Sociologists talked about the pioneering work of Prof. Dr. Şerif Mardin

Mardin, which is one of the reference sources for understanding the social structure of Türkiye with its analyses, continues its pioneering role in the academic world.

Şerif Mardin, one of the most important sociologists Türkiye has produced, was born in Istanbul in 1927. He started his secondary education at Galatasaray High School and completed it in the USA.

After graduating from Stanford University's Department of Political Science, Mardin completed his postgraduate studies at Johns Hopkins University and his doctorate at Stanford University's Hoover Institute. He later wrote detailed articles that would expand on the problematic of Turkish modernization.

After teaching at Ankara University for 13 years, Mardin served as the founding dean of Boğaziçi University's Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences and Head of the Sociology Department.

Mardin, who also served as the head of the Islamic Research Center at American University in Washington, later headed a program at Sabancı University to develop his studies on "Turkish thought during the Tanzimat Period."

Mardin, who received the status of "Emeritus Professor" in 2011, continued his academic work until the last days of his life.

Prof. Dr. Mardin, who published numerous books, articles, and awards throughout his 90-year life, passed away on September 6, 2017.

Sabahattin Zaim University Sociology Department faculty member Prof. Dr. Ergün Yıldırım told an AA correspondent that Mardin is a very important sociologist who strives to understand Türkiye's transformations through his work on the last 100 years.

Yıldırım noted that Mardin addressed topics such as modernization, center-periphery, the relationship between religion and ideology, press culture, political movements, and intellectual currents within a scientific framework and acted objectively. He said, "He is not a sociologist whose work is limited to Turkey. He has taken this to an international level. His work, based on the interaction between political science and sociology, is very important. Şerif Mardin is the first objective study in Türkiye in the field of sociology related to religion. Similarly, his applied studies in the field of sociology of religion, including his study of workers at the Izmir Tobacco Factory, are among the first and are important."

Yıldırım, noting that Mardin has very important works related to Turkish modernization, continued:

Şerif Mardin possesses both historical knowledge of Turkish modernization and has evaluated ideological movements such as the Young Turks, Islamists, and Westernists that emerged during the Turkish modernization process. He focuses on figures such as Namık Kemal and Şinasi as significant figures of the period. Within this framework, he conducts political and sociological analyses. Rather than merely investigating these within a specific context, as a historian would, he focuses on their place and importance within Turkish modernization and the concepts they produced and developed during this period.

Yıldırım underlined that Mardin approached Turkish modernization from a very different concept and explained that he endeavored to understand Turkish modernization not only as a process brought about by Western influence but also through interaction with the Turks' own historical and religious heritage.

Professor Dr. Yıldırım pointed out that Mardin used the center-periphery approach very effectively to explain Turkish modernization, saying, "We see this approach used by political scientists like Rokkan in Europe and sociologist Edward Shils in the US, but Şerif Mardin was the one who used it to explain Turkish modernization and presented it in a scientifically and sociologically consistent manner. That's why it gained widespread acceptance in Türkiye, especially after 1980. This is because this form of explanation also aligned with Türkiye's objective reality."

Yıldırım, stating that the center-periphery explanation had attracted great attention in the 1990s and 2000s, stated that Türkiye had been experiencing this center-periphery dialectic since the Ottoman period.

Yıldırım, noting that the Republican ideology also attempted to overcome this, said, "That's why they founded the People's Houses and published magazines like Halka Doğru. However, we still haven't fully overcome this, but Türkiye's industrialization, urbanization, the spread of print culture, and the significant influence of social media in all social spheres have brought the center and the periphery much more closely intertwined."

Yıldırım, stating that according to Şerif Mardin's theory, the periphery began to influence the center, and that Turkish democracy paved the way for this, said, "Because with democracy comes the possibility of participation. The rise of new political actors, businesspeople, and scientists and intellectuals from new circles is a significant process that has led to Türkiye's transformation. Therefore, Şerif Mardin's sociological theory has had a profound impact in explaining Türkiye."

