (Scale: 0=worst 3=best)


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To begin with, religious and non-religious countries do not differ very much from each other in terms of their average economic rights (see Figure 3-1). Although during the 1990s the gap was a little larger, in recent years the gap has shrunk. These results indicate that the underlying distribution of women’s economic rights scores for the religious states are significantly lower than the scores of unreligious states (Wilcoxon-Mann-Whitney test=-2.170, p=0.0300). (The Wilcoxon-Mann-Whitney test was preferred to statistically compare the means of religious and unreligious states instead of independent samples t-test because t-test assumes that the dependent variable is a normally distributed interval variable. However, our dependent variable is an ordinal variable. Thus, the Wilcoxon-Mann-Whitney test fit better with the characteristics of our dependent variables.) The decline after 2003 that is seen for both religious and non-religious countries may be a result of other determinants of women’s economic rights such as increasing fundamentalist trends (Bernal, 1994) or economic development or economic crisis. However, this issue requires a more in depth analysis than can be addressed in this study. Women’s political rights in Muslim countries generally have an increasing trend. However, political rights for women in non-religious states decreased twice in the 1990s: in 1991 and in 1994. This decline coincides with the transition period of post-Soviet regimes in Central Asia. During this period, countries such as Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan and Kyrgyzstan experienced a decrease in women’s political representation because of the abandonment of gender quotas (Sweeney, 2007: 36). The Wilcoxon-Mann-Whitney test also confirms that for women’s political rights the gap between religious and non-religious states is statistically significant although it is closing (z=-11.448, p=0.0000). These findings demonstrate that the separation of state and religion has a crucial impact on the ability of women to obtain political rights that allow them to participate in the political sphere. However, even though the gap is narrowing, one might also argue that recently non-religious states have started to increase their efforts to improve women’s political rights. Annual averages for women’s social rights are presented in the third graph of Figure 3-2 for 16 years from 1990 to 2007. It was not possible to include 2005 and 2006 as the scores for these years are missing in the CIRI dataset. In summary, there is a steady trend and a clear gap between religious and non-religious states in the area of social rights for women. The Wilcoxon-Mann-Whitney test also reports a statistically significant difference in scores of religious and non-religious states (z=-9.326, p=0.0000). In both non-religious and religious countries, the social rights of women have not improved from 1990 to 2007. Even though the data is

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missing for 2005 and 2006, it can be observed that from 2003 to 2007, there is a declining trend in women’s social rights in both religious and non-religious states.

Concluding Remarks

This study focused only on one indicator of secularity, which is the declaration of a religious denomination in the constitution. The empirical evidence from the CIRI Dataset demonstrates that religious governments are more oppressive towards women than non-religious governments. The longitudinal analysis of women’s social, economic and political rights in religious and non-religious states confirmed the hypothesis that the fusion of religious declaration into the constitution hinders women’s rights attainment in predominantly Muslim countries. The largest gap between religious and non-religious states exists in the field of women’s political rights. However, this gap is closing as religious states have started to adopt better women’s rights policies after the 2000s. Moreover, there is a large and steady gap in women’s social rights attainments over time. The gap between religious and non-religious states in economic rights for women is not as large as the social and political rights gap but it is still statistically significant. Additionally, one can also argue that there is a certain level of variance between countries that declare Islam as the state religion. Thus, further research might focus on the question of why some Islamic countries perform better than other Islamic countries.

References

Fox, J. (2011). Separation of Religion and State and Secularism in Theory and in Practice. Religion, State and Society 39 (4): 384-401.

Inglehart, R. & Norris, P. (2003). The True Clash of Civilizations. Foreign Policy 135: 62-70.

Inglehart, R. & Norris, P. (2004). Rising Tide: Gender Equality and Cultural Change around the World. Cambridge: CUP.

Jamal, A. & Langohr, V. (2010). The Politics of Passing Women-Friendly Legislation in Arab Parliaments. Paper presented at the International Studies Association meeting, New Orleans.

Kamguian, A. (2003). Islam and the Liberation of Women in the Middle East: Separation of Mosque and State is the Only Answer. Free Inquiry Magazine. Online: http://www.secularhumanism.org/library/fi/kamguian_23_4.htm.


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Spierings, N., Smits, J. & Verloo, M. (2008). On the Compatibility of Islam and Gender Equality Effects of Modernization, State Islamization, and Democracy on Women’s Labour Market Participation in 45 Muslim Countries. Social Indicators Research 90: 503-522.

Stahnke, T. & Blitt, R. C. (2005). The Religion-State Relationship and the Right to Freedom of Religion or Belief: A Comparative Textual Analysis of the Constitutions of Predominantly Muslim Countries. Georgetown Journal of International Law 36: 947-1077.

Sweeney, S. E. (2004). Global Transformations, National Institutions, and Women’s Rights: A Cross-National Comparative Analysis. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Political Science Association, Hilton Chicago and the Palmer House Hilton, Chicago, IL.

—. (2006). Women’s Human Rights: A Global Comparative Analysis. PhD diss., Binghamton University.

—. (2007). Government Respect for Women’s Economic Rights: A Cross-National Analysis, 1981–2003. In Shareen Hertel & Lanse Minkler (Eds.), Economic Rights: Conceptual Measurement and Policy Issues. Cambridge: CUP. 233-66.

The Cingranelli-Richards (CIRI) Human Rights Data Project Coding Dataset Version. Online: http://www.humanrightsdata.org.

U. S. State Department. (2005). Annual Report of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office.

Walseth, K. & Fasting, K. (2003). Islam’s View on Physical Activity and Sport: Egyptian Women Interpreting Islam. International Review for Sociology of Sport 38 (1): 45-60.

ENCOUNTER SPACE AND TRANSFORMATION

TURGUT GÜMÜŞOĞLU

Introduction

Many disciplines undertake and discuss notions of language, translation and culture within their own perspective and reasoning. Cultural Studies regards culture as a research variable and circles around it to elucidate many issues in the light of concepts ranging from hybridity to transnationality, from transculturality to integration, and especially recently to migration. Linguistics, as far as the limitations to its research field are concerned, addresses socially oriented issues of the language from a linguistic perspective under a subfield, namely sociolinguistics. Translation Studies, on the other hand, rather focuses and problematizes as it tackles questions resulting from the process of translation and the meaning transfer. Translation Studies adopted its notion of culture from the culturally oriented translation concept. This included the concepts often cited in Translation Studies as localization and translated text, which constituted topics of discussion throughout the history of translation. Originating from Cultural Studies, cultural translation—a new concept in Translation Studies—emerged notably after the 90s as a means of deciphering awareness in the target culture during the translation process that incorporates a transfer of cultural dynamics within a polysystem into one another. Cultural translation “in the sense of Bhabha is a set of discourse that enacts hybridity by crossing borders, revealing the intermediary positions of (figurative) translations” (Pym, 2010: 147). That being said, even though it is hardly a new thing to say, one can see in this concept of cultural translation the sense of foreignness coming from the translation and an aggregate of newly added cultural entries. Papastergiadis (2000) perceives the translation phenomenon as a fictional process that occurs while the thought takes shape as one reads a text. As Lahiri (2000: 120) puts it, “translation is not only a finite linguistic act but an ongoing cultural one.” Translation, therefore, is the path deriving from the acquisition of culture through usage of language and its transfer that continues until its transformation. Culture here is not an essential

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phenomenon but a constituent dynamic where it undergoes certain processes and where differences become more visible. This new perception of translation informed by Bhabha’s definition of culture as something both transnational and translational allured translation studies as well. According to Bachmann-Medick (1997: 13), in her own words, “culture in itself is already translation,” and in this sense, translatability of cultures and their diversity reveals their hybrid condition. Hence, translation can be conceived of as a constituent of today’s modern identity, which precludes the sense of uniqueness and plainness. Following the words of Rushdie (1991), I, too, am a translated man, Bhabha considers hybridity to be a new self-identity and places it against the ideas of hierarchy, uniqueness of culture and hegemony. He affirms that “hybridity is camouflage” (Bhabha 2004: 193) and, provocatively it is “how newness enters the world” (idem: 227) and it is bound up with a “process of translating and transvaluing cultural differences” (idem: 252). He therefore defines culture as the transnational dimension of cultural transformation. Cultural translation, migration as it were in the eyes of Wolf, is a positive element resulting from the perception of otherness in their own language, and this creates a new form of discourse as a displacement of one’s language alongside his identity. According to Wolf, the fictional third space, as indicated by Bhabha, is any place where, by means of migration, interactions take place, thoughts are transformed, and cultural dynamics begin to take unprecedented forms. “This destabilizes the view of translation as a ‘bridge between cultures’ or makes it obsolete, since—if we draw on postcolonial theories of culture—translational transfer takes place between cultures that are already contaminated in themselves” (Wolf, 2008). Bhabha positions his cultural translation concept in terms of hybridity as opposed to the reflection that culture is omnipresent, hegemonic and belongs to a single nation in its production. He finds in the formation of present-day cultural values rather a transnational culture, and describes a third space, where the past meets the present via migration, diaspora, etc. and where hybridity stems from new encounters. “The great, though unsettling, advantage of this position is that it makes you increasingly aware of the construction of culture and the invention of tradition” (Bhabha, 2004: 247). In this sense, unlike traditional culture theory, translation is essential for the emergence of new cultures and their development, since “the figure of negotiation has particularly rich potential for the problem of translation, given that the act of mediation is always inherent in the process of translation, and that an element of negotiation is always inscribed in the act of mediation” (Wolf, 2008).

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Encounter Space

The encounter is a concept that calls to mind sociology rather than our subject matter, but its addendum may take us to other related problematizations. Linguistic encounter spans a wide range from foreign language acquisition, translation between languages, and bilingualism to language death and contains different variables. This paper attempts to problematize the formation of these encounter spaces and the concept of cultural translation with reference to the notion of translation as a transformative tool. First, however, we need to take a deeper look into Wolf’s (2008: 32) question about “whose or which research field shall claim translation?” The answer to this question will depend on how theoretically and methodologically prepared and competent the related discipline is in order to give the subject matter a central position in research. In view of the fact that different branches of science problematize matters using their own methods, the results of such analysis will be different. For this reason, the translation will be discussed as a notion independent of the problematizations pertaining to sociology, linguistics or cultural studies, but discussions over culture and language will be addressed from the perspective of translation studies. However, translation studies, as a discipline, has not yet tackled the concept of translation besides on a linguistic or textual level. Based upon the history of translation and its experience of text analysis, translation studies will bring a different and versatile standpoint for all social sciences, assembling its own particular meta-analysis on the social dynamics of life. The reason that translation studies are taken here as the starting point for research is that it positions translation as a paradigm at its centre. Therefore, the concept of translation—unlike translation studies—will be considered here as a meta-concept beyond text and language levels. An encounter must take place for any translation to happen. Encounters play an essential role in social life and their relational aspect will affect the encounter spaces. In order to define the encounter space, we should primarily give definitions for the words “I” and “other” and thence specify the otherness. The underlying reason for this is to draw lines to get a definition of the self, or, to put it the other way round, to compose a self-image by defining the other side of the line. According to Heidegger (1967), the lines by which one defines himself do not delineate his existence; on the contrary: his existence begins outside these lines. This is an important way of thinking, for both the definition of identity and to make sense out of contemporary theories on culture. In his speech at the Berlin Academy of Sciences in 1813, Schleiermacher put great emphasis on translation during the process


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of developing cultural dynamics to arrive at the definition of the self. As a mechanism to cross borders, translation for Schleiermacher raises otherness in a positive sense and thanks to the perception of this otherness and the crucial role it plays in developing the cultural dynamics of the self, it helps its demarcation i.e. to hinder overstepping the borders. For Schleiermacher, “a foreignizing move of the readers towards the writer or a domesticating move of the writer towards the readers—a pair of concepts that he introduced into translation theory—describe the fundamental procedures regulating the relationship of self and other in translation. Each translation locates itself somewhere between these poles” (Schleiermacher, 1997). He gives precedence to the ‘foreignizing’ type because he accepts the foreign as a value in itself and wishes to pass that experience on to the reader. This way, as opposed to Heidegger’s, Schleiermacher emphasizes the importance of creating its own perimeters within borders. In his speech Schleiermacher, bestows both positive and negative meaning on translation that was triggered by the domination of the French cultural dynamics over German language and culture, as well as the German intellectuals’ alienation from their own culture, besides the failure to create novelty within. Nearly a century later, Pannwitz (1918) was exalting what Schleiermacher had dreaded: the concept of hybridity, and he was theoretically emphasizing the for first time that cultural dynamics were evolved with translation and that cultures were unlikely to exist all by themselves. Probably influenced by Pannwitz, Ülken (2009: 5) went one step further and claimed that building a civilization could only be possible with translation: “Translation provides the power of creativity during awakening periods.” He underlined the significance of the culture formed in consequence of encounters as a direct result of border-crossing. Translation this way comes through as an element that has enhanced hybridity. For Pannwitz, encounter space, foreign languages, translation are all building blocks of culture. Inasmuch as the proliferation of these creates more hybridity via border-crossings, there will be development. Hall (1996: 242-260) states that “the concept of the postcolonial re-reads ‘colonisation’ as part of an essentially transnational and transcultural ‘global’ process—and it produces a decentred, diasporic or ‘global’ rewriting of earlier, nation-centred imperial grand narratives. [...] [The postcolonial] obliges us to re-read the binaries as forms of transculturation, of cultural translation, destined to trouble the here/there cultural binaries forever.” The potential for translation derived from these challenges applies as a matter of priority to those implications of translation that are capable of transforming it into transcultural political action. This brings to light the fundamental duality of experiencing the otherness, namely, on the


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one hand, being foreign to another language and culture, and remaining foreign in the eyes of the other. This dichotomy of experiencing the otherness occurs yet again in language. Tawada refers to metaphors to better express this alienation and encounter with a culture; he compares it with going beyond the border and starting there to define the self in the eyes of the other. Underlining the experience of reconstructing the self in the other because of going beyond the border, Tawada here raises the awareness of being the other in both identities when beyond borders (Mae, 2010: 36). Especially for reasons such as migration—as a process of translating oneself—in these encounter spaces, foreign languages overlap the originals while one’s first language starts to evade and transform. These third spaces, these in-betweens “(…) provide the terrain for elaborating strategies of selfhood […] that initiate new signs of identity, and innovative sites of collaboration and contestation […]” (Bhabha, 2004: 2). Depending on social and political dynamics acculturation will enrich identities as constituents of identity put pressure upon the individual or trigger the blossom of creativity. Pannwitz at this stage goes one step further indicating the relation between foreign language and encounter spaces when he includes dialects in language category. Subsequent to these dynamics, translations with the effects of knowing a language will create higher cultural values. According to Pannwitz, translation, as mentioned above, has an important part to play in overcoming borders. Before elaborating on the subject, we first need to define the notions of space and encounter space. This space, in contrast to Bhabha’s third space, is spatial, heterogeneous, and procedural; it is a dynamic that builds up identities. Bourdieu’s concept of habitus together with Even-Zohar’s cultural repertoire, will help to define such a space. Bourdieu presents his concept of habitus to explain today’s culture dynamics. It is the space where living habits that determine a person’s condition are established; even though it is bound to variables such as class and status, changes in this space take place only with some difficulty. According to Bourdieu (1993), habitus fulfils two important functions: the productions stemming from actions that make up essential living conditions (opus operatum, result of practises), and way of acting or doing things (modus operandi, constitutive structures). Even-Zohar’s culture repertoire, on the other hand, is defined in the context of relationships between centre and periphery as the accumulation of new values as a result of endeavours to meet the needs (including translations) (Pahor, 2008). Even-Zohar (2010: 70) states “the culture repertoire is the aggregate, or the accepted stock of options utilized by a group, and by its individual members, for the organization of life,” and therefore “(…) the multiplicity of repertoires


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which co-exist as permanent competitors that makes it possible for a system to change; and since change is necessary because systems necessarily clash and conflict with other systems, heterogeneity allows systems to carry on” (idem: 177). Regarding the notion of space again, encounter takes place in two primary spaces: The first space is essential existence where individuals and groups define themselves as “I” and/or “we.” The second is the other, the space outside of the definitions of the first space. The third space is where the first and second spaces meet. The location of this encounter is of prime importance because this spatial, procedural encounter space will determine the dynamics after the encounter. For this reason, it should be settled as to whether these spaces are open or unopened to outsiders at first. In an unopened space no translation takes place since subjects are either segregated from each other or one has assimilated the other. In the open space however, there is translation; in a flexible encounter space depending on how close one gets to another, these first two spaces come into contact with each other, and therefore it is possible to talk at this stage about a translation process that can turn the wheels of a social transformation.

Translation and Culture Translation

According to Dizdar (2008: 96), the translator is a migrant somewhere between the two cultures and converts cultures and languages. Languages and cultures constitute meeting points affecting acculturation dynamics both inside and outside nations. This meeting point creates encounter spaces for either cultural or commercial reasons. Hence translation is a cultural-linguistic element formed in this encounter space. Translation is a natural phenomenon of the encounter spaces and forms the basic acceptance mechanisms of existing inside foreign language-culture, comprehension and readability dynamics. The translation of being foreign or “other” from one space to another will activate some linguistic-social-cultural-political dynamics as a result of the encounter. The untranslatability of a will, intention or expression may cause a crisis. However, as long as this crisis keeps producing new syntheses, cultural translation will come into existence. Otherwise, instead of cultural translation, cultural importation, imitation and assimilation will occur forming an imitation culture, where creativity ceases to exist, in which case it is not possible to speak of any kind of translation. The encounter spaces, in essence, show a positive dynamic on behalf of social progress because they create crises and discussions where cultural production reaches its peak point. Thus, knowledge becomes more valuable by coming into existence in encounter


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spaces—transculturation—and gaining more power than before. “The concept of cultural difference focuses on the problem of the ambivalence of cultural authority: the attempt to dominate in the name of a cultural supremacy which is itself produced only in the moment of differentiation” (Bhabha, 2004: 247). The most essential factor of hybrid formation—the transitionality of difference—is also formed in this translation space. Translation is therefore more of a totality of creative activities contributing to the formation of cultural values rather than a bridge between two cultures. This space provides a look from others’ eyes and thus the different viewpoints of others. During cultural production the original and the imitation should promote alienation and be visible in the target language. Cultural translation is both metaphorically the transfer of the transferables from one culture to the other life span and ensures the visibility of cultural contents during translation. As mentioned above, this forms negative translation as stated by Adıvar: “Unfortunately, they replaced their sight and their hearing with a Persian one, and accordingly could not make sense out of the particularities of the land they virtually lived on with all its diversities, nor could they enunciate properly” (1994). There is no creativity and reproduction, and the culture was unable to be translated and remained as an imitation. Language is the basic mechanism procuring the effect of one culture on the other and the language acts in the determination of the cultural dynamics according to the existing socio-political dynamics. According to Göktürk (2000: 95), every new translation not only affects the existing tradition but also adds creativity by affecting the literary traditions of the target language. The integration process—the much-debated term as a consequence of migration—is mentioned as preserving one’s own culture and being open to new values or, in other words, mutual interaction (Gümüşoğlu et al., 2009). The loss of cultural values and adoption of the new culture are assimilation. On the contrary, protecting cultural values and also maintaining a life refusing social interaction are defined as segregation. Both protecting cultural values and accepting social communication form marginalization. However, the studies performed on different migration groups show that the meanings of these terms may change according to cultural environments and the processes the migrants may have gone through. It is explicit that translation has a specific role, a positively or negatively changing and transforming influence (Adıvar, 1994). Therefore cultural translation is considered as the translation of all foreign textual and non-textual tools in the target culture. Thus, new behaviours will be produced in the target culture. These new behaviours, as an acculturation process will influence both the source and the target culture. This interaction


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process generates acculturation in the area of encounter. However, acculturation—in other words the latest form of a hybridized culture—during this process, with specific stages to go through, shows mostly a positive development. The other way around is also possible. The stages will outline this process: firstly, it is important where the area of encounter was formed. Linguistic-cultural areas of encounter occur in many different areas and conditions such as migration, minority, dominant culture, symposium, emergency case, etc. Secondly, in this stage the area of encounter puts itself into the area of translation and the reservoir of existing values takes place with social factors/culture carriers. This is the most important and determinant level. It is mostly interconnected with the construction of open and unopened spaces. If the encounter occurs but the translation does not, then the space is unopened, where there is no communication, progress and synthesis. The conflict will persist. Since the different spaces do not comprehend and empathize with each other, it is based on conflict and destruction. If there is translation in the encounter space, then we can talk about open space and this leads onto the next level. The third stage consists of culture translation strategy. At this stage, first, a translation triggering mechanism and then a compliance mechanism step in as translation strategies. In this sense, translation has a result in terms of why the translation activity has occurred, what the influences (triggers) were and whether compliance (recognizing the target culture) has occurred or not. The fourth stage includes positive and negative culture translation. Negative culture translation is caused by untranslatability. The dominant culture has somewhat injected the values which the target culture has perceived. However its own existing cultural reservoir almost disappears and the original is replaced by imitation. Just as the existing values could not be maintained, the influences exerted through translation deconstruction and alienation would take place. Negative cultural translations are basically the product of the result of untranslatability, for compliance and synthesis could not be formed.

