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ISTANBUL CAB DRIVERS AND DISPUTE RESOLUTION: A STUDY OF LEGAL CONSCIOUSNESS

Year 2022, Volume: 25 Issue: 3, 504 - 520, 30.10.2022
https://doi.org/10.18490/sosars.1196611

Abstract

For three decades until November 2021, when an additional 1,000 cab licenses were issued, the total number of cab licenses in İstanbul was limited to 17,395. As the total number of cab licenses has not kept pace with İstanbul’s growing population, it has become impossible in the last decade to find an available cab during rush hours. The increasing scarcity of cabs not only turned this issue into an important social and political problem; it also brought many other players into the market, such as pirate cabs and Uber, the ridesharing app. Surprisingly, there is limited scholarly research on İstanbul cab drivers and the sector in general. Based on a research project conducted by undergraduate students in İstanbul during the fall of 2017, this article takes a comparative look at how İstanbul cab drivers engage in dispute resolution. During field work based on 19 semi-structured interviews with cab drivers and participant observation at a cab station, two types of grievances emerged as the most important issues for these drivers: 1) problems at the cab station, especially with the order of dispatching, and 2) encroachment by Uber. While most of the drivers were quite successful in utilizing various dispute resolution mechanisms in dealing with grievances at the cab station, very few of them engaged in mobilization, such as pursuing mechanisms to combat the increasing competition from Uber. We argue in this article that cab drivers are more likely to mobilize in defense of their rights if they believe that they are legitimate and rights-bearing subjects, as they are at the cab station. However, they are less likely to mobilize for their rights if they believe that they are marginalized and disreputable members of society, as in the case of their grievances against Uber. In other words, we argue that rights mobilization depends heavily on a sense of belonging.

