Society is not a book to be read once and put on the shelf

Our perceptions of society, as with everything else, are formed under the influence of what we have lived through concerning or within society. We identify society with our perceptions, yet our perceptions are often related only to our own perceptions, and those, in turn, to our own experiences. Our new experiences change our perceptions too, but this change remains merely a change taking place within ourselves.

Sociology was invented precisely in order to understand social reality better and to try to see it as it is. This does not, of course, mean that before sociology was invented people never formed more objective or more realistic perceptions of society. Conceptions of society were expressed somehow under the science of history.

There has always been a desire to determine a path, a law, a sunna, that the birth, development and collapse of societies follow. The concept of Sunna in the Holy Qur'an, which inspired precisely this idea, inspired Ibn Khaldun, for example.

The famous Islamic thinker Jawdat Said, of Circassian origin and Syrian by nationality, whom we lost last Sunday at the age of 91, also wrote his book translated into Turkish as "Laws of Individual and Social Change" (İnsan Yayınları, 1985) starting from verse 11 of Surah Ar-Ra'd. The well-known verse says: "Allah will not change the condition of a people until they change what is in themselves." It points to the resolve of the individual or society to change itself, to exercise will, as a basic rule for social change. That is, the subject is possible, important and the center of change.

And not only that, of course: from the numerous verses stating that the destruction of a people comes about through the excessive extravagance and transgression of their leading figures, and their irresponsibility that recognizes no right or law, Ibn Khaldun arrived at the idea of a Sunna for the development and collapse of societies. Because this Sunna accords so well with the idea of the laws of history that sociologists would later reach, it has led some to regard Ibn Khaldun as the first sociologist, even though the word sociology had not yet been used at all.

In Türkiye too, the way not to leave the true state of society at the level of perceptions formed in our minds at a given time lies in constantly reading society through field research. Some of the studies we mentioned earlier showed very well how dynamic and changeable society is. That is, the photograph taken by one study needs to be placed side by side after a while with the photographs taken by other studies and compared.

In KONDA's "TR100_2022 If Türkiye Were 100 People" study, for example, even looking only at Türkiye's marital status allows us to see a very interesting picture. The share of single people, which was around 20 percent in 2011, has risen to 29 percent in only ten years. Moreover, considering that the birth rate has also declined in this period, this is a very big change.

Again within ten years, the number of divorced or widowed people has risen from 4 percent to 7 percent. The number of those currently married or engaged has fallen from 76 percent to 64 percent. This is a clear picture of the fact that the Turkish family structure is undergoing very rapid change. The effect of a changing family structure on society is much greater than assumed. It affects the understanding of religion, as well as political stances and attitudes, consumption habits, or the economic order.

The direct effect of the rising rate of university education can be noted as one of its causes. Because as everyone studies at university, both entry into employment and the age of marriage get pushed later overall.

On the other hand, whereas ten years ago 39 out of every hundred people were in employment, now 44 are. The share of women participating in employment as white-collar workers, or as workers and tradespeople, has risen from 15 percent to 24 percent in ten years. The number of those who define themselves as housewives has fallen from 68 percent to 56 percent.

Another interesting finding that can be added to this general social change is the increase in home and car ownership. The change over 9 years, that is, since 2012, was taken as the basis. According to it, those who have both a home and a car rose from 29 percent to 43 percent. The share of those who have only a car rose from 8 percent to 13 percent. The number of those who own neither fell from 28 percent to 18 percent. That is, in 9 years the number of people who own a home and a car has increased by almost 50 percent. However you look at it, this is a concrete, numerical indicator of a seriously rising level of prosperity.

A slight increase is observed in alcohol consumption in society: in ten years, the number of those who have never drunk fell from 69 percent to 63 percent. By contrast, there is also a slight decrease in smoking: those who have never smoked fell from 48 percent to 45 percent.

In the ethnic identity distribution of society, within ten years those who define themselves as Kurdish rose from 15 percent to 19 percent, those who define themselves as Arab rose from 1 percent to 2 percent, while those who define themselves as Turkish fell from 81 percent to 77 percent. I can say that in the research I conducted in 2009 together with Ahmet Kızılkaya, published as a book under the title "We Are All the Other: Identities and Perceptions in Türkiye" (Tezkire Yayınları, 2014), there was data confirming these figures, with the exception of the Arab population. But what must be seen here is the fact that society is in a state of constant change.

Those who engage in politics must first of all constantly and closely follow this change in society as well, in order to practice a politics at peace with society.