Durmus A Yuksek - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by Durmus A Yuksek

Istanbul University Journal of Sociology, 2021

Although Durkheim's theoretical arguments of suicide have been widely studied, empirical research... more Although Durkheim's theoretical arguments of suicide have been widely studied, empirical research is largely limited to Western populations, and few studies have focused on Muslim-populated countries. Using survey data, this study examines the association between the predictors for three forms of suicide as theorized by Durkheim (i.e., egoistic, anomic, fatalistic) and suicide attempts among Turkish adolescents at the individual level. Durkheim's theory has been found to still be applicable over a century later in a religiously and culturally different context from its original framework. Almost all the predictors associated with each form of suicide were found to have significant links with an increased risk of attempting suicide. As a result, adolescents who are very weakly integrated into their social circles or who are very weakly or strongly regulated by society are shown to be most at risk these days for suicidal behaviors. Other results, contributions, implications, and limitations of the study are also discussed.

Uluslararası Kültürel ve Sosyal Araştırmalar Dergisi (UKSAD), 2020

Geçmişte yapılan birçok araştırmada refah devleti ve sosyal sermaye arasındaki ilişki incelenmiş ... more Geçmişte yapılan birçok araştırmada refah devleti ve sosyal sermaye arasındaki ilişki incelenmiş ve birbiriyle çelişen sonuçlar bulunmuştur. Bu araştırmaların bir kısmı, refah devletinin mevcut uygulamaları vasıtasıyla sivil toplumu gereksiz kıldığını ve sosyal sermaye üretimini zorlaştırdığını belirtirken, diğer bir kısmı ise, refah devletinin sosyal sermaye üzerinde olumlu ve canlandırıcı bir etkisinin olduğunu ortaya koymuştur. Ancak, bu çalışmaların neredeyse tamamı 1970’ler sonrasından başlayarak Avrupa ülkelerine odaklanmıştır ve Türkiye’yi kapsamına alan bir çalışma literatürde bulunmamaktadır. Bu nedenle, mevcut çalışmanın amacı, bu eksikliği ortadan kaldırmak ve Türkiye'deki refah devleti politikalarının bireyler arasındaki sosyal sermaye (güven) oluşumunu olumlu veya olumsuz ne şekilde etkilediğini ortaya koyabilmektir. Bunun için, Avrupa refah devletlerine odaklanan bir çalışma model olarak alınmış, bu model çalışma doğrultusunda ilişkisel araştırma yöntemi kullanılarak Türkiye’nin de dahil olduğu analizler yapılmış ve refah devleti ile sosyal sermaye arasındaki ilişki Türkiye odaklı incelenmiştir. Çalışma sonucunda, Türkiye’de refah devleti politikalarına yönelik oluşan birey tutumlarının sosyal sermayeye etkisi üzerine değerlendirmelerde bulunulmuştur.

Gaziantep Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi, 2019

Sosyal sermaye kavramı, hem ampirik çalışmalarda, hem de kuramsal tartışmalarda, sosyal biliml... more Sosyal sermaye kavramı, hem ampirik çalışmalarda, hem de kuramsal tartışmalarda, sosyal bilimlerde yaygın olarak kullanılan bir kavramdır. Birçok akademik çalışma, sosyal sermayeyi toplumsal sorunlara bir çözüm önerisi olarak ele almış ve toplumsal sorunların önde gelenlerinden biri olan ergen suçlu davranışı ile ilişkisi üzerine de çeşitli bulgular ortaya koymuştur. Ancak, bu çalışmalar, sosyal sermayenin ergen suçluluğuna olan çok boyutlu etkilerini ele almamışlardır. Bu eksikliğin üstesinden gelmek amacıyla, bu çalışmada, İstanbul’un Bağcılar ilçesinde eğitim gören öğrencilere uygulanmış olan Avrupa’da Gençlik anketi kullanılarak, sosyal sermayenin ergen suçluluğuna etkisi birey seviyesindeki temel değişkenler kontrol edilerek incelenmiştir. Çalışma sonucunda, sosyal sermayenin ergen suçlu davranışı üzerinde hem engelleyici hem de canlandırıcı bir etkisinin olduğu tespit edilmiştir. Böylece, sosyal sermayenin her zaman toplumsal sorunlara bir çözüm olmadığı, bazen bu sorunların sebebi olduğu da ortaya konmuştur.

