Spatial economy and integrative labor in Turkey: an ecological,modernization, and world-system investigation

Studies testing theories of urban primacy and foreign penetration in developing nations largely support the premise that these phenomena both prevail and negatively impact economic growth in developing nations. This paper, however, presents results of a study of Turkey as an exception to patterns reflective of the world-system model and dependency theory found in ideal-typic developing nations. Theoretically, 1 or 2 major urban centers may distort and fragment the spatial economy of a developing nation. These cities are able to politically and economically manipulate/regulate national policy in their self-interest, and leave nonprimate regions as fragmented local markets. As such, these cities impede the development of an integrated spatial economy. From the birth of the Turkish nation-state in 1923, however, a strong central government has structured economic and political patterns to direct national control away from Istanbul-centric interest groups. Moreover, little support exists for the presence of foreign economic domination. The paper then examines to what extent the Turkish spatial economy has become less distorted and fragmented. It subjects 1955-80 data to modernization theory and human ecology, and finds no support for ecological arguments linking integrative activity to system size or contact technology. Study results confirm the modernization argument about spatial economy, with more modernized provinces showing proportionately higher levels of integrative activity. Finding implications are briefly discussed.     

The Environmental Consequences of Rural and Urban Population Change: An Exploratory Spatial Panel Study of Forest Cover in the Southern United States, 2001–2006

This exploratory study examines the effects of rural and urban population change on forest cover at the local level across the southern United States. Using county‐level data from the National Land Cover Database and other U.S. government sources, we regressed the total area of forest cover on rural and urban population size in spatial panel models with two‐way fixed effects. When we controlled for several other factors, including the number of forestry operations at the county level, regression results indicate that urban change had no effect, but rural population size was positively related to total forest area, and this effect was most pronounced in and around Georgia. Thus, in areas of the southern United States, rural growth was associated with afforestation, not deforestation. We speculate on how this unusual finding contributes to the debate between ecological modernization and urban political economy implicated in previous cross‐national research.     

Remittances,Business Cycles and Poverty: The Recent Turkish Experience

We investigate whether remittances sent to Turkey by Turkish workers living in Germany are countercyclical or procyclical with Turkish and German national outputs and discuss possible reasons underlying the resulting patterns and their implications. We also take up a previously unexplored issue and discuss poverty alleviation potential of remittances at a macroeconomic level by examining the statistical properties of any co‐movements between remittances cycles and cycles in consumption spending on food and durable goods in Turkey. Our results reveal that real remittance flows from Germany to Turkey move procyclically with the real output in Turkey, and are primarily driven by (largely independent of) the developments in the Turkish economy (German economy). We also find that remittances cycles remain procyclical to the consumption cycles throughout our sample period. This direct co‐movement between the two cycles becomes synchronous, however, only after a phase shift occurring around 1992, pointing to the increasing role of the level of economic activity in Turkey as the leading determinant of remittance receipts from Germany and the declining strength of consumption smoothing motive over time. Our results all together point out a low potential for remittances sent from Germany to reduce poverty in Turkey, at least as far as the past fifteen years are concerned.     

Mediator role of intergroup anxiety in relationship between the social contact,intercultural sensitivity and attitudes towards Syrians among Turkish local society

Turkey is the country with the highest Syrian refugee population hosted in the world. Social acceptance of immigrants by the local community is as important as the social cohesion of immigrants regarding the social integration process. The aim of the current study was to examine the role of social contact, intercultural sensitivity, intergroup anxiety, gender, age, education, abroad experience and city on attitudes of Turkish local society towards Syrians. In this regard, data were collected from 207 local community members living in Ankara and Adana provinces of Turkey. According to the analysis, qualitative social contact, intercultural sensitivity and intergroup anxiety predicted the attitudes of the local community towards Syrians. In addition, intergroup anxiety had a mediating role between qualitative social contact, intercultural sensitivity and attitudes towards Syrians. When close social contact and intercultural sensitivity of Turkish local society increase, intergroup anxiety decreases and it increases positive attitudes towards Syrians. Lastly, while there was no gender difference in attitude towards Syrians, females were higher in intercultural sensitivity than males.     

