INTRODUCTION
or by imposing special conditions on them; or by providing a variety of advantages to members of another category."
However, the inclusion of discrimination in universal legal texts should not be
understood, as if the concept has become one of the priority subjects of social
sciences. Primary subjects of studies in post-war Europe firstly focused on the
efforts to reach an explanation framework of the experiences of fascism left
behind. Also, at the same time, it focused on the problems of transition to consumer society and issues caused by modernization in industry. At this point, the
United States of America (USA) is an exemption.
The African American Civil Rights Movement, which emerged primarily in the
USA in the 1950s and 1960s, brings the issue of discrimination not only to the
agenda of politics but also to the agenda of social sciences. Discrimination starts
to be considered together with the concept of power relations. Accordingly,
discrimination at the social level, which brings about the formation of majority
and minority groups, serves to reproduce structural power relations.6 However,
as we have said, such academic interest in the issue of discrimination is almost
exclusive to the United States.
One of the main reasons for the situation is that the concept of discrimination
become meaningful within the perspective of "equality of opportunity" which is
the founding notion of justice of the USA. In post-war Continental Europe, inequalities are discussed around the question of the reproduction of power relations
in favour of the (economic, cultural, social capital) capital owners. In other words,
differentiating from the United States, the problem of structural inequality of positions become prominent in Europe, not the inequality of opportunities between
individuals or groups. Reduction of the differences between positions- the wage
gap between manager and employee, or the value gap between the diploma of an
elite school and vocational school- is at the centre of public debate. As such, the
concept of discrimination cannot take its place in the dominant discussion of inequality of positions in Europe until the 1990s. The situation will almost follow the
same path in Turkey. And what could be the reason for this? What changes after
the 1990s that the concept of discrimination comes into prominence? Of course,
there is no single answer to this question. However, even by touching on one of
the answers, we may have some explanations.
For our discussion, the most important consequence of the neoliberal transformation and marketization, which gained momentum in the 1980s, would be
6 Bereni, L., ve V.