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Working-class entrepreneurialism: Perceptions, aspirations, and experiences of petty entrepreneurship among male manual workers in Turkey

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 October 2019

Alpkan Birelma Open the ORCID record for Alpkan Birelma [Opens in a new window]
Alpkan Birelma*
Affiliation:
Özyeğin University, Turkey; [email protected].
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Abstract

This article examines working-class entrepreneurialism in Turkey from a comparative perspective. Based on ethnographic fieldwork conducted in a working-class neighborhood of İstanbul, the article focuses on the perceptions, aspirations, and entrepreneurial attempts of manual workers employed in formal jobs. It aims to contribute to the understudied literature on working-class entrepreneurialism, which is often overlooked or underestimated by the critical research on labor and the working class. First, the article demonstrates that the level of entrepreneurialism among manual workers is rather high. Alongside revealing the popularity of aspirations for self-employment and the working-class roots of many self-employed individuals, I present an ethnographic account of five workers’ transition from wage work to self-employment. Second, the article finds that a colloquial phrase, “el işi” or “a stranger’s business,” is widely used to refer to wage work. I argue that this phrase perfectly manifests the popular resentment felt toward wage labor in a social milieu where self-employment seems accessible. Finally, by drawing on a review of a scattered set of studies, I claim that entrepreneurialism among working-class men seems to be quite common, especially in peripheral countries.

Keywords

Entrepreneurialismworking-class entrepreneurialismentrepreneurshipself-employmentworking-class subjectivitiespetty bourgeoisie
Type
Articles
Information
New Perspectives on Turkey , Volume 61 , November 2019 , pp. 45 - 70
Copyright
© New Perspectives on Turkey and Cambridge University Press 2019 

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