SOCIAL POLICY TRADITION IN THE ACADEMIC SPHERE IN TÜRKİYE: AN ANALYSIS THROUGH POSTGRADUATE THESES

Resumo

Social policy. in its broadest conceptualization. encompasses systemic interventions designed to mitigate class conflicts arising from the capitalist mode of production and to ensure the equitable distribution of generated value for the collective public interest. While its roots in Türkiye extend to the late Ottoman era. the 1933 University Reform serves as the definitive institutional turning point. This reform. which facilitated the transition from Dârülfünûn to Istanbul University and integrated eminent scholars fleeing Nazi Germany—notably Kessler—established the formal foundations of the discipline. In the contemporary era. the social policy tradition is primarily sustained within the Departments of Labour Economics and Industrial Relations. whose structural framework was fundamentally reshaped by the Council of Higher Education following the 1980 military coup. This research systematically evaluates the historical trajectory and current status of this academic tradition. Employing a comprehensive macro-level analysis. the study investigates the scholarly contributions of 939 academics and examines a dataset of 6.550 postgraduate theses across 30 universities in Türkiye. By analyzing both the historical roles of foundational faculty and the outputs of current scholars. this study provides a holistic assessment of the social policy tradition's academic influence and institutional evolution within the Turkish higher education landscape.