Sociological knowledge against "homeland politics"

One of the most important problems of political life in Turkey is that politicians are utterly detached from the country's conditions and the realities of society. That is why explaining what happens in political and social life through delusions, through baseless fantasies and conspiracy theories, instead of understanding it through real data, is the country's "ordinary politics", indeed its "homeland politics" (yurdum siyaseti).

Homeland politics assumes that the political or social influence or role at work in the country is always played by imaginary actors, that is, by actors who never exist in reality, rather than by real ones. The more it does so, the more it depicts the political arena as a castle in which only dark phantoms are decisive. In that case, even if he himself occupies the most influential places in politics, inside the castle he has imagined he awaits a voice from the unseen, from the depths, from the deep state, from retired or unretired generals, a voice that will order him to carry out his own duties. And the homeland analyst of the homeland politician is left to work out the political theology of the semi-divine will, manifested in the politician's foolishness, of the semi-divine forces behind a politician who is nothing but a shadow. In such a situation the place is overrun with novice Hegelians.

One of the innovations that the AK Parti government has brought to Turkish political life has been to move away from this discourse to which the homeland politician is addicted and to bring perceptions of society and politics down to earth. A style of governance in which sociological knowledge is weighed and taken into account, instead of delusions about politics and society, has been striking. It has been seen that, to the extent that the imagination of society rests on sociological knowledge, the obstacles that bind one hand and foot in politics, mostly psychologically, can be overcome more easily.

It is possible to say that the AK Parti government owes its success in many fields largely to the esteem it holds for sociological knowledge. As an innovative movement that developed from within the Refah Partisi, the assessments made as a result of taking the society's pulse directly, rather than relying on speculative knowledge, played an important role. The evaluation of data from field research carried out within the ANAR research organization, which works like a think tank, by State Minister Prof. Dr. Beşir Atalay, who is a sociologist, played a very important role in the founding of the AK Parti and the development of its program. It is known that the government always keeps an open ear regarding the sociological ethics and repercussions of many of its policies.

Prof. Dr. Edibe Sözen, one of the AK Parti's deputy chairs, is also a communication scholar who earned her associate professorship in applied sociology. It is known that Sözen, who is the party's deputy chair responsible for media and publicity, is in continuous R&D activity for the party's policies as well.

Among the members of parliament of this term there are also many sociologists in the Ak Parti (e.g., Çorum deputy Cahit Bağcı), and the interest in sociology has also been reflected in the educational choices of their children. Prime Minister Erdoğan's daughter Esra Albayrak holds a master's degree in sociology from Indiana University. His other daughter (Sümeyye), although she studied history, is not far from sociological interest.

Meanwhile, let us remember that Prof. Dr. Yusuf Ziya Özcan, who heads Turkey's Higher Education Council, is also a professor of sociology. The fact that Özcan's sociological orientation lies not in a speculative, theoretical field but in the applied field, which keeps a very close finger on the pulse of the ground, is reflected one-to-one in higher education policies and his choices in this area. Deputy head Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ömer Demir, although an economist, is a very strong social scientist who comes from a powerful interdisciplinary tradition with a strong sociological side as well. He transferred to YÖK with five years of experience at the head of the Turkish Statistical Institute, that is, from a position where all the real data of society is collected and monitored. In YÖK's recent practices, the search for an education policy suited to the change that Turkey is undergoing, in its interaction not only with its internal dynamics but also with global dynamics, has been decisive.

When compared with earlier higher education policies, it will be seen that the current search and practices of YÖK under Prof. Özcan have a very important effect on shaping the Turkey of the future. It is a fact that universities were the last to adapt to the rapid dynamic of change Turkey has gripped over the past seven years. The cause of this was the resistance the previous YÖK administration displayed out of its ideological and speculative considerations. To make up for this delay, the solution could have been to respond, instead of with a quarrelsome and ideological reciprocity, with an administration that listens coolly to more technical and sociological realities. Indeed, the recent functioning of YÖK under Prof. Özcan, focused entirely on the productive and effective development of education, both rapidly distances it from the ideological agenda and makes it a decisive actor in Turkey's social development.

Having pointed to so many concrete benefits of sociological knowledge within a more solution-oriented, peaceful and effective political process, it is fitting to ask today whether sociology education is given sufficient importance.

We say "it is fitting", but in fact we have run out of room. Perhaps we can stretch our space just enough to add this question: Can university graduates who have gone through sociology education today take their place in the employment portfolio to the extent that Turkey needs sociological knowledge?

Looking at the limitations in the employment of sociologists, or at the status of sociologist posts in the public sector, we regrettably cannot give a positive answer to these questions. But let us continue unpacking this negative picture in the next article.