Journal of Human Sciences - PDFKUL.COM
© International Journal of
Human Sciences ISSN: 1303-5134
Tarih: 1. 11. 2004
EDUCATIONAL BACKGROUNDS OF CONTEMPORARY TURKISH ELITES Assistant Professor (Yrd. Doç.) Dr. D. Ali ARSLAN (*) Assistant Professor (Yrd. Doç.) Dr. Gülten Eren GÜMÜŞTEKİN (**) ABSTRACT Elite studies have great importance within sociological and political studies, because elites are the main agents of social change (Arslan, 2003). On the other hand, education is one of the most important social indicators in the contemporary world. As a result of the rapid transformation from capital based society to knowledge based society, education has become more important than ever before, in determining success. Therefore, the main aim of this study is to analyse the educational background of the contemporary Turkish elite, including political elites, labour union elites and media elites. Educational levels, education and school types and foreign language ability will be investigated in the study. The multi-method approach was used. The “positional” approach was used for identifying the elites who have a potential for power because of their status and social position within society; the “reputational” approach was used to select those respondents who have a reputation for power and influence. Findings show that the level of education experienced has a significant importance in the recruitment process of contemporary Turkish society. Holding at least one university degree has
Sosyologist and Political Scientist. Lecturer at GOP University in TURKEY. Sosyolog ve siyaset bilimci. İngiltere’de “University of Surrey” de, Sosyal bilimler metodolojisi alanında yüksek lisans (MSc.) ve yine aynı üniversitede, siyaset sosyolojisi alanında doktora (PhD) yaptı. 6 yıl yurt dışında, sosyolojinin değişik alanlarında çalışmalarda bulundu. Halen, Gaziosmanpaşa Üniversitesi, Eğitim Fakültesi’nde dekan yardımcısı, orta öğretim sosyal alanlar eğitimi bölüm başkanı ve öğretim üyesi olarak görev yapmaktadır. Gaziosmanpaşa Üniversitesi, Eğitim Fakültesi, 60100-TOKAT/ TURKEY GSM: 0532 270 81 45, İş Tel: (+90 356) 252 16 16/ 34 44, 34 19, Faks: (+90 356) 212 17 48 E-posta: [email protected], [email protected] (**)Lecturer at Dumlupınar University in TURKEY
© International Journal of Human Sciences ISSN: 1303-5134
Assistant Professor (Yrd. Doç.) Dr. D. Ali ARSLAN & Assistant Professor (Yrd. Doç.) Dr. Gülten Eren GÜMÜŞTEKİN:
Educational Backgrounds Of Contemporary Turkish Elites
become one of the most necessary conditions of the elite recruitment process. The quality and type of education obtained also has significant influence in achieving an elite position. Key Words: Democracy, Education, Elite, Elite Theory, Power, Turkey, Turkish Elites. TÜRK ELİTLERİNİN EĞİTİMSEL ÖZGEÇMİŞLERİ ÖZET: Stratejik toplumsal kurumların en üst konumlarını işgal ettikleri ve karar verme sürecini en etkin şekilde etkileyebilecek pozisyonda oldukları için, seçkinin toplumun hiyerarşik yapısı içinde ayrı bir yeri ve önemi vardır. Bu nedenle seçkin araştırmaları sosyoloji ve siyaset bilimi açısından oldukça büyük önem taşır Çalışmanın temel amacı çağdaş Türk elitlerinin eğitimsel özgeçmişlerini incelemektir. Araştırma kapsamında üç elit grubunun üyeleri ile yüz yüze görüşülerek, çağdaş Türk elitlerinin almış oldukları eğitim niteliksel ve niceliksel boyutları ortaya konmaya çalışıldı. Araştırma evrenini ve örneklem kümesini belirlerken “konumsal” ve “ünsel” yaklaşım birlikte kullanıldı. Sermayenin temel teşkil ettiği kapitalist toplum yapısından, bilginin en önemli değer olarak kabul edildiği bilgi toplumuna geçişe paralel olarak, eğitim, çağdaş dünyadaki en temel toplumsal belirleyicilerden ve başarı ölçütlerinden biri haline gelmiştir. Araştırmanın bulguları, yaşanan hızlı toplumsal değişim ve dönüşüme paralel olarak eğitim ve bilginin, çağdaş Türk toplumunda da temel toplumsal başarı kriterlerinden biri haline gelmeye başladığına işaret etmektedir. Türk siyasi elitleri, medya elitleri ve işçi elitlerine yönelik olarak gerçekleştirilen eldeki araştırmada, alınan eğitimin düzeyinin, türünün ve kalitesinin, elitlerin deveranı sürecinde, bir başka deyimle bireylerin elit pozisyonlarına ulaşmalarında oldukça önemli ve belirleyici rol oynadığı görülmüştür. Anahtar Kelimeler: Demokrasi, Eğitim, Elit, Elit Teorisi, İktidar, Türk Elitleri 1. INTRODUCTION Inequalities in the distribution of power, wealth and prestige are common features of contemporary societies. According to Mosca, although absolute political equality, majority government and free elections are a “myth”, they are essential elements of an open ruling class. Researchers of elites aim to understand and explain the existence and persistence of inequalities in the distribution of power and the relationship between power and control in contemporary societies.
