Evolving Masculinities in the Case of Evolving Military Service: Perceptions and Experiences of Middle-Class Men in Türkiye

Date

2024-5

Author

Evren, Buğu Sıla

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While many countries have moved to professional armies, in Türkiye, military conscription is still compulsory and civic duty for healthy men above 18. The practice of short-term military service, bedelli askerlik in Turkish, which provides an alternative where people can expedite their military duty in exchange for a fee, has been standardized with the new military service law in 2019. This thesis focuses on the perceptions of masculinity and nationalism of two primary groups within the middle class in Türkiye: long-term service participants (6 and 12 months) and short-term service participants, by using qualitative research techniques including semi-structured in-depth interviews of 14 men and thematic analysis of the data. Although the motivations behind short-term military service have started to be explored, the decision to choose long-term service despite having the financial means has not been studied. By providing a comparative analysis, this thesis argues that four main typologies explain the factors influencing the decision-making process. For short-term military service groups, the thesis has found that it is a pragmatic choice, combining the main aspects of time and efficiency calculation and lesser exposure to the discipline. Long-term military service, on the other hand, is more diverse and can be explained through the dimensions of adventure, stabilizer, and ethical decision. The study also finds that there is a transformation in the idea of being useful to the nation. While military service is at the center of the traditional understanding of nationalism, alternative ways of serving society are emphasized in the contemporary version.

Subject Keywords

compulsory military service, long-term military service, short-term military service, paid military service, masculinity, hegemonic masculinity, military

URI

https://hdl.handle.net/11511/109508

Collections

Graduate School of Social Sciences, Thesis