Convict Labor in Turkey, 1936–1953: A Capitalist Corporation in the State?
Author
Type :
Article
Publication Status :
published
Access :
restrictedAccess
Abstract
The article proposes the institutional analysis of convict labor as an alternative to both (profit-oriented) economic and (discipline-oriented) political explanations. The specialized labor-based prisons in Turkey from 1936 to 1953 are brought to light by archival research and are presented here as a rich case to discuss the experiential/subjective conditions of unfree labor regimes and the structural effects of institutions on the convicts’ experiences. I argue that the state department responsible for prison labor in Turkey was transformed into a capitalist corporation with bureaucratic management, and the target of convict labor system was neither profit nor discipline, but the creation of the corporate bureaucracy itself. As a consequence, both for prisoners and for the prison staff, labor-based prisons appeared as privileged places. Hence, unfree labor was volunteered.
Source :
International Labor and Working-Class History
Date :
2016
Volume :
90
Publisher :
Cambridge University Press
URI
http://hdl.handle.net/10679/4720https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/international-labor-and-working-class-history/article/convict-labor-in-turkey-19361953-a-capitalist-corporation-in-the-state/356F4E942FE3EA6B240C7015F4564501
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