An Outcome Assessment Based on Gezi Park Protests

The Gezi Park Protest in Taksim, Istanbul broke out on May 31st, 2013 as the encounter spaces created unopened spaces. The protest caused social movements opposing the progress and development principle of the social dynamics. As a result, the translation could not be performed. In terms of social translatology, the failure of the translation process—the translation—caused reciprocal non-understanding. It can be explained in accordance with the model: 1-The place of encounter (third space):


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Taksim. 2-The first encounter space: Groups introducing demands and performing civil disobedience. The second encounter space: Legal authority, state, etc. 3-The untranslation of cultural translation: In order to achieve a dialogue between encounter spaces, the text needs to be bi-directionally translated. Translation here means culture-text transfer where there is no context loss between the source and target culture, which is variable and interspaced. As in the Gezi Park protest, the texts could not be translated in the encounter space. The untranslatability fictionalized the meaning by creating expressive information and replaced the texts that should have been translated. In this case, since the expression was not transferred and mistranslated, no compliance and progress could be achieved. 4-No translation and unopened space: since agreement could not be achieved because of the crisis and the conflict of encounter and synthesis was not achieved, the untranslatability led to unopened spaces. At this stage, the attempt to transfer the text was completely blocked. The text transfer moved into different spaces (social media) due to the contextual lapse of the source and target text, and the conflict did not turn the dynamic of the crisis into progress and thus social development was not achieved. What was left was the culture-text language of the first and second spaces, instead. While the first space requires to be understood without translating its own language and by using other methods, the target culture as the second space reviews the source text without translating it. As it is unopened to translation, the pile of untranslated texts will aggravate the problems.

References

Adıvar, H. E. (1944). Edebiyatta Tercümenin Rolü [The role of translation in literature]. Istanbul: Kenan Matbaası.

Bachmann-Medick, D. (1997). Einleitung: Übersetzung als Repräsentation-Fremder Kulturen [Introduction: Translation as a representation–foreign cultures]. In D. Bachmann-Medick (Ed.), Übersetzung als Repräsentation fremder Kulturen. Berlin: Schmidt.

Bhabha, H. K. (2004). The Location of Culture. London: Routledge. Bourdieu, P. (1993). Sozialer Sinn. Kritik der Theoretischen Vernunft

[Social meaning. Critic of theoretical mental]. F. am M.: Suhrkamp. Dizdar, D. (2008). Die Mutterzungedrehen. Erfahrungenaus und mit einem

Text [Mother tongue. Experiences out of and with a text]. In G. Vorderobermeier & M. Wolf (Eds.), MeineSprachegrenztmichab...: Transkulturalität und kulturelle Übersetzungim Kontext von Migration. Place: Vienna: LIT.


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Even-Zohar, I. (2010). Papers in Culture Research. Tel Aviv: Unit of Culture Research, Tel Aviv University.

Göktürk, A. (2000). Çeviri: Dillerindili [Translation: The language of languages]. Istanbul. YKY.

Gümüşoğlu, T., Batur, M., Kalaycı, H., Baraz, Y. (2009). Türkische Migrant Innen in Österreich: Eine Querschnittstudie der türkischen Migrantengemeinschaftzwischen Struktur und Integration [Turkish Migrant in Austria: A social survey of Turkish migrant between structure and integration]. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang.

Hall, S. (1996). When was ‘The Post-Colonial’? Thinking at the Limit. In I. Chambersand & L. Curti (Eds.), The Post-Colonial Question: Common Skies, Divided Horizons. London - New York: Routledge.

Heidegger, M. (1967). Bauen-Wohnen-Denken [Build-live-think]. In M. Heidegger, Vorträge und Aufsätze II. Pfullingen: Neske.

Lahiri, J. (2000). My intimate alien. Outlook: 116-120. Mae, M. (2010). TawadaYokos Literatur als kulturelles Übersetzendurch

Transformation [The Tawada Yokos literature as cultural translation through transformation]. In H. Yamamoto & C. Ivanovic, Übersetzung- Transforation. Würzburg: Könighausen & Neumann.

Pahor, M. J. (2008). Transkulturation und Hybriditätim Spiegel der Migration. Das Beispiel Triest [Transculturation and Hybridization in mirror of migrations]. In G. Vorderobermeier & M. Wolf (Eds.), MeineSprachegrenztmichab...: Transkulturalität und kulturelle Übersetzung im Kontext von Migration. Vienna: LİT.

Pannwitz, R. (1918). Deutschland und Europa.Grundrisseinerdeutsch- Europäischen Politik. Nürnberg: Hans Carl.

Papastergiadis, N. (2000). The Turbulance of Migration. Globalization, Deterritorialization and Hybridity. Cambridge: Polity Press.

Pym, A. (2010). Cultural Translation. In Exploring Translation Theories. New York, NY: Routledge. 143-164.

Rushdie, S. (1991). Imaginary Homelands. Essays and Critism 1981-1991. London: Granata Books.

Schleiermacher, F. (1997). On the different methods of translating. In D. Robinson (Ed.), Western Translation Theory. Manchester: St. Jerome.

Ülken, H. Z. (2009). Uyanışdevirlerindetercümeninrolü [The role of translation in awakening periods]. Istanbul. Türkiye İş Bankası Kültür Yayınları.

Wolf, M. (2008). Translation—Transculturation. Measuring the perspectives of transcultural political action. Online: http://eipcp.net/transversal/0608/wolf/en/print.

CORRELATION BETWEEN GERMAN AND CROATIAN LEGAL PHRASEOLOGY:

A SOCIOLINGUISTIC PERSPECTIVE

LJUBICA KORDIĆ AND DUBRAVKA PAPA

Introduction For centuries, Croatia and Croatian people were politically connected with Austria. The beginnings of political relations date back to the year 1527, when citizens of the then Kingdom of Croatia elected Austrian Kaiser Ferdinand the 1st to be their king. Other regions inhabited by Croats (for instance Slavonia, which was occupied by the Turks, and Dalmatia, Dubrovnik and Istria, occupied by Napoleon and Venice) joined that union after wars for liberation. They founded the Triune Kingdom of Croatia, Slavonia and Dalmatia and maintained political unions with Austrians to live under the Austrian crown up to 1918.

Political and administrative connections influenced language contacts. Those language contacts at different historical times varied from strong, but partial German influence to gradual and later complete acknowledgement of equality of all languages. Some linguists suggest that German language influences were stronger in the administrative sphere than they actually were (Mamić, 1992: 15), because Latin was the official language in Croatia until 1847. Nevertheless, one should not neglect the fact that at the time of the Austrian Empire, German was the dominant language in the Croatian education system and in many domains of social and economic life (Kordić, 2003). In the mid 19th century, when national idealism movements spread all over Europe, Croatian language became the official language in Croatia as a constituent political entity of the Austro-Hungarian Kingdom. However, German language influences were obvious and inevitable in many fields. This paper will focus on exploration of those influences on legal phraseology. To achieve exactness and scientific reliability in our findings, the research is restricted to the field of criminal procedure law. Further, our project explores phraseology of historical texts of Austrian and Croatian Criminal Procedure Codes published in the 19th

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century, with an emphasis on interaction of sociological and linguistic changes as reflected in the legal phraseology of the ancient and the modern versions of the Austrian and the Croatian Criminal Procedure Codes.

After national movements in Slavic countries and the Hungarian Kingdom in 1848, national languages became official languages in every constituent part of the Empire. Under those circumstances, Austrian laws had to be translated into the specific national languages of the Empire. For that purpose, a special team of linguists and law experts was gathered by the Austrian government to create a series of law dictionaries. One of those multi-language dictionaries was a separate edition of German-Croatian-Serbian-and-Slovene dictionary of legal and political terminology, published in Vienna in 1853. It was called “Juridisch-politische Terminologie für die slavischen Sprachen Österreichs” (Mamić, 1992: 7). This dictionary of Croatian legal terminology is partly founded on the Croatian common law tradition, but the influence of German language and Austrian legal tradition is essential. Although many legal terms were directly translated from German into Croatian, numerous new terms were created according to the rules of the Croatian lexical system, precisely because linguistic purism was fostered and influenced by strong national enthusiasm, at that time dominant in all Slavic countries. The influence of German legal terminology was inevitable and intense, and some books and papers have been written exploring those influences on the Croatian language of law (Bukovčan, 2008; Kordić, 2007, 2008, 2010). The aim of this paper is to examine poly-lexical structures in historical texts of the Austrian Criminal Procedure Code (1873) and its Croatian version of 1875 in order to establish to what extent German language of law influenced Croatian phraseology of criminal procedure law. As the language of law is characterized by neutrality, objectivity, abstractness and exactness, the main part of this paper focuses on metaphor in the legal phraseology as an extraordinary linguistic feature in the language of law. In the last part of the paper, we shall compare the ancient German and Croatian legal texts with their modern versions of 2006 to check which changes in the legal phraseology have occurred in the course of 130 years and to what extent they were influenced by changes in the social and political lives of the two countries. Before analysing and discussing the results of the research, it is necessary to distinguish between two basic linguistic terms used in this paper: phrases and collocations. Phrase is a poly-lexical term usually defined as a grammatical unit smaller than a clause. It consists of two or more words, but does not contain all the things found in a clause, e.g., the little girl, pretty as a picture (Trask, 2008: 218). Features by which phrases can be distinguished from other word groups are: 1) frequency, 2)

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structural patterns, 3) semantic relationship between its constituent parts and 4) terminological distribution of the expression (Bukovčan, 2009: 116). Collocations are usually defined as “two or more words usually occurring together in free lexical connection, which means that each of them keeps its specific meaning and can occur separately as well as in other lexical relations” (Gačić, 2009: 280). From a cognitive-linguistic point of view, collocation is a two-word term, semantic interdependence of its constituent parts representing its specific linguistic feature. Most frequent structures of collocations are adjective + noun, noun + verb, noun + noun, verb + adverb (L’Homme & Bertrand, 2000).

Goals, Corpora and Methodology

Collocations and phrases in ancient legal texts of Austrian and Croatian Criminal Procedure Codes represent the main object of this research. The goal of the research is to discover which collocations and phrases are used in Austrian ancient law and to determine the extent of concordance of those structures with their equivalents in the Croatian version of the same law, as well as their frequency in each law. The results will be compared to the results of the analysis of the phraseology used in modern versions of the two laws, both published in 2006. The comparison should indicate to what extent socio-political changes within the period of 130 years influenced the phraseology of criminal procedure in German and Croatian language of law. The corpora of the research encompass two groups of sources. The first includes the texts of Austrian Criminal Procedure Code of 1873 and Croatian Criminal Procedure Code of 1875 (CPC). For practical reasons and for the sake of scientific reliability, 292 articles (12 chapters) were analysed and compared in each text. Modern versions of the two laws, both enacted in 2006, represent the second part of our sources. The methodology used in the research is known as vertical contrastive analysis. It is a method of contrasting and analysing two (or more) languages aimed at formation of universal language categories and determination of their realizations in contrasted languages. Systematic comparison of the respective languages or their subsystems enables detection of differences and similarities and the defining of the elements that are comparable (Fisiak, 1981: 2). Two ancient laws representing the corpus of the research were available only in printed version, so the prevailing methodological approach we used was a manual excerption of examples followed by the qualitative and quantitative analysis thereof. The approach to modern versions of the Austrian and Croatian CPC was methodologically easier due to their availability on the Internet.


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Results: Contrastive Analysis of the Phraseology in the Austrian CPC of 1873 and the Croatian CPC of 1875

In our corpora we found expressions consisting of three or more words, which we determined as poly-lexical phrases (in most cases prepositional phrases), but most frequent poly-lexical terms in both corpora are binary expressions that will be referred to here as collocations. Most frequent structures of phrases and collocations occurring in both corpora are: a) verb + noun, b) adjective + noun, c) noun + noun. Examples of each structure will be discussed contrastively with special emphasis on their frequency in the two ancient legal texts. In the last part of the paper the results of the contrastive analysis will be compared with the phraseology in the contemporary versions of the Austrian CPC and the Croatian CPC of 2006 (consolidated version of 2009) from a sociolinguistic point of view. Structure “adjective + noun”

The text of Austrian CPC of 1873 excessively uses expressions consisting of an adjective and a noun. There are 116 collocations in the German text, out of which 30 are of metaphoric nature (26 %). Most frequent metaphoric collocations are: der öffentliche Ankläger - javni tužitelj “public prosecutor,” auβerordentliches Rechtsmittel - izvanredni pravni lijek “extraordinary legal remedy,” materielle Wahrheit - materijalna istina “material truth,” öffentliches Interesse - javni interes “public interest.” Metaphoric character of the expression stems mostly from polysemy or ambiguity of an adjective as the first constituent of the collocation (e.g., öffentlich=“open” and “public”). There are a substantial number of Croatian equivalents of a non-metaphoric character: verhängte Geldstrafe “awarded/imposed compensation” - dosuđena odšteta “adjudicated compensation.” In Croatian CPC of 1875, we found 236 collocations of this type, which is twice as many as in Austrian CPC. This is probably caused by the fact that Croatian collocations consisting of an adjective and a noun are in most cases equivalents of German compounds: Rechtskraft - pravna snaga “legal power,” Rechtsmittel - pravni lijek “legal remedy,” Rechtssache - pravna stvar “legal matter.” Thus, the inclination of German language system to frequent usage of compounds led to the frequency of collocations in the form adjective + noun within the Croatian corpus, because in the Croatian language system compounds occur sporadically. However, there are cases of direct translation of collocations structured adjective + noun into Croatian: pravna osoba -


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juristische Person “legal person,” stvarna nadležnost - sachliche Zuständigkeit “material jurisdiction,” podignuta optužnica - erhobene Anklage “pressed charges.” Collocations of this structure in Croatian CPC include only 20 metaphors. Structure “verb + noun” In the corpus of Austrian CPC, there were 204 collocations of the form verb + noun. Surprisingly, almost all examples of this structure are of metaphoric nature (only nine examples out of 204 were not metaphoric). Collocations of that form are in most cases identical with their Croatian equivalents: Recht verletzen - povrijediti prava “to break law,” Rechte berühren - dirati u prava/narušiti prava “to infringe law,” Klage erheben - podići tužbu “to press charges,” Berufung einlegen=uložiti žalbu “to appeal,” Schaden erleiden - pretrpjeti štetu “to suffer damage,” Rechtsmitttel erschöpfen - iscrpjeti pravna sredstva “to exhaust legal remedy.” In two cases German metaphoric collocation is translated into Croatian by a non-metaphoric collocation: Rechte erwachsen (literally: “rights grow”/“arise from”) - prava nastaju (literally: “rights emerge”/’ are developed”); Rechte erlöschen (literally: “rights turn off”/ “are erased”) - prava prestaju (“rights cease”/ “are suspended”). In both cases, the noun Rechte functions as a subject to the verb it is attached to. As a rule, a verbal constituent of a phrase or collocation has lost its original meaning: Strafe mildern - ublažiti kaznu “to diminish punishment,” “make punishment milder,” Einspruch einlegen - uložiti prigovor “to appeal,” “to file an appeal,” Gutachten abgeben - dati stručno mišljenje “to give expert evidence,” das Wort erhalten/erteilen - dobiti riječ/dati riječ “to take word,” “to give word,” in die Zuständigkeit fallen - spadati u nadležnost “to fall into jurisdiction.” Sometimes, a Croatian metaphoric equivalent is semantically different from its German origin: sich den Rechtsbeistand bestellen (“to put/to order oneself a legal representative”) - uzeti branitelja/zastupnika (“to take oneself a legal representative”), Strafe aufheben (“to lift punishment”) - ukinuti kaznu (“to abolish punishment”), Tatbestand erheben (“to lift a matter of fact”) - utvrditi činjenično stanje (“to establish facts”, “to firm facts”).

Most expressions consist of phrasal verbs (also called “empty verb” as carriers of metaphoric meaning. From a linguistic point of view it is not quite clear which term suits these expressions better: collocation or a phrasal verb. Such structures have become a speech convention; they are not perceived as metaphors by the speakers any more. Accordingly, some expressions of that kind are translated into Croatian by a full verb derived


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from a German noun, whereas the verbal constituent is omitted Bedenken finden - posumnjati “to suspect.” Some of those structures are translated both by using a collocation and by a single verb derived from a German noun: Urteil fällen - donijeti presudu or presuditi “to pass judgement” or “to adjudicate”; Beschluss fassen - donijeti odluku “make decision” or odlučiti “decide.” Phrasal verbs, which are characterized by the loss of their metaphoric meaning (Helbig & Buscha 1980: 74), are intensely used in the Austrian CPC of 1873. The most common phrasal verbs are: bringen, kommen, geben, erteilen, erfahren, finden, führen, machen, leisten, nehmen, setzen, stellen, treffen, treten, versetzen, ziehen. Here is the list of the most frequent poly-lexical phrases and collocations with these verbs in the Austrian CPC of the 19th century: zur Abstimmung bringen - staviti na glasovanje, glasovati “to put to vote”; in Erfahrung bringen (literally: “to bring to knowledge”), - saznati “to find out”; kommen “come” - doći: zur Kenntnis kommen (literally: “to come to knowledge”) - doći do spoznaje, saznati “to find out”; zur Entscheidung kommen (literally: “to come to the decision”) - doći do odluke, odlučiti “to decide”, literally: “to come to decision”; führen - voditi “to lead”: Anklageschrift führen - voditi optužnicu “to conduct indictment”, Aufsicht führen - voditi nadzor, nadzirati “to conduct control”/’to control”, Beschwerde führen - voditi žalbeni postupak, žaliti se “to conduct appeal, to appeal.” The phrasal verb nehmen=uzeti “to take” is often used in prepositional phrases: in Anspruch nehmen - uzeti u razmatranje, uvažiti “take into consideration,” in Schutz nehmen - uzeti u zaštitu, štititi “to take into protection,” “protect.” The verbs setzen, stehen, stellen, treten, versetzen and ziehen also tend to build prepositional phrases rather than two-word collocations: in Kenntnis setzen - staviti/dati na znanje “give to understand,” in Kraft setzen - staviti na snagu “put into force,” auβer Zweifel setzen - staviti izvan sumnje “put beyond doubt”; in Kraft treten - stupiti na snagu (in both languages “to come into force”); in den Anklagestand versetzen “to turn to the status of the accused” - optužiti “to accuse”( here only a verb derived from the noun part of the expression is used), in Betracht ziehen (literally: “to draw into consideration”) - uzeti u obzir “to take into consideration.” The Croatian equivalent of the verb stehen “to stand” is usually translated as biti “to be in Verwendung stehen - biti u primjeni (literally: “to be in implementation”), im Widerspruch stehen “to stand in contradiction” - biti u nesuglasju “to be in contradiction.”

Phrasal verbs stellen “put,” geben “give” and treffen “meet” are intensely used in German legal phraseology and as a rule two versions of translation are applied: a phrase and a single verb derived from a noun


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part, e.g. Antrag stellen - staviti zahtjev/zahtijevati “to put demand/to demand”; Auftrag geben - dati nalog/naložiti “to give an order/to order.” Phrases with the verb treffen build an exemption: they are used in Croatian in the same form as in German, but with a different meaning: Maßnahmen treffen “to take measures” - donijeti mjere “to bring measures”; Entscheidung treffen - donijeti odluku/odlučiti “to bring decision/decide.” Due to single verbs as its Croatian equivalents, the structure verb + noun occurs less frequently in the Croatian than in Austrian CPC. Structure “noun + noun” There are many similarities between German and Croatian collocations of this structure: they both occur in the same morpho-syntactic forms and are covered by almost the same number of examples. In the German corpus, we found 134 items and in the Croatian 126 items, 32.8% of which are of metaphoric nature. Four types of structures can be observed within this group of collocations. The first was developed from a collocation of a verb and a noun functioning as its object: Einlegung der Einwendung “giving objection,” being derived from Einwendung einlegen “to give objection.” Other examples for this type of structure are: Ermittlung der Wahrheit, Regelung des Rechts, Beurteilung der Tatsache, Verfolgung des Beschuldigten, etc. The second type is built by structures which can be denoted as nominal tautologies (A is B), in which the first constituent can be omitted without any loss in semantic sense: Verbrechen des Raubes “offence of robbery”=Raub “robbery,” Vergehen der Ehrenbeleidigung “offence of slander”=Ehrenbeleidigung “slender”; Uebertretung des Diebstahls “offence of theft”=Diebstahl “theft,” etc. The third type is built of two nouns, the second of which functions as subject to the first one derived from an adjective (B is AAdj): Gültigkeit der Ehe “validity of marriage” ← die Ehe ist gültig “marriage is valid,” Strafbarkeit der Handlung ← die Handlung ist strafbar “action is punishable.” The fourth type is derived from the structure B+Averb: Entscheidung des Ehegerichtes “decision of the family court” ← das Ehegericht entscheidet “family court decides,” Anwendung des Strafgesetzes “implementation of the Criminal Act” ← Strafgesetz wird angewandt “Criminal Act is implemented.” These expressions are mostly non-metaphoric, except for those belonging to the first type, probably because of a phrasal verb as one of their constituent parts.