Gaziantep University Journal of Social Sciences, Nov 7, 2018

In The Forms of Capital, Pierre Bourdieu offers significant insight into the nature of the relati... more In The Forms of Capital, Pierre Bourdieu offers significant insight into the nature of the relationship among economic, cultural, and social capital at the individual level. However, his perspective in the interchangeability among these forms of capital includes neither the more comprehensive conceptualization of the conversion processes occurring at the group level, nor the applicability of symbolic capital throughout the conversions. In this study, I focus on the concept of social capital, conceptualize it as a master capital to develop the Bourdieusian model of conversions, and present my own conceptual approach while addressing the shortcomings of the Bourdieusian model. In my conceptualization, social capital, functioning both as a connector and a transmitter between individuals, facilitates the examination of the more complex group-level conversions. Thus, this enlargement of the Bourdieusian model of conversions provides a more encompassing understanding of the strategies that individuals apply to compete for resources and positions in society.

International Journal of Contemporary Sociology, 2017

Granovetter's (1973) Strength of Weak Ties (SWT) theory associates strong ties with group solidar... more Granovetter's (1973) Strength of Weak Ties (SWT) theory associates strong ties with group solidarity and trust and weak ties with access to valuable resources, and places more importance on weak ties since they provide non-redundancy to social groups. Prior research offers significant evidence to support the arguments of the SWT theory. However, the SWT theory has limitations and requires some modifications. To fill these gaps, this study presents a refined version of the SWT theory and tests its applicability to the diffusion of cultural and job information using data from the 2002 General Social Survey. The evidence from the ordered logistic regression analyses is largely consistent with the predictions of the refined SWT theory. Implications of the findings are discussed.

Bingöl Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü Dergisi, 2018

20'nci yüzyıl, dünya genelinde birçok ülkenin silahlı kuvvetlerinde hızlı bir şekilde zorunlu ask... more 20'nci yüzyıl, dünya genelinde birçok ülkenin silahlı kuvvetlerinde hızlı bir şekilde zorunlu askerlik uygulamasından gönüllü askerlik uygulamasına geçişin yaşandığı bir döneme şahitlik etmiştir. Bu yöndeki eğilim günümüzde halen devam etmektedir. Zorunlu askerlik uygulamasından gönüllü askerlik uygulamasına geçiş, aynı zamanda, kurum olarak askerlik anlayışının meslek olarak askerlik anlayışına doğru evrilmesine de sebep olmuştur. Bu kapsamda, Charles C. Moskos'un silahlı kuvvetlerin bir kurum modelinden yavaş yavaş ama sürekli bir şekilde bir meslek modeline geçiş halinde olduğunu iddia ettiği " Kurum-Meslek Modeli, " silahlı kuvvetlerde meydana gelmekte olan hızlı değişimlere ışık tutabilecek niteliktedir. Bu çalışmada, ülkelerin silahlı kuvvetlerinde son dönemde meydana gelmekte olan rol yönelimsel değişimlere ışık tutabilecek olan Kurum-Meslek modeli ele alınmış, mevcut uygulamaları ve modele yönelik eleştiriler incelenmiş ve model hakkında genel bir değerlendirmede bulunulmuştur.

Comparative Sociology, 2017

Although different aspects of the 9/11 terrorist attacks have been widely studied, few researcher... more Although different aspects of the 9/11 terrorist attacks have been widely studied, few researchers have attempted to understand both its religious and social aspects. In this context, considering the declining trend of social capital in the United States, whether 9/11 has become a window of opportunity for civic renewal and whether such renewal has been short-lived or long-lived become highly important to examine. To address these questions, this study examines whether the level of social capital in the American society changed from 2000 to 2006 and whether religious traditions had different effects on their members' social capital levels following 9/11.