The term elite (Jary & Jary, 1991: 188) is of French derivation. It originally derived from the Latin “eligre” which means select and shares a common root with “electa” that means selected (Arslan, 1995: 3). Theoretically, elites can be defined as those people who hold institutionalised power, control social resources (including not only wealth, prestige and status but also the personal resources of charisma, time, motivation and energy) and have a serious influence (either actively or potentially) on the decision-making process. They can realise their own will in spite of opposition (Arslan, 1999: 79).. According to this definition, the term elite does not necessarily involve only the occupier of the top strata. It may comprise both those people who are at the top, bottom or outside the organisations. Also it may include the people in the capitalist, middle or working class. Power, control and influence are the major concepts in this definition. If the people have power actively or potentially, they have a direct or indirect effect on the decision-making process and are control the social resources, thus they can be identified as the elite. The concept of elite acquired world-wide popularity in social science as a result of the writings of Italian sociologists Vilfredo Pareto (1968) and Gaetano Mosca (1939) in the nineteenth century. Then it became popular in Britain and America in the 1930s. Elite theory (Arslan, 2004-a) was concerned almost exclusively with inequalities based on power or lack thereof. This distinguishes it from class theory. Power in turn, is based on other resources (such as economic assets and organisational strength) and may give rise to control over other resources as well. According to elite theory, societies are divided into the ‘few’ who hold power and rule and the ‘many’ who are ruled. The ruling group, called the elite, effectively monopolises power and makes the important decisions. On a general basis “Elite Theory” was used in this study to understand, to examine the occupatıonal backgrounds of the Turkish elites. 2. METHODOLOGY According to Mills (1956: 363), it is not too difficult to understand the middle classes, but understanding the very top of modern society needs discovery and description. This is a very difficult task, because they are usually inaccessible, busy and secretive. It is always difficult to get information about their backgrounds and their activities.
Elite studies (Etzioni, 1993; Frey, 1965; Turhan, 1991; Çağlar & Arslan, 2000; Arslan, 2004-b) obviously stress elites, their existence, their positions and reputations, their careers, their roles in society. These particular kinds of study has great importance within sociological and political studies, because elites are the main agents of social change. They manage the direction, the speed and the form of social change, because they hold institutional power, and influence social decisions on a macro level.
This study will concern itself with the Turkish elite, including Turkish political (Arslan, 2001), labour union elites and media elites. The main aim of the study is to analyse their educational backgrounds. The “multi-method approach” (Moyser & Wagstaffe, 1987) was used in this study. Both the “reputational” and “positional” approaches were used for identifying the elites: the “positional” approach was used to identify the individuals who have a potential for power because of their status and social position within society; the “reputational” approach was used to select those respondents who have a reputation for power and influence.