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Specific Features of Collocations and Phrases in the Croatian CPC of 1875 There are some interesting examples of collocations and phrases structured adjective + noun in the Croatian ancient CPC. They cover the same meaning as corresponding German expressions, but the first constituent part differs semantically from that in German, such as: gola istina “naked truth” vs reine Wahrheit “plain truth.” Similarly, prieki sud (literary: “sudden court”) is an equivalent of the German compound Militärgericht “court martial.” Another interesting case is a semantically ambiguous archaic expression povrijeđeno lice “injured person.” In modern Croatian, the term povrijeđen is used only in a medical sense, whereas in the field of law usually the term oštećen “damaged” is used instead. An interesting example is die Freiheitsstrafe (Freiheit “freedom”+ Strafe “sentence”), which is correctly translated into Croatian as: zatvorska kazna “prison sentence,” but in the Croatian CPC of 1875, the direct translation was used: kazan slobode “freedom sentence.” As for the structure verb + noun, in many cases German phrases are directly translated into Croatian: postaviti branitelja - Verteidiger bestellen “to appoint a defending lawyer”; podići/podnijeti tužbu - Klage erheben “to press charges,” literally: “to lift charges.” Some of them are used only in the CPC of 1875, such as: činiti prijedloge - Vorschlag machen “make suggestions,” and can be considered as old-fashioned expressions. Sometimes, the Croatian corresponding adjective has changed semantically, but the metaphor is preserved: kršiti pravo, literally: “to break law” (its German correspondent is: das Recht verletzen “to injure law,” or: narušavati zakon, literally: “to damage law” (from: das Gesetz berühren “to touch into law.” Although Croatian phrasal verbs usually cover the meaning of the German original, in some cases Croatian legalese tends to use its own phrasal verbs with different meaning from that in corresponding German collocations, such as: imati - haben “to have”: imati upliva, literally: “to have influence,” which differs from the German original Einfluss nehmen - literally: “to take influence/” In some cases two equivalents of the same German collocation appear simultaneously in the Croatian CPC—a collocation and a full verb: Antrag stellen - dati nalog/naložiti, Entscheidung treffen - donijeti odluku/odlučiti. The structure noun + noun is represented by an almost identical number of examples in both corpora. The most interesting examples are conceptual metaphors connecting law to medical care in both languages: primanje pravnog lijeka - Einnahme der Rechtsmittel “taking of legal remedy”; povreda procedure - Verletzung der Prozedur “injury of procedure.” An interesting example within Croatian collocations of this


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structure represents identification of a breach of the law with a sin: ogriješenje o zakon “sinning against law.” Although the number of collocations structured noun + noun is approximately the same in both corpora, it should be noted that Croatian collocations often function as direct translations of German compounds rather than collocations or phrases: uvreda časti - Ehrenbeleidigung; naknada štete - Schadenersatz; propuštanje roka - Fristversäumnis.

Changes in the Modern Versions of the Croatian and Austrian CPCs: A Sociolinguistic Aspect

In the course of time many changes have occurred in the world surrounding us—especially on social, political and economic levels. Those changes certainly reflected on the laws regulating every aspect of human reality, and consequently, on the language of laws. Our analysis has shown examples of omission of some collocations and phrases in the modern versions of both the Croatian and Austrian CPC, which resulted from linguistic changes. Sociological and political changes have significantly influenced legal phraseology in both languages as well. An illustration for that is omission of the collocation banski stol (literally: “the Ban table”) in the modern version of the Croatian CPC (the word Ban standing for the highest administrative official in Croatia at that time). Accordingly, the CPC proclamation phrase of 1875: Mi, Franjo Josip I proglašavamo (“We, Franz Joseph the First proclaim”…) is omitted in later versions of the law. On the other hand, in the modern Austrian CPC the collocation dienende Frauenperson “a serving female person” is omitted as a reflection of changed social relations. Similarly, the old-fashioned collocation erwachsener Hausgenosse (literally: “adult house companion”) was changed in the version of 2006 into erwachsener Mitglied der Familie “adult family member,” while the Croatian collocation ženidbeni drug “companion/comrade in marriage” was changed in the communist Croatia (1945-1991) into bračni drug “marriage comrade,” and after Croatia became an independent democratic state into supružnik spouse. The changes observed in the new versions of the laws can be seen as a reflection of democratic changes and of technological development. This can be illustrated by the omission of the following examples: doći glave “to cause one’s decapitation,” udariti globe -’to strike fines,” kazivati u pero - “to dictate” (literally: “to speak into the feather”). In the Croatian CPC of 1875, we can also find some old-fashioned terms such as perovođa, which literally means: “leader of a feather,” probably representing a direct translation of German Federführer.


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Some old-fashioned metaphoric phrases such as Beschränkung erfahren “to experience restrictions,” Geschäfte an sich ziehen (literally: “to draw business transactions”) and der Willkür des öffentlichen Anklägers Preis geben (“to give in to a self-will of the prosecutor”) are omitted from the contemporary version of the Austrian CPC for linguistic reasons. Similarly, Croatian equivalents of the phrase in Kraft treten - stupiti u kriepost (nowadays used as a literal translation from German: stupiti na snagu), as well as German phrase in die Action treten “to enter into action”/’to take action,” both used in the 19th century, are out of use. In the ancient Austrian CPC there are phrases of persuasive meaning that were not reflected as phrases in Croatian, as in the case die Heiligkeit des abgelegten Eides “the sanctity of the given oath.” Its Croatian equivalent is a full sentence warning the parties to keep in mind that they took an oath. The analysis presented here indicates that the changes in the phraseology of the two criminal procedure laws are mostly caused by sociological and by linguistic changes.

Conclusion

Quantitative analysis of the two corpora showed that the most frequent collocations in the ancient Austrian CPC are in the form verb + noun, mostly because German language of law tends to use phrasal verbs, which have lost their essential meaning. In most cases Croatian language of criminal procedure law uses the same forms, but quite often single verbs are used instead. On the other hand, collocations consisting of an adjective and a noun are very frequent in the ancient Croatian CPC (236 examples in relation to 116 in the Austrian CPC), mostly functioning as direct translations of German compounds. Collocations in the form noun + noun are used with almost the same intensity in both texts: in the Austrian CPC 134 examples, in the Croatian 126. These structures are in close correlation with collocations consisting of a verb and a noun (Beschuldigten vernehmen - Vernehmung des Beschuldigen). As for metaphoric expressions, we established that in the German corpus almost all expressions consisting of a verb and a noun are of metaphoric nature. On the other hand, 26% of collocations structured adjective + noun and 32.8 % of collocations consisting of two nouns are metaphors. Taking into consideration all the examples found in our corpora, we could conclude that on average Croatian language of criminal procedure is less inclined to metaphor than German: there are 38.8% metaphorical collocations in the Croatian CPC in relation to 52.9 % in its Austrian model. From a sociolinguistic point of view, the comparison of the phraseology observed in the old and modern


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versions of the two codes showed that most changes were caused by political, social and technological changes that were reflected in both the omission of some terms and the introduction of new ones. Taking into consideration the huge number of examples we analysed and the long period of time that passed between the publication of the ancient and the new versions of the Codes, we can conclude that those changes are less striking than may have been expected.

References

Bukovčan, D. (2009). Od teorije do prakse u jeziku struke [From theory to practice in language for specific purposes]. Zagreb: Školska knjiga.

Fisiak, J. (1981). Some introductory notes concerning contrastive linguistics. In J. Fisiak (Ed.), Contrastive Linguistics and the Language Teacher. Oxford: Pergamon Press. 1-13.

Gačić, M. (2009). Od riječi do riječi [Word by word]. Zagreb: Profil. Helbig, G. & Buscha, J. (1980). Deutsche Grammatik: ein Handbuch für

den Ausländerunterricht [German Grammar: A Manual for Teaching Foreigners]. Leipzig: VEB Verlag Enzyklopädie.

Hoyer, H., Herbert M. & Gustav K. (Eds.). (1941). Die Strafprozessordnung vom 23. Mai 1873 in der für die Reichsgaue der Ostmark geltenden Fassung mit allen ergänzenden und abänderden Vorschriften [The Criminal Procedure Code of May 23, 1873 as implemented in the Austrian Kingdom including all amendements]. Wien: Manzsche Taschengesetzausgabe.

Kordić, Lj. (2003). Njemački jezik u osječkoj Klasičnoj gimnaziji od 1729. godine do danas. [German language in the Osijek’s Classical Languages Secondary School since the year 1729]. VDG Jahrbuch. Osijek: Grafika. 365-572.

—. (2007). Utjecaj politike na leksik prava [Influence of politics on the language of law]. In J. Granić (ed.): Jezična politika i jezična stvarnost—Language policy and Language reality. Zagreb. 174-183.

—. (2008). Problemi razumijevanja i prevođenja pravnoga teksta [Legal texts comprehension and translation challenges]. In V. Karabalić & M. Omazić (Eds.), Istraživanja, izazovi i promjene u teoriji i praksi prevođenja. Osijek: Sveučilište J. J. Strossmayera & Filozofski fakultet. 289-303.

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L’Homme, M. C. & Bertrand, C. (2000). Specialized Lexical Combinations: Should they be described as Collocations or in Terms of Selectional Restrictions? Proceedings. Ninth Euralex International Congress: 497-506. Stuttgart: Stuttgart University.

Mamić, M. (1992). Temelji hrvatskoga pravnog nazivlja [Basics of Croatian legal terminology]. Zagreb: Hrvatska sveučilišna naklada.

Strafprozessordnung [Criminal Procedure Code]. (2006). Online: http://www.ibiblio.org/ais/stpo.htm. Trask, R. L. (2008). Language and Linguistics: The Key Concepts. New

York, NY: Routledge. Zakon o kaznenom postupku Republike Hrvatske [Criminal Proceedure

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“ALTERNATIVE” MODERNISMS IN THE DISCOURSE ON POSTMODERN

ROIDA OKTAY RZAYEVA

Introduction The intellectual-spiritual realities of a modern life cause reconsideration of the modernist theories and practices, including those in a postmodern situation as well. A postmodernist discourse is motivated by modernity crisis, rejecting its monistic understanding. Under the influence of globalization, there emerge modernisms in a great number. Among them, the non-Western modernisms present “alternative” modernisms to the West, i.e. the non-Western interpretation of contemporaneity acts as an alternative concept. The given situation assumes the detailed and comparative analysis of “languages,” cultural pools and the historical processes connected with noted concepts, i.e. differentiating terminology.

The national sociocultural tradition causes variability of “modernizing” processes in the world. This idea has laid down a basis for the concept “plural modernisms.” (Eisenstadt, 1987, 2000, 2002; Arnason, 2002, 2003; Аllard, 2002) The given concept has been used in relation to “the non-Western” societies. The given concept has been used with respect to the non-Western world (Eisenstadt, 1999: 14), constituting thereby inapplicability of “the West European matrix” to it.

The term “the non-Western contemporaneity” itself correlates to a number of terms and concepts, such as “plural/multiple modernities,” “an alternative modernity,” “the local modernity,” “extra modernity,” etc.

The concept “multiple (plural) modernities” introduces a new narration of the contemporaneity, multi-trajectory and cultural-dependent one, instead of a uniform trajectory, and its extra cultural expression (Multiple Modernities in an Era of Globalization, 1999).

It (the concept “plural modernities”), revealing the distinctions observed within the Western modern itself, criticizes the monistic explanation of contemporaneity (Göle 2008: 162).

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Huntington’s statement about the globalized contemporaneity and that the West and contemporaneity have ceased to be identical, corresponding with the previously mentioned, contradicts his thought that other societies are modernized too, but as they could not become westernized, cannot be considered modern. The given position is based on the idea that beyond West there cannot be contemporaneity—upon which the thesis of the author that these societies are potential sources of collisions and represent insuperable civilization difference is constructed.

The given position proceeds from the idea of binarity of West and East and to a certain degree from mental division into West and East. In our opinion, there is ignored what is sometimes characterized by the concept “weak historicity” (Göle, 2008: 167) for a designation of interrelation of the non-Western societies with contemporaneity. There is a different historical way from the “West,” in particular, the “East’s” not having passed through the stages of development through which once the “West” passed (the Renaissance, Reformation and Enlightenment).

The analysis of approaches testifies that the given position is seen: that Eastern societies do not bear in their structure the necessary preliminary conditions for achievement of the level of Western societies and for this reason have been compelled to search for any example or model within their limits. In addition, the model of West, which has provided to it a certain place in the world and is frequently interpreted as right, given by history, is characterized as a product of its own development. “The made choice is rather a product of the balance which has arisen between various societies today, than their natural development” (Sezer, 2005: 64).

However the thesis regarding clash of civilizations is more and more characterized today as the political answer proceeding from West, and an outdated view of modern change of relations between West and contemporaneity (modernizing) (Göle, 2008: 160).

The given statement of a question causes theoretical calls. Plurality of modernist styles can be comprehended in postmodernism,

which represents an alternative vision/theorization of the world. Postmodernism sends a challenge to all global, universal outlooks of

political, religious and public character (Rosenau, 1998: 25). In fact the postmodernist idea does not proceed from the idea of their

categorical acceptance or refusal owing to their fidelity or an inaccuracy. It recognizes the value of the judgements of these adherents’ ideas each taken separately, however opposes promotions of the views and beliefs by them as uncontested models (Beriş, 2003: 500).

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Postmodern philosophy gives the error and the empirical preference over priori and the exact, heterogeneity instead of unity, fragmentariness instead of unity, and plurality (Sim, 2006: 358).

The philosophical basis of postmodern in non-Western societies is caused by the search for alternatives to the Western modern and scepticism concerning the bases on which Western thought is constructed while in the West it is represented as critical introspection, self-destruction.

Postmodernism and/or the new philosophy proceeds from the fact that a consequence of the metaphysical idea was the change of one great idea by “local” characters (idem, ibid.). The themes “plural modernities” and “alternative modernities” were brought up to date against this background.

The new social forms are reflected in public consciousness and cause the formation of new “local modernisms.” The postmodernist indicators of the postmodern condition observed in a society cause the sociological parameters of the philosophical analysis of postmodernist indicators.

It makes it possible for us to speak about the ambiguous nature of modernity. Postmodernism is a triumph of difference (idem: 256). These distinctions are found to depend on the historical experience of each society, or geography of their location (Yılmaz, 2005: 155).

The given approach assumes the discourse and interdisciplinary analyses since indicators of “alternative” modernisms are fixed in the first place on the sociocultural ground that conditions the analysis on a point of common-ground between sociology, cultural science and philosophy, which acts as the language-key of interdisciplinary research.

Do the different local grounds and cultural pools with value systems “peculiar” to them create the alternative variants of contemporaneity?

The concept “the local contemporaneity” is oriented towards the surrounding, another, individual practices, and leads us to understanding the new forms of hybridization and introduces us into a speculative field, having not become a subject of conversation (Göle, 2008: 163). However, there is a point of view that it is difficult to speak about “locality” owing to the direct interrelation of a modern society and mobility of people and, in particular, in conditions of globalization. The given approach proceeds from the view that social spatial mobility of people is one of the classical components constituting modern (contemporaneity).

Today the necessity for formation of a new narrative for the present is felt. Besides, when modern and the European area cease to be identical, there emerges the question on bounds of definition of contemporaneity and connected with this, a “wearing” of the concept “modern” arises (idem: 165).


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Modernization carries a combination “uniform process, a uniform direction and the necessary result” (Parsons, 1971). Modern society was considered a result of this process. That is the present has been formed according to certain parameters, and the society that corresponds to them was considered modern.

According to Huntington, Western contemporaneity (modern), leaving universal and progressive ideals, should retreat into its geography and shell. The given position characterized as “Western” at the same time denies West as a model for others and monopoly over the present (Göle, 2008: 160).

In this case the matter consists of “various modifications of modern” (Аllard, 2002: 61) as equivalent, alternative modernities.

The concept “alternative modernity” is based on the assumption of the presence of new experiments, which can change the definition of the “present.” The alternative modernity, without being limited to different cultural trajectories, puts on the agenda the creation of difference, overcoming the existing model of contemporaneity. In this context it can be the bearer of novelty. However, at the same time, it can have such weak points as representation of continuous systematic transformation (Göle, 2008: 163).

Can “the non-Western contemporaneity” be considered as an alternative concept?

The concept “alternative,” on the one hand, indicates criticism of Western contemporaneity, even refusal of it, but on the other hand, indicates a more political, voluntary model of change while the present phenomenon has not been subordinated to political actions, more complicated, multilayered, and developing with many actors and by means of mixing. However, to a degree to which the concept “alternative” introduces also a search for “authentic” difference, it may bear imposing ideas and actions as well (idem, ibid.).

he concept “extra contemporaneity” is sometimes used in relation to “the non-Western contemporaneity.” To some extent this concept has something in common with the concept “excessive westernization.” The similar tendency (extra contemporaneity) is considered characteristic of non-Western societies owing to such indicators as fetishization of the present and its transformation into demonstrative desire (idem: 170).

It also can be connected with the fact that the concepts forming Western contemporaneityare carried out in exaggerated forms and acquire new maintenance (idem: 171), i.e. it is possible to speak about “change of semantic filling of implanted foreign cultural samples” (Gavrov, 2003).

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They consider the concept “non-West” problematic because of the following reasons: “non-West” can mean “opposition to West” or un-modern societies; there is observed complexity in differentiating the fact of modernization from desire to westernize owing to the fact that in the 19th century modernization was identified with westernization (Göle, 2008: 164).

Is it necessary to note a difference between the concepts “modernization” and “modern (contemporaneity)”? The latter comprises universality. Modernization is the name of trajectories of the different countries, proceeding from their histories and cultures. In other words, it is possible to state that modernization in itself is plural. However the history of countries’ modernization does not coincide completely with the definition of contemporaneity (idem: 162-163). However, the modernist line is a general feature of non-Western societies.

The circumstance that henceforth the present is not a monopoly of only Western (in the sense of European and North American) societies, complicates the answer to the question “What West?” (idem: 167) After all there are images of “West” and “East” implanted in mentalities. Moreover, just as “non-West” is frequently used as a synonym for a collective concept of the characteristics of non-Western cultures, west represents an integrated concept, a generalized character too. Can we speak about the general identical modern in the Western world (Аllard, 2002: 61) or can we speak also about its multifaceted nature?

It is necessary to notice that the non-Western contemporaneity in its turn is heterogeneous too.

At the same time, West is opposed to the integrated “non-West.” What are the peculiarities of the non-Western contemporaneity

characterizing its different specificity? As the basic characteristic it is possible to notice that the non-Western

contemporaneity represents a surprising conglomerate of continuity and innovation. At the same time the world outlook feature is the simultaneous affinity and extreneity of both western and eastern psychology, i.e. the duality of perception is characteristic of it.

There are countries the non-Western specificity of which is complicated by a viewpoint “East—West.” In this case the special characteristic is the definition of their place between East and West (for example, Turkey and Azerbaijan). It is possible to consider them as countries with synthesized structures, features, and characteristics. In particular, Turkish society is characterized as a society forming the bridge between East and West. These are neither completely East nor completely West, being in close contact with the West, even being included in the West historically:


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Byzantium, i.e. Eastern Roman Empire (Türkone, 2006: 85). The given combination can be characterized as eclectic since their cultural codes conflict with each other.

The research of non-Western cultures “from within” by anthropologists has initiated cultural relativity. Other societies began to be considered as self-checked and self-asserting “organic” forms. A consequence of it was the essential moral relativity: there is no objective criterion according to which they define what is correct and what is not correct in each culture, and estimate in two different cultural/moral systems (Sim, 2006: 317).

The postmodern condition is characterized by breaking totality, destruction and fragmentation.

In this connection a question arises:

“Postmodernism attaches importance to the various cultures existing in the world, doesn’t it? Whether the various outlooks, identity, etc. are for them (postmodernists) the indicators of the common world wealth, which is necessary and should be developed or different outlooks, various cultures or all distinctions are the properties, which postmodernists try to eliminate? If differences are accepted, to what degree, how, and why will they be accepted?” (Erdem, 2005: 108)

Here it is possible to note some duality, which we observe: postmodernism both attaches, and does not attach importance to the various cultures. It attaches importance because the different cultures owing to authenticity and exoticism have potential to be presented on the market as alternative to the consumer. It does not attach importance because different cultures are no more than “filler” dissolved in the Western culture by almost clearing the content of symbols, ceremonies. The different cultures or all differences are not features, which they try (directly) to eliminate (idem: 109).

Conclusion

As a whole, the approaches, despite their abundance, are reduced to the fact that modernity is globalized and localized, i.e. the experience of contemporaneity, which has received definition through Western geography, history and culture, extends over the different geography, appears in the new cultural pools, and again is expressed in different languages.