Identifying Participation in the Informal Economy Using Survey Research Methods1

Abstract There is growing interest in the extent of informal economic activity as a form of income generating or subsistence activity within first world economies, but little agreement exists in the literature as to what constitutes informal work, what activities in addition to monetary exchanges make up the informal economy, and where these activities are located. The lack of consensus on the proper definition of the activities ,that make up the informal economy is reflected in the lack of systematic data available to investigate these forms of work. This paper investigates using telephone survey research techniques to develop inexpensive and efficient data sources to answer questions about the forms, prevalence, and location of informal work. The research uncovers problems associated with developing survey based measures of informal activity, but it also demonstrates the viability of this approach as well as the generally high level of participation in both rural and urban places.     

Post–Functional Social Systems Analysis*

This paper attempts to develop a macro social systems model devoid of the many problems which plagued functionalism. I eschew concepts such as equilibrium, survival, and functional prerequisite. Instead of societal survival I utilize the more general notion of level of living (L) and attempt to derive macro correlates of L. These are the society's population size, spatial area, organization, technology, and information level. Interrelationships among the variables are analyzed, as are aggregated and distributional measures of the variables. Compared to prior formulations this framework is relatively comprehensive, facilitates the analysis of variable primacy, incorporates both ideational and materialistic components, and provides a macro context for the analysis of individual action.     

Ethnic Integration and Spatial Segregation of the Chinese Population

Because of the overwhelming numerical dominance of the Han within the Chinese population and the highly localised distributions of most minority groups, it is difficult to assess the level of either segregation or ethnic integration in China in a systematic or meaningful manner. Previous studies have either been limited to mapping the locations of minority groups or have been based on provincial data, which for analytical purposes are too coarse to characterise the geographical distribution of minority populations at the sub-provincial level. In this paper, county-level data were used to calculate a diversity index for each county to illustrate the level of ethnic diversity. The results of these analyses indicate that high levels of diversity for a particular province are limited to a specific geographic region within it (especially along the international boundary and in some mountainous areas), rather than characterising the province as a whole. The approach used in this paper also employs a new measure based upon the idea of a standard deviational ellipse—a measure that is used to evaluate the level of spatial segregation between ethnic groups. An index illustrating the degree of spatial correlation between ethnic groups was derived for each province using county-level data. The results indicate that, although major population groups in southern and western China display a low level of spatial correlation (i.e. they are highly segregated), these same areas nevertheless exhibit relatively high levels of ethnic diversity.     

Human Services and the Information Economy

SUMMARY

This article discusses the impact of the information economy on human services. The major topics discussed include: the changing nature of work, the impact of the cost of adoption of technology by the human services, the changing expectations the public has for agency use of technology, the move to electronic record keeping and data management, the need for developing a data integrity management process, and the impact of the Internet and intranets on software development.     

Minutes,Meeting of Council: The Ohio Valley Sociological Society,Statler Hilton Hotel,Detroit, Michigan,Thursday, May 2, 1968

Abstract

A perennial issue in both rural and urban sociology has been whether or not size of place is associated with differences in the way that individuals relate to one another. This paper examines the relationship between size of place and the structural properties of personal social networks through the mediating effects of residential stability. Social network data from the General Social Survey (National Opinion Research Center 1990) provide support for the hypothesis that residential stability explains the association between size of place and social network density. The implications of these findings for community theory are discussed.     

Privilege and Peril in Prison Town Studies: Power and Position in Fieldwork Encounters

ABSTRACT

Although scholars demonstrate the confluence of racism, punishment, and spatial constraint on urban communities from the effects of mass imprisonment, we have overlooked the effects that prison facilities have in disadvantaged rural communities of color. Scholars have not given proper attention to the prison town as an artifact of the prison boom. The prison town is also an important site from which to explore the confluence of criminal justice expansion, racialized social systems, and neighborhood change on the political economy of rural communities. We know very little about the role of racial stigma within a prison town. I examine how the messiness of ethnographic encounters produces data in the prison town and demonstrate how prison towns are defined by stigma and racial/spatial stratification. These messy encounters also illuminate how the ethnographic process is both a means and an end to producing data.     

Technology,Social Inclusion and Poverty: An Exploratory Investigation of a Community Technology Center

ABSTRACT

Community technology centers (CTCs) are advanced as a major part of the solution to the so-called digital divide. It is believed that in the knowledge economy access to computing resources should level the playing field for low income people. Faced with a growing population that cannot afford computers or the Internet, government policy makers have been turning to technology community access points. This article presents a brief overview of the digital divide and whether or not CTCs can effectively address the problem. A CTC located at the Debra Dynes Family House in Ottawa, Canada–a center that has been highlighted in newspapers and government reports as a success story in bridging the digital divide-is reviewed. The concept of social inclusion is explored to determine how CTCs are addressing poverty and social exclusion.     