The positional approach was used to define the elite universe. Firstly, a list of elite sectors was drawn. Following this, the most important organisations within each sector were specified. Then, the top positions within each organisation were determined. Finally, the current incumbents of these positions were considered as members of the elite. Furthermore, the reputational approach was also used as a supplementary approach to select the effective members of some elite groups, such as mass-media elites and political elites following the simple random sampling techniques. No single source for data or data collecting techniques was chosen. The study was operationalised using the multiple methods of observation, documentary analysis and focused interviews. The majority of the data used in this study was obtained from field research and documentary sources. Observations helped the researcher to get more detailed and reliable information concerning elites and the existence and operation of elite organisations. As Hertz and Imber argue (1995: 78), semi-structured interviews have a very special importance for elite studies. Following this tradition, these particular types of interview techniques were chosen. The questionnaire was used for semi-structured interviews to get more detailed and
specific data from the field. In addition to completely structured questions, open-ended (unstructured) questions have also been used. In general, semi-structured questionnaires have been widely used in elite studies and have great popularity amongst elite researchers. This particular kind of interview schedule is more suitable and valuable than the fully structured or unstructured questionnaire for realising the major goals of this research. It will be especially helpful in gaining more detailed information about the respondents’ social backgrounds, attitudes, beliefs, values, behaviour and roles. The research has a descriptive kind of quantitative research character. In addition to field research using questionnaires and the data archives, publications and bulletins of the related private and state institutions.semi-structured interview schedules, written and printed materials which were gathered from were used for data collecting. The data was analysed using the SPSS program (Fielding, 1994). 3. SAMPLING GROUP Higley (1979: 29) defines national elites as “those people who hold power individually, regularly and seriously to affect political outcomes at the macro level of organised societies”. For pragmatic methodological purposes and simplification, a “positional” definition of elites will be used during the sampling procedure. In accordance with the positional approach, elite can be defined as those people who occupy a position at or near the top of important institutional hierarchies, such as economic, political, judicial, civil service, military, mass media, educational. They have power because of their social positions. The researcher carried out face to face interviews with the elite members of the three elite groups which are media, politics and labour unions. The political elites (Arslan, 2004-d; Arslan, 2004-e) were chosen because they are one of the most powerful elites groups in Turkey. The study on media elites would be interesting and useful. As there has been a great deal of speculation about Turkish media and its power, as happens in both developed and developing countries: was the media really the fourth power in a democracy? Labour union elites were selected because this elite group was relatively less studied. Labour unions have enormous potential power. If they wished they could mobilise millions of people in a short time. This kind of action has already taken place several times in the recent history of Turkey.
Therefore, governing political elites are forced to take into account the views and the desires of the leaders of the most influential union confederations, such as TURK-IS, DISK, HAK-IS. For the reasons given above, 6 major and most powerful confederations of the Turkish labour and white collar unions were included in the sampling group. Their historical-financialphysical powers, membership density, reputation and their previous militant actions were taken into account in the selection procedure.Three of them were the most powerful labour union confederations of Turkey: TURK-IS, DISK and HAK-IS. The other three confederations were mostly white collar workers’ unions: KESK, KAMUSEN, EGITIM-SEN. The presidents and chief executives of these organisations were classified as the Turkish labour union elites. Table 1 The Sampling Group SECTORS
Labour Union Elites
ORGANISATIONS - Presidency - Government - Major Turkish Parties
- The President - The Prime Minister Political - General Presidents, Presidents, Deputy Presidents and General Secretaries of Parties The Largest and Most Columnists and editors Influential Media Institutions (Hürriyet, Milliyet, Cumhuriyet, Türkiye Sabah, Kanal D, Atv) 6 Most powerful Confederations of Turkish - General Presidents Labour and White Collar - Chief Executives Workers Unions : -TURK-IS: The Confed. of Turkish Trade Unions -DISK: The Confed. of Revolutionary Workers’ Union -HAK-IS: The Confed. of Rights of Turkish Workers' Trade Unions -KESK: The Confed. of Public Sector Workers’ Unions -KAMUSEN: The Confed. of Civil Servants’ Unions -EGITIM-SEN: The Confed. of Teachers’ Unions
RESPONDENT NUMBER 45
The selection of the Turkish political elites was quite difficult and complicated at the beginning as there is a plurality in Turkish politics: more than 30 political parties are competing and trying to become influential in the social and political life of Turkey. To overcome this problem, the researcher first looked at the composition of the Turkish parliament (1997-8): about 7 political parties have their members in the Turkish Grand National Assembly as a result of the last general election which was held in 1995. Three of them were liberal rightist, two of them were social democrats and the remaining two were radical Islamists parties. Six of the seven political parties had their own group in the assembly and only one of them did not have enough MPs to set up a group. In addition to these 7 parties, there were two other important and influential Turkish political parties outside the Parliament: the Workers’ Party (IP-Turkish Socialist Party) and Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) were included in the sampling group. The general presidents, the presidents and deputy presidents, and general secretaries of these Turkish political parties, the President of the Turkish Grand National Assembly, Prime Minister and the President of the Republic were accepted as the most powerful Turkish political elites. There was the same plurality and complication existing in the Turkish media as well: there were a large number of small and large scale media groups which were publishing or broadcasting in Turkey. Almost every political and ideological group had their audio-visual or written media tools. There were hundreds of local-national-international television channels, more than one thousand radio stations and countless small or large-scale weekly or daily newspapers. Nevertheless, the BIMAS (the united organisation of the two largest Turkish media groups) has control of about 70-80 % of Turkish media. Almost all the powerful groups were active either in written media or visual media, and most of the columnists or journalists were working both for a newspaper and television channels. It is quite difficult to separate newspaper journalism and television journalism in Turkey. The three largest and the most influential Turkish daily newspapers belonging to the BIMAS (United Media Group) were selected. Two of them were known as liberal rightist and one of them was a moderate leftist paper. In addition to them the Cumhuriyet newspaper was chosen as the most intellectual and most effective leftist newspaper of Turkey, and a daily paper was chosen from the radical Islamist papers. Finally, the well known columnists and editors of these papers were accepted as the most effective Turkish media elites.
