Leisure as construction of distinction: A case of Ankara, Turkey

This presentation aims to discuss “leisure” as the construction of class distinction in contemporary Turkish society in Ankara, the capital city of Turkey. Firstly, theoretical frameworks and methodology of the study is described to examine the relations between leisure activities and the classes. Secondly, the Turkish middle class and its fractions are constructed analytically according to social, cultural and economic capitals. Thirdly, leisure activities are analyzed and matched with the middle class fractions. Finally, leisure is presented as way of the construction of class distinction among the Turkish middle class fractions.

 There are two main general theoretical bases of this study: First one is Bourdieu’s theory on social, cultural and economic capitals, habitus, class fractions and positions. Bourdieu’s theory is supported with literature on the traditional and new middle classes. Second one is leisure theory. Addition to these, literature and the empirical researches on leisure and middle class are critically reviewed to scrutinize and understand the association between leisure and classes in Turkey.

This study depends on the field research of my PhD thesis, which sampled 421 household questionnaires in two districts, Çankaya and Keçiören, in Ankara, 10 unstructured interviews and observations. After quantitative data was collected, data from the field were coded and analyzed in SPSS.

For this conference, this presentation provides an important opportunity to share the findings from an empirical case study on leisure and class distinction from Turkey.