References

  • Abrego, L. J. (2011). Legal Consciousness of Undocumented Latinos: Fear and Stigma as Barriers to Claims-Making for First- and 1.5-Generation Immigrants. Law and Society Review, 45(2), 337–370. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-5893.2011.00435.x.
  • Abrego, L. J. (2019). Relational Legal Consciousness of U.S. Citizenship: Privilege, Responsibility, Guilt, and Love in Latino Mixed-Status Families. Law & Society Review, 53(3), 641–670. https://doi.org/10.1111/lasr.12414.
  • Boittin, M. L. (2013). New Perspectives from the Oldest Profession: Abuse and the Legal Consciousness of Sex Workers in China. Law and Society Review, 47(2), 245–278. https://doi.org/10.1111/lasr.12016.
  • Chua, L. J., & Engel, D. M. (2019). Legal Consciousness Reconsidered. Annual Review of Law and Social Science, 15(1), 335–353. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-lawsocsci-101518-042717.
  • Dursun, S., Aytaç, S., & Akıncı, F. S. (2011). İşe Bağlı Şi̇ddet ve Stres: Taksi̇ Sürücüleri̇ne Yöneli̇k Bi̇r Uygulama. Sosyal Siyaset Konferansları, 61(2), 1–20. Retrieved from http://journals.istanbul.edu.tr/iusskd/article/viewFile/1023019130/1023018277.
  • Ewick, P., & Silbey, S. (1998). The Common Place of Law. Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press.
  • Felstiner, W. L. F., Abel, R. L., & Sarat, A. (1981). The Emergence and Transformation of Disputes: Naming, Blaming, Claiming . . . Law & Society Review, 15(3/4), 631–654. https://doi.org/10.2307/3053505.
  • Gallagher, M. E. (2006). Mobilizing the law in China: “Informed disenchantment” and the development of legal consciousness. Law and Society Review, 40(4), 783–816. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-5893.2006.00281.x.
  • Hoffmann, E. A. (2003). Legal consciousness and dispute resolution: Different disputing behavior at two similar taxicab companies. Law & Social Inquiry, 29(3), 691–716. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1747-4469.2003.tb00212.x.
  • Hoffmann, E. A. (2005). Dispute resolution in a worker cooperative: Formal procedures and procedural justice. Law and Society Review, 39(1), 51–82. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0023-9216.2005.00077.x.
  • Hull, K. E. (2003). The Cultural Power of Law and the Cultural Enactment of Legality: The Case of Same-Sex Marriage. Law & Social Inquiry, (28), 629–657.
  • Hull, K. E. (2016). Legal Consciousness in Marginalized Groups: The Case of LGBT People. Law and Social Inquiry, 41(3), 551–572. https://doi.org/10.1111/lsi.12190 İstanbul Yıllık Ulaşım Raporu 2017. (2018). İstanbul.
  • Lehoucq, E., & Taylor, W. K. (2019). Conceptualizing Legal Mobilization: How Should We Understand the Deployment of Legal Strategies? Law & Social Inquiry, 45(1), 166–193.
  • Marshall, A. M. (2003). Injustice Frames, Legality, and the Everyday Construction of Sexual Harassment. Law & Social Inquiry, 28(3), 659–689. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1747-4469.2003.tb00211.x.
  • Marshall, A. M. (2005). Idle rights: Employees’ rights consciousness and the construction of sexual harassment policies. Law and Society Review, 39(1), 83–123. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0023-9216.2005.00078.x.
  • Merry, S. E. (1990). Getting Justice and Getting Even. Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press.
  • Munzuroğlu, U., Şeker, D. Z., & Musaoğlu, N. (2017). İstanbul’daki Taksi İşletmeciliğinin İredelenmesi ve CBS Destekli Düzenleme Önerisi. In TMMOB Harita ve Kadastro Mühendisleri Odası 11. Harita Bilimsel ve Teknin Kurultayı. Ankara.
  • Nielsen, L. B. (2000). Situating legal consciousness: Experiences and attitudes of ordinary citizens about law and street harassment. Law & Society Review, 34(4), 1055–1090. https://doi.org/10.2307/3115131.
  • Nuhrat, Y. (2020). Moralities in mobility: negotiating moral subjectivities in Istanbul’s traffic. Mobilities, 15(3), 325–340. https://doi.org/10.1080/17450101.2020.1713543.
  • Öztürk, Z., & Öztürk, T. (2010). İstanbul Kara Ulaşımında Alan Kullanımı Ekolojik Faktörünün Belirlenmesi. İMO Teknik Dergi, 4979–4985.
  • Türkiye İstatistik Kurumu. (February 04, 2022). Adrese Dayalı Nüfus Kayıt Sistemi Sonuçları, 2021. Retrieved from https://data.tuik.gov.tr/Bulten/Index?p=Adrese-Dayali-Nufus-Kayit-Sistemi-Sonuclari-2021-45500#:~:text=%C4%B0stanbul'un%20n%C3%BCfusu%2C%20bir%20%C3%B6nceki,832%20ki%C5%9Fi%20ile%20Antalya%20izledi.%20(Accessed%20on%2008/04/2022).
  • Yazici, B. (2013). Towards an Anthropology of Traffic: A Ride Through Class Hierarchies on Istanbul’s Roadways. Ethnos, 78(4), 515–542. https://doi.org/10.1080/00141844.2012.714395.
  • Young, K. M. (2014). Everyone knows the game: Legal consciousness in the hawaiian cockfight. Law and Society Review, 48(3), 499–530. https://doi.org/10.1111/lasr.1209.

