Social Changes In Modern Turkey

Issue of migration has always been viewed as a problematic approach in the social sciences. That is, it is assumed that migration is a result of a combination of problems. It is also a problem-creating phenomenon. Migration is the very mirror of urbanization process in Turkey after 1950. 3 million people migrated between 1950-60. This number reached at 5 million between 1960-70. These are the result of both internal political changes, reforms and also the international developments. Early migrants were mostly from the Black Sea and Central Anatolia regions. The most significant side effect of migration process is seen in the inharmoniousness in the urban area after the migration. The flow of labor to the urban centers is not adapted to the capitalist relations to the full extent in countries like Turkey. It is suggested that when capitalist relations entered agriculture it must be expected that two antagonistic parties start to rise: a powerful bourgeoisie and growing working class. However, this is not the case for Turkey. Full proletarianization is not achieved and agricultural units both produces for their own subsistence and for the market. However, globalization asserts a type of individual who can move easily. Thus, spaces and borders are not the same that we assumed in the analysis of modern capitalism. The transformation patterns in the rural areas followed four ways: large landowners, or feudal aas, evolved into capitalist farmers. Land Reform of 1945 aimed at weakening the power of feudal forces, both economically and politically, and developing capitalist relations in the rural areas, though it was not implemented.