Stepping into the global: Turkish professionals, employment in transnational corporations, and aspiration to transnational forms of cultural capital

Abstract

This article explores the narratives of professionals from Turkey working in transnational corporations to contribute to discussions of new middle classes and global stratification focusing on emerging forms of cultural capital in the domain of the transnational business field. Analyzing respondents’ narratives about their careers, it argues that as these professionals try to differentiate themselves within the neoliberal market, transnational corporations structure the access to transnational forms of social and cultural capital, including a cosmopolitan self-narrative, and work as a means of institutionalizing distinction at the global level. As such, this article contributes to discussions on emerging cultural capitals as well as cosmopolitanism as cultural capital and emphasizes the transnationalization of class distinction strategies of the new middle classes in Turkey as it situates these strategies within a stratified neoliberal global market.