Automobility in Turkey: a critical evaluation of Turkish automobile production in the 1960s and the 1970s

Abstract

This thesis evaluates the diffusion of automobility as a system in terms of its economic, social and cultural aspects during the 1960s and the 1970s in the Turkish context. Turkey adapted to global domination character of automobility starting in the 1950s. The rapid enhancement of automobility boosted the demand for and interest in personal automobiles, which resulted in a serious foreign exchange crisis in the end of the 1950s. To deal with the problem, Turkey applied different measures until the transfer of mass production through joint ventures with foreign automobile firms. Hence, the solution of the problem permanently tied Turkey to global production and consumption relations as well as the system of automobility. This thesis analyzes the diffusion of automobility from a perspective that combines the transformations of the economy and society in line with the changes in the daily life culture. The diffusion of automobility in the Turkish context was accelerated by two mutually exclusive factors. The first one was the decision to transfer the carbuilding technologies into the country and establishing the automobile industry for mass-production. And the second one was the changes in the public perception concerning automobility which directly affects the market formation and consumption patterns of the middle classes. These reasons are taken into account to underscore the formation and the development of the capitalist production and consumption patterns during the import substitution era, which is denoted as the preparatory background of the recent global integration.