The aim of this article is to analyze the results of a survey conducted in the slum areas of six metropolitan cities in Turkey— Adana, Ankara, Diyarbakır, Gaziantep, İstanbul and İzmir—in order to unveil the multifaceted aspects of social exclusion processes as experienced by their inhabitants. The evidence documented in this study suggests that a significant number of people living in these areas are distanced from jobs, income, education, and training opportunities, with little access to power and decision-making bodies; this inevitably pushes them to the edge of society. Individuals with a relatively better socio-economic standing tend to be excluded to a lesser extent, while they themselves have intolerant attitudes towards others.

The main objective of this essay is to point out the missing links between neoliberalism on the one hand, and a comprehensive analysis of poverty and effective policies to tackle it, on the other. After identifying the main channels through which neoliberalism affects poverty, I will draw attention to the inadequacy of the neoliberal approach in coming to terms with the main reasons behind poverty, as well as in developing a comprehensive and effective mechanism for its alleviation. I emphasize the role of international institutions in determining the dominant development discourse and changes in the importance given to the issue of poverty over time. The essay links the ineffectiveness of existing poverty alleviation policies to distributional imbalances at both the global and domestic levels. Against the background of the main constraints and opportunities for effective poverty alleviation policies in individual countries, it emphasizes the need for a poverty alleviation strategy as an integral part of a broader development strategy and identifies its main premises. It calls for action on the academic, domestic and international fronts and stresses the central role of the state, a more balanced reliance on domestic and international markets, emphasis on productive employment creation, the development of effective redistribution mechanisms, and the creation of effective domestic and international constituencies as the main components of such a strategy.

As part of the institutional changes in Turkey since the 1980s that laid down the foundations of a market economy, the transformation of the social security system has recently come on the agenda. This article discusses the possible outcome of this transformation by situating the case of Turkey in the context of the contemporary international social policy environment shaped by neo-liberal globalization.

It is possible to suggest that throughout the world a new system of welfare governance has recently emerged, which is characterized, first, by a novel emphasis on workfare as opposed to welfare. It modifies, second, redistributive action by the state through diverse partnerships between the state, private sector and voluntary initiatives in the provision of social care and public services. The impact of this new system of welfare governance on social policy is especially important in less developed countries where the role of the state in welfare provision is recently being taken more seriously. With the new emphasis on workfare accompanied by the increasing role of non-state actors, the newly introduced social policy measures might not necessarily consolidate the basis of citizenship rights but they might mainly serve to keep under control the socio-economic insecurity aggravated by the expansion of market relations. This observation is of particular significance for the analysis of the contemporary social policy environment in Turkey that this article presents.

This paper discusses state-sponsored social work and its relation to social exclusion in contemporary Turkey. Linking state-sponsored social work to the dynamics of social exclusion, this discussion points to two contrasting sets of practices within the Turkish social work system. First, I focus on the contemporary reform of the child protection system: I examine the current restructuring of institutional care for children, showing its link with the neoliberal agenda of reducing state social spending and shifting social care from state to familial resources. The current emphasis on and the specific implementation of the policy of transforming institutional care perpetuate the processes of exclusion as experienced by the women and children who are the major clients of the social work system. Yet, examples of the ways in which social work can address social exclusion do exist in the system, and I try to offer a glimpse into these limited benefits which at least some clients receive through the system. I conclude by suggesting that, in order to better address the negative results of social exclusion, both the redistributive and interpretive underpinnings of the Turkish state social work system should be subject to critical scrutiny.

This article discusses the development of social policy in Turkey from a gender perspective. Focusing on continuities and changes in the formal social security system and the labor market regulation, it aims to describe the place of women in social policy until today. I argue that social policy measures from the late Ottoman era to the single-party period laid the foundation for later gendered policy approaches through specific assumptions on women's roles and position. With the introduction of a modern social security system in the post-World War II period women have increasingly become integrated into the system, either as workers or as dependents of workers; however, assumptions about women's place in the family and the labor market did not change much. Familial dependency and traditional gender norms were assumed and reinforced through certain gender-differentiated policies, and women workers have been encouraged to go back home. Over the last two decades, however, the conceptualization of women in social policy formulations has shifted towards a policy that encourages female labor and equal treatment of genders.

