Social change in Turkey: an analysis through selected films

Date

2014

Author

Coşkun, Çiçek

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This study aims to contribute to the research literature through the comparative examination of selected field studies and cinema films on social change in Turkey between 1950 and 1980. The study derives from the argument that it is possible to develop an alternative/contribution to the current research methods through the use of visual sources by means of the suggestions of the ‘sociological imagination’ and ‘sociology of affect’. Depending on sociological imagination and sociology of affects, it is claimed that the use of cinema films in sociological research enables fast and effective analysis of the social issues and their fast and effective transfer to the audience. The individual can comprehend social issues effectively and faster through films relevant with the subject since she/he can identify with the story and characters of the film with the effect of visuality. Contents of sociological field studies and cinema films that were chosen for the present study are compared in terms of their examination of social change in Turkey. In order to make this comparison, five field studies and eight cinema films were selected. Afterwards, depending on the issues the sociologists focused on their field studies, six concepts were determined, and the films’ approach towards these concepts are analyzed. Study progresses with the examination of socio-economic developments and developments of empirical studies in sociology discipline in Turkey between 1950 and 1980. Then, it focuses on the classical narrative structure, character structure, representations of social types and development of Turkish cinema. Finally, the study aims both to analyze how field studies and cinema studies focus on the issue of social change; and to indicate that cinema films can be used in social researches through the sociological imagination and sociology of affects.

Subject Keywords

Motion pictures, Turkey, Social change

URI

http://etd.lib.metu.edu.tr/upload/12618173/index.pdf
https://hdl.handle.net/11511/24196

Collections

Graduate School of Social Sciences, Thesis