An Aging Workforce in an Increasingly Global World

Summary

The aim of this article is to demonstrate the diversity in delivery of long-term care at the provincial level, within a national legislative framework that provides universal health insurance and public administration. Not all provinces have legislated provision of long-term care, but mandates for provincial long-term care programs typically address the needs of those with chronic health needs and maintain them in the community for as long as possible. Eligibility is based on common criteria of residency, health need, facility, assessment, and consent. The three common components of the service delivery system are institutional care, community-based services, and home-based services; the kinds of services within each component and the mix among them vary from province to province. There are also five common features in provincial service delivery systems: single point of entry, assessment, client classification, case management, and single administration. Throughout the article, examples from different provinces show the varying ways in which these aspects of service delivery have been addressed, and recent innovations have furthered this diversity. A detailed account of quality management systems also shows that while all provinces have adopted a common set of principles, they use a range of methods to pursue quality of care and to promote good practice.     

Creating Ethnicity: East European Jews and Lithuanian Immigrants in Chicago

Abstract

By focusing on East European Jewish and Lithuanian ethnic groups in the United States, this paper offers a three stage model for understanding the process by which assimilating groups create their ethnicity: Stage One, ethnic community and participatory organizations; Stage Two, individual perpetuation and representational organizations; Stage Three, informal behavior and residual symbols. The model considers the impact of both cultural and structural variables, instead of treating them as rival claimants to primacy. In applying the model to data gathered in the groups' Chicago communities, we found that despite particular divergencies, both groups presented a similar response to the United States, enabling their members to maintain a dual ethnic identity beyond the tightly-knit ghetto and urban village.     

城市增长与生活碳排放的理论研究

实现“低碳城市”不仅需要产业转型和技术革新，也需要生活方式逐步向“低碳”方式转变。本文重点关注城市的生活碳排放，从经济学的研究视角，综述国内外有关城市发展（主要体现为经济增长、人口增长和空间蔓延三个标志特征）与生活碳排放的理论研究成果；并根据国内的研究，简要介绍当前中国城市生活碳排放的构成及空间分布特点。     

Urban Poverty and Neighborhood Effects on Crime: Incorporating Spatial and Network Perspectives

Research on neighborhoods and crime is on a remarkable growth trajectory. In this article, we survey important recent developments in the scholarship on neighborhood effects and the spatial stratification of poverty and urban crime. We advance the case that, in understanding the impact of neighborhoods and poverty on crime, sociological and criminological research would benefit from expanding the analytical focus from residential neighborhoods to the network of neighborhoods that individuals are exposed to during their daily routine activities. This perspective is supported by re‐emerging scholarship on activity spaces and macro‐level research on inter‐neighborhood connections. We highlight work indicating that non‐residential contexts add variation in criminogenic exposure, which in turn influence offending behavior and victimization risk. Also, we draw on recent insights from research on gang violence, social and institutional connections, and spatial mismatch and call for advancements in the scholarship on urban poverty that investigates the salience of inter‐neighborhood connections in evaluating the spatial stratification of criminogenic risk for individuals and communities.     

Karl Polanyi as a spatial theorist

ABSTRACT

The ‘spatial’ turn in political economy has re-invigorated Marxian analysis, allowing for new research programmes into urbanization, geopolitics, and social movement activity amongst other topics. This tendency emerged through a critical re-reading of Marx and Gramsci, amongst others, uncovering spatial analyses embedded in the logic of their arguments. Conversely, Karl Polanyi’s interlocutors have tended to add geographical analysis as an additional layer of theory, reading space ‘in’ to the text. However, a close reading reveals that a concern with space permeates Polanyi’s analysis. As such, it is possible to read space ‘out’ of Polanyi, adding a level of theoretical rigour and logical consistency when applying his insights to geographic topics. This article carries out an exegesis of Karl Polanyi’s work, uncovering a theoretical framework that deals with space, place, scale, fixity, and motion. From this vantage point, the article considers the potential implications of this new geographical reading of Polanyi.     