In the postmodern, alternativeness and plurality are brought up to date. Postmodern, paying attention to “Another,” reinterprets the “text” of a history-society in the context of differences and cultural plurality. Hence,

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modern realities testify to interconditionality of discourses on the multiplicity of modernisms and postmodern.

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Arnason, J. (2002). The Peripheral Centre: Essays on Japanese History and Civilization. Rosanna: Trans Pacific Press.

Arnason, J. (2003). Civilizations in Dispute: Historical Questions and Theoretical Traditions. Boston, MA: Brill.

Beriş, H. E. (2003). Moderniteden Postmoderniteye [From Modernity to Postmodernity]. In M. Türkone (Ed.), Siyaset. Ankara: Lotus Yayınları: 483-521.

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—. (1999). Revolutsiya i preobrazovaniye obshestv. Sravnitelnoye izuceniye tsivilizatsiy [Revolution and the Transformation of Societies: A Comparative Study of Civilizations]. Moskva: Aspekt Press.

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Other Interpretations. Ed. by Dominic Sachsenmaier and Jens Riedel with Shmuel N. Eisenstadt. Boston, MA: Brill.

Erdem, T. (2005). Postmodernizmin “Öteki” si Hangi “Öteki”? [What Another of Postmodernism Another]. Düşünce Dergisi 21: 101-112.

Gavrov, S. N. (2003). Natsionalnaya kultura i modernizatsiya obshestva [National Culture and Modernization of Society]. Online:

http://window.edu.ru/library/pdf2txt/244/66244/37946/page5. Göle, N. (2008). Melez Desenler İslam ve Modernlik Üzerine [Mixed

Ornaments About Islam and Modenity]. Istanbul: Metis Yayınları, 3. Basım.

Multiple Modernities in an Era of Globalization. (1999). World Congress of the International Institute of Sociology, Tel Aviv, Temmuz: 11-15.

Parsons, T. (1971) The System of Modern Societies. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.

Rosenau, P. M. (1998). Posrmodernizm ve Toplum Bilimleri [Postmodernism and Social Sciences]. Çev. Tuncay Birkan, Ankara: Bilim ve Sanat Yayınları.


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Sezer, B. (2005). Osnovniye problemi turetskoy sosiologii [The General Problems of Turkish Sociology]. Almaty: Izdatelskiy dom KazGASA “Stroitelstvo i arxitektura”.

Sim, S. (2006). Postmodern Düşüncenin Eleştirel Sözlüğü [The Routledge Companion to Postmodernism]. Çev. Mukadder Erkan, Ali Utku, 1. bs. Ankara.

Türkone, M. (2006). Türk Modernleşmesi [Turkish Modernization]. Ankara: Lotus.

Yılmaz, M. (2005). Atatürk’ün Modernleşme Modeli [The Modernization Model of Ataturk]. Atatürk ve Çağdaşlaşma—belgeler ve görüşler. Ankara: AKDTYK, Atatürk Araştırma Merkezi.

SOCIOLOGY OF LANGUAGE: ROMANIAN BORDEI ‘PIT-HOUSE’

GEORGETA RAŢĂ, IOAN PETROMAN AND CORNELIA PETROMAN

Introduction The Romanian word bordei (“pit-house”) has a debatable, but less obscure origin than one may think. If the main denotations of the Romanian bordei are “semi- or fully recessed shelter covered with earth or dry vegetation (straw, water reed, sedge)” and “cabin,” additional connotations are “small, rudimentary, shabby dwelling,” “shabby, neglected, semi-recessed little house,” and the slangy “prison.” A pre-historic type of building in the Carpathian area, it was a permanent presence during the Roman and Byzantium periods all over the territory of modern Romania (particularly in the Dolj County, Southern Romania and in the Satu Mare County, Northern Romania). After World War II, members of different ethnic groups (among which Germans) and anti-communist activists were forced to move and live in such dwellings in the Bărăgan Plain (southern Romania). Nowadays, there are pit-houses in the Maramureş County, Northern Romania (traditional forestry ones) and in the Sibiu County, Central Romania (Rroma ones).

The Diachronic Approach

Diachronic or historical linguistics is “the study of the changes in pronunciation, grammar, or vocabulary between [past] times and the present day” (Chalker & Wiener 1994: 114). It has five main concerns: - describing and accounting for observed changes in a particular

language; - reconstructing the history of languages and determining their

relatedness;

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- developing general theories about how and why language changes; - describing the history of speech communities; - studying the history of words. The study presents the results of a diachronic approach to the Romanian word bordei “pit-house”, a word with an implication that has universally been designated the most important place for humans—their dwelling place; describing and accounting for observed changes to the word bordei in the Romanian language; determining the relatedness between the Romanian language and other languages; trying to explain how and why the Romanian word bordei has changed; describing the particulars of the community speech; and studying the history of the word bordei.

Description and Account for Observed Changes to the Word Bordei in Romanian

According to the Romanian linguists Bogdan Petriceicu Haşdeu (b. 1836-d. 1907) (Haşdeu 1887-1895) and Ion I. Russu (1911-1985) (Russu 1967), the Romanian word bordei has most probably been inherited from the Dacians’ language. According to the most important Romanian language dictionaries (Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române 1998, Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române 2002), the Romanian word bordei/burdei “dug-out, earth lodge, mud hut, pit-house”—whose synonym is colibă “cabin” (Ciorănescu 1958-1966, Seche & Seche 2002b) and whose antonyms are castel “castle” and palat “palace” (Seche & Seche 2002a)—designates either “a semi- or fully recessed shelter covered with earth or dry vegetation (straw, water reed, sedge)” (Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române 1998), or “a rudimentary semi- or fully recessed shelter covered with earth or dry vegetation (straw, water reed, sedge).” (Dicționarul limbii române moderne 1958, Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române 2002) In time, the word bordei acquired three connotations: - “a small, rudimentary, shabby dwelling” (Dicționarul explicativ al

limbii române 1998), connotation due to the extension of the range of referents covered by the term bordei (Chalker & Wiener 1994);

- “a shabby, neglected, semi-recessed little house” (Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române 2002), a register usage restriction (colloquialism);

- “a prison” (Volceanov 2007), a register usage restriction (slang, non-standard).

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Relatedness between the Romanian Language and Other Languages

The Romanian anthropologist Nicolae E. Lahovary (1918-1969) claimed that the Romanian word bordei dates from before the Indo-European phase, while the linguist Ovid Densuşianu (1873-1938) identified, in the Romanian word bordei, the Indo-European bhardh-, without explaining how it came into the Romanian language (Ciorănescu 1958-1966). Though the Romanian word coincides with the French word bordel and with the Spanish word borda, it is considered a pure and simple coincidence (idem). The German linguist Gamillscheg and the Romanian linguist and lexicographer August Scriban (1872-1950) tried to explain the Romanian word bordei based on the resemblance between it and the German word Bord (board), a hypothesis that the Romanian linguist Ovid Densuşianu (1873-1938) definitely rejected claiming the absence of ANY other old Germanic words in Romanian (idem). Other linguists also rejected the Germanic etymon, and inclined to relate it to its Bulgarian counterpart (idem). Another Romanian linguist, George Giuglea (1884-1967), advanced as a possible source the Romanian word bord “dry clod” of Greek origin (idem). The Romanian linguists Ion Aurel Candrea (1872-1950) and Theodor Capidan (1879-1953) considered that the Bulgarian words burdei and bordei, the Hungarian words bordej and bordely, the Ruthenian word bordej, and the Serbian word burdely come from the Romanian word bordei.

Changes to the Romanian Word Bordei

As mentioned above, the Romanian word bordei was inherited, most likely, directly from the language of the Dacians—the ancestors of the Romanians—surviving ever since without any change in form (except, maybe, for the regional form burdei) but with a few changes in meaning. Thus, though it firstly designated “a semi- or fully recessed shelter covered with earth or dry vegetation (straw, water reed, sedge)” (Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române 1998), or “a rudimentary semi- or fully recessed shelter covered with earth or dry vegetation (straw, water reed, sedge)” (Dicționarul limbii române moderne 1958, Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române 2002), the Romanian word bordei got to designate, in time, by extension, “a small, rudimentary, shabby dwelling” (Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române 1998) that preserves the rudimentary aspect and the shabbiness of the initial dwelling, but not the reference to the natural building materials. More recently, the Romanian


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word bordei came to designate, in colloquial use, a shabby, semi-recessed little house that was additionally connoted “neglected” (Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române 2002), thus adding one more human dimension. At some point in time, the Romanian word bordei also came to designate, in slang, “a prison” (Volceanov 2007). Though not with the last connotation, Romanians seem to be well acquainted with the other two connotations.

Description of the Particulars of Community Speech

Any well-established word may result, in time, in a smaller or larger number of derivatives to meet communication necessities.

There are few derivatives of the Romanian bordei “pit-house”: - the diminutive bordeiaş “little pit-house” (Dicționarul explicativ al

limbii române 1998, Dicționarul limbii române moderne 1958], a noun derived, according to the main comprehensive dictionary of the Romanian language, from bordei and the diminutive suffix -aș (Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române 1998);

- the toponym Bordeieni (Argeş County, Southern Romania), meaning “people living in pit-houses” (derived from bordei and the plural suffix -eni);

- the surname Bordeianu “a native from Bordeieni”, a derivative of Bordeieni.

Then, there is the popular saying câte bordeie, atâtea obiceie “so many [pit-houses] men, so many [habits] minds” (Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române 2002), a saying still in use despite the fact that people no longer live in bordeie.

History of the Word Bordei

According to the Romanian linguist Alexandru Ciorănescu, the word bordei has a debatable, but less obscure than thought origin: he himself considered that the Romanian word bordei could hardly be separated from such words as bujdă, bujdei, bujdeucă, bujdulă, burdă, buşdă, bușdei, buşdulă, and butcă, all of which mean “cabin” (Ciorănescu 1958-1966).

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Conclusion

The results of the diachronic approach to the Romanian word bordei “pit-house” show the following: - the appearance of three connotations (“a small, rudimentary, shabby

dwelling”, “a shabby, neglected, semi-recessed little house”, and “a prison”);

- the possibility that it served as a source for the Hungarian words bordej and bordely, the Ruthenian word bordej, and the Serbian word burdely;

- the scarcity of derivatives, despite the wide use of such a dwelling; - and the large number of regionalisms due to the wide use of this type

of dwelling (bujdă, bujdei, bujdeucă, bujdulă, burdă, buşdă, bușdei, buşdulă, and butcă).

A pre-historic type of building in the Carpathian area, bordeie can still be found in Romania nowadays in ethnographic and fine arts museums—Romanian Impressionists such as Nicolae Grigorescu (1838-1907) or Professor and painter Constantin Artachino (1870-1954)—or in extremely poor areas.

References

Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [An Explanatory Dictionary of the Romanian Language]. (1998). Bucureşti:Univers Enciclopedic.

Dicționarul limbii române modern [A Dictionary of the Modern Romanian Language]. (1958). Bucureşti: Editura Academiei.

Chalker, Sylvia & Wiener, E. (1994). The Oxford Dictionary of English Grammar. London—New York—Sydney - Toronto: BCA.

Ciorănescu, Al. (1958-1966). Dicționarul etimologic roman [An Etymological Dictionary of the Romanian Language]. San Cristobál de La Laguna: Universidad de la Laguna.

Haşdeu, B. P. (1887-1895). Etymologicum Magnum Romaniae. Bucureşti: Editura Academiei.

Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române [The New Explanatory Dictionary of the Romanian Language]. (2002). Bucureşti: Litera Internațional

Russu, I. I. (1967). Limba traco-dacilor [The Language of the Thracian Dacians]. Bucureşti: Editura Ştiinţifică.


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Seche, M. & Seche, Luiza. (2002a). Dicționar de antonime [A Dictionary of Antonyms]. Bucureşti: Litera Internațional.

Seche, M. & Seche, Luiza. (2002b). Dicționar de sinonime [A Dictionary of Synonyms]. Bucureşti: Litera Internațional.

Volceanov, G. (2007). Dicționar de argou al limbii române [A Dictionary of Romanian Slang]. Bucureşti: Niculescu.

CHRISTIAN DENOMINATIONS VIEWS ON THE LEGALISATION OF PROSTITUTION

REMUS RUNCAN

Introduction Starting with 2002, Romanian politicians have repeatedly advanced different law drafts concerning the legalisation of prostitution. Prostitution has existed since time immemorial in most areas, no matter the dominant religion of the population.

The word prostitution comes from Latin, where the verb prostituo has two main meanings: “to offer” (oneself) and “to sacrifice” (oneself). Starting from this etymology, we can define prostitution as “commercial trafficking of one’s body.”

Capitalism is the social system in which selling is the main economic activity determining production and as such the entire economy. Investing money in the selling/buying of stock is more frequent nowadays than using money to produce goods.

Since selling—because this is how money and profit are made—is the most successful business and the main economic activity in capitalism, there is no difference in essence between the capitalists who own the production means and sell their products or intermediate or invest, on one hand, and the proletarians who sell their labour force (because they do not control/own production means) and the prostitutes who sell their bodies, on the other hand. Both capitalists and proletarians/prostitutes are elements of the capitalist economic and social mechanism. Capitalism is about selling and buying. What matters is to get the highest price. For both capitalists and proletarians/prostitutes, the others are means and not goals (means for their capitalist lifestyle): existence in itself, as comfortable as possible and as capable as possible to subordinate other existences, has nothing to do with people, which it wraps in its own issues—this is alienation!

The main causes of prostitution, in general, and of immorality, in particular, are not psychological: they are social. It is but normal to add to

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these psychological and social causes, spiritual causes that have lead to such a degradation of the human being that there is no difference between right and wrong, between normality and abnormality, between healthy and diseased.

Causes of Prostitution

Analysing TV programmes, radio programmes and printed press, we can determine the causes of prostitution in Romania: - Unemployment: because of the restructuring of some enterprises and

closing of others, many young women find it extremely difficult to become employed and chose prostitution as their sole means of subsistence;

- Low salaries and hard working conditions: many young prostitutes want to support their aged parents, and their marital status is a tough one (they may be abandoned by their spouses, they may be divorced, or they may have to care for their children);

- Faulty educational climate: prostitutes come from families in which both parents are alcoholic, in which conflicts and fights are endless, and in which the lack of parental affection is constant;

- Procurers: it is they who encourage and speed up the recruitment of new prostitutes;

- Personal family breakdown: many prostitutes are divorced; - Sexual activity at remarkably early ages: 15 years or even earlier; - Sexual abuse at extremely early ages: in childhood or adolescence; - The attraction of an “interesting” profession, the lack of routine and

difficulties of everyday life, and the promise of advantages: high incomes, wide variety of entertainment, intriguing people, etc.

Considering these causes of prostitution, many analysts believe that eradicating prostitution wholly or partly in Romania seems utopian, and that, in order to control it, we should legalize it.

What the Bible Says about Prostitution

The Bible speaks several times about fornication, which is somehow surprising for a sacred book. We have identified 175 verses in the Old and New Testament that use 29 different terms sharing the same root, to fornicate. Not all of these texts mention prostitution explicitly, but rather relationships outside the institution of marriage and also worship,

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considered by God a spiritual prostitution (a metaphor often used, particularly but not exclusively in Ezekiel).

God’s request was “None of the daughters of Israel shall be a cult prostitute, nor shall any of the sons of Israel be a cult prostitute” (Deuteronomy 23:17). This interdiction was critical since it affected not only the person, but also the country, which became impure: “Do not profane your daughter by making her a harlot so that the land will not fall to harlotry and the land become full of lewdness” (Leviticus 19: 29) and “Surely, as a woman treacherously departs from her lover, So you have dealt treacherously with Me, O house of Israel” (Jeremiah 3: 20). The gravity of the fact is apparent in the gravity of the penalty; if a girl of Israel became a prostitute, she was stoned to death: “[…] if this charge is true, that the girl was not found a virgin, then they shall bring out the girl to the doorway of her father’s house, and the men of her city shall stone her to death because she has committed an act of folly in Israel by playing the harlot in her father’s house; thus you shall purge the evil from among you” (Deuteronomy 22: 21); if the daughter of a priest became a prostitute, she was burnt alive: “Also the daughter of any priest, if she profanes herself by harlotry, she profanes her father; she shall be burned with fire” (Leviticus 21: 9).

In the New Testament, Jesus offers salvation, pardon, and acceptance to those prostitutes that repent and give their profession up: “Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you. For John came to you to show you the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes did. And even after you saw this, you did not repent and believe him” (Matthew 21: 31-32). God includes the prostitute Rahab among the saved ones: “By faith the prostitute Rahab, because she welcomed the spies, was not killed with those who were disobedient” (Hebrews: 11: 31).

Arguments against the Legalisation of Prostitution

Democratic countries are increasingly tolerant, and they tend to make other countries tolerant, too. The European Convention on Human Rights (http://www.echr.coe.int/Documents/Convention_ENG.pdf) protects the privacy of everybody, and, implicitly, prostitution. In fact, prostitution suspends the right of everybody to dispose of his/her body since the person in question sells it so transferring the right of use to another person, to the “buyer,” i.e. to the owner of the establishment who thus becomes the owner of the prostitutes’ bodies. Prostitutes are not free since they do not choose their partners, the cost of what they sell, or the flow of body use;


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moreover, they use their bodies with no spiritual involvement at all since the contract asks them to sell their body to anybody (Bădescu, 2002: 59).

The draft law concerning the legalisation of prostitution in Romania relies on false arguments. It speaks of a diminution of HIV-AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases, of a diminution of the cases of violence, of the contribution to the State budget, etc. All this is but arguments for the mass media whose function is to prepare public opinion to accept this legal solution. Facts oppose this law. Legalising Prostitution Will Increase the Risk of HIV-AIDS and Other Sexually Transmitted Diseases Even if we admit that the prostitutes would be carefully checked medically, there is a risk of getting HIV-AIDS (Faţa ascunsă a prostituţiei legalizate, 2002: 15) because the incubation takes 6-8 weeks while they can transmit the virus without being diagnosed as infected (Nedelcu, 1991: 25). Using a condom is not a solution either because it is only 85-90% safe. According to the statistics of the World Health Organization & UNAIDS, the percentage of people living with HIV-AIDS in America and Western Europe is ten times higher than that of Romania. Knowing that prostitution is the primary vector in the transmission of HIV-AIDS, legalising prostitution will increase the number of people living with this problem and range Romania among “democratic countries” (Faţa ascunsă a prostituţiei legalizate, 2002: 18-19). Legalising Prostitution Will Increase Violence When paying a certain amount of money, a client becomes for a short while, the master of a prostitute’s body and he can do anything to satisfy his sadistic pleasures. A study carried out in five countries (South Africa, Thailand, Turkey, U.S.A., and Zambia) shows that violence is the same no matter if prostitution is legalized or not; moreover, in Turkey, where prostitution is legalized, statistics point out more violence than in other countries.

In a study carried out over a period of six months in two areas of the U.S.A., where prostitution is legalized, on a number of 68 prostitutes, shows that 50% of them had been raped, 33% had been abused physically, 23% had been beaten so hard that they had bone fractures and 3% had been beaten until they went into a coma. Two thirds of the prostitutes had been pregnant at least three times without being able to deliver babies.

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(http://www.sfaturiortodoxe.ro/antiprostitutie/4.htm) The percentage of prostitutes trying to commit suicide reached 46%.

Moreover, research carried out in different areas of the world shows that the legalisation of brothels leads to an increase of the criminality rate in areas where such establishments are located of up to 100%: sexual abuse, rapes, molestations, homicide, offences, physical menaces, burglary, car theft, etc. (https://www.raccfm.com) Legalising Prostitution Will Not Contribute to the State Budget This is the weakest of all arguments in favour of the legalisation of prostitution: it is hilarious to think that, in a country such as Romania, where tax evasion reaches alarming peaks, where large companies do not pay their share to the budget, brothel owners will pay their taxes. Moreover, who will go back home to his wife and children having a brothel account in his pocket? If Romania had vigilant financial police, it could have acted in the more than 23 years of freedom. Moreover, the State will have to spend significant sums of money from budget to fight brothel-related criminality (dirty money, drugs, women trafficking, etc.).

In fact, the only people benefiting from the legalisation of prostitution will be brothel owners who will use the human beings who have fallen in the hands of the villains. What the law about the legalisation of prostitution does not say is the following:

- The negative impact on family life: if one of the partners is not

satisfied with his sex life, he will appeal to sex professionals. His respect for his wife will decrease and the divorce rate will increase (divorce has already reached 50-70% in countries such as France, Germany, and the U.S.A.).

- The rise of women trafficking and sex tourism: given the existing conditions, the generous offer and the low prices could make Romania into a country of prostitution and smut.

- The debasement of men’s attitude towards women: “possessing” prostitutes will make men change their attitude towards all women, in general.

In these conditions, we believe that civil society and especially the Church should have a word to say loud and clear. Professor Nicolae Necula states “prostitution is ranked by the Christian teaching among the seven capital sins, and is synonymous of debauchery or adultery” (http://www. sfaturiortodoxe.ro/antiprostitutie/22.htm). This is not about human rights,


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but about crime and outrage, and we cannot accept the right to sin as we cannot accept homosexuality, murder, theft, perjury, or suicide as human rights.

