PRODUCTION OF SPACE AND CLASS RELATIONS: AN EXTENDED CASE STUDY OF THE TASHKENT TEXTILE FACTORY

Date

2024-11

Author

YILDIZ, BATUHAN

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This research analyzes the changing class relations in a post-Soviet Uzbek village that is undergoing privatization via the establishment of a multinational textile factory through the application of the extended case method coined by Michael Burawoy. Semi-structured interviews and participant observations conducted between June 2022 and August 2022 with twelve people from three different classes and nationalities, which include blue and white-collar workers of the factory and peasantry as well as fourteen local gray collar people of the researched village, are also supported by archival documents and a plethora of systematically collected field notes and photos taken by the author. The obtained findings are equally analyzed in tandem with the theories of Henri Lefebvre on the production of capitalist space and the perceived dimension of the spatial triad. While discussing these changes, the overall perspectives of Edward Palmer Thompson and his ideas regarding the (re)making of the modern working class in the capitalist era and their applicability to the Uzbek context are also provided. Correspondingly, the following research question could be asked: What kind of consequences does the implementation of a multinational textile factory have on the class structure of a once socialist village? While trying to address the research question, this research found that the formation of a new type of Uzbek working class and the disappearance of the former gave birth to the making of a newly emerging indigenous social group named gray collared through the production of conformist spaces.

Subject Keywords

Production of Space, (Re)making of the Uzbek Working Class, Conformist Spaces, Gray Collar People, Textile Factory in Post-Soviet Tashkent

URI

https://hdl.handle.net/11511/112353

Collections

Graduate School of Social Sciences, Thesis