BETWEEN EMPIRE, CONSTITUTIONALISM AND REPUBLIC DEBATES POLITICAL SENSITIVITIES OF FIRST GENERATION OF TURKISH SOCIOLOGISTS AND POLITICS-SOCIOLOGY RELATIONS

Abstract

Sociology, as it is in Europe where its origin took place, has been in a direct relation and interaction with the political ideologies since it appeared in the Ottoman Empire from the first phase. Ottoman intellectuals were interested in sociological theories in terms of political reasons to a great extent. In the last quarter century of the empire, Ottomanism, Islamism and Turkism policies had an effect on the intellectual tendencies of Ottoman intellectuals. Sociology in Turkey has improved with regard to these policies. In the process of the disintegration of the empire, sociology undertook a redemptive mission. The dominant concern of the first Turkish sociologists was to analyze the possibilities and conditions of maintaining the political role of the empire in the Western political balances. The differences between sociology schools has also realized depending on sociologists' political preferences.