Legalising prostitution is not the answer; the solution is to prevent it and to try and save the prostitutes who violate morally and physically the country in which God allowed us to be born. However, we should not assume that, standing between the shadows of death, between the unnamed ones, man is led by sexual instincts, and that people are incapable of making a moral choice. (www.geocities/prostituţie.ro)

The Swedish Model

Sweden adopted, in 1999, an act that caused prostitution to decline by 50% in ten years. Statistics show that, in 1996, 1 in 8 men bought sexual services in Sweden while only 1 in 13 men bought them in 2008. (Freetham: 14)

The novelty of the Swedish system is that it incriminates the purchase and not the sale of sexual services. Depending on the offence, the buyer of sexual services can either be fined or sentenced to prison for one year in the case of adults and two years in the case of minors. (Freetham: 5)

The Swedish model was taken up by Norway, Iceland and Scotland, and the result was the same: prostitution decreased significantly.

Research

Given the fact that over 97% of Romanians claimed to be Christians during the census of 2012, we believe that the Church should play a more prominent role in making people adopt laws according to Christian values. We wanted to find out what different religious groups think about the legalisation of prostitution and identify the arguments of those who support the bill.

The sample was made up of adult inhabitants of Timișoara belonging to both traditional denominations (Orthodox and Catholic) and neo-Protestant denominations (Baptist and Pentecostal). The research was carried out on two samples—people from the traditional denominations and people from the neo-Protestant ones. The sampling was done depending on the denomination of the respondents (85% traditional and 8% neo-Protestant), on gender (51.8 % women and 48.2% men) and level of education (24% secondary school, 48% high school, and 28% higher education). The sample was made up of 280 inhabitants of Timișoara.

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The goal of the research was to find out the position of different religious groups on the legalisation of prostitution.

Here are, in brief, the results of the research:

- The people belonging to the traditional denominations (Orthodox and Catholic) attend church largely upon religious festivals (64%); they believe Christian principles are little or not serious at all (14%) while neo-Protestants (belonging to the Baptist and Pentecostal denominations) attend church on a regular basis (80%) and find Christian principles extremely valuable (100%).

- As far as prostitution is concerned, most of the interviewed, no matter the denomination, believe prostitution is a serious issue in our society. A large share of the interviewed believe prostitution degrades (95% neo-Protestants and 76% traditional Christians); they also believe legalising prostitution could resolve the issue of sexually transmitted diseases.

- The most debated issues were related to the causes of prostitution: neo-Protestants think the main source of prostitution is the lack of moral-religious education (50%) while traditional Christians believe it is poverty (60%). A large number of people attending Orthodox and Catholic churches believe prostitution could be eradicated through punitive measures (40%) while 50% of the neo-Protestants do not believe in this solution. As for tolerance, only 10% of the neo-Protestants would say “yes” and 90% would say “no” while 65% of the traditional Christians would say “yes” and 35% would say “no”. It is surprising that most neo-Protestants believe God can save prostitutes (95%) while only 48% of the traditional Christians believe it.

Conclusions

If they were to make a statement in a referendum on the legalisation of prostitution, 70% of the Baptists and Pentecostals would say “no” and 30% would say “yes” (but they would also impose a few conditions) while 40% of the traditional Orthodox and Catholics would say “no,” 34% would say “yes” and 26% would say “yes” (but they would also impose some conditions); 70% of the neo-Protestants do not believe legalising prostitution could control the phenomenon while 34% of the traditional Christians think the opposite.

We believe that legalising prostitution would not solve the situation; we think it would increase it. To prevent prostitution, we should make up teams of religious counsellors that debate the issue with the schoolers and


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teach the younger generation together with volunteers and representatives of the Church. All this would prevent young people from appealing to prostitution in order to solve their problems.

We should not legalize prostitution just because it exists: theft also exists, and it is punished by the law.

References

Bădescu I. Sociologia Prostituţiei [Sociology of Prostitution]. Online: http://www.sfaturiortodoxe.ro/antiprostitutie/23.htm.

European Convention on Human Rights. Online: http://www.echr.coe.int/Documents/Convention_ENG.pdf.

Freetham, Maria Ahlin. The Swedish Law (on Prostitution). Online: http://www.antiprostitutie.ro/docs/The Swedish Law.pdf.

Grupul de iniţiativă pentru apărarea familiei. (2002). Faţa ascunsă a prostituţiei legalizate [The Hidden Face of Legalised Prostitution]. Online: http://www.antiprostitutie.ro/docs/fata-ascunsa-a-prostitutiei-legalizate.pdf.

Necula, N. D. Poate fi de acord Biserica Ortodoxă Română cu prostituţia? [Can Romanian Orthodox Church Agree with Prostitution?]. Online: http://www.sfaturiortodoxe.ro/antiprostitutie/22.htm.

Nedelcu, I. (1991). HIV, AIDS, SIDA [HIV-AIDS]. Bucureşti: Editura Militară.

New International Version of the Bible. Online: http://www.biblegateway.com.

Rape and Abuse Crisis Center. Online: https://www.raccfm.com. Siguranţa medicalizării sau minciuna necontaminării [Safety of

Medication or The Lie of Uncontamination]. Online: http://www.sfaturiortodoxe.ro/antiprostitutie/4.htm.

Prostituţia în România [Prostitution in Romania]. Online: www.geocities/prostituţie.ro.

CONSIDERING EVERYDAY LIFE PRACTICES AS TACTICS FOR A NEW PERSPECTIVE

FOR GERMAN TURKS

GAYE GÖKALP-YILMAZ AND MUAMMER TUNA

Introduction

Everyday life and mundane practices of “ordinary” individuals had been neglected until the increase of social movements in the 1970s. Migration, globalization, women’s studies, ethnic movements, inequalities, environment, human rights and increasing academic concern on gender studies have shifted the focus of social sciences from mega events to the lives of ordinary people. Since sociology, from its foundations, paid great attention to revolutionary movements and significant events, this created ignorance on the “everyday” and routine lives of ordinary people. New themes and topics of interest have emerged because of increasing mobility of capital, knowledge, technology and people. On the other hand, dealing with queer studies and sexual orientations has also emphasized the political aspect of private life.

As one of the most significant outputs of globalization, “mobility” has made capital, knowledge and people able to move rapidly and easily. In that condition not only social structures and economies but also everyday life practices of individuals have changed. Thus, social changes that have been transformed into everyday life practices emphasize the necessity of analysis of the relationship between migration and everyday life. As people change their locations, their social values and norms also change and transform. In that manner, dealing with everyday life practices of individuals, the focus of the study and methodological approach shifts from a macro to micro approach, from structure to active agents.

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“Power” and Resistance in Everyday Life

This paper aims at stressing the relationship between migration and everyday life practices based on creating resistance mechanisms against power relations. Based on the Foucauldian approach, in this paper, it is presupposed that there are power relations and hegemony in every aspect of life. These hegemonic reflections can also be experienced in the most routine and repeated everyday life practices. Foucault, in his study Discipline and Punish, argues that contrary to oppressive and outrageous punishment and discipline techniques of old regimes in history, in modern society with the principle of “not less punishment but effective punishment,” a new system of auditing under psychological control has emerged (Gutting, 2010). This auditing system or surveillance with limited punishment and law system is implied over all society through different models of control and discipline at hospitals, prisons, schools and factories. Thus, according to Foucault, “We are all living on a prison island” (idem). This system of control or auditing, requires subordinate bodies that obey the regulations and rules of power (Foucault, 2006).

Michel de Certeau (1984) argues that, every legal and/or socio-economic system is “inscribed on bodies,” articulates itself through bodies and hence makes the individual “body tell the code.” In other words, bodies are treated as signs: they symbolize—or literally embody—a social and cultural order (Karner, 2007). At this point, one of the prominent thinkers on everyday life sociology, Michel de Certeau, draws the main framework for this study. He establishes his approach on resistance mechanisms in everyday life practices based on his two famous concepts, “strategies” and “tactics.” For Certeau, the focus on social studies must be on “ordinary man,” who is located out of power mechanisms in a social setting Certeau (idem). states that individual practices are not random actions of people; on the contrary, they have logic to be grasped. In analysing everyday life, Certeau begins by describing two significant concepts of his study: strategies and tactics. These two concepts bring a new approach for studying people who are in a way subaltern or “other” in the community he/she is living in. Therefore, for analysing the social life of Turks in Germany, this approach, which proposes starting from their daily life practices, erodes clichés of migration studies on integration, adaptation and cultural assimilation. Certeau’s analysis brings everyday life and mundane practices to the forefront and puts the emphasis on daily routines of individuals, rather than cultural activities that have been frequently analysed.

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Certeau constructed his approach on the analysis of daily life and its connections with many aspects of everyday life, such as dwellings, kitchen and cuisine, city, reading and shopping. Establishing the most mundane practices in the kitchen or the sociological aspect regarding resistance during a simple shopping activity have provided significant contributions to everyday life sociology. Certeau’s methodology intends to explain more than the meaning of everyday life practices. For him, it is crucial to discover the reason behind everyday life practices and he calls this reason “operational logic.” In discovering the operational logic of ordinary people’s practices, Certeau also deals with the issue of “being the other” in everyday life. He focuses on models of “the other’s” existence, survival and reproduction (idem). With the presupposition that power spreads into everyday life practices of individuals, an individual makes rational choices and creates mechanisms to erode power in his/her interactions.

Certeau’s great emphasis on strategies and tactics makes it crucial to explain these conceptions in detail. For Certeau, strategies, containing specific power areas, are whole structures of regulations such as discipline mechanisms. Thus, the fact that strategies create regulations based upon the hegemonic structure it is located in delineates that strategies have their own limits and borders. Strategies indicate themselves explicitly on implications. Strategies that can be grasped and continue their existence in some non-written cultural and social products are not flexible (Kızılay, 2011). They constitute permanent implications and regulations and their existence depends upon the construction of power space. Certeau explains the concepts of “strategy” and “tactics” as follows:

“[…] I call a “strategy” the calculus of force-relationships which becomes possible when a subject of will and power (a proprietor, an enterprise, a city or a scientific institution) can be isolated from an “environment.” A strategy assumes a place that can be circumscribed as proper (proper) and thus serve as the basis for generating relations with an exterior distinct from it (competitors, adversaries, “clienteles,” “targets,” or “objects” of research). Political, economic, and scientific rationality have been constructed on this strategic model.” (idem)

Tactics, on the other hand, are practices that are developed very differently from strategies. Tactics are not implied in certain institutional or spatial borders. They have no explicit borders. Tactics leak into strategies and they are like poaching or eroding power mechanisms. They have techniques but they have no intentions of capturing or defeating strategies. Tactics, which depend on reasonable utilization of time, are practices that come together and disrupt rapidly. Resistance acts developed against the


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strategies of power lack permanent positions. When circumstances require, tactics develop as crucial practices that are interferences to strategies or power mechanisms (Kentel, 2011). These practices describe the distortions of the strategies of power, thus can be defined as resistance stemming from daily life practices.

From Guest Workers to Citizens: Turks in Germany

Turkish migration to Germany started on the 30th of December in 1961, because of a bilateral agreement between the German and Turkish governments on recruiting labour. At the beginning, Turkish workers in Germany were considered as Gastarbeiter (“guest workers”). The duty of this labour force recruited from other countries such as Greece and Spain and from Turkey was to work in the industrial sector that required few qualifications, to realize the “German miracle” or an industrial boom for a Germany left destroyed after World War II. These workers resided in collective dormitories called “Heim” and such residences were temporary in the beginning. They were expected to return to their homelands after their duty was completed. However, the migration story did not continue in line with expectations. This permanent and unexpected settlement of guest workers has created many changes in the social, political and economic structures of Germany, as one of the most well- known quotations from Swiss writer Max Frisch manifests¸ regarding this worker migration: “We wanted a labour force, but human beings came”.

The reasons for the change from temporary to permanent settlement of Turks in Germany range from family unifications to beginning of school period for children and better education opportunities; from a lack of financial accumulation for a new start in Turkey to integration problems experienced after returning to Turkey and to developments in communication and transportation technologies that destroyed the image of Turkey as a “far away homeland” (Şen, 2003). In addition to all these factors, the availability of “creating a Turkey in Germany” has been another significant factor determining Turkish settlement patterns in Germany for 50 years.

“[…] From now on, Turks were able to find what they needed in Germany; friends, mosques, shopping opportunities, and a wide range of vegetables, Turkish television channels, newspapers, organizations and cultural needs to be provided by a wide community […]. This array varied from supply of aubergine and sucuk [Turkish sausage] in the market at the corner of the street, to the mosques and prayer rooms brought to the forefront of each Turkish neighbourhood, by religious sects. Other Turkish exports were


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writers, musicians, films and theatre groups. In addition, airline companies have provided cheap flights for homeland and this was also another significant point.” (Şen, 2003)

As mentioned in the quotation, permanent settlement in Germany meant for Turks to transfer some of their daily life practices to Germany and to establish new life styles.

This paper deals with the point that Turks settled in Germany can be considered as the “others” in German society since they are not creators of the social norms, expectations and regulations. Therefore, in that power relationship they create different modes of behaviour to provide suitable ground for maintaining their life styles and identities. The main aim of this paper is to present the fact that individuals as “active agents” reproduce power relations and create new behavioural schemes for themselves due to their conditions. Within that regard, field study in that research was based upon ordinary peoples’ everyday life activities.

Field Study

This study focuses on Turks living in Germany and the practices created by them as the “others” in a social setting where they are not creators of the norms, values and cultural structures. In addition, the study aims to determine the feasibility of conceptualizing these practices as new forms of resistance. In this framework, Aachen and Mainz were selected as research areas in Germany. The field research was based upon two different techniques. In the qualitative part of the study, 34 people were selected for in-depth interviews. In addition to in-depth interviews, a scale was developed as a qualitative technique and carried out with the participation of 309 people. During the fieldwork, the data on the everyday life of Turks living in Germany were collected. This study incorporates and analyses the data only related to its research intentions, arguments and questions as presented below; other data gathered from quantitative field study have not been included in this paper.

The participants were asked whether they read daily newspapers regularly and in which language they read newspapers. Thirty-one percent of the participants declared that they read newspapers on a daily basis. Seventy-four percent of the participants bought newspapers printed in Turkish. When participants were asked to express their practices of watching television, 51.6% of them stated that they watched television regularly. Seventy-eight percent of the participants preferred to watch television channels broadcasting in Turkish whereas 17% of the participants declared that they watched German television channels and


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5% declared that they watched channels broadcasting in both languages. When participants were asked to express their cooking practices, 66 % of the participants stated that they preferred to cook Turkish cuisine at their houses whereas only one participant stated that he/she prefers to cook German food. In addition, 33 % of the participants stated they cooked both of the two cuisines.

Narratives about living in Germany as a “Türk”

Dealing with everyday practices requires deeper analysis than questionnaires and scales would provide. Thus, 34 participants have participated in the in-depth interviews conducted. In analyzing this data, some concepts about everyday life categorized as resistance practices have been determined. These practices such as preserving Turkish life style, practices that are considered as being “German,” eating and cooking practices, shopping and attitudes about differences between Germans and Turks constituted the main sub-headings for the study. During the in-depth interviews participants were asked to describe their life as Turkish or German. A majority of the participants declared that they pursued a “Turkish life style” or they lived “as Turks.” These statements on “living as a Turk” were usually followed by the describing of their lives in detail. Some of the headlines describing their life styles can be listed as eating, shopping, watching Turkish television channels, following Turkish news and using Turkish products at home. One of the participants has described his life style as follows:

“Every day I speak with Germans, I work with them. However, I eat Turkish white beans (very traditional Turkish food) and listen to Turkish music.” (Sociologist, male, 55, living in Germany for 32 years)

Eating practices constitute a significant place for Turks in Germany. Eating Turkish products make them feel that they are strictly committed to a Turkish way of living. The main products that are special at a Turkish breakfast mainly include white (feta) cheese, olive and sucuk (Turkish spicy sausage). Participants described these three products as their irreplaceable products at a Turkish breakfast:

“My irreplaceable one in breakfast is Turkish white cheese. There is always some in my fridge. My cheese, my olive and my simit special (Turkish ring shaped bread covered with sesame seeds)… I live in accordance with the poem of Nazim Hikmet [well-known socialist Turkish writer].” (Cosmetic expert, female, 55, living in Germany for 40 years)


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“I prefer to buy Turkish products from Turkish markets since they are halal. My irreplaceable ones in breakfast are white cheese and sucuk.” (Teacher, 29, born in Germany) “Like a German, I eat pork, Like a German I drink beer, but I am Turkish and I look forward to Turkish religious festivalss. I am Turkish; I tried to teach my daughter Turkish customs and traditions. I am German, since humanity is important for me. For me it is not important where people come from or where they are originally from.” (Computer engineer, male, living in Germany for 32 years)

The excerpts shared above emphasize the perceptions of the participants who establish their “ways of living” or “being a Turk or German” on their eating habits. For instance, drinking beer is considered as being German. On the contrary, eating white (feta) cheese, olive or sucuk at breakfast corresponds to a Turkish way of living and in the end this creates a perception of “being a Turk.” This perception of a stereotype of Turkish living finds its reflections in everyday life practices and in some rituals. New generations of Turks continue to solemnize in Turkish traditional ways. They still rent big wedding saloons, play Turkish popular songs with drum and shrill pipe and dance to these traditional songs. Bride and groom still wear Turkish style bridal dress and groom’s suit.

“My wedding will be this summer; my dowry will be bought from Turkey. My mother in law went to Turkey for this reason. My pots will be bought from Turkey also. Turkish products are better.” (University student, female, 21, born in Germany)

“In fact exports are not so cheap. However, I want Turkish citizens to earn more. I want Turks to benefit more.” (Retired worker, male, 60, living in Germany for 30 years)

“My carpet was made in Turkey. I have an evil eye, Koran or board written in Arabic and parts of the Koran. Tea glasses and coffee cups were also bought from Turkey. They are my irreplaceable objects in my house.” (Entrepreneur, male, 32, living in Germany for 15 years)

These expressions of participants display that their home design is also a matter of expression of Turkish life style. Turkish products and home decorations are used as images to express “being Turkish” and Turkish identity. Through in-depth interviews, different attitudes were expressed for “staying the same” and “preserving the Turkish life style” among generations. Especially for the first generation, preserving their life styles


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or “staying the same as when they migrated to Germany” were described as a matter of pride.

“No, no […] we have not changed. Everything is the same for us. We are Turks and we will continue to be as Turks.” (Retired worker, female, 65, living in Germany for 40 years)

On the contrary, this matter of “staying the same” is a significant problem for second or third generations of Turks living in Germany. Since these generations are more interactive with German society, they demand some change in family structures. Most of the young Turks expressed their discomfort at the issue of “staying the same.” Especially strong family ties and patriarchal relationships create strong regulations inside an ordinary Turkish family. This discomfort is expressed in the following statements by the interviewed participants:

“These people (the first generation of Turks in Germany) are like they were preserved in the freezer for decades. They are frozen.” (Computer engineer, male, living in Germany for 32 years)

The second or third generation Turks living in Germany usually emphasize the fact that these people of first generations are strongly committed to Turkish customs and values. They wear the same style clothes that they wore when they first came to Germany. In addition, one of the most significant critiques against this generation is their resistance to learning the German language. The interviewed participants from the first generation Turks commonly expressed that “they did not find it necessary to learn German, since everyone around them were Turks and spoke Turkish.” These attitudes were also accompanied with a lack of interaction with German neighbours and watching only Turkish television channels. In addition, the people who came to Germany around the 1960s still follow events in Turkey, read Turkish magazines and discuss them as if they were taking place in their life in Germany.

“Their heads are in Turkey but their bodies are in Germany.” (Sociologist, male, 55, living in Germany for 32 years) “They have established ghettos in Germany. They entered into this World and they think, ‘it is Germany.’ They try to be contended with their ghetto life in Germany. For most of them, Germany starts at work and also ends at their work place.” (Computer engineer, male, living in Germany for 32 years)


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All these statements display the fact that one of the main issues for Turks in Germany is to preserve their everyday life practices. Such practices as eating, watching television or shopping from Turkish supermarkets could be regarded as tactics against German life style, which creates hegemonic power relations upon Turks in Germany. Since Turks are not the hegemonic group in Germany, they are expected to obey the regulations and ways of doing things according to German rituals. On the one hand, Turks seem to act in accordance with German laws and regulations. On the other hand, in “staying as Turks” or “preserving their Turkish identity” they seem to have developed resistance to German life style. This resistance is not detectable, does not interfere in the order of the German society and could not be considered an illegal activity. It is the intention of “doing what they want to do” for themselves in their private or family life. Yet, these activities in every aspect of everyday life, even at breakfast, involve creating tactics for eroding the strategies of power mechanisms. A traditional olive or cheese may mean too much for a person who does not want to become “the other.” In addition these products can also become mechanisms for reproducing the identities and life styles in every setting.