This article makes use of two different data sets on Turkey to explore the relationship between the tax structure and issues such as democratic representation, citizenship rights, and poverty and social exclusion. The first of these data sets is the extensive Household Consumption Survey (2003) by the Turkish Statistical Institute (TURKSTAT). This extensive survey data allows a very comprehensive quantitative analysis of the tax burden on the consumption baskets of households in different income groups, as well as in different regions of Turkey. The second data set incorporates qualitative data on Turkish citizens' views and attitudes towards different aspects of the Turkish tax system—such as its fairness (justice), transparency, and efficiency in generating funds for public activities—obtained through focus group meetings and in-depth interviews conducted with citizen groups and various stakeholders in cities in different regions in Turkey. The quantitative findings presented in the study clearly reveal that, if anything, taxes are expected to exacerbate the problem of inequality and poverty in Turkey. Heavily relying on regressive consumption taxes results in the poor paying a disproportionate amount of their income as indirect taxes, more so for those in Eastern and Southeastern Anatolia where poverty is more extreme. On the other hand, the qualitative part reveals that ordinary citizens find the current tax system highly unfair and feel that they receive very little in terms of public services in return for the taxes they pay. In spite of the merits attributed in theory to taxation as a means to provide services and thereby legitimize the state, the payment of taxes is met with considerable reluctance. Most of this reluctance is attributable to factors such as the citizens' inability to pay, and a lack of clarity with respect to the obligations and reasons for paying. It also emerges that the unwillingness to pay is a protest against the degradation of public services and the perceptions of unfairness, corruption, and other administrative failings.

This essay focuses on economic hardship in the wake of the 2001 economic crisis and the impact of the resulting economic strain on individual and family distress (i.e., stress, emotional distress, physical health, and marital problems). Previous research on the impact of the economic crisis in Turkey has relied on small and non-representative samples or was limited to descriptive analyses. This research analyzes a nationally representative sample of 1,107 urban households using multivariate techniques. The OLS regression results show that, while the negative effects of the economic crisis were widely felt, those who lost their jobs, had a longer duration of unemployment, and who experienced higher levels of economic strain were affected most. Economic hardship and high and increasing levels of economic strain had a strong negative effect on perceived stress levels, emotional distress, physical health problems and marital problems. Renters were particularly hard hit by the crisis and report more strain and personal distress than non-renters.

In order to analyze the interdependent vicious circles of social exclusion and spatial relegation, this article will discuss the findings of fieldwork in the inner-city neighborhood of Tarlabaşı, İstanbul. The introductory section revolves around the concepts of poverty and exclusion, followed by a brief historical background of this locality. The core of the article is devoted to an analysis of different dimensions of exclusion—namely, economic, social, political, spatial and discursive dimensions. In the neighborhood of Tarlabaşı, it is possible to trace the signs of a transformation leading to the creation of a new type of urban poverty based on exclusion. This inner-city area, a territory of urban relegation par excellence, illustrates that informal activities no longer suffice to integrate socially; that the neighborhood is increasingly becoming polarized along lines of class, religion and ethnicity; that inner-city slums are no longer transitory places for rural-to-urban migrants, but perpetual spaces of relegation; and that the conflict-induced migrant Kurds are the primary candidates to become Turkey's “underclass.”

This paper analyzes the processes of integration of the poor into the market, as instigated by their involvement in microfinance projects. This analysis is based on the findings of an ethnographic study of the Turkish Grameen Microcredit Project (TGMP), conducted in Diyarbakır at different time periods between September of 2004 and July of 2005. By analyzing in detail the nature of economic life revolving around the microfinance practices, this paper intends to elucidate the way in which the integration of the microcredit borrowers into the market is guided by societal processes. The findings of the field research show that in everyday practices the borrowers adjust the microfinance system to their own needs and accommodate the economic activities originating in microcredit into their wider social structure. Thus, one can conclude that they are integrated into the market in their own way, guiding the integration process with their own socio-cultural institutions.