| This study provides a comprehensive analysis of Islamic entrepreneurs in Turkey. The majority of these entrepreneurs emerged in the post-1980, a period marked by dramatic transformations in Turkish society, culture and economy initiated by the process of neoliberal globalization, and became important actors of the ascending Islamic movement. This dissertation examines the development, identity, culture and politics of this new entrepreneurial class from a historical ethnographic perspective. It shows the significance of local, national and transnational processes in the development of these entrepreneurs, such as the new cultural policies of the state that I call "religious adjustment program" as a corollary of structural adjustment programs, the emergence of national and global Islamic banks, and the transnational networks between Islamic entrepreneurs and Turkish migrants in Europe. It also examines the identity and discourse of Islamic entrepreneurs constructed against the West and westernized secular groups, state actors, and large metropolitan capital in Turkey. It shows how Islamic entrepreneurs attempt to rework Islam, modernity and capitalism through such concepts like "Islamic entrepreneurship," "Islamic work ethic" and "Islamic free-market" representing a synergy between Islam and capitalism.;This study also examines the transformation of the ideology of Islamic entrepreneurs by looking at the changing nature of the relationship between the state, secularist groups and Islamic forces as well as internal dynamics and contradictions within the Islamic movement itself. Consumption and production-related conflicts are delineated as two important sites of contradictions that are closely linked to the position of Islamic capital within politics of Islam in Turkey.;Theoretically, this study presents a critique of the received ideas on Islam and Islamism that have hitherto conceptualized them outside of and in contradiction with modernity and capitalism. By embedding modernity and capitalism, processes that are often considered within and through a-historical and ideal typical models, into their socio-historical contexts, this study attempts to debunk such dualistic approaches. It shows that Islamist actors are not only incorporated to these processes and are transformed by them, but they also attempt to negotiate and redefine the terms of modernity and capitalism rather than negating them in toto. |