Conclusion

Based on the data and analysis presented above, it could be concluded that Turks in Germany establish their own way of doing things in their everyday lives. These ways usually correspond with preserving Turkish life style. Materials and infrastructure in Europe, including a huge Turkish food sector, shops, markets, newspapers, television channels and even driving courses, make available conditions for establishing parallel worlds disregarding the distance. Subaltern people, on the one hand, stay in their own parallel worlds to preserve their identities. On the other hand, they create resistance mechanisms against the hegemonic society in which they live in as “the others.” This special way of doing things contributes to preservation of their life styles and identities. Moreover, people who are not creators of the hegemonic power relations seem subordinate in the system. However, they resist being “the ones” in the same way the system requires and they create new ways of living. Since power relations exist in every aspect of life, these new ways of living and creating resistance to the hegemonic power find their reflections in everyday life and in mundane practices. These practices and strategies of resisting power by not becoming that which it anticipates could be regarded as the tactics of “preserving their ways of life” and not becoming “German.”


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Cooking and eating traditional food, shopping from an ethnic store and watching a television channel broadcast from another continent all contribute to Turks living in Germany preserving their life style in their everyday life practices. This can be regarded as preserving their original existence in their everyday life, as a resistance against being a part of German society. Turks in Germany can get full citizenship, German passports, speak fluent German and attend the best schools in Germany. However, there is only one space in which they resist becoming like a “German” according to their expressions. Their everyday life is considered to be their private space where they continue to resist and exist as they wish.

References

De Certeau, M. (1984). The Practice of Everyday Life. Berkeley, CA: UCP. xi-xxiv.

Foucault, M. (2006). Hapishanenin Doğuşu [The Birth og the Prison]. Ankara: İmge Kitabevi.

Gutting, G. (2010). Foucault. Ankara: Dost Yayınları. Karner, C. (2007). Ethnicity and Everyday Life. New York, NY:

Routledge. Kentel, F. (2011). Modernite, Gündelik Hayat ve Yeni Sosyal Hareketler

[Modernity, Everyday Life and New Social Movements]. Altüst Dergisi 11: 1-17.

Kızılay, Ş. E. (2011). Küreselleşme, Madun Kamusallığı ve Taktikler: Afyon Çavuşbaş Mahallesi Örneği [Globalisation, Publicity of the Subaltern and Tactics: Afyon Cavusbası District as a Case Study]. İdealkent 3: 94-129.

Şen, F. (2003). The Historical Situation of Turkish Migrants in Germany. Immigrants & Minorities 22: 208-227.

GENDER PROBLEM OF MUSLIM WOMAN IN TURKEY:

WHAT IS IT, IF NOT FEMINISM?

YASEMIN YÜCE-TAR

Introduction Women’s rights constitute one of the issues among many that texts of Islamic female writers cover. Going over these texts, it appears that their authors discuss women’s rights in such a manner as to include social position and gender roles. One point, however, that becomes manifest in these debates is objection to certain concepts that the discussion has so far been using. Indeed, there are very few Islamic women writers who call themselves “feminist” while engaged in these discussions and many of them raise objections to this term by keeping a distance from concepts and outlooks associated with feminism. Based on texts by 10 Islamic woman writers, the present study investigates what these writers say and suggest about the issue without identifying themselves with feminism, even refuting the very concept, and why they raise objections to existing concepts and their content.

The qualitative method is the method used in this study. The study, which uses content analysis technique as a qualitative method, inquires into the attitudes and debates of women in question with respect to whether these attitudes and debates should be omitted by defining them as out of category or accepted as an opportunity, a different kind of quest.

In the context of this study, it is first necessary to clarify what is meant by feminism. Feminist theory has made the issue of women part of social sciences while, at the same time, trying to explain the different dimensions of gender inequality through different theories of feminism. Liberal, socialist, radical, cultural, postmodern and Islamic feminisms are the leading ones among these theories. With respect to varying points of weight, these theories try to explore the dynamics of gender inequality and, differently from other theories in social sciences, suggest ways and actions to eliminate this inequality (Donovan, 2010).

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In trying to understand arguments raised by female writers examined in this paper, it was found necessary to add Islamic feminism as well to the set of theoretical approaches to the issue. “Islamic feminism” appeared particularly in women’s periodicals and literature in such countries as Iran and Egypt starting from the late 90s. In the 90s, a new generation of educated female writers from the Islamic camp asserted that men in Muslim societies placed women in secondary status while both sexes should actually be fully equal in their rights, and it was possible to defend this position on the basis of religious principles as well. They tried to show this by engaging in deep analysis of some tenets of Islam. While finding their place in modernity with their demands and arguments, Islamic feminists define themselves as “Islamist” in terms of their cultural commitments and references they use and try to develop their arguments by using a language that differs from each of the other feminist stances mentioned above.

Methods

The present study is based on a qualitative survey method and content analysis as one of its techniques. To give a general definition for content analysis, we can refer to Früh (in Gökçe, 2006: 18-19): “content analysis is a research technique that focuses on contents of meaning that are of specific importance in respect to researcher’s defined problematic.” Content analysis is an explicitly made proposition by the researcher for the construction and classification of meanings that are important for the theory. In addition, content analysis investigates not the formal appearances but the content of symbols produced and used for the purpose of communication. One more point to add: the objective of content analysis in general is to expose what is common in the contents of many texts.

The purpose of content analysis is to analyse texts produced and constructed in relation to the public sphere. Content analysis is often perceived as a method that is fit only for analysing the content of studies on mass media. However, it is a method that can be used, beyond mass media, to analyse pieces of literature, novels, historical pieces, religious texts and scripts, archives and all kinds of speeches and discourses addressed to the public. Content analysis is not appropriate for analysing a single text. The main purpose of content analysis is to select and assess information that is common to numerous texts and bears importance in terms of the research question. In other words, content analysis is not interested in all aspects and dimensions of texts under analysis but focuses

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primarily and in priority with that particular dimension that is important for the study. Hence, not all books and writings of Islamic woman authors were taken as objects of study. It was their texts that focus on gender issue in particular that were examined. Content analysis seeks to spot regularities and common points in texts. That is, the target of content analysis is common points in different texts. Content analysis is therefore a process of categorization constructed first of all in the context of and based on assumptions related to the main problem that gives the main direction of the study. Categorization means categories that are constructed in the light of theoretical and empirical thinking and generalized by testing against texts that constitute the object of study and then inserting analysed and construed texts into respective categories. If we take one more step ahead in generalization, we can say that content analysis is selective by its very nature (Gökçe, 2006: 18-19).

Results

Perceptions of Feminism on a Spectrum from a Distanced Stance to Full Rejection It is an important point of debate in the movement that Muslim female writers do not respond to gender sensitivity with the concept “feminism” and criticize this concept itself while they still face criticism over the very same term. Such researcher-writers as Cihan Aktaş, Yıldız Ramazanoğlu, Nazife Şişman, Mualla Gülnaz, Hidayet Ş. Tuksal, Fatma K. Barbarosoğlu, Sibel Eraslan, Ayşe Böhürler and Nihal Bengisu Karaca who have come to the fore in the Islamic women’s movement with their studies and impressive texts prefer to keep their distance from “feminist” identity. The identification of feminism with misandry, unlimited sexual freedom and anti-family movements can be stated as the main reason keeping Islamic women at a distance. A woman who wrote the article “Islamic feminism: has a name but no existence” in the journal Aksiyon, says the following reflecting the common concern of many women in the Islamic community:

“The author of the present lines is quite worried while writing an article in which the term ‘feminism’ appears so frequently. It is probable that the label ‘feminist’ is stuck on me in an undeletable way. It is worse than black nightmares of darkest nights. Who can tell that my worries are ungrounded when feminism is taken as synonym with such states as misandry, perversion, shrewishness and even ugliness? Today, many educated women who cover their heads and consider themselves ‘devout


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Moslems’ approach the term ‘feminism’ with the same jumpiness. Some get tired as trying to get rid of this black gum that stretches as it is pulled out while others challenge the use of the word as a means to punish: ‘so I am a feminist, you have anything to say!’” (Akagündüz, 2006: 24)

The perception of feminism by Islamic women is not limited to what is quoted above. That the majority of women in the feminist movement did not engage in solidarity with women victimized for covering their heads, and did not regard this practice as a right, leads Islamic women to see the feminist movement as a Kemalist/elitist one. In an interview, Özlem Albayrak, a columnist in daily Yenişafak considers feminism to be a movement “under the monopoly of a handful of brand-dependent modern women from Nişantaşı.” In the same interview she says, “If I believed in the objectivity, sincerity of feminism in Turkey, I could have been one of them.” Among Islamic women, there are many who feel themselves close to feminism, but hesitant to identify with it. One of the reasons behind this stance is the perception of feminism as stated above besides the fact that Islamic women have their different outlook to the problems of women from feminists. Indeed, Ayşe Böhürler reflects the way of thinking that is shared by many other writers in the Islamic community: “I consider myself as a person defending women’s rights without being a feminist.” (Sever, 2006: 152) Distanced stance to Islamic feminism as well Some Muslim women think that “Islamic feminism” is a problematic concept as well. They argue that this concept is imposed from without intentionally as a part of the project of creating a “moderate Islam thinking.” Nazife Şişman is the person who, in 1992, translated into Turkish the work “The Quran and Women” by Amina Vedud who made the news by leading women in Friday prayers. Nazife Şişman says she now finds the “re-interpretation” approach which she had considered understandingly back in those days rather dangerous. The re-interpretation of Islam, she goes on to say, “[...] is both the outcome of an imposition and an attempt to destroy the foundation of the Islamic world” (Şişman, 2005: 94). In her book, Şişman argues that orientalism is imposing a new understanding ofthe Islamic world via women. According to Şişman, modernization or reform in religion that entails a re-interpretation of Islam from the eyes of women has taken place from the very start in the context of a hegemonic relationship with the West.

In the same vein, Sibel Eraslan, who says the words “Islam” and “feminism” are in contrast with each other, considers the concept of

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“Islamic feminism” as a part of the mission to modernize third world countries over the bodies of women (Akagündüz, 2006: 25). Yıldız Ramazanoğlu draws attention to another problem that will emerge as a result of the efforts of western circles to combine Islam and feminism in some way. This is the risk that Muslim women may stay silent before the problems they face in order to avoid such accusations as “serving the interests of westerners.” Indeed, it would be right to say that many Islamic women consciously keep a distance from feminist identity due to their concerns about having such an image. Considering that Islamic sub-consciousness is of anti-western nature, and that an anti-western stance is the main factor creating Islamic identity, it becomes quite clear how difficult it is for women in this camp to identify themselves with feminism as a movement of western origin.

It will also be correct to say that the dominant attitude of feminists in Turkey that is rather excluding is another factor that keeps Islamic women at a distance from feminism. Below are the comments of Mualla Gülnaz who agitated debates in 1987 with her demarches in daily Zaman and made the cover of weekly Nokta with the heading “Feminists with Turban” (Nokta, 20 December, 1987):

“Some feminists felt excited upon our demarche. We got together with them on some occasions. Even some warm relations have developed. But, taken as a whole I can say this: The orientalist outlook, religious distance or even anti-religion and prejudices that the Islam is anti-women which are quite pronounced in Turkish feminism, even more dominant than what can be found among feminists in Europe were factors that prevented them from understanding us correctly. But we had rather good communication with some feminists who have or are trying to leave such prejudices behind. Still, as I’ve said, they were only a minority and, in general, the Turkish feminism approached us in wonder and perplexity.” (Çakır, 2000: 47)

In his article titled “Short Mind of Feminist Ladies” Ali Bulaç finds the early demands of the feminist movement reasonable. It is because, according to Bulaç, women at these early stages were opposing being exploited by capitalism and being treated as second-class citizens. Bulaç then stresses that problems such as working conditions and wage rates have largely been solved today and production and alienation brought along by modernity are the problems of all human beings, not only women. Since the problems of our times are not those of women exclusively, feminism has lost its opponent position. He thinks that feminism serves modernism, instigates women against men and paves the way for homosexuality. Women reacted after the publication of this


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article. In her article “On What Ali Bulaç Said” Mualla Gülnaz writes that patriarchal oppression is experienced in all societies:

“Patriarchal oppression whether capitalist or socialist [...] is a phenomenon that exists. Our history and culture too have had their share from this oppression. It is a big lie that women are not debased in this geography […]. Referring to our history and culture, if somebody is talking about a golden age when the equalitarian principles of our religion were actually in effect, I am unaware of it.” (Göle, 2004: 158-160)

Effort to develop an original conception Mualla Gülnaz says there are many issues that Muslim women should challenge as implications of traditional patriarchy and lists them as double standards in perception of sexual ethics and keeping women under a yoke to guard the honour of a male society. According to Gülnaz, perceiving woman as a sexual object is something common to both traditional and modern structures. While this perception leads to keeping women under oppression in the former case, the outcome in the latter is to open women to use through direct and indirect ways. Gülnaz thinks that the Muslim women’s movement is capable of overcoming the contradictions of both traditional and modern structures since it is endowed with an opportunity to acquire from the very source a healthy perspective in compliance with human nature.

“At this point, Moslem women must get rid of the fear of being called as feminist, become aware of new feminist formations in the west which are engaged in continuous process of inquiry and renovation to grasp the dead ends of the modern world and humanity and make use of the experience of other women who face similar problems. While Moslem women need to learn about the feminist line that tries to save itself from the male-centred perspective of the Enlightenment epistemology and to construct a female-centred discourse, the other side too needs the outlook of Oriental-Moslem women to find new points of demarche.” (Gülnaz, 1996)

The Ankara “Başkent Women’s Platform” is one of the groups mostly referred to during debates on Islamic feminism in Turkey. Zehra Reçber is among the founders of this platform:

“Our feminism is a self-styled one; we don’t feel obliged to adopt the feminist discourse as a whole.” (Interview, Fadime Özkan, “Women in Conservative Camp are Active Now”)

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In the same way, Safiye Özdemir, the speaker for the Platform says:

“We criticize male dominant structure and discourse and we discuss gender roles. But religion is important for us. Our outlook to family and sexuality is different from that of feminists. I consider myself as a devout defender of women’s rights.” (Özkan, 2005)

While criticizing traditional religious values and defending women’s rights on the basis of equality, women who do not call themselves feminist attach great importance to family and maintain that women should be able to experience their sexuality within the confines of legitimacy set by Islam. Hidayet Ş. Tuksal, one of the founders of Başkent Women’s Platform whose name is taken as identical with Islamic feminism describes the distance between feminism and their stance as follows:

“From the angle of feminism’s fundamental approaches, I have woman’s perspective. It is because I have read a lot and once you get that perspective it is hard to give it up. But in feminism, there emerged a discourse that is extremely discriminatory, totally excluding men, as if targeting a separate world breaking up all relations in-between. I don’t think this is reasonable. After all, we have to live together with our fathers, husbands and sons. But woman’s perspective is a must in correctly understanding existing systems, practices and religion as well. In sum, I am a person trying to construe what is happening from the eyes of a woman.” (Çakır, 2000: 28)

It would be fair to say that although they insistently point out their distance from feminism and their points of divergence from it, Islamic women still cannot get rid of the lure of feminism. Indeed, it is observed that they commonly use the jargon, language, concepts and even perspectives that are attributes of feminists. It must be noted that the discourse “woman’s perspective” that Tuksal uses in the quotation above is a part of feminist jargon. In fact, today this jargon is used by many woman writers and columnists in the Islamic camp. Nazife Sişman, an outstanding figure with her criticism against Islamic feminism has a chapter “From consciousness building home meetings to civil society organizations” in her book Covered Heads in the Public Sphere where she tells how Islamist women moved into the public sphere after “building consciousness” with indoor meetings (Şişman, 2004: 153-162). It must also be noted that the term “building consciousness” used here is also a feminist discourse. The use of feminist jargon by Islamist women is not limited with those identified with feminism. There are many Islamist organizations that use the language transferred to Turkey by feminists. An


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example is the slogan “We are women, we exist and we are powerful” used in a booklet published by the Women’s Branch of Fazilet (Virtue) Party. “Kadın Kimliği” (Female Identity), the name of a periodical can also be considered in the same context (Şişman, 2004: 162). Many concepts and expressions including “female identity,” “building consciousness,” “gender problem,” “women’s rights,” “women’s human rights,” “female perspective,” “oppression of women,” “womanly existence,” etc. that are used more and more commonly among Islamist women can be found in feminist literature. In an interview, Fatma Karabıyık Barbarosoğlu says this is a “conscious borrowing” (Şişman, 2004: 151).

While they used to be timid about feminism at the start, the two parties found a milieu of interaction with the fading of walls in-between as feminism started to focus on the main problems of Turkish society. One of the most striking examples of this interaction can be found in an interview with Cihan Aktaş by Ruşen Çakır. Cihan Aktaş took sides with such male writers as Ali Bulaç and Abdurrahman Dilipak and criticized those women called “feminists with turban” who made their debut with the periodic “Ayçe” in 1987. She says:

“I regard feminism as a positive contribution to human history. After all, feminism is a worldview, not an ideology. At the point we are looking it, the human history has a masculine character and it finds reflection in language and religious perceptions as well. In all traditions whether Islamic or Christian this masculine character demonstrates itself in one way or other. It is clear that outlook to women needs some change that would crystallize human values and feminism demonstrated this. Thus, for gender relations to attain a more positive stand, feminism is a positive contribution to human history up to a certain level.” (Çakır, 2000: 130)

The challenge facing Islamic women is that of a struggle for existence that is waged in the public sphere surrounded by the single-truth worldview of Kemalism and, as a second front, against Muslim men whose imagination is wrapped up in traditional Islamic values. While they stand against the former as “devout women,” their stance against the latter is “woman as an individual.” Ayşe Böhürler puts this point as follows:

“Fanaticism can find itself a place both in official power and its advocates and in the tradition and its advocates. In-between these two lines that do not let us be as we are, as individuals, the struggle of women with covered heads is getting shaped fully as a struggle for freedom.” (Sever, 2006: 136)

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Conclusions

The Moslem women’s movement has become more visible since the 1990s. Analysing this movement over the texts of some Muslim female writers, one finding is that they have their doubts about and reservations regarding the concept of feminism. We can list the points that are used to criticize the concept of feminism as follows: - Feminism originated in the west; it does not embrace the peculiarities

of the east and Islam and is used as an instrument in orientalist-imperialist discourse;

- Preconceived ideas that the concept of feminist is associated with: hatred of men and family; the desire to transform male hegemony into female hegemony;

- Diverging ideas in such matters as sexual freedom of women, family as an alien institution for women and motherhood as an oppressive factor;

- Threat of being excluded from the Islamic community over the concept of feminism;

- Reaction to the approach of feminism to modernism and religion. While criticising the concept of feminism, it is clear that women whose writings are examined seriously open to debate in their circles issues such as women’s rights and gender inequality. If women actors bringing these issues on to the agenda do not call themselves “feminist,” it would be rejecting the ethics of social science to make them an object of research by calling them such. Even if these women are not feminists, following their debates and discourses is of importance in building an understanding of the women’s movement. While outside the category of feminism, they are a part of the women’s movement and offer to this movement an opportunity and unfolding with their debates and discourses. The heterogeneous composition of the women’s movement and existence of different states of being women gives diversity to both feminist theory and the women’s movement. So where does the stance of these women whose discussions we follow in Turkey since the 90s fall in this diversity vis-á-vis gender issues?


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References

Akagündüz, Ü. Ö. (2006). İslami Feminizm: Adı var kendi yok [Islamic Feminism: It has a name but there is no feminism]. Aksiyon 587: 3-30.

Çakır, R. (2000). Direniş ve İtaat, İki İktidar arasında İslamcı Kadın [Resistance and Obedience: Islamist Women in two power]. Istanbul: Metis yayınları.

Donovan, J. (2010). Feminist Teori [Feminist Theory]. Çev: Aksu Bora. Gökçe, O. (2006) İçerik Analizi [Content Analysis]. Ankara: Siyasal

Kitabevi. Göle, N. (2004). Modern Mahrem: Medeniyet ve Örtünme [Modern

Confidentiality: Civilization and Veiling]. Istanbul: Metis. Gülnaz, M. (1996). Suyu Tersine Akıtanlar [Who Gave Water on the

contrary]. Birikim 91. Istanbul: Birikim yayınları. Özkan, F. (2005). Yemenimde Hare Var, Dünden Yarına Başörtüsü

[Headscarf: From the Past to the Future]. Istanbul: Elest yayınları. Sever, M. (2006). Türban ve Kariyer, Evden işe bizden bireye [Headcarf

and Career, From House to work, from us to me]. Istanbul: Timaş yayınları.

Şişman, N. (2004). Kamusal Alanda Başörtülüler [Wearing Headscarf in the Public Sphere]. Istanbul: Timaş yayınları.

—. (2005). Küreselleşmenin Pençesi [Claw of Globalization]. Istanbul: Küre Yayınları.