ISTANBUL CAB DRIVERS AND DISPUTE RESOLUTION: A STUDY OF LEGAL CONSCIOUSNESS

Year 2022, Volume: 25 Issue: 3, 504 - 520, 30.10.2022
https://doi.org/10.18490/sosars.1196611

Abstract

For three decades until November 2021, when an additional 1,000 cab licenses were issued, the total number of cab licenses in İstanbul was limited to 17,395. As the total number of cab licenses has not kept pace with İstanbul’s growing population, it has become impossible in the last decade to find an available cab during rush hours. The increasing scarcity of cabs not only turned this issue into an important social and political problem; it also brought many other players into the market, such as pirate cabs and Uber, the ridesharing app. Surprisingly, there is limited scholarly research on İstanbul cab drivers and the sector in general. Based on a research project conducted by undergraduate students in İstanbul during the fall of 2017, this article takes a comparative look at how İstanbul cab drivers engage in dispute resolution. During field work based on 19 semi-structured interviews with cab drivers and participant observation at a cab station, two types of grievances emerged as the most important issues for these drivers: 1) problems at the cab station, especially with the order of dispatching, and 2) encroachment by Uber. While most of the drivers were quite successful in utilizing various dispute resolution mechanisms in dealing with grievances at the cab station, very few of them engaged in mobilization, such as pursuing mechanisms to combat the increasing competition from Uber. We argue in this article that cab drivers are more likely to mobilize in defense of their rights if they believe that they are legitimate and rights-bearing subjects, as they are at the cab station. However, they are less likely to mobilize for their rights if they believe that they are marginalized and disreputable members of society, as in the case of their grievances against Uber. In other words, we argue that rights mobilization depends heavily on a sense of belonging.

