In Search of a Lost Class: Class Formation and Modernization in Anatolia

Year 2015, Volume: 70 Issue: 3, 541 - 570, 03.11.2015

Bahadır Nurol

https://doi.org/10.1501/SBFder_0000002363

Abstract

Based on a field research, this study examines the rise and decline of the working class in an industrial town in Central Anatolia. It focuses in particular on the role of State Economic Enterprises (SEEs) in class formation and attempts to analyze the process as they appeared in the life histories of workers who had been employed by the government. The study has been conducted in Eregli where one of the biggest cotton factories of Turkey was located. The study has three main findings. First, in the initial years, the workers related their social status and respectability with the workplace, which meant a transition from traditional agricultural workmanship to modern industrial workmanship. Second, for the next generation, workers have great doubts about this organizational pattern, and looked for new points of departures for several reasons: arbitrary behaviors of the managers; corruption of the labor union; heavy workload and continuous labor control. Third, the privatization of the enterprise has uprooted the last generation. It has brought about disintegration that was not merely financial but also social, and even cultural

Keywords

working class, class formation, modernization, privatization, industrial towns

Kayıp Sınfın Peşinde: Anadolu'da Sınıf Oluşumu ve Modernleşme

Abstract

Bir saha araştırmasına dayanan bu çalışma, Orta Anadolu’daki bir sanayi kasabasında işçi sınıfının yükseliş ve çöküş süreçlerini inceliyor. Çalışma özel olarak Kamu İktisadi Teşebbüsleri’nin (KİTler) sınıf oluşumundaki rolüne odaklanıyor ve bu süreci devlet için çalışmış olan işçilerin hayat öykülerinde görüldüğü şekliyle analiz ediyor. Çalışma Türkiye’nin en büyük tekstil fabrikalarından birinin bulunduğu Ereğli’de yürütüldü. Çalışmanın sonucunda üç temel bulguya ulaşıldı. İlk olarak, fabrikanın kuruluş yıllarında işçiler sosyal statü ve saygınlıklarını işyerleriyle ilişkilendirmektedir ki bu durum geleneksel tarım işçiliğinden modern sanayi işçiliğine geçiş anlamı taşımaktadır. İkinci olarak, bir sonraki işçi kuşağı söz konusu örgütsel modele güvensizlik duymaya başlamış ve yeni arayışlar peşine düşmüştür. Bu güvencesizliğin gerekçeleri, yöneticilerin keyfi davranışları, sendikanın yozlaşması, ağır iş yükü ve sürekli denetim altında çalışmaktır. Üçüncü olarak, işletmenin özelleştirilmesi en son kuşağı köklerinden uzaklaştırmıştır. Özelleştirme bu kuşak için yalnızca mali değil, sosyal ve kültürel anlamda da çözülme anlamına gelmektedir.

Keywords

işçi sınıfı, sınıf oluşumu, modernleşme, özelleştirme, sanayi kasabaları

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