4. EDUCATIONAL BACKGROUND OF TURKISH ELITES 4.1. EDUCATIONAL LEVELS OF TURKISH ELITES As occurs in most other countries, it can be argued that education (both educational level and educational background-either education type or school name) is one of the most important factors which effects the circulation of elites in Turkey.The extent of education has a large impact on the elite circulation process. University degrees in particular are an almost universal precondition for recruitment to elite positions. This precondition is valid for the elite recruitment process in Turkey as well. Al most all Turkish elites have at least a high school (lycee) degree. In addition, the vast majority of Turkish elites have at least one university degree. An important proportion of them also have post-graduate (Masters, PhD, Postdoctoral, etc.) degrees. Table 2 The Educational Level of Turkish Elites and Entire Turkish Population Turkish Elites
Entire Turkish Population (*)
Primary School Junior High School High School University Total
2.4 13.3 84.3 100
2.2 12.2 85.6 100
91.31 61.90 42.29 9.67
87.29 44.58 30.84 7.29
89.35 53.44 36.69 8.51
Source: Reorganised from Arslan, 1999. (*) The data about Turkish population is reorganised from the official internet web site of the State Institute of Statistics Prime Ministry of Turkey and covers the findings of the 1994-1995 census year.
It is possible to observe this situation in Table 2. According to the figures, 98 percent of Turkish elites have completed high school education. In addition, 86 percent possess at least one university degree. On the other hand, the rate of elite respondents with only middle (secondary) school education is just 2 percent for all the three elite groups. Turkish elites differ sharply from the adult population of Turkey in terms of education. Whereas about 86 percent of the Turkish elites hold at least one university degree, the rate of university educated people among the general Turkish population is under 9 percent. As occurs in Germany (Hoffmann, 1985: 67), Turkish labour union leaders have less formal education than other elites. The proportion of labour union elites with a university degree is about 67 percent whereas the proportion of elite respondents with university education among the
political elites is 97 percent and among media elite is higher than 93 percent. Furthermore, almost all Turkish political elites and media elites, and 98 percent of the labour union elites have at least a high school diploma. This situation is correlated with the occupational career patterns and class backgrounds of the elites. Thus, whereas white collar occupations necessitate a more advanced education, a moderate or lower educational background is enough for blue collar occupations. On the other hand, the family’s social status determines the kind and extent of the education of their children. Generally, those people who have a higher class background have greater chance and opportunity to acquire a better quality and a higher level education than others. The people with a lower class background are more restricted socially and economically. They not only have economic barriers but also social barriers blocking their careers. Therefore, people from lower class backgrounds have to spend much more time and effort than others to be successful in the competition. Family background also has indirect effects on the elite circulation process. A better family background opens up connections with the top strata and provides social networks with the cream of the cream of society. Those people who come from bourgeoisie and petty bourgeoisie families do not need to make much more effort to gain power, wealth and prestige in social/economic and political life in comparison with those who come from a poor family background. Table 3 Educational Level of Turkish Elites by Their Social Class Origin Respondent’s Social Class Background % (Number) Educational Level University High School J. High School TOTAL
Lower Class 9 (7)
Lower Middle Class 22 (17)
Middle Class 40 (31)
Upper Middle Class 25 (19)
Upper Class 4 (3)
Source: Reorganised from Arslan, 1999. The findings which are presented in Table 3 shows that, those elite respondents who have the highest class origins have the lowest educational levels among Turkish elites. Whereas, roughly 89 percent of Turkish elites with lower and lower-middle class origins possess a university degree almost 75 percent of the elites from upper class origins have a university degree.