Journal of Academic Researches and Studies, 2017

Over the years, Alexis de Tocqueville's masterwork, Democracy in America, has been praised by pol... more Over the years, Alexis de Tocqueville's masterwork, Democracy in America, has been praised by politicians, scientists, and researchers as a brilliant analysis of modern democratic society. Observing American politics, society, and culture, Tocqueville's deep analysis has provided us a message which offers a political program for sustaining prosperous, stable, and free democratic societies. Today, this message becomes especially important and necessary for the democratic societies since today's problems are much more complicated, ambiguous, and unexpected than ever, and therefore it is more difficult to preserve and maintain democracy. In this regard, understanding what democracy means to Tocqueville, how he explains the social and historical origins of democracy, and how, according to him, democracy maintains itself becomes an inevitable task for today's democratic societies. This manuscript is an effort to search for plausible answers to these questions with a critical perspective to Tocqueville's understanding of democracy.

Deviant Behavior, 2016

Although numerous studies have confirmed the relationship between social bonds to pro-social othe... more Although numerous studies have confirmed the relationship between social
bonds to pro-social others and delinquency in Western countries, research
focusing on the same relationship in non-Western countries is scarce. This
study contributes to the existing body of knowledge by examining the
relationship between social bonds to pro-social others and several types
of delinquency among high school students in Turkey. Results showed that
the extent of an adolescent’s social bonds with his/her parents, peers, and
schools had significant and diverging effects on delinquency. We also found
bonds to parents and peers to have moderating effects on how school
bonds affect delinquency.

Dumlupinar University Journal of Social Sciences, 2016

The association between class and culture as an important way to understand the determinants of i... more The association between class and culture as an important way to understand the determinants of individual tastes is well-known. Although numerous studies have confirmed this association by using education and income as proxies of cultural and economic capital in highbrow cultural consumption at the individual level, cross-national comparisons remain scarce. I contribute to the existing body of knowledge by focusing on taste publics—groups of individuals distinguished by their levels of economic and cultural capital—rather than separately dealing with education and family affluence. I examine the extent to which taste publics and specific country characteristics such as a country’s population characteristics, its wealth, and its level of cultural funding affect highbrow cultural consumption across European countries. I further test the extent to which the association between taste publics and highbrow cultural consumption is moderated by these country characteristics. Using Eurobarometer (2007) data, I show that taste publics have distinct highbrow cultural consumption scores and the association between taste publics and highbrow cultural consumption varies across Europe. Furthermore, I show that highbrow cultural consumption is affected by specific country characteristics. Lastly, I find that the social prestige perceived through consuming highbrow culture becomes an important predictor of who consumes highbrow culture.

Thesis Chapters by Durmus A Yuksek

During recent years, social capital has become one of the most widely used concepts in sociologic... more During recent years, social capital has become one of the most widely used concepts in sociological literature, and its popularity has shown itself in both sociological theory and everyday language. Its increasing popularity has mainly resulted from its conceptualizations by some of the most prominent social scientists, such as Pierre Bourdieu, James Coleman, Nan Lin, and Robert Putnam and from its empirical applications to social problems and society afterwards. While many scholars have seen social capital as something of a cure for social problems and perceived social capital theories adequate as they are for their empirical applications, few scholars have approached social capital with a critical perspective and critically addressed the highly accepted social capital theories. I argue that the lack of critical perspective to the current social capital theories is a research gap. Therefore, to satisfy this research gap and to question the validity of these highly accepted social capital theories, this dissertation addresses the concept of social capital with an emphasis on its three dimensions: holism, convertibility, and conductibility. In three separate studies, this dissertation examines each dimension of the concept respectively with a critical approach, discusses what their main components are, presents who their most prominent thinkers are and what they have claimed, reveals their shortcomings, and finally offers plausible solutions to remove the shortcomings. Thus, this dissertation aims to provide an update to some of the highly accepted social capital theories and a unique contribution to the social capital literature.