The commodification of labor power and the capitalist development in Türkiye

Date

2026-1-22

Author

Bektaş, Ahmet Arif

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This thesis examines the transformation process of labor power of direct producers into a commodity within historical context of class formations in Türkiye. Commodification of labor power is a fundamental indicator of development of capitalism, and beginnings of evolution of this phenomenon appear at the dawn of this mode of production. Social differentiation that unfolds in the bosom of pre-capitalist structures creates conditions favorable to the commodification of labor power. Commodification of labor power shows disappearance of old social structures along with the old mode of production too. This study examines historical roots of process of commodification of labor power in Turkish society in relation to process of dissolution of feudal mode of production. Thus, the historical process of development of wage labor within the broadest direct producer mass is examined up to 1960s, when rapid and massive expansion of the working class began. With further evolution of premature capitalism, commodification of labor power matures from casual and irregular forms to refined forms. Development of capitalism increasingly forces the traditional peasantry, who used to live on by cultivating their own land, to put their labor power as a commodity to market. This research demonstrates that, in historical development, wage labor in Türkiye gained a broad social base within structures of petty production and in the countryside before the cities. Without this base provided by evolution in rural structures, process of massification of the working class within framework of advanced capitalism in the cities could not have developed. Mass development of wage labor among direct producers in rural areas in casual and irregular forms is an essential historical factor that fostered regular employment of wage labor in cities. Without prior development of commodification of labor power, the process of mass employment of working class within the scope of large-scale industry could not have developed. Employment of wage labor in mass and refined forms in industrial capitalism developed on the historical basis created by casual and irregular forms of commodification of labor power within the structures of petty production.

Subject Keywords

Differentiation of Peasantry, Transformation of Rural Economy, Formation of Working Class, Development of Capitalism in Türkiye, Evolution of Economic Sectors

URI

https://hdl.handle.net/11511/118351

Collections

Graduate School of Social Sciences, Thesis