References

  • Abrego, L. J. (2011). Legal Consciousness of Undocumented Latinos: Fear and Stigma as Barriers to Claims-Making for First- and 1.5-Generation Immigrants. Law and Society Review, 45(2), 337–370. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-5893.2011.00435.x.
  • Abrego, L. J. (2019). Relational Legal Consciousness of U.S. Citizenship: Privilege, Responsibility, Guilt, and Love in Latino Mixed-Status Families. Law & Society Review, 53(3), 641–670. https://doi.org/10.1111/lasr.12414.
  • Boittin, M. L. (2013). New Perspectives from the Oldest Profession: Abuse and the Legal Consciousness of Sex Workers in China. Law and Society Review, 47(2), 245–278. https://doi.org/10.1111/lasr.12016.
  • Chua, L. J., & Engel, D. M. (2019). Legal Consciousness Reconsidered. Annual Review of Law and Social Science, 15(1), 335–353. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-lawsocsci-101518-042717.
  • Dursun, S., Aytaç, S., & Akıncı, F. S. (2011). İşe Bağlı Şi̇ddet ve Stres: Taksi̇ Sürücüleri̇ne Yöneli̇k Bi̇r Uygulama. Sosyal Siyaset Konferansları, 61(2), 1–20. Retrieved from http://journals.istanbul.edu.tr/iusskd/article/viewFile/1023019130/1023018277.
  • Ewick, P., & Silbey, S. (1998). The Common Place of Law. Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press.
  • Felstiner, W. L. F., Abel, R. L., & Sarat, A. (1981). The Emergence and Transformation of Disputes: Naming, Blaming, Claiming . . . Law & Society Review, 15(3/4), 631–654. https://doi.org/10.2307/3053505.
  • Gallagher, M. E. (2006). Mobilizing the law in China: “Informed disenchantment” and the development of legal consciousness. Law and Society Review, 40(4), 783–816. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-5893.2006.00281.x.
  • Hoffmann, E. A. (2003). Legal consciousness and dispute resolution: Different disputing behavior at two similar taxicab companies. Law & Social Inquiry, 29(3), 691–716. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1747-4469.2003.tb00212.x.
  • Hoffmann, E. A. (2005). Dispute resolution in a worker cooperative: Formal procedures and procedural justice. Law and Society Review, 39(1), 51–82. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0023-9216.2005.00077.x.
  • Hull, K. E. (2003). The Cultural Power of Law and the Cultural Enactment of Legality: The Case of Same-Sex Marriage. Law & Social Inquiry, (28), 629–657.
  • Hull, K. E. (2016). Legal Consciousness in Marginalized Groups: The Case of LGBT People. Law and Social Inquiry, 41(3), 551–572. https://doi.org/10.1111/lsi.12190 İstanbul Yıllık Ulaşım Raporu 2017. (2018). İstanbul.
  • Lehoucq, E., & Taylor, W. K. (2019). Conceptualizing Legal Mobilization: How Should We Understand the Deployment of Legal Strategies? Law & Social Inquiry, 45(1), 166–193.
  • Marshall, A. M. (2003). Injustice Frames, Legality, and the Everyday Construction of Sexual Harassment. Law & Social Inquiry, 28(3), 659–689. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1747-4469.2003.tb00211.x.
  • Marshall, A. M. (2005). Idle rights: Employees’ rights consciousness and the construction of sexual harassment policies. Law and Society Review, 39(1), 83–123. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0023-9216.2005.00078.x.
  • Merry, S. E. (1990). Getting Justice and Getting Even. Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press.
  • Munzuroğlu, U., Şeker, D. Z., & Musaoğlu, N. (2017). İstanbul’daki Taksi İşletmeciliğinin İredelenmesi ve CBS Destekli Düzenleme Önerisi. In TMMOB Harita ve Kadastro Mühendisleri Odası 11. Harita Bilimsel ve Teknin Kurultayı. Ankara.
  • Nielsen, L. B. (2000). Situating legal consciousness: Experiences and attitudes of ordinary citizens about law and street harassment. Law & Society Review, 34(4), 1055–1090. https://doi.org/10.2307/3115131.
  • Nuhrat, Y. (2020). Moralities in mobility: negotiating moral subjectivities in Istanbul’s traffic. Mobilities, 15(3), 325–340. https://doi.org/10.1080/17450101.2020.1713543.
  • Öztürk, Z., & Öztürk, T. (2010). İstanbul Kara Ulaşımında Alan Kullanımı Ekolojik Faktörünün Belirlenmesi. İMO Teknik Dergi, 4979–4985.
  • Türkiye İstatistik Kurumu. (February 04, 2022). Adrese Dayalı Nüfus Kayıt Sistemi Sonuçları, 2021. Retrieved from https://data.tuik.gov.tr/Bulten/Index?p=Adrese-Dayali-Nufus-Kayit-Sistemi-Sonuclari-2021-45500#:~:text=%C4%B0stanbul'un%20n%C3%BCfusu%2C%20bir%20%C3%B6nceki,832%20ki%C5%9Fi%20ile%20Antalya%20izledi.%20(Accessed%20on%2008/04/2022).
  • Yazici, B. (2013). Towards an Anthropology of Traffic: A Ride Through Class Hierarchies on Istanbul’s Roadways. Ethnos, 78(4), 515–542. https://doi.org/10.1080/00141844.2012.714395.
  • Young, K. M. (2014). Everyone knows the game: Legal consciousness in the hawaiian cockfight. Law and Society Review, 48(3), 499–530. https://doi.org/10.1111/lasr.1209.
There are 23 citations in total.

Details

Primary Language English
Subjects Sociology
Journal Section Articles
Authors

Eyüp Mert Birdal 0000-0002-1811-057X

Enes Kuruçay This is me 0000-0002-4627-7385

Arda İbikoğlu This is me 0000-0002-6100-318X

Publication Date October 30, 2022
Submission Date April 18, 2021
Published in Issue Year 2022 Volume: 25 Issue: 3

Cite

APA Birdal, E. M., Kuruçay, E., & İbikoğlu, A. (2022). ISTANBUL CAB DRIVERS AND DISPUTE RESOLUTION: A STUDY OF LEGAL CONSCIOUSNESS. Sosyoloji Araştırmaları Dergisi, 25(3), 504-520. https://doi.org/10.18490/sosars.1196611

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Sosyoloji Araştırmaları Dergisi / Journal of Sociological Research

SAD / JSR