Table 4 Educational Level of Turkish Elites by Their Fathers’ Occupations Elite’s Educational Level Father’s Occupation
Tradesman-Artisan Public Administrator Farmer Worker Professional Civil Servant Law Soldier-Police Businessman Teacher Journalist Doctor TOTAL
J. High School
15 9 17 13 25 50 12
81 91 78 87 100 100 75 100 100 100 50 100 86
Source: Reorganised from Arslan, 1999. There is a relationship between educational level of the elites and their fathers’ occupation. Table 4 shows that those elites whose fathers have a white collar occupation have a higher educational level then those elites whose fathers have a blue collar occupation. In addition, there is also a relationship between the educational level of elites and their mothers’ occupation. Almost all the elites whose mothers were employed in paid work (non-housewives) have university degrees. 4.2. EDUCATION TYPES OF TURKISH ELITES Respondent’s type of education is also an important variable which effects future career patterns. It appears that the social sciences (including economics and political science) and technical sciences lead most often to other areas of study among contemporary Turkish elites. The least popular types of education among Turkish elites are medical sciences and engineering of agriculture (agriculturist). Nevertheless, if one looks at Table 5, a relatively higher level plurality in terms of type of education among Turkish elites can be observed.
Table 5 Educational Types of Turkish Elites Elite Groups (%) Educational Types of Elites Not Applicable Social Sciences-Politics Management Philology-Turkish Language Mathematics Technical Sciences Economy Education Law Public Administration Medical Sciences Agriculture Journalism Toplam Source: Reorganised from Arslan, 1999.
3.3 6.7 3 23 20 17 13 3 7 3 100
33.3 16.7 10 7 7 10 7 10 100
6.7 30 3 10 13 10 13 13 100
14.4 17.8 3.3 3.3 3.3 14.4 13.3 12.2 8.9 1.1 2.2 1.1 4.4 100
Although, no single field of study dominates any sector, the study of politics, economics, public administration, management and engineering are more popular than other subjects. As happened in Germany (Hoffmann-Lange in G. Moore, 1985: 68), this reflects the fact that research funding opportunities are provided by the government and public sector. It is also important to note that, whereas legal studies were popular among Turkish elites in the early period of the Republic and early-mid years of the multi-party period (Arslan, 1995: 54-55, 65-66), their popularity has been sharply declining for two decades. This finding supports Hoffmann’s speculative conclusion that “the law has lost its functions as a general intellectual training and (re)gained the status of a specialised training in legal matters” (Moore, 1985: 70). 4.3. SCHOOL TYPES OF TURKISH ELITES AND ELITE SCHOOLS IN CONTEMPORARY TURKEY The majority (about 65 percent) of the members of all elite groups mostly attended the normal state (public) school. The number of people who attended prestigious schools (both state colleges and private colleges) is about 34 percent. Table 6 shows that the number of media elites who were educated in prestigious schools is worth noting: whereas about 80 percent of political elites and labour union elites have had a normal (ordinary) state school education, a majority (which
is about 60 percent) of the media elite have received a prestigious private or state school education. Only 40 percent of media elites have been educated in state schools. There is a big difference between Turkish elites and the general population in terms of the quality of education received. As can be seen in Table 6, about 18 percent of Turkish elites have been educated in prestigious private schools and 16 percent of them graduated from prestigious state colleges. On the other hand, Table 7 demonstrates that the average rate of private school educated people is just 2 percent amongst the general Turkish population. Table 6 School Types of Turkish Elites by Elite Groups Elite’s School Type (%) Elite Group
Political Elites Trade Union Elites Media Elites TOTAL
80 80 40 67
State College 10 17 20 15
10 3 40 18
Source: Reorganised from Arslan, 1999.
