Çeyrek Yüzyılın İçinden Kendimize Bakmak: Kuruluşlarının 25. Yılında Çalışma Ekonomisi ve Endüstri İlişkileri Bölümleri Üzerine Bir Değerlendirme

Abstract

AN EVALUATION ON THE DEPARTMENTS OF LABOUR ECONOMICS AND INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS AT THEIR 25th ANNIVERSARY

Abstract

The formation of the social policy discipline in Turkey has a history of over 75 years. This process has started with Gerhard Kessler who fled from the Nazi Germany, teaching social policy courses at the Faculty of Economics of Istanbul University. In the consequent periods, alongside with this Faculty, the formation of social policy discipline in Turkey continued within another line initiated by Cahit Talas at the Faculty of Political Science of Ankara University, from 1953 on. In 1982, the “chairs of social policy and labour law” of these two Faculties were transformed into departments of Labour Economics and Industrial Relations and today, with the opening of same departments in different universities their number reached 20. These departments are contributing to the field of social sciences by their under graduate and graduate programs as well as by their research on the different aspects of working life. However, in these departments some problems have manifested themselves in time. The neglect of the interdisciplinary nature of our field of study and the weakening of our relations with other social disciplines is one of them. When evaluated in general terms, the distancing of our departments from their 70 years of social policy tradition, the “human resources” approach attaining a dimension which dominates the field of study of the departments, not enough emphasis on some basic subjects such as trade unionism and labour history are among the important problems. The 25th anniversary of our departments of Labour Economics and Industrial Relations, whose roots in a sense go back to three quarters of a century, constitutes a good opportunity and chance to think about our problems and possible solutions. The purpose of this study is to draw attention to these problems and solutions

Keywords

• Social policy, labour history, human resources, trade