This thesis studies the perceptions of the selected representatives of environmental non-governmental organizations&rsquo / (NGO) about the human and nature relationship in Turkey. The representatives of the NGOs&rsquo / perceptions about human-nature relationship are studied refering to four dimensions, Production and Consumption processes, Energy Production, role of Science and Technology, and the concept of Sustainability. Approaches of the NGOs about Policies and the Activities of Environmental NGOs in Turkey are also examined. The perceptions of the NGO representatives have been evaluated according to Pepper&rsquo / s comparison of &lsquo / conventional&rsquo / versus &lsquo / green&rsquo / values regarding the differences between the national, international and public NGOs.

The main concern of this thesis is to problematize the so-called mutually beneficial relationship between free market mechanism and common good through the debates around Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). Despite the social problems deepened by the free market, capitalist discourse attempts to justify itself by adopting some ethical concerns. However, it should be recognized that these attempts including CSR constitute market-based ethics. Trying to move beyond the existing critical literature on CSR, this thesis approaches to the concept of CSR from a Marxist perspective. I attempt to do it with the help of Marxist concept of commodity combined with Guy Debord&rsquo / s notion of spectacle. I argue that CSR can be considered as a spectacle, because it has at least two characteristics of the spectacle: confronting the working class with each other and commodifying the humanitarian values. This thesis also includes a close reading of the discourse about CSR in order to show that how these two characteristics of the spectacle are embedded in the global language of CSR and how they are manifested through the institutions of capitalism. In this context, I will focus on four institutions that have major contributions to the existing CSR discourse worldwide: UN Global Compact and OECD Guidelines for Multinational Corporations, the most comprehensive international guidelines for CSR, and Nike and Walmart, two monopolies that have been under intense public scrutiny for their unethical practices and have produced the most intense discourse about their corporate responsibility practices.

This thesis analyzes the marketing activities of the companies in the consumer society of today and their social impacts on the consumption habits of individuals. The creation of a social environment with the mass oriented marketing activities of the producers and the association of individuals with the products that they or others consume are studied. The perception of the products as symbols of social status or their utilization to have distinction from others are analyzed. Throughout this thesis, the question of how brands are socially accepted and appreciated were addressed within the frame of the analysis of the mass oriented marketing activities of producers. Under these activities how the new consumer stereotypes are artificially created are criticized. This thesis also seeks to answer the question of how the social image of the brands and logos reach beyond the product sphere and used as a medium for creating social, cultural and individual identifications.

This study is examining the institutionalization degree of the rural development nongovernmental organizations (NGO) and the social-economic status of the employees in those NGOs. The development NGO sector has enormously grown within last three decades. It has also been a period of reorganization for capitalism. The neo-liberal political economy has replaced the Keynesianism/Fordism, integrating the national economies into the global economy. This integration has resulted in increasing income inequalities, poverty, and unemployment. Middle classes have lost their jobs, and their life standards have eroded. In the period, the international funds channeled to the NGOs have increased to a great extent. The growth of the development NGO sector is closely linked to those consequences of the neo-liberal reorganization. Poverty, qualified but unemployed individuals, and the international funds have made it possible, inevitable in fact, for the NGOs to proliferate and enlarge. As they enlarge their scope, they have to develop institutional structures, which in turn employ more qualified people. In addition to their role in the struggle against poverty and in the, more or less radical, criticism of the social and economic order, NGOs have acquired a new function, creating employment and a certain level of social-economic status, a status of middle class, for those employed. What we have been observing in Turkey is similar to the developments in the other parts of the world: economic crisis in 1970s, military junta, liberalization of economy, poverty and unemployment. Within this political economy, the rural development NGO sector of Turkey seems not institutionalized but having turned into an employment opportunity for middle class. Nevertheless, its role in the democratization process of the country is still important as far as the critical perspective is kept in effect.

This thesis analyses the representation of poverty in the charity programmes broadcast on Turkish television, namely Deniz Feneri, Kimse Yok mu, Yarinlar Umut Olsun and Yolcu. It examines the continuities, discontinuities and breaks in the representation of poor with reference to Turkish cinema, novel and media. Critical discourse analysis of the charity programmes indicates that poverty is legitimised and naturalised, being made no reference to social, economic and political context of poverty. The construction of the poor as &ldquo / objects of aid&rdquo / given by &ldquo / philanthropists&rdquo / is examined and it is argued that the poor become a means of salvation, self-realisation and self-fulfilment of &ldquo / philanthropist&rdquo / . It is here claimed that Islam and nationalist-conservative discourse serve the internalisation and tranquillisation of poverty in the programmes. The study also analyses the visual and aural representations of the poor in the programmes. The slow-motion, black and white photographs, close-up, limited motion, and the music accompanying the pictures are the most fundamental tools of dramatising poverty in the charity programmes / and they address to &ldquo / conscience&rdquo / of &ldquo / philanthropists&rdquo / . It is also argued that voiceover and subtitling efface the voice of the poor.