Table 7 The Proportion of Private School Graduates Among Whole Graduates in Turkish Society (According to the Statistics of 1991-1992 Educational Year) (*)
Primary J. High School High School
Male 691809 (53.4) 423636 (62.3) 226525 (61.3)
General Graduates Female General Total 604529 1296338 (46.6) (100) 256462 680098 (37.7) (100) 142742 369267 (38.7) (100)
Private School Graduates Male Female Total in General 5391 4244 9635 (55.6) (44.4) 0.74 9320 7379 16699 (55.8) (44.2) 2.5 6026 5385 11411 (52.8) (47.2) 3.1
(*): The data about Turkish population is reorganised from the 1994 Yearbook of Turkey (the State Institute of Statistics Prime Ministry of Turkey).
As mentioned before, another highly important finding is on the relationship between social origin and educational background. Table 8 shows that there is an association between the class background of Turkish elites and the quality of their education. Those respondents who come from bourgeois and petty bourgeois families were mostly educated in prestigious schools whereas 65 percent of those of upper-middle class origins and 100 percent of upper class originated elites have
a prestigious school education only. 12.5 percent of those elites who come from working class backgrounds and 21 percent of the elites who come from the lower-middle class have enjoyed a prestigious school education.
School Types of Turkish Elites by Their Social Class Origins Elite’s School Type (%) Elite’ Social Background
87.5 79 83 35 67
10.5 11 35 15
12.5 10.5 6 30 18
9 21 40 26 4 100
Lower Class Lower Middle Class Middle Class Upper Middle Class Upper Class TOTAL Source: Reorganised from Arslan, 1999.
Also it seems there is an association between the educational level of respondents’ fathers and the educational quality of the respondents. If Table 9 is examined this positive relation can be seen: when the educational level of the respondent’s father increases the quality of the respondents’ education increases, and when the educational level of the respondent’s father decreases the quality of the respondent’s education also decreases. Statistically, whereas 62 percent of the elites whose fathers possess a university degree graduated from prestigious elite schools, only 16 percent of the respondents whose fathers only received a primary school education were educated in prestigious schools. In addition, none of the uneducated fathers’ children had received a prestigious private school education. Table 9 School Types of Turkish Elites by Their Fathers’ Educational Levels Elite’s School Type (%) Elite’ Father’s Educational Level University High School J. High (Middle) School Primary School No School Education
38 42 75 84 80
14 42 8 20
48 16 25 8 -
23 13 5 42 17 100
Total Source: Reorganised from Arslan, 1999.
As in other countries, there are a number of famous and prestigious elite schools in Turkey. Some private exclusive high schools are highly prestigious and have long historical roots. Galatasaray High School, Robert College and some French High Schools can be counted among them. Their graduates have very close and strong relations and friendship ties with one another which are extremely effective in many aspects of political, economic and social life. On the other hand, almost all the universities have traditionally been owned by the state and there were no privately owned universities in Turkey until the 1980s. As a result, the owner of almost all the prestigious universities was the state. Ankara University (especially the Faculty of Political Sciences-MULKIYE), Istanbul Technical University, Bogazici University, Istanbul University and METU (Middle East Technical University) may be counted among the most prestigious state owned universities. Nevertheless, as a result of changing governmental policies, some privately owned universities have sprung up since the 1980s. The first and most famous privately owned university is Bilkent University. A number of other private universities opened in the 1990s. Now, there are more than 70 universities (both state owned or privately owned) in Turkey. Table 10 Elites Universities in Turkey Elite Groups (%) Names of the Universities Not Applicable Gazi University Ankara University (SBF-FPS) METU (Middle East Technical University) Other Universities Istanbul University ITU (Istanbul Technical University) Bogazici University Foreign Universities Toplam Source: Reorganised from Arslan, 1999.
3 50 3 10 17 17 100
33 13 20 4 20 7 3 100
7 3 37 3 13 20 7 7 3 100
14 6 36 3 15 14 9 2 1 100
Table 10 demonstrates that Ankara University is the most prestigious and well known elite university in Turkey. The Faculty of Political Sciences, in particular, has a very long tradition and has a very effective clique character. The Faculty of Political Sciences of Ankara university has
traditionally been called the “Mulkiye” and many Turkish elites have graduated from this school. Its graduates represent all the peculiarities of group conspiracy, coherence and consciousness. They are highly effective not only in Turkish politics but also in every part of the administration of society. Also, Istanbul University, Istanbul Technical University, Gazi University, Bogazici University and METU (Middle East Technical University) are highly popular universities among Turkish elites. 4.4. FOREIGN LANGUAGE ABILITIES OF TURKISH ELITES Another important factor which is related to the education of the elites is foreign language ability. Knowing a foreign language is very important in today’s world. This ability has even greater importance for those people who occupy elite positions. In paralel to globalization, if people wish to communicate with other people who come from different cultures and societies they need to have foreign language ability. Table 11 Foreign Language Abilities of Turkish Elites Foreign Language Ability No One Two Three & more TOTAL
Political 10 77 6 7 100
Elite Groups (%) Trade Union 63 20 17 100
10 43 40 7 100
28 47 21 4 100
Source: Reorganised from Arslan, 1999. As can be seen in Table 11, the majority of Turkish elites do possess a foreign language. About 82 percent of them know at least one foreign language. In addition, 47 percent of Turkish elites have the ability in at least two foreign languages and 26 percent of them are competent in at least 3 foreign languages.