An Inclusive Treadmill? Expansion of Industrial Maize Farming and Simple‐Commodity Producers in Turkey

The growth of industrial maize farming in Turkey during the first decade of this century points to the primacy of economic development over ecological concerns at a time when global nitrogen and phosphorus flows already exceeded safe limits. In this article we focus on the relations of production as the driver of an economic sector that not only has ecological but also social costs. Through a trend analysis of maize yields as our ecological indicator, we explain how relations of production influence industrial maize farming in this period and how different modes of production (e.g., simple‐commodity producers) participate in a corporate market. A “treadmill of production” perspective argues that simple commodity producers are excluded from industrial treadmills. Our findings indicate that provinces with predominantly simple commodity production experienced significant increases in maize yields and adapted to the industrial maize treadmill. However, there is a significant difference between simple‐commodity producers and large farms that widens over the decade. Our results suggest that simple‐commodity producers are included in ecologically harmful economic practices with significant obstacles. We call for a revision of the assumed relationship between the size of economic operations and their ecological impacts in the critical sociology literature and policy approaches.     

The negative effects of construction boom on urban planning and environment in Turkey: Unraveling the role of the public sector

Construction sector is usually accepted as the engine that triggers economic growth due to its strong backward and forward linkages with other sectors. On the other hand, it is also argued that increased construction activity could end up with negative economic, social and environmental impacts. The literature emphasizes the role of public sector, especially the national governments in minimizing the negative impacts of construction activity. The related arguments mostly postulate that public sector is well aware of the environmental challenges caused by construction activity and devoted to the understanding of how to improve the sustainability performance of private developers. Yet the case of Turkey provides significant evidences to question these assumptions. In this respect, this paper elaborates on the negative impacts of increased construction activity in Turkey and argues the role of public sector in intensification of the negative environmental effects through deregulation on urban planning and housing production by public agencies. The findings of the research highlight the importance of sustainable construction and verify the need for mainstreaming of sustainable construction into public policy-making at national and local levels, especially in developing countries, where most, if not all, of the future urban population growth will take place.     

Love,Will and Becoming in Vyacheslav Ivanov and Mikhail Bakhtin

ABSTRACT

The paper discusses the philosophical underpinnings of the ideas of the poet Vyacheslav Ivanov and the philosopher Mikhail Bakhtin. Compared mostly with regard to the Dostoevskian novel, these two authors prove to be connected by a more complex intellectual relationship, as the commentators of Bakhtin’s Collected Works have demonstrated. The present paper continues this broad-context discussion by revealing the principal difference between Ivanov’s and Bakhtin’s worldviews as it stems from the different orders of dependence of love and volition. The framework for comparison is provided by Max Scheler’s essay ‘Love and Cognition’. The primacy of the will causes constant becoming of the human subject in Ivanov’s poetic universe, mostly presented as self-surpassing. The primacy of love in Bakhtin’s philosophy of the deed results in the ‘becoming’ of the other, primarily in the form of the growing value of the beloved, rather than in the form of his or her internal existential transformation.     

Urban heritage endangerment at the interface of future cities and past heritage: A spatial vulnerability assessment

Uncontrolled urban growth has been an increasing concern in many regions throughout the world. Generated by a natural tendency of population growth in relation to unsustainable land use, city sprawl has led to complex spatial developments that are creating both benefits to, and challenges for decision makers. A major problem inherent in the uncontrolled growth of cities is the threat to the fragile cultural and ecological heritage, which may escalate to permanent and irreversible damage as a result of factors such as environmental depletion and landscape decay. Using modern geosciences and spatial information technologies as predictive tools to analyse and forecast urban growth, a regional spatial decision system may be useful in order to provide seemly and timely information on the risk of overburdening the carrying capacity regarding the historico-cultural heritage at local and regional levels.The present paper develops a predictive toolkit for urban heritage in relation to urban cultural endangerment. This common problem is shared through many regions of the world and is increasingly jeopardizing fragile archaeological landscape due to urban pressure. In this sense, and to forecast an example of this common pressure, the Algarve is exemplified as a laboratory for testing this novel methodology, relying on a combined analysis of urban growth potential and threats to the abundant presence of archaeological heritage in the area. Our appro ach supports the paradigm of city growth in the context of a common agenda emerging from the Valetta Treaty, in which preserving the archaeological heritage is recognized as a key element for sustainable development. The study provides novel empirical results from the above mentioned modelling approach, with important lessons for the developing world. This paper proposes as such, an integrative spatial analysis methodology on the issue of historico-cultural endangerment, which is a new approach to comparative spatial analysis for decision making on urban heritage endangerment at the regional scale. Later, the discussion extends to a more conceptual level of urban planning by considering the questions: Is urban sprawl influencing the way we perceive cities? If so, are there positive advantages in the paradigm of urban growth and urban sprawl which might help us to protect past heritage while ensuring sustainable and modern cities?