Consensual control through the articulation of technology and local culture: evidence from a textile factory in Turkey

• Author: Fatma Umut Bespinar,Sibel Kalaycioglu,Cagatay Topal
• Published date: 01 November 2014
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/ntwe.12035
• Date: 01 November 2014

Consensual control through the articulation

of technology and local culture: evidence

from a textile factory in Turkey

Fatma Umut Bespinar, Cagatay Topal and

Sibel Kalaycioglu

This article focuses on the complex network of control and

consent through the articulation of technology and local

culture in the workplace. The dynamics of this network are

embedded in the interplay of global and local markets. The

article explores these dynamics by focusing on the distinctive

characteristics of a Central Anatolian city, Çorum, based on a

case study conducted in Turkey. We observe how globalised

patterns of control and consent are reproduced through the

articulation of new technologies and the conservative culture

specific to this locality. During the negotiations between

employers and employees, this interplay plays a significant

role in the construction of work realities. The consensual

control produced within the framework of conservative values

leads to a consensual hegemony in the organisation of labour

process.

Keywords: Control, consent, technology, local culture, labour

process, workplace.

Introduction

The post–Cold War decades of the 1990s and 2000s were years of economic crisis in

Turkey. During this period, industrialisation in Anatolian cities was encouraged

through tax abatements. The relocation of production from the metropolitan sites to

these cities, such as Çorum, was strategically preferred by especially export-oriented

firms in order to keep their competitive advantage in the global market. In these new

sites of production, local and global dynamics of capital and manufacturing are reticu-

lated to organise a labour process.

The aim of the research is to understand the nature of a firm primarily from the

perspectives of capital and labour and within its local and global contexts. The case

intends to understand how global-, local- and factory-level dynamics intertwine

Assoc. Professor Fatma Umut Bespinar is a teacher in the Department of Sociology at Middle East

Technical University, Ankara. Her research interests include sociology of work, historical and com-

parative sociology, and gender studies. Professor Sibel Kalaycioglu is a teacher in the Department of

Sociology at Middle East TechnicalUniversity, Ankara. Her research interests include social inequality,

class and mobility, sociology of work, and political sociology. Assist. Professor Cagatay Topal is a

teacher in the Department of Sociology at Middle East Technical University, Ankara. His research

interests include surveillance, communication and information technologies, and sociological theory.

New Technology, Work and Employment 29:3

ISSN 0268-1072

© 2014 John Wiley & Sons Ltd224 New Technology, Work and Employment