Prof. Dr. Ergün Yıldırım explained the impact of Mardin on sociologists as follows:

Şerif Mardin led us to think more flexibly about sociology. By breaking down our ideological molds, he enabled us to look at ourselves, our history, social change, and Turkish modernization more scientifically and objectively. He actually pioneered a new generation of sociologists in this regard. It's also important to note that he represents a valuable resource and perspective for Turkish sociology. In the social media age, the center-periphery relationship has taken on a new dimension. A revolution, so to speak, has taken place. This isn't a political revolution, but a revolution in terms of the transformation of daily life. Accessibility has now spread everywhere. The center and the periphery have interacted greatly. Very different classes, people from rural areas, can easily interact with people in big cities on social media. Şerif Mardin has a sociology that discusses, defines, and conceptualizes the transformations Türkiye went through until the 2000s. But ultimately, it wasn't created from scratch after the 2000s. There's a background to this. Türkiye's modernization has repercussions today. Therefore, to understand Şerif Mardin and Turkish society, we need to understand his sociology. "He is still one of the important names to read."

Prof. Dr. Mahmut Hakkı Akın, Head of the Sociology Department at Istanbul Medeniyet University's Faculty of Letters, explained that Şerif Mardin is a very important name for Turkish sociology.

Akın, who stated that Mardin has been working on understanding Turkish society from within its own historical reality, stated that since Mardin received his education in America, he benefited from the diverse sociological theories there.

Prof. Dr. Akın said, "We can't say he implemented them verbatim, but Şerif Mardin made contributions to the development of an original sociology. We see that he has also reinterpreted himself, especially during the last 200 years of transformation in Türkiye. He is an important figure in Turkish sociology who has initiated new discussions, sometimes introduced new styles, or facilitated the recognition of certain theories."

Akın, noting that Mardin's concept of center and periphery has been widely debated, said, "Şerif Mardin's explanation was particularly unique in its analysis of the transformation of Turkish society, particularly in its internal division—in other words, in its analysis of the large segment of society that remained around it, the addressees of the power generated by that bureaucratic centralization, and the very segment of society that was being sought to be changed. In fact, American functionalism, adopted from Edward Shills, is also present in sociology, but it is an interpretation specific to Türkiye."

Prof. Dr. Akın emphasized that "the analyses conducted in Mardin, Türkiye, in the 1950s and 1960s are a very good model for explaining the organized society of that period, both central and peripheral," and made the following statements:

However, we see that the relationship and circulation between the center and the periphery in Türkiye has changed significantly over time. While the center certainly produces its own points of resistance, due to multi-party system and the historical sociological transformation Türkiye has experienced, we can talk about a situation that has continued after the 1980s, not only within Turkey but also with international changes, where there is a great deal of interconnectedness and diversity between centers and peripheries in Türkiye. Therefore, to say that the center-periphery approach, as initially conceptualized by the professor, explains this society today, I think it would be a bit of an overstatement.

Akın, noting that Mardin's concept of "neighborhood pressure" has been criticized without much thorough consideration due to the way it's portrayed in the media, due to the concept of "pressure," said, "Let's say if I were working in a department at a university today, I would feel pressure because that department has its own set of norms, values, and culture. Therefore, pressure itself isn't actually a concept to be negatively evaluated in a sociological sense. In other words, it shouldn't be used in the same way in daily life."

Akın stated that Şerif Mardin produced works in line with the understanding of social science in his time, and that these would be considered classics in terms of the history of Turkish sociology, political science, other social sciences and the discipline of history.

"His perspective and the theoretical approaches and conceptualizations he used at the time are important, but there are still many issues that need to be studied with new methods and techniques today," Akın said, pointing to Şerif Mardin's guidance in this regard.

Professor Dr. Mahmut Hakkı Akın emphasized that this guidance should not be merely a repetition, saying, "For a new Şerif Mardin to emerge, there needs to be people who can build on previous experience but also be able to critique it."

Akın emphasized the importance of the path opened by Şerif Mardin, and noted:

"As an academic, intellectual, and scholar, I didn't meet him directly, but he truly paved the way for us and broadened our horizons through his books and programs. In this sense, I consider him someone who has done his part. Therefore, if you ask, 'What does an academic, an intellectual owe to their society?', this is precisely it. Teaching, educating people, producing works... When we look at these works, we see that they are not propagandistic, but rather reflect the intellectual horizons and concerns of a scholar. I remember him with gratitude for his exemplary character in this regard."