Collective Action in Turkey: What Do We Know and Where Do We Go Next?

Abstract

This book chapter aims to review the existing social psychological studies on collective action that have been published in the context of Turkey. First, we provide a brief historical background of Turkey in terms of collective movements, especially focusing on the last decade. Second, we discuss how other disciplines in the social sciences have approached collective action much earlier than social psychology. Third, we provide an up-to-date review of how collective action has been studied in social psychology in Turkey by specifically focusing on the a) antecedents and dynamics of and b) outcomes of collective action. Finally, we discuss future directions stemming and highlight in which areas more collective action research is needed in Turkey in particular and in authoritarian contexts in general. We discuss the importance of context when COLLECTIVE ACTION AND SOCIAL CHANGE IN TURKEY 2 research is conducted in a non-WEIRD environment, in a country where the typical antecedents and outcomes of collective action may not be in place. Thus, we aim to add to the existing global literature by discussing areas where the research based in Turkey is similar to yet diverges from the existing literature.

System‐based emotions in Turkey and support for versus opposition to the Gezi Park protests

“…Because Turkey straddles Europe and Asia, it is considered partly Eastern (or non‐Western). It is a majority Muslim country operating under a quasi‐authoritarian government, which makes the sociopolitical context quite different from so‐called “WEIRD” societies (Uluğ et al., 2022). Because system‐challenging protest in Turkey is dangerous, posing high levels of legal, financial, and physical risk, it is routinely classified as “high‐risk activism” (Ayanian et al., 2021; Coşkan et al., 2021; Uluğ et al., 2020).…”