Conceptual Recalibration of the Debates on Urban Poverty: Wacquant and Advanced Marginality

Year 2019, Volume: 10 Issue: 26, 28 - 59, 14.05.2019

Anıl Mühürdaroğlu

https://doi.org/10.31198/idealkent.527913

Abstract

Following the de-industrialization process in advanced
countries, the existence of populations which were largely excluded from
employment opportunities had become more and more apparent by 1980ies.
Urbanization literature tried to understand the ongoing process by using the
instruments of American sociology which had an advanced tradition of research
on extensive neighborhoods of poverty in the so-called inner city. Discussions
on the transformation of urban poverty in European cities had been largely filled
with American-originated concepts like ghetto and underclass during the periods
when Loic Wacquant started his research on urban poverty. Wacquant offered a
comparative perspective and repudiated the arguments which were based on the
assumption of the Americanization of European cities. In addition, he argued
that conceptualization of urban poverty in American sociology mostly serves for
the stigmatization of black ghetto residents. Wacquant’s main contribution is
his studies on the black ghetto. Standing against the tendency of the American
sociological tradition to strip off the political implications of poverty and
presenting it as a technical problem of service provision, Wacquant offers a
perspective which focuses on the direct involvement of the state in
segregation. According to Wacquant, the state in the US tried to deal with
poverty by increasing the concentration of black population who have little or
no employment opportunity in the restructured economy in ghettos on the one
hand, and extending and tightening the instruments of control and punishment on
the other. In this study, Wacquant’s general evaluations on the literature on
urbanization and his critique of American sociology’s approach to the ghetto
phenomenon will be introduced and his own formulation on this issue will be
critically evaluated.

Keywords

Ghetto, advanced marginality, urban poverty, underclass

Kentsel Yoksulluk Tartışmalarının Kavramsal Kalibrasyonu: Wacquant ve İleri Marjinallik

Abstract

Gelişmiş
ülkelerdeki endüstrisizleşme sürecini takiben metropollerde istihdam imkanına
büyük oranda sahip olmayan geniş kitlelerin varlığı 1980’li yıllarla birlikte
gözle görünür hale geldi. Kentleşme yazını bu durumu, kent merkezlerinde
sıkışmış geniş yoksul mahalleler konusunda gelişmiş bir araştırma geleneğine
sahip olan Amerikan sosyolojisinin sunduğu araçlardan faydalanarak çözümleme
yoluna gitti. Loic Wacquant’ın kentsel yoksulluk üzerine çalışmaya başladığı
dönemlerde Avrupa kentlerinde yoksulluğun dönüşümü büyük oranda getto ve sınıf-altı
gibi Amerikan menşeili kavramlar üzerinden tartışılmaktaydı. Wacquant
karşılaştırmalı bir bakış açısı önererek gelişmiş ülke kentlerinin
Amerikanlaşacağı yönündeki argümanları reddetmiş, ayrıca Amerikan
sosyolojisinin kendi içerisinde yoksulluğu kavramsallaştırma tarzının büyük
oranda Amerikan siyah gettosunda yaşayanları damgalayıcı bir nitelik taşıdığını
ortaya koymaya çalışmıştır. Wacquant’ın kent sosyolojisine yönelik temel
katkısı siyah gettosuna dair değerlendirmelerinde ortaya çıkar. Amerikan sosyoloji
geleneğinin yoksulluk olgusunu siyasal içerimlerinden sıyırarak teknik bir
hizmet sunumu sorunu olarak ele alma alışkanlığı karşısında Wacquant, devletin
ayrımcılık olgusuna doğrudan dahlini göstermeyi hedefleyen bir yaklaşım önerir.
Wacquant’a göre ABD’de devlet yoksulluk meselesini bir yandan yeni ekonomik
yapılanma içerisinde istihdam imkânı bulamayan siyah nüfusun gettolarda daha
fazla yoğunlaşmalarına yönelik uygulamalarla, öte yandan denetim ve
cezalandırma uygulamalarını daha da genişletip sıkılaştırmak suretiyle ele
almıştır. Bu çalışmada Wacquant’ın kentleşme literatürüne dair genel
değelendirmeleri ile Amerikan kent sosyolojisinin getto olgusuna bakışına dair
eleştirileri ele alınacak, ardından kendi alternatif formülasyonu eleştirel
olarak değerlendirilecektir.

Keywords

ileri marjinallik, kentsel yoksulluk, sınıf-altı, Getto, sınıf-altı

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