Cultural Foundations of Social Policy: A Study on the Establishment Discussions of the Social Assistance and Solidarity Foundations
Şenol KurtSocial policies emerge as a result of a process in which many actors interact with each other directly or indirectly. Culture is a concept that encompasses all these relationships. The relationship between culture and social policies can be observed at all stages of social policies. This study examines the founding law of the Social Assistance and Solidarity Foundations, Türkiye’s f irst comprehensive policy toward the poor, through the cultural dimension of the discussions held in the General Assembly of the Turkish Grand National Assembly. The study attempts within its scope to understand the extent to which the phenomenon of culture has been taken into consideration and how it has been perceived during the approval phase of a social policy attempting to be created. The study uses the content analysis method and aims to initiate a new discussion in Turkish literature in terms of addressing the relationship between culture and social policy. The justification of the bill the government has presented is a cultural manifesto in terms of its content. Throughout the discussions, the ruling party that presented the bill was observed to frequently make references to cultural values in order to defend the bill’s legitimacy. The opposition parties’ objections appear to have also been based heavily on cultural arguments. None of the political parties were understood to have objected to the income transfer, and the cultural dimension of social policies was seen to have manifested itself explicitly and implicitly throughout the General Assembly discussions.
Sosyal Politikanın Kültürel Temelleri: Sosyal Yardım ve Dayanışma Vakfı’nın Kuruluş Tartışmaları Üzerine Bir İnceleme
Şenol KurtSosyal politikalar, çok sayıda aktörün birbirleriyle doğrudan veya dolaylı olarak ilişkiye girdikleri bir süreç sonucunda oraya çıkmaktadır. Kültür ise tüm bu ilişkiler ağını kuşatan bir kavramdır. Kültür ve sosyal politikalar arasındaki ilişki, sosyal politikaların tüm aşamalarında gözlenebilir. Bu çalışmada Türkiye’nin yoksullara yönelik ilk kapsamlı politikası olan Sosyal Yardımlaşma ve Dayanışma Vakfı’nın kuruluş yasası, Türkiye Büyük Millet Meclisi Genel Kurulu’nda gerçekleşen tartışmaların kültürel boyutuyla incelenmiştir. Çalışma kapsamında kültür olgusunun, oluşturulmaya çalışılan bir sosyal politikanın onaylanma aşamasında ne ölçüde dikkate alındığı ve nasıl algılandığı anlaşılmaya çalışılmaktadır. Çalışmada içerik analizi yöntemi kullanılmıştır. Çalışma kültür ve sosyal politika ilişkisini ele alması bakımından Türkçe literatürde yeni bir tartışma başlatmayı amaçlamaktadır. Tasarının hükümet tarafından sunulan gerekçesi, içeriği itibarıyla kültürel bir manifesto niteliği taşımaktadır. Tartışmalar boyunca tasarıyı sunan iktidar partisinin tasarının meşruiyetini savunmak adına kültürel değerlere sıklıkla referans verdiği gözlenmiştir. Muhalefet partilerinin itirazlarının da yoğun bir biçimde kültürel argümanlara dayandırıldığı görülmektedir. Siyasi partilerin hiçbirinin gelir transferine yönelik itirazda bulunmadıkları anlaşılmaktadır. Sosyal politikaların kültürel boyutu Genel Kurul tartışmaları boyunca açık veya örtük biçimde kendini göstermiştir.
The relationship between the welfare state and culture is a multidimensional one. The preferences of different social actors in the formation and implementation of social policies remain incomplete when considered independently of culture. Preferences in the formation process of social policies are affected by culture, whether explicitly or implicitly. The size of this impact varies depending on different variables such as the personal characteristics of policymakers, policy legacies, and legal infrastructure. Examining the direct impact a phenomenon such as culture has on social policies is difficult, as culture’s effects are felt in every aspect of life. In this context, examining policymakers’ discourses will provide significant benefits.
Fighting poverty has been one of the most important goals of social policy throughout the history. Proposals for solving the poverty problem have been widely influenced by culture, just as in other areas of social policy. Policymakers’ approach to the problem is intensely shaped by their perspective on the poor and poverty. Therefore, the discussions in parliaments and commissions while enacting social policies, including the fight against poverty, are valuable in terms of showing the perspectives of legislators and the cultural dimensions of the discussions. The initial part of the study examines the developments in the literature regarding the relationship between social policy and culture.
Since its establishment, the Republic of Türkiye has created and implemented various mechanisms to combat poverty. However, most of the policies aimed at compensating for income losses in Türkiye have been structured within the scope of social security systems with a premium. The financial weight of the social security system with a premium is maintained among all social policies today. In terms of scope, the Social Assistance and Solidarity Encouragement Law No. 3294 that was adopted in 1986 was issued to ensure that the fight against poverty is carried out throughout Türkiye. The law was the first with this feature. Other factors that made the proposed bill important are its basis on a system without a premium and heavy reliance on public resources.
With the Social Assistance and Solidarity Encouragement Law No. 3294, foundations were established in all provinces and districts of Türkiye, the contents of which were determined by law and whose board of trustees consisted mainly of public officials. Foundations provide in-kind and cash aid to people in need. Social Assistance and Solidarity Foundations (SYDVs) are important in terms of social policy due to the wide area they cover and their usage of public resources. This study aims to examine from a cultural perspective the discussions that took place in Parliament during the legalization of these foundations. In this context, the study addresses the specific discussions that took place at the General Assembly of the Turkish Grand National Assembly (TBMM) on May 28, 1986.
The study uses the content analysis method and aims to initiate a new discussion in Turkish literature with regard to addressing the relationship between culture and social policy. The study discusses the debates that took place in Parliament under four dimensions in the context of their relationship with culture. The first dimension evaluates the perspective of the ruling and opposition Members of Parliament (MPs) regarding the concept of poverty and the poor, with all MPs being observe to have no views stigmatizing or blaming the poor. The general approach of the MPs can be said to be similar to the approach of Turkish society. The second examined dimension focuses on the debates regarding the concept of foundation. The most important argument put forward by the ruling party throughout the discussions was that the foundations, which had operated as important actors in the field of social policy in the past but had lost their importance over time, would emerge as an important actor once again with this bill. Meanwhile, the opposition parties were opposed to a foundation-based system in two respects. The first of these was the claim that the scope of the draft having the state establish foundations contradicted the traditional understanding of foundations. The second point to which they objected was the idea that foundations contradict the understanding of secularism when considering the functions of foundations in the Ottoman Empire.
Discussions regarding the qualifications of the foundations that were planned to be established within the scope of the bill make up the third dimension and is discussed in the context of culture. The main axes of the discussions involved who the board of trustees of the foundations that were planned to be established would be, what their sources of income would be, and how they would be audited. The last cultural aspect of the discussions relates to the timing of the bill. The opposition criticized the fact that the bill had been brought to the General Assembly of the Turkish Grand National Assembly during the month of Ramadan, a month that is considered sacred for Muslims. The opposition claimed that by following such a path, the ruling party wanted to portray criticism of the bill as an attack on faith in the eyes of pious people.
Throughout the General Assembly discussions, the ruling party was observed to resort to cultural arguments to emphasize the necessity and legitimacy of the bill. The MPs from the opposition parties were observed to develop criticisms regarding technical issues such as the content of the bill and the qualifications of the foundations to be established. In response to these criticisms, the ruling party noteworthily tried to present the bill as a necessity of Turkish tradition and Turkish culture. The technical criticisms of the bill can be said to have remained unanswered most of the time.