Table 12 Foreign Language Abilities of Turkish Elites by Gender Elite’s Gender (%) Female Male
Number of Foreign Language No One Two Three & more TOTAL
71 29 8
30 45 20 5 92
Source: Reorganised from Arslan, 1999. Table 13 Foreign Language Abilities of Turkish Elites by Their Educational Levels Foreign Language Ability No One Two Three & more TOTAL
Elites’ Educational Level (%) University High School Middle School 21 52 23 4 100
73 9 9 9 100
Source: Reorganised from Arslan, 1999. There is an important relation between the gender status of Turkish elites and their foreign language abilities. Table 12 shows that almost all female Turkish elites have the ability to speak at least one foreign language. However, roughly 30 percent of male Turkish elites cannot speak any foreign language. According to Table 13, there is an association between educational levels and the foreign language ability of Turkish elites. Almost 80 percent of university educated Turkish elites can speak at least one foreign language, whilst 73 percent of high school educated and 50 percent of middle school educated Turkish elites can not speak any foreign language.
Table 14 Turkish Elites’ Foreign Language Types Elite Groups (%) Foreign Language Type Not Applicable English French German Arabic English-French English-German Arabic-European Language Others Three European Languages TOTAL Source: Reorganised from Arslan, 1999.
10 50 10 7 6 7 3 7 100
63 17 3 10 4 3 100
10 20 7 6 27 10 10 10 100
As in other countries of the world, the most popular foreign language among Turkish elites is English. Table 14 shows that more than half of Turkish elites speak English as a second language. The second most popular language among Turkish elites is French, and the third is German. There is also a meaningful relationship between the gender of Turkish elites and the nature of their foreign language abilities. As can be seen in Table 15, almost all female Turkish elites could speak only European foreign languages. It has to be also noted that all the female elites can speak English. In addition, 14 percent of female Turkish elites can speak both German and English, and another 14 percent could speak both French and English. However, male Turkish elites present a highly pluralist character when it comes to foreign language ability.
Foreign Language Types of Turkish Elites by Gender Gender of Elite (%) Type of Foreign Language Not Applicable English French German Arabic English-French English-German Arabic-European Language Others Three European Languages TOTAL
72 14 14 8
30 25 6 6 2 15 5 5 2 4 92
Source: Reorganised from Arslan, 1999. Table 14 and Table 15 also provide some ideas about contemporary Turkish society. Turkey has turned its face completely towards western civilisation since the beginning of the Republic and it has taken a very large step in the process of westernisation. The tables illustrate this: more than 95 percent of Turkish elites who know a foreign language speak European languages. 5. THE GENERAL FINDINGS AND CONCLUSION Elite studies have great importance within sociological and political studies, because elites are among the primary agents of social change. They manage the direction, the speed and the form of social change, because they hold institutional power and influence social decisions at a macro level, and they can affect the political outcomes within society. The researcher began with a formal definition of a set of positions, then those people who held these positions were identified as the elite. At the second stage of the procedure, the key positions in the major elite sectors were defined. Finally, the occupiers of these key positions were accepted as the elite.