The aim of this thesis is to demonstrate how immigrants from Turkey try to create flexible identities through their entrepreneurial practices in order to achieve social mobility within the regimes of state, market and social networks in Berlin. To put it differently, the aim of the study is to indicate how immigrant entrepreneurs try to develop strategies and maneuvers vis-&agrave / -vis the regulatory mechanisms like immigrant and citizenship laws, high degree of labor market rules, class based corporatist policies, social welfare policies and social networks acting as habitus for order and stability through social control and surveillance. These strategies and maneuvers, which are reflected on the flexible identities of immigrant entrepreneurs, are crucial for them to have social mobility and thus to remain competitive in the capitalist market economy and its political and social dynamics. That is to say through flexible identities immigrant entrepreneurs enable themselves to benefit from the economic, political and social conditions in Turkey and Germany, and also adapt themselves to the changing circumstances in these countries. In this manner, immigrant entrepreneurs are not only passive subjects of the regimes of state, market and social networks, which are constituted and conditioned with various norms, laws and values, but also active agents, who are able to create flexible identities in order to be mobile and competitive within these regimes.

With the spreading of globalization during 1980s, discourses about demise of nation states and relevance of post-national forms of institutions for contemporary politics have been widely accepted in social sciences. Cosmopolitanism, with its suggestions of extending democracy and citizenship beyond national boundaries, being world citizens, and creating universal political institutions has been considered as the project in line with these supposed conditions of globalization. This study evaluates theories in social sciences that are in favor of cosmopolitanism as a political project appropriate for the globalized world. It is argued that supporting disappearance of national borders and emergence of world citizenship is talking from the perspective of an upper class minority who have necessary resources to travel to other countries and who don&rsquo / t experience visa difficulties. It is claimed by some social theorists that a transnational capitalist class started to emerge. Although members of this class live in separate countries, they have common interests and similar lifestyles with each other much more than they have with their fellow nationals. These people regard themselves as world citizens, as they have a high access to foreign countries and share common lifestyles with foreigners. In this study, in the case of Turkish high level managers in a multinational corporation, it is aimed to describe the life style characteristics of these managers, considering the life style conceptualization of Bourdieu, and to understand to what extent these managers can be regarded as a part of transnational capitalist class, and whether they perceive themselves as world citizens.

The aim of this study is to compare the cognitive maps of different socio-economic status groups living in Ankara. In-group and inter-group relations of divergent socio-economic status groups are the main focus of the study. In this perspective, perceptions of urban social space are examined in order to comprehend the in-group and inter-relations. Discussions are held both at city level and neighborhood level. These discussions are based on the research that was conducted between September 2003- February 2004 in the neighborhoods of Ankara / namely, Mamak, as a lower class neighborhood, Ke&ccedil / i&ouml / ren, Batikent, Yeni Mahalle, as lower-middle class neighborhoods, Gazi Osman PaSa, Bah&ccedil / eli, &Uuml / mitk&ouml / y, Bilkent, Oran as middle class and upper-middle class neighborhoods. I studied with an accidental sample of 39 urbanites living in these neighborhoods of Ankara. In order to determine the socio-economic status of the respondents, Murat G&uuml / ven&ccedil / &rsquo / s (2001a) spatial differentiation and socio-economic status map was used as a guide. While examining the perceptions of urban social space, spatial behavior patterns and urban daily activities, this study aims to clarify definitions of &lsquo / us&rsquo / and &lsquo / other&rsquo / , which inevitably create divisions in social geography of Ankara. Tensions between different socio-economic status groups reinforce these divisions in the city space of Ankara. Especially, limited social interaction between different socio-economic status groups in urban social space has crucial role in the construction of the boundaries between various divisions.

This thesis demonstrates the experiences of the women from different generations in the Turkish Military in the integration process. It also evaluates the attitudes of the men in the military towards this integration.

This study aims to formulate an understanding of the structuring of informal home-based work at the plane of interrelations between capitalism and patriarchy. It examines informal home-based work with an understanding based on two foci, which are market relations and traditional gender roles. It develops its own suggestions of conceptualisations, namely deliberate concealment and devalorisation by obscuring, building up these concepts abstractly in the theoretical sections and concretely the analyses.