A BILLET-DOUX TO THE STRANGER IN THE MIRROR:

PSYCHOSOCIAL CHALLENGES OF THE POST-MODERN FEMININE?

ELISABETA ZELINKA

“I do love my family. That is why I live 5,000 miles away from them!

I don’t intrude upon their privacy…” Private Practice, season 2, episode 30: “What You Do for Love”

Introduction

Subsequent to the Industrial Revolution, the new Cartesian-Newtonian paradigm has been dictating a novel axiological system based on sterile Reason(ing) and on the concrete, palpable reality. Non-physical realities and values having been deposed and buried (among them God), the single axiological values remain the quantifiable, non-physical, reasonable “values.”

In the present Western cult of the matrices of analytical hyperlogicalness, warped technological boom, acerbic individualism, dehumanizing competitiveness and McDonaldized existence, the feminine principle and the postmodern woman may no longer find their justification and subsistence. The latter has become a stranger to her own self, seeking her own identity, her validation and her possible survival. In fact, the Western postmodern modus vivendi directly discourages congruous gender identity and gender roles. The feminine gender role(s) having been disarrayed, the contemporary perplexed woman stares at her alienated reflection, at the stranger in the mirror.

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Methods and Techniques

In the present paper, I shall apply the analytical, critical research method in investigating the Western contemporary woman’s psychosocial profile as well as the analytical-comparative investigative method regarding the Western lifestyle(s), philosophies and Weltanschauungs, in order to arrive at my result: a quasi self-destructive lifestyle, which macerates the couple subsistence, the woman’s femininity and triggers the impossibility of fulfilling all the socio-moral roles summoned by contemporary patriarchal society.

Results and Discussion

The McWorld Oxymoron: Pending between Xanax and Prozac. Modus Vivendi, Modus Operandi: Abolitionism of the Soul An army of specialists in the humanities, especially in social sciences, alert us that the causes for this psychosocial blockage in feminine gender roles are both complex and numerous. The vast spectrum of causes presents a major common denominator: the warped McDonaldization (Ritzer, 2003: 13-50) of the Western modus vivendi, which gives the Western contemporary woman no (more) physical and psychological time to play all the roles expected of her: the socially active and feminine woman, the professional expert, the sensuous lover, the devoted wife and mother.

Paradoxically, contemporary Western lifestyle (so massively promoting fundamental human freedoms, civic engagement, team-spirit and unity through global communication), causes and encourages individualism, overcompetitiveness, alienation, existential loneliness, the impossibility of committing to social life, to social bonds and to family bonds, or to valid gender roles. Western gender fulfilment and women’s fulfilment have become a schizophrenic oxymoron (Bruckner, 2011: 32-38; Bruckner & Finkielkraut, 2005: 7, 143; Ciupercă, 2000: 112, 232).

In the same train of thoughts, contemporary sophisticated minds are warning against the exacerbation of scientific materialism and of sterile Reason, while neglecting the humanistic side of the human being, for example his intuition. One of the most famous quotes in this sense is usually attributed to Albert Einstein, cited and explained by Bob Samples in The Metaphoric Mind (1976: 26):

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“The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift.”

Unfortunately, there is no guarantee regarding this quote’s authorship, to what extent Samples quoted or rather circumscribed Einstein’s concept.

Lebanese poet and writer Khahlil Gibran (1883-1931) agues for the same indispensability of the spiritual element within the harmonious development of the individual and society:

“[…] faith is an oasis in the heart which will never be reached by the caravan of thinking.” (Gibran, 1975: 376)

Living as a semi-anaesthetized animal within his own a-natural and anti-natural terrariums of concrete, the Western human seems to be suffering from deaf-muteness and from chronic Asperger Syndrome. Incapable of producing and/or exteriorizing genuine empathy towards his fellow terrarium inmates, he also proves incapable of completing spiritual growth (“greater jihad,” Nasr, 1987: 33), self-reflexive analysis, and relief through logos and through communication. For example, Western greeting formulas such as “Hi, how are you?” have long lost their emotion-loaded meaning and the inquirer is not at all interested in the wellbeing of the addressed/greeted person.

Will the Occident follow a self-destructive trajectory, according to the theory of dissipative structures? Has it already reached its own climax of self-sufficiency and (over)saturation, which leaves no more space and time for evolution but the single trajectory of implosion?

The Paramount “Without”: Axiological Amnesia The preeminent cause seems to be the alteration of traditional values without having been replaced with novel ones, except for certain semi-dysfunctional gender roles and with the above-mentioned pseudo values which infringe the minimum necessary conditions for family life and femininity (altruism, time for the nosce te ipsum process, time for “the Michelangelo Effect”). It is perfectly acceptable to oust the conservative, outdated axiological system(s), lest the young generation falls into the pit of axiological amnesia regarding the substitution with novel, valid system(s).

Most specialists (Bruckner & Finkielkraut, 2005: 8; Ciupercă, 2000: 111, 139) argue that precisely this is the major tragedy of the post Second World War generations. Neither the Western/capitalist society nor the


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former Soviet Block society knows how to manage the sudden freedom, human rights and the upheaval of traditional values, all of them being sudden products of the 20th century political and social earthquakes. Consequently, they have not replaced the ousted old axiological system with new, valid values and gender roles. Therefore, are we still trapped within an epoch of psychosocial transition from the ousted Old/Traditional to the not yet implemented Modern? The protean and chaotic 21st century gender roles, especially the woman’s multiple social role(s) functions as a pars pro toto for the entire turbulent social transition of the Occident.

Subsequent to the Second World War, women have acquired a wide spectrum of new gender roles. It is, by far, not my standpoint that gender equality and these novel gender roles were not welcome, yet women are facing serious psychosocial challenges in contemporary Western society. Gender equality triggered the possibility of equal career and economic fulfilment. Nevertheless, feminists and sociologists omitted to foresee certain paramount issues such as: both parents being full-time professionals, neither of them having enough quality time to raise the children in an emotionally loaded family environment; the two professional parents developing possible mutual envy, professional over-competitiveness, motivational divergences and consequently a sense of guilt, frustration, alienation from each other and from their children.

Thirdly, feminists expected all their radical alterations to be immediately implemented and instantly accepted by men. Nevertheless, this psychosocial process of assimilation does necessitate at least a number of decades and at least one new generation (Ciupercă, 2000: 22-24, 54, 102, 158). Feminists failed to foresee the imperious necessity of a transitory adaptation stage, the results being gender role chaos, frustration, corrupted communication channels; men feeling emasculated and tired of their female partners’ burn-out-related diseases.

As questioned by certain specialists (Bruckner, 2011: 75; Ciupercă, 2000: 22), not only men were unready for such sudden and radical social upheavals, but women as well. Deep-rooted mentalities do require a certain transition and adaptation time, in order to allow the details to settle down in all strata and in all sectors of the society (private/public, economic, political, and professional). Quite often Western women resemble Thanksgiving turkeys overfed with information, yet missing that precise information which they desperately require to save their femininity: how to maintain all the private/public roles requested from them and the balance among them. They also lack a substantial gallery of ancestors and of advisors, in an age where the modus vivendi seems specially designed to destroy the self’s privacy and self-awareness, the

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family’s private sphere and harmony, femininity and the woman’s peace of mind.

This may be one cause due to which Western masculine “superiority” still regulates the female body and female self-confidence even if we live in the 21st century, a century of human rights and women’s (pseudo)-liberation. Patriarchy is still dislocating the natural female body, contemporary femininity and women’s self-esteem, and it has created a utopia of the 90-60-90 beauty standards, beauty myths and of the McDonaldized cosmetic surgery industry. In order to meet the requirements of 21st century perfectionist individualism, women “must” not suffer from any diseases (anorexia, bulimia, depression, self-hatred, self-destructive diets), but stay fit, glowing and optimistic (ibid.: 186; Kaufmann, 2008: 71).

No wonder that women develop negative feelings towards their own bodies, their body image, self-image, sexuality, their feminine identity and that they see maternity/pregnancy as a burden (ibid.: 186). They indeed become their own “strangers in the mirror,” thus reminding of the “Bridget Jones phenomenon”:

“[...] victim of self-improvement rituals, child of Cosmo culture, disciple of the Venus/Mars dogma, Bridget Jones suffers from an identity crisis; radicalized in the 60’s and 70’s, tranquilized by the 80’s, she emerges as the fair compromise between the 50’s debutante and the 70’s feminist activist—the poster child for the confused woman of the 1990’s.” (Di Massa, 1998: 10)

This psychosocial impasse is faithfully mirrored by the contemporary entertainment and film industry as well, yet without being able to offer any viable solution. I shall mention only a few examples of cinema productions, series such as Private Practice (2007-2013), Lipstick Jungle (2008-2009), Grey’s Anatomy (2005-) or films, such as Bridget Jones’s Diary (2001), Eat, Pray, Love (2010), Wit (2001), Elegy (2008), Sex and the City (2008), Amour (2012), October Baby (2011), The Human Stain (2003).

Paradoxical Phariseeism: διαίρει καὶ βασίλευε (diaírei kaì basíleue or divide et impera) I argue that the postmodern Western lifestyle and its contemporary McWorld axiological system directly discourage the physical, mental and the spiritual health of the individual, of the woman within the couple and within her family.


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Paradoxically, yet still understandably, this super-technologized, warped modus operandi deprives the postmodern individual of any physical and psychological time to know himself (nosce te ipsum), his partner/spouse (“the Michelangelo Effect”). Time has become the Western android’s deadliest enemy in deciphering his failed personal life, family life and the Stranger in the Mirror.

That is why this lifestyle of the Western, McDonaldized android acts upon his existence as a destructive outer force, incessantly macerating his basic needs: personal time and dialogue with oneself, emotionality, intuition, intuitive self-analysis, time to spend with the Other(s), spiritual, emotional and physical nourishment, fulfilment and balance.

Consequently, fulfilment has become necessary in the Westerner’s private life, in his couple/family life. The couple or the partner has become a name card, a mandatory signifier of his social and personal wellbeing. Even though this is no more than a fake, artificial mask and masquerade, the cult of the “mandatory” partner/wedding ring is developing after Feminism and different social movements so fiercely battled for personal independence (Bruckner & Finkielkraut, 2005: 141; Simonnet, 2006: 12).

On the other hand, these short-lived Maya type of carapace-couples breed scepticism, apprehension and hesitation. These typically postmodern feelings are the major reasons for the Western couples’ frequent refusal to officialize their partnership (marriage certificate, church wedding) and to undergo “marital suicide”. Since marriage is often perceived as a choking, totalitarian institution, couples opt for commitment-free relationships: open relationships, open marriages, single parenthood, or relationships that do not require sharing responsibilities, the same address and they permit abortion any time.

Within these pseudo-relationships, the two partners do not share any common goal, their (lack of) interaction reminding of a pair of dizygotic twins. Each of the two elements of such postmodern couples act independently, as a state within a state, regardless of the other federative “state’s” needs. Needless to say, love does not exist within such clusters of imperium in imperio (de Spinoza, 1675/2009, Caput II, § 6, de Spinoza, 1677/1996, III, Praefatio). Therefore, these couples often behave as vacillating compasses, which have long lost the North of unity (Bruckner & Finkielkraut, 2005: 144). Orwellian capitalism has successfully applied its divide et impera strategy in exploding the unity of the family/the couple into two distinct and drifting items.

The Western human has created his own self-devouring super-technologized, informational society, based on atomisation, alienation and further psychosocial pathology. Moreover, the couple and its gender roles

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have also been dislocated, causing psycho-emotional discomfort not only to the couple but to their children and to their extended family as well.

Conclusion

Similar to an autoimmune syndrome, the modus vivendi of the Western couple causes cancerous spiritual and emotional emaciation, thus dissipating the feminine gender identity.

In a moment of grandiose anagnorisis, some of us have realized that we are becoming autistic strangers. What remain are intra-familial crises and spouses’ occasional reunions for make-up sexuality. This is what Baudrillard coined fatal pathology, a “dead point” of “hypertely” (Baudrillard, 1996: 15-18, 64), the death of the soul” (idem: 21), while the couple is suffering from utter identity and communication “loss” (idem: 12, 74, 192), “schizophrenia” and “schizophrenic voyeurism” (idem: 73-77).

Sadly enough, similar to Oscar Wilde’s Dorian Gray (2003), the contemporary Western woman and man are staring at each other and at their own unrecognizable reflections in the mirror (“the Dorian Gray Effect”). In a fit of existential anxiety, neither of them seems to like or even recognize “the stranger in the mirror.”

References

Baudrillard, J. (1996). Strategiile fatale [Fatal Strategies]. Iaşi: Polirom. Bruckner, P. & Finkielkraut, A. (2005). Noua dezordine amoroasă [The

New Loving Disorder]. Bucureşti: Trei. —. (2011). Paradoxul iubirii [The Paradox of Love]. Bucureşti: Trei. Ciupercă, C. (2000). Cuplul modern între emancipare şi disoluţie [The

modern Couple Between Emancipation and Dissolution]. Alexandria: Tipoalex.

de Spinoza, B. (1675/2009). Tractatus politicus [Political Treatise]. Lanciano: Carabba.

Di Massa, C. (1998). Up and Down. In Los Angeles Times Book Review. 27 September 1998: 10.

Gibran, K. (1975). A Third Treasury of Kahlil Gibran. New York: Citadel Press.

Kaufmann, J. C. (2008). The Single Woman and the Fairytale Prince. Cambridge: Polity Press.

Nasr, S. H. (1987). Traditional Islam in the Modern World. London - New York: Kegan Paul International Press.


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Ritzer, G. (2003). McDonaldizarea Societăţii [The McDonaldization of Society]. Bucureşti: comunicare.ro.

Samples, B. (1976). The Metaphoric Mind: a Celebration of Creative Consciousness. Boston: Addison-Wesley Pub. Co.

Simonnet, D. (2006). Cea mai frumoasă istorie a iubirii [The Most Beautiful Love History]. Piteşti: Paralela 45.

Wilde, O. (2003). The Picture of Dorian Gray. London: Penguin.

CONTRIBUTORS Khadija Nowaira ABDULLAH is currently a Lecturer at the King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. She holds an MBBS and an MSc in Community Ophthalmology from the University of Peshawar, Pakistan, and an MS in Public Health/Health Promotion from Leeds Metropolitan University, UK. Her main research interests are health services research, public health education, and health promotion. Muhammad Tanweer ABDULLAH is currently a Professor at the King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. He holds a BA in Mathematics and Statistics and an MA in Public Administration from the University of Peshawar, Pakistan, and an MS in Operational Research and Operations Management and a PhD in Medical Social Science from Lancaster University, UK. His main research interests are medical social science and health services research. Sümeyra ALPASLAN-DANIŞMAN is currently an Assistant Professor at the Mevlana (Rumi) University, Konya, Turkey. She holds a BA in Business Administration and a BA in Foreign Language Education from the University of Istanbul, Turkey, an MA and a PhD in Management from the University of Sakarya, Turkey. Her main research interests are organizational behaviour, organizational language, and discourse and qualitative research methodology. Omar-Zayyan ALSHARQI is currently an Assistant Professor at the King Abdulaziz University, Jeddeh, Saudi Arabia. He holds a BSc in Business Administration from the King Abdulaziz University, an MPM in Human Resources and Health Systems from Carnegie Mellon University, USA, and a PhD in Health Services and Hospital Administration from Monash University, Australia. His main research interests are health services administration, patients’ satisfaction, health insurance, and hospital administration. Fatma ARPACI is currently an Associate Professor at the Gazi University, Ankara, Turkey. She holds a BA, an MA and a PhD in Home Economics from the University of Ankara, Turkey. Her main research interests are the

Contributors

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elderly, elderly issues, elder care, ergonomics, family, family economics education, and women. She has authored Farklı Boyutlarıyla Yaşlılık [Elderly with Different Dimensions] (2005) and Türkiye Emekli Profili [Retired Profile of Turkey] (2012), and co-authored Yaşlılık: Disiplinler Arası Yaklaşım, Sorunlar, Çözümler [Elderly: Interdisciplinary Approach, Issues, Solutions] (2004), Toplumsal Gelişmede Türk ve Japon Kadının Eğitimi [Women’s Education in Turkey and Japan for Social Development] (2011), and Yetişkinlik ve Yaşlılık Gelişimi ve Psikolojisi [Adulthood and Elderly Development and Psychology] (2012). Hasan AYAYDIN is currently an Assistant Professor at the University of Gumushane, Turkey. He holds a BA in Business Administration, and an MA and a PhD in Finance from the Karadeniz Technical University, Trabzon, Turkey. His main research interests are financial management, capital markets, investment, and emerging markets. He has co-authored Sosyal bilimler ve etik [Social Sciences and Ethics] (in print). Enes-Emre BAŞAR is currently a Research Assistant at the University of Bayburt, Turkey. He holds a BA and an MA in Production Management and Marketing from the Ataturk University, Erzurum, Turkey. He is a PhD candidate in Production Management and Marketing at the same university. His main research interests are consumer behaviour and brand management. Bidhya BOWORNWATHANA was an Associate Professor at the Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand. He held a BA in Political Science from the Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand, and an MA and a PhD in Political Science from the Northern Illinois University, Illinois, USA. His main research interests were comparative public administration, public administration theory, and bureaucratic politics. He co-edited Comparative Governance Reform in Asia: Democracy, Corruption, and Government Trust (2008) and Civil Service Systems in Asia (2001). Alper-Veli ÇAM is currently an Associate Professor at the University of Gumushane, Turkey. He holds a BA in Business Administration, an MA in Industry and Technology Management, and a PhD in Finance from the Selçuk University, Konya, Turkey. Her main research interests are financial management, cost engineering, and investment. Handan ÇAM is currently an Assistant Professor at the University of Gumushane, Turkey. He holds a BA in Business Administration and an


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MA in Industry and Technology Management from the Selçuk University of Konya, Turkey, and a PhD in Numerical Methods from the Atatürk University, Erzurum, Turkey. His main research interests are statistics methods, management information systems, data mining, and structural models. Canan ÇETİN is currently a Professor at Marmara University, Istanbul, Turkey. She holds a BS in Business Administration and an MBA from the Academy of Economics and Commercial Sciences of Istanbul, Turkey, and a PhD in Business Administration from the Marmara University, Istanbul, Turkey. Her main research interests are human resources, quality management, and management organization. She has authored Toplam Kalite Yönetimi (Total Quality Management) (2013), Temel İşletmeciliğe Giriş (Fundamentals of Business) (2013), Müzakere Teknikleri: Teori, Süreç, Uygulama (Interviewing Techniques: Theory, Process, Practice) (2009), Yeniden Yapılanma: Girişimcilik, Küçük ve Orta Boy İşletmeler (Reconstruction: Entrepreneurship, Small and Medium Sized Enterprises) (1993), Personel Seçiminde Görüşme (Recruitment Negotiation) (1990), and Endüstri İşletmelerinde Kalite Kontrol Çemberleri (Quality Control Circles in Industrial Businesses) (1987), co-authored İnsan Kaynakları Yönetimi (Human Resources Management) (2013) and Temel İşletmecilik—İşletme ve Çevresi (Fundamentals of Business Administration: Business and Its Environment) (2011), and edited İnsan Kaynakları Eğitimi ve Gelişimi (Human Resources Training and Development) (2009) and Toplam Kalite Yönetimi ve ISO 9000/2000 Kalite Güvence Sistemi (Total Quality Management and ISO 9000/2000 Quality Assurance System) (2001). Nursel ÇETİNKAYA is currently an Instructor at Uludağ University, Bursa, Turkey. She holds a BA in English Language and Literature from Boğaziçi University, Istanbul, Turkey, and she is an MA Candidate in Educational Administration and Supervision at the Yeditepe University, Istanbul, Turkey. Her main research interests are educational administration, human resources development in education, and educational organizations. Lia-Codrina CONŢIU is currently an Assistant Professor at the “Petru Maior” University, Tîrgu Mureş, Romania. She has a BA in Philology from the “Babeş-Bolyai” University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania, a BA in Management and an MA in Business Management from the “Petru Maior” University, and a PhD in Management from the “Babeş-Bolyai”

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University of Cluj-Napoca. Her main research interests are organizational communication, organizational culture, knowledge management, human resources management. She has published extensively in the field of management. Hüsne DEMIREL is currently an Associate Professor at Gazi University, Ankara, Turkey. She holds a BA and an MA in Family Economics and Nutrution from the same University and a PhD in Family and Consumer Science from the University of Ankara, Turkey. Her main research interests are family economy, family relations, woman in social life, consumer behaviour, consumer culture and consumer psychology. She has authored Kat Hizmetleri (House Keeping) (2002). Orhan ELMACI is currently an Associated Professor at Dumlupınar University, Kutahya, Turkey. He holds a BA, an MA and a PhD in Management from the Anadolu University, Eskişehir, Turkey. His main research interests are cost accounting, auditing, management accounting, total quality, in business performance measurement, measurement of competitiveness of businesses, and accounting theory. He has published extensively in the field of management. Aysel ERCİŞ is currently a Professor at the Atatürk University, Erzurum, Turkey. She holds a BA in Business and a PhD in Production Management and Marketing from the same university. Her main research interests are consumer behaviour and brand management. She has authored Pazarlama Yönetimi (Marketing Management) (1984) and Pazarlama İlkeleri (Marketing Principles) (1993). Gürcü ERDAMAR is an Associate Professor at the Gazi University, Ankara, Turkey. She holds a BA in Child Development and Education program from the same University, and an MA and a PhD in Educational Programs and Teaching from the Hacettepe University, Ankara, Turkey. Her main research interests are teacher training, teaching practices, learning-teaching approaches, epistemological beliefs, study strategies, family relations. She has authored Eğitim Psikolojisi (Educational Psychology) (2011), Eğitimde Yeni Yönelimler (New Trends in Education) (2011) and Öğretim İlke ve Yöntemleri (Teaching Principles and Methods) (2013). Senem ERTAN is currently a Principal Investigator at the Woman Stats Project and Database, Istanbul, Turkey. She holds a BA in International