Three major sectors were originally examined for reasons that were mentioned at the beginning. As has been explained in the methodology, the sampling group comprises of the presidents of political parties and those five people who occupy the most affective positions after the president in each
political party in contemporary Turkish politics. This group can be identified as “the cream of the cream” of Turkish politicians. On the other hand, the media is one of the most important institutions in contemporary societies. It is a reality that media plays very substantial role in the production and social distribution of knowledge. Also, contemporary media wields very distinctive weapons to obtain power, wealth and prestige in the society. If media owners and elites are so powerful, the identification of media elites is of great importance. The managers, editors, influential columnists and reporters of major Turkish media elites are defined as Turkish media elites. Additionally, as a result of rapid transformation from the capital based society to the information-based society, education has become more important than ever before, in determining success in contemporary world. Not only the extent but also the type of education has a large impact on the elite circulation process. University degrees in particular are an almost universal precondition for recruitment to elite positions. This argument is also valid for contemporary Turkish society. Turkish political elites present a highly elitist character in terms of their educational backgrounds. According to the findings, a large proportion of the Turkish democracy makers possess at least one university degree. Generally, contemporary Turkish elites differ sharply from the adult population of Turkey in terms of education. Specifically, Turkish labour union leaders have less formal education than the members of the other elite groups. This situation is correlated with the occupational career patterns and class backgrounds of the elites. Thus, whereas white collar occupations necessitate a more advanced education, a moderate or lower educational background is suffices for blue collar occupations. In addition, the family’s social status is ver effective on the kind and extent of the education of the children: i.e. those people who have a higher class background have greater chance and opportunity to acquire a better quality and a higher level education than others. The people with a lower class background are more restricted socially and economically. They do not only have economic barriers but also social barriers blocking their careers. Therefore, people from lower class backgrounds have to spend much more time and effort than others to be successful in the competition.
REFERENCES: ARSLAN, A. (2004-a), “The Theories on the Power: Elite Theory”, “İş-Güç” Endüstri İlişkileri ve İnsan Kaynakları Dergisi, cilt: 6, Sayı: 1, 2004, http://www.isguc.org/arc_view.php?ex=193 ARSLAN, A. (2004-b), “Modern Türkiye’nin Sosyo-politik Yapısı ve Türk İktidar Seçkinleri”, Değişen Dünyada Türkiye’nin Önemi - I. Ulusal Genç Bilim Adamları Sempozyumu, Cilt: 1, ss. 2538, Bursa: Uludağ Üniversitesi Kültür Sanat Kurulu Yay. ARSLAN, A. (2004-c), “Tek Partili Dönem Ve Çok Partili Dönem Türk Siyasi Elitlerinin Toplumsal Profillerinin Karşılaştırmalı İncelemesi” Akademik Bakış Türk Dünyası Celalabad İşletme Fakültesi Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi, Cilt: 2, Sayı: 1, 2004, http://www.tdcif.org/e-dergi/index.php. ARSLAN, A. (2004-d), “Türk Siyasi Elitleri”, International Journal of Human Sciences, Political Science, 20.10.2004, http://www.insanbilimleri.com/en, ARSLAN, A. (2004-d), “Social Anatomy of Turkish Top Political Elites in Contemporary Turkey”, International Journal of Human Sciences, Political Science, 21.10.2004, http://www.insanbilimleri.com/en, ARSLAN, A. (2003), “Eşitsizliğin Teorik Temelleri: Elit Teorisi”, Kocaeli Üniversitesi, Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü Dergisi, Cilt: 6, Sayı: 2003-2, ss. 115-135. ARSLAN, A. (2001), “Cumhuriyet Dönemi (1920-1995)Türk Siyasi Elitlerinin Toplumsal Profili”, Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi (Osmangazi Üniversitesi), Sayı: 2, 2001, ss. 5-16. ARSLAN, A. (2001-a), “Türk Medya Elitleri: Bir Durum Tespiti”, Sosyoloji Araştırmaları Dergisi (Journal of Sociological Research), Cilt: 4, Sayı: 2, Kış 2001, ss. 135-164. ARSLAN, A. (1999), Who Rules Turkey: The Turkish Power Elite and the Roles, Functions and Social Backgrounds of Turkish Elites, Guildford: University of Surrey, Department of Sociology (PhD Thesis). ARSLAN, A. (1995), Turkish Political Elites: Top Political Leadership in Turkey and Social Construction of Turkish Political Elites, Guildford: University of Surrey, Department of Sociology (MSc.Thesis). ÇAĞLAR, A. & ARSLAN, A. (2000), “Cumhuriyet’ten Günümüze Türk Siyasi Liderleri: Atatürk’ten Demirel’e Üst Siyasi Elitler”, Hacettepe Üniversitesi, İktisadi ve İdari Bilimler Fakültesi Dergisi, Cilt: 18, Sayı: 2, 2000, ss. 499-514.
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