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Relations from the Ege University, Izmir, Turkey, an MA in Global Political Economy from the University of Kassel, Germany, and a PhD in Political Science from the University of Siena, Italy. Her main research interests are gender studies, international comparative research, and state and religion. She has published extensively in the field of political science. Mihajlo FEJSA is currently an Associate Professor at the University of Novi Sad, Serbia. He holds a BA in Linguistics from the same University, an MA in Linguistics from the University of Belgrade, Serbia, and a PhD in Linguistics from the University of Novi Sad. His main research interests are the Ruthenian language, the English language, contrastive linguistics, lexicology, morphology, syntax, codification of the Ruthenian/Rusyn language, and history and culture of the Ruthenians/Rusyns. He has authored English Elements in the Ruthenian Language (1990), Tense and Aspect in Ruthenian and English (2005), Functioning of the Vø Construction/Form in Expressing Temporal-Verbal Relations (2009), The New Serbia and Its Ruthenian Minority (2010); co-authored Let’s Speak English and Rusyn (1998), Serbian-Ruthenian Dictionary (1/1995, 2/1998), Ruthenian-Serbian Dictionary (2010), and Talia in Kucura (2013), and edited Rusyns/Rusnaks/Ruthenians (1745-2005) (1/2006, 2/2008) and In the Middle of the Wide Plain (2013). Denis FORASACCO is currently a Foreign Lecturer at the Akdeniz Üniversitesi, Antalya, Turkey. He holds a BA in Foreign Languages and Literatures from the Università degli Studi di Padua, Italy, and a PhD in Modern and Contemporary German Literature from the Julius-Maximilians-Universität, Würzburg, Germany. His main research interests are Comparative Literature, Renaissance Studies, and 19th and 20th-century German Literature. He has authored Girolamo Savonarola in der deutschen Dichtung um 1900. Zwischen fiktivem Archetypus und Projektionsfigur der Krise (Girolamo Savonarola in the German Literature around 1900: Between Fictitious Archetype and Projection Figure of the Crisis) (2008). Manuela-Rozalia GABOR currently works as an Associate Professor at the “Petru Maior” University, Tîrgu Mureş, Romania. She has a BA in Marketing and an MA in Management of Business Negotiation from the “Dunărea de Jos” University, Galaţi, Romania, an MA in Management from the “Constantin Brâncoveanu” University, Piteşti, Romania, and a PhD in Cybernetics and Economic Statistics from the Academy of Economic Studies, Bucharest, Romania. Her main research interests are

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qualitative and quantitative methods for marketing research (including advertising), tourism, hotel management, brand management, consumer behaviour, econometrics and statistics. She has authored Comportamentul consumatorului—studii de caz, aplicaţii, cercetări (Consumer Behaviour: Case Studies, Applications, Researches) (2011) and Prospectarea pieţei prin metoda statistică (Market Prospecting by Statistical Method) (2013), and co-authored Metode statistice şi econometrice aplicate în economie. Culegere de probleme (Statistical and Econometric Methods Applied in Economy: Exercises) (2011). Ufuk GENCEL is currently an Assistant Professor at the Onsekiz Mart University, Çanakkale, Turkey. He holds a BA, an MA and a PhD in Public Finance from “Dokuz Eylul” University, Izmir, Turkey. His main research interests are legislation on tax, Turkish tax system and public finance. He has authored Türkiye’de Yatırım Kararları Üzerinde Kurumlar Vergisinin Etkisi: Bir Alan Araştırması (Impact of Corporate Tax on Investment Decisions: A Field Research) (2007). Gaye GÖKALP-YILMAZ is currently a Research Assistant at the Sıtkı Koçman University, Muğla, Turkey. She holds a BA in Political Science and Public Administration from the Bilkent University, Ankara, Turkey and an MA in Sociology from the Sıtkı Koçman University, Muğla. She is a PhD candidate in Sociology at the same University. Her main research interests are everyday life sociology, german turks, migration, and political sociology. Turgut GÜMÜŞOĞLU is currently an Associate Professor at the University of Istanbul, Turkey. He holds a BA in Sociology from the same University, and a BA in Sociology, an MA in Cultural Sociology and a PhD in Applied Linguistics from the University of Vienna, Austria. His main research interests are sociolinguistics, translations studies, sociology. He has authored Turkish Migrant in Austria: A social survey of Turkish migrant between structure and integration (Peter Lang, 2009) and Language Contact and Turkish-German Code-Switching (Peter Lang, 2010). Kübra HIDIROĞLU is currently a Research Assistant at the University of Kirklareli, Turkey. She holds a BA in Sociology and an MA in Sociology from the Uludag University, Bursa, Turkey, and a PhD in Sociology from the University of Istanbul, Turkey. Her main research interests are diaspora, identity and culture.


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Metehan IRAK is currently an Associate Professor at the Bahçeşehir University, Istanbul, Turkey. He holds a BA in Psychology from the University of Ankara, Turkey, and an MSc and a PhD in Experimental Psychology from the Hacettepe University, Ankara, Turkey. His main research interests are metacognition, memory, and executive functions. He has co-authored Multidisipliner Yaklaşımla Beyin ve Biliş (Brain and Cognition: Multidisciplinary Approach) (2000) and Beyin ve Nöropsikoloji: Temel ve Klinik bilimler (Brain and Neuropsychology: Basic and Clinical Sciences) (2003), and edited Psikopatolojilerde Bilgi İşleme Süreçleri: Kuramdan Uygulamaya (Information Processing in Psychopathologies: From Theory to Practice) (2009). Ljubica KORDIĆ is currently an Assistant Professor at the “J. J. Strossmayer” University, Osijek, Croatia. She holds a BA in English and German from the same University, and an MA in the Methodology of Foreign Language Teaching and a PhD in Linguistics from the University of Zagreb, Croatia. Her main research interests are foreign language teaching (English and German), legal linguistics and sociolinguistics, and multilingualism and minority languages. She has published extensively in the field of linguistics. Vefa KURBAN is currently an Associate Professor at the “Dokuz Eylul” University, Izmir, Turkey. She holds a BA in History, and an MA and a PhD in the History of Turkish Republic from the Ege University, Izmir, Turkey. Her main research interests are general Turkish history and Turkish world history. She authored Neriman Nerimanov ve Türkiye Politikası (Neriman Nerimanov and Turkish Policy) (2012) and Nobeller, Nobel Ödülü ve Bakü Petrolleri (The Nobel Family, Nobel Prizes and Baku Petroleum) (2013). Usama NASSAR is currently an Assistant Professor at Suez Canal University, Ismailia, Egypt. He holds a BA in Architecture Engineering and an MA in Urban Design from the University of Cairo, Egypt, and a PhD in Urban Design from the Suez Canal University, Ismailia. His main research interests are urban design, landscape architecture and green urbanism. He has authored Landscape as a Tool to Enhance Behavioural Response and Activities (2013). Abdullah ÖKCESİZ is currently an Assistant Professor at Karadeniz Technical University, Trabzon, Turkey. He holds a BA in Business Administration from the Atatürk University, Erzurum, Turkey, an MA in

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Organization and Business Policy from the University of Istanbul, Turkey, and a PhD in Management and Organization from the Selçuk University, Konya, Turkey. His main research interests are management and organization, cooperatives, social policy, behavioural sciences and poetry. He has authored The Third Sector (Cooperatives & Cooperative) (1999), The Florist Girl (1999). Roida Rzayeva OKTAY is currently an Associate Professor at the Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences, Baku, Azerbaijan. She holds a BA and an MA in Oriental Studies from the Baku State University, Baku, Azerbaijan, and a PhD in Philosophical Studies from the Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences, Baku. Her main research interests are philosophy of culture, philosophical anthropology, sociology and culturology, modernity, postmodernity, development of public conscience, multiculturalism, alternative modernities, and non-Western contemporaneity. She has authored Rus ve Azerbaycan Kaynaklarında Türk Modernleşmesi (Turkish Modernization in Russian and Azerbaijani Sources) (2012) and co-authored Puti razvitiya turetskoy literaturi (The Development Ways of Turkish Literature) (2001). Gözde-Gülin OTKEN is currently working with Koska, Mahir Food Industry and Trade Inc., Istanbul, Turkey She holds a BA in Business Administration and an MA in Marketing from the “Mustafa Kemal” University, Hatay, Turkey. Her main research interests are new product development and brand management. Gökçe ÖZDEMIR-BAYRAK is currently an Associate Professor at Yasar University, İzmir, Turkey. She holds a BA in Economics from the Dokuz Eylül University, İzmir, Turkey, and an MA and a PhD in Tourism Management from the Dokuz Eylül University, İzmir. Her main research interests are services marketing, destination management and marketing, event management and marketing. She has authored Destinasyon Pazarlaması (Destination Marketing) (2007). Ferika ÖZER-SARI is currently an Assistant Professor at Yasar University, İzmir, Turkey. She holds a BA in Tourism and Hotel Management from the Çukurova University, Mersin, Turkey, an MBA from the Yasar University, İzmir, Turkey, and a PhD in Tourism Management from the Dokuz Eylul University, İzmir, Turkey. Her main research interests are services management, service quality, travel and tourism, hospitality management, and marina management.


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Cansın ÖZGÖR is currently the coordinator of the Brain and Cognition Research Laboratory in Bahcesehir University, Istanbul, Turkey. He holds a BA in Psychology and is currently an MSc Student in Psychology at the same University. His main research interests are metacognition and electrophysiology. Ahmet ÖZKAN is currently an Assistant at the Dumlupinar University, Kutahya, Turkey. He holds a BSc in Engineering, an MA in Management Organization versus Operating Program, and a PhD in Business Administration from the same University. His main research interests are cost accounting, productivity, rentability, and growth. Dubravka PAPA is currently a Senior Lecturer at the “J. J. Strossmayer” University, Osijek, Croatia. She holds a BA in English and German languages and literature from the same University. Her main research interests are in the field of legal linguistics (English and German for Legal Purposes) as well as Business English and Business German, multilingualism and applied linguistics. Cornelia PETROMAN is currently a Professor at the Banat University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine of Timişoara, Romania. She has a BSc in Animal Husbandry from the same university and a BSc in Hospitality from the “Dimitrie Cantemir” University of Timişoara. She has a PhD in Animal Husbandry from the University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine of Bucharest (Romania). Her main research interests are food service, food processing, and hospitality. She has published extensively in the fields of animal husbandry, food processing, hospitality, and food service. Ioan PETROMAN is currently a Professor at the Banat University of Agricultural and Veterinary Medicine of Timişoara, Romania. He has a BSc in Animal Husbandry from the same university, a BSc in Management from the “Dimitrie Cantemir” University of Timişoara, a PhD in Animal Husbandry from the University of Agricultural and Veterinary Medicine of Bucharest, Romania, and a PhD in Management from the West University of Timişoara. He has published extensively in the field of animal husbandry, food processing, and tourism. Georgeta RAŢĂ is currently an Associate Professor at the Banat University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine in Timişoara, Romania. She has a BA in French and English and a PhD in Linguistics

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from the University of Bucharest, Romania. Her main areas of interest include languages, communication, and education sciences. She has co-edited Social Sciences Today: Between Theory and Practice (CSP, 2010), Academic Days of Timişoara: Social Sciences Today (CSP, 2011), Applied Social Sciences: Sociology (CSP, 2013), and Multicultural Education: From Theory to Practice (CSP, 2013). Remus RUNCAN is currently a Coordinating Pastor at the Maranata Baptist Christian Church of Timișoara, Romania, and a PhD Student at the West University, Timişoara. He has a BA in Theology from the “Babeș-Bolyai” University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania, and an MA in Theology from the TCM International Institute of Vienna, Austria. His main research interests are applied theology, social work, communication, and socialisation networks. Arunee SANTHITIWANICH is currently a Lecturer at the Universityof Ubon Ratchathani, Thailand. She holds a BA in Political Science, an MPA in Public Administration, and a PhD in Political Science from the Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand. Her main research interests are public administration theory, public administrative reform and governance, and public policy. Burak SARI is currently an MA Student at the Onsekiz Mart University, Çanakkale, Turkey. He holds a BA in Public Finance from the same university. His main research interests are legislation on tax, Turkish tax system and public finance. Şerafettin SEVIM is currently a Professor at the Dumlupınar University, Kutahya, Turkey. He holds a BA, an MA and PhD in Business from the Anadolu University, Eskişehir, Turkey. His main research interests are accounting standards, auditing, financial statement analysis, knowledge management, and accounting information systems. He authored Financial Reporting and Analysis (2011), Accounting Information Systems (2010), and Corporate Accounting (2011). Mzia SHELIA is currently a Senior Researcher at the “Ilia” State University and an Associate Professor at “Grigol Robakidze” University, Tbilisi, Georgia. She holds a BA and an MA in Economics from the “Ivane Javakhishvili” State University, Tbilisi, and a PhD in Economics from the Institute of Demography and Sociology, Tbilisi. Her main research interests are labour economics, population economics,


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demography, migration, social politics. She has authored Mosaxleobis dabereba saqar Tvelo Si (Population Aging in Georgia) (1999) and Xandazmuli mosaxleoba saqar Tvelo Si (socialuri da ekonomikuri problemebi) (Georgian Elderly (Social and Economic Problems)) (2013), and co-authored Sromis bazari da dabrunebul migrant Ta reintegracia saqar Tvelo Si (Labour Market and Reintegration of Returned Migrants in Georgia) (2012), Socio-Economic Problems of Return Migration in Georgia (2012), Internally Displaced Persons on the Georgian Labour Market (2012), and Labour Migration from Georgia (2003). Hande ŞAHİN is currently an Assistant Professor at the “Celal Bayar” University, Manisa, Turkey. She holds a BA in Sociology from the University of Ankara, Turkey, an MA in Sociology from the Ortadoğu Teknik University, Ankara, Turkey, and a PhD in Sociology from the University of Ankara. Her main research interests are labour relations, neo liberalism, globalization and capitalism, economic crisis, and working life. She has authored Küreselleşme Sürecinde İşçilerin Direnme ve Hayatta Kalma Stratejileri (Strategies of Workers’ Resistance and Survival Strategies in the Process of Globalization) (2013) and co-authored Neo-liberal Politikaların İşçi Sınıfına Yansıması (Reflections of Neo-Liberal Policies on Working Class) (2008). Beyza-Çağatay TEKIN is currently an Assistant Professor at the Galatasaray University, Istanbul, Turkey. She holds a BA and an MA in Economics from the Boğaziçi University and a PhD in Political Science and International Relations from Boğaziçi University and Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, Paris, France. Her main research interests are Turkey-EU relations, EU international identity, and issues of culture and identity in International Relations. She has authored Representations and Othering in Discourse: The Construction of Turkey in the EU Context (John Benjamins, 2010). Şadan TOKYÜREK is currently an Assistant Professor at the Gazi University, Ankara, Turkey. She holds a BA, an MA, and a PhD in Family Economics and Nutrition from the same University. Her main research interests are the elderly, the family, family economics, home and institution management, women. She has authored Kat Hizmetleri (İnsan Kaynakları Yönetimi ve Eğitimi Açısından) (Hosekeeping (In Terms of Human Resources Management and Education)) (2009) and co-authored Ev ve Ailede Yaşam Yönetimi (Life Management in the Home and Family) (2002) and Toplumsal Gelişmede Türk ve Japon Kadınının Eğitimi

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(Women’s Education In Turkey and Japan for Social Development) (2011). Muammer TUNA is currently a Professor at the Sıtkı Koçman University, Muğla, Turkey. He holds a BA from the University of Ankara, Turkey, an MA from the Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, USA and a PhD from the Mississippi State University, Starkville, USA. His main research interests are environmental sociology, environmental behaviour, environment and tourism, democracy and modernization and international migration. He has authored Globalization Environmentalism: Impacts of Multi-Level Effects on Environmental Attitudes (2010), Yatağan Termik Santrali’nin Çevresel ve Toplumsal Etkileri (Environmental and Social Impacts of Yatağan Thermic Power Plant) (2001), Türkiye’de Çevrecilik: Türkiye’de Çevreye İlişkin Toplumsal Eğilimler (Environmentalism in Turkey: Social Attitudes Towards Environment in Turkey) (2006), Turizm, Çevre ve Toplum: Marmaris Örneği (Tourism, Environment and Society: Marmaris as a Case Study) (2007), Modern Toplumun İnşası (Construction of a Modern Society) (2011), Sosyolojiye Giriş-Sosyolojinin Temel Tartışmaları (Introduction to Sociology: Main Debates in Sociology) (2012), co-authored Yerlileşen Yabancılar-Güney Ege Bölgesi’nde Göç, yurttaşlık ve Kimliğin Dönüşümü (Settled Foreigners: Transformation of Migration, Citizenship and Identity in South Aegean Region) (2012), and edited Turizm Sosyolojisi (Sociology of Tourism) (2012) and Çevre Sosyolojisi (Sociology of Environment) (2012). Kadir TUTKAVUL is currently an Assistant Researcher at the Dumlupinar University, Kutahya, Turkey. He holds a BSc in Engineering, an MA in Management Organization versus Operating Program, and a PhD in Business Administration from the same University. His main research interests are cost accounting, productivity, rentability, and growth. Tulın URAL is an Associate Professor at Mustafa Kemal University, Antakya, Turkey. She has a BA from the University of Istanbul, Turkey, an MA in XXX from the Mustafa Kemal University, Antakya, Turkey, and a PhD in Marketing from Çukurova University, Adana, Turkey. Her main research interests are strategic marketing, international marketing, marketing ethics, service marketing and brand management. She has authored Isletme ve Pazarlama Etigi (Business and Marketing Ethics) (2003), Markalamada Yol Haritası (Road Map of Branding) (2009), Konaklama Isletmelerinde Pazar Yonluluk (Market Orientation in


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Hospitality Enterprises) (2009), co-authored Pazarlama Etigi (Marketing Ethics) (2012), and co-edited Pazarlama Ilkeleri (Marketing Principles) (2011). Doruk UYSAL-IRAK is currently an Assistant Professor at the Bahçeşehir University, Istanbul, Turkey. She holds a BA in Psychology and an MA in Industrial and Organizational Psychology from the Hacettepe University, Ankara, Turkey, and a PhD in Social and Organizational Psychology from Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada. Her main research interests are person-environment fit, personality, and job/life satisfaction. Svetlana YEPANCHINTSEVA is currently a PhD student at the “T. Ryskulov” Kazakh Economics University, Almaty, Kazakhstan. She holds a BA in Economics and an MA in Economics from the Almaty Technological University, Almaty. Her main research interests are competition and competitiveness, ensuring competitiveness of textile and clothing industry enterprises, and cluster development as an instrument for increasing competitiveness. Ercüment YILDIRIM is currently an Assistant Professor at the Sütcü Imam University, Kahramanmaras, Turkey. He holds a BA in History from the Selcuk University, Konya, Turkey, an MA in Ancient History from the University of Gaziantep, Turkey, and a PhD in Ancient History from the Selcuk University. His main research interests are ancient history, Middle East history, and Mesopotamian archaeology. Nihat YILMAZ is currently an Assistant Professor at the University of Gumushane, Turkey. He holds a BA in Public Administration from the University of Sakarya, Turkey, an MA in Political Science from the University of Augsburg, Germany, and a PhD in Political Science from the University of Siegen, Germany. Her main research interests are political science, political sociology, and comparative politics. Yasemin YÜCE-TAR is currently a Lecturer at the Ondokuz Mayıs University, Samsun, Turkey. She holds a BA in Political Science from the University of Istanbul, Turkey, an MA in Political Science from the Middle East Technical University, Ankara, Turkey, and a PhD in Sociology of Religion from the Ondokuz Mayıs University, Samsun. Her main research interests are gender, migration, and political sociology.

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Elisabeta ZELINKA is currently a Lecturer at the West University, Timişoara, Romania. She holds a BA in Literary Studies, an MA in Gender Studies, and a PhD in Comparative Literature and Gender Studies from the same University. Her main research interests are social psychology, philosophy, and cultural studies. She has authored A Psycho-Social Analysis of the Occident—Cunningham, 73 Years after Woolf: A Meeting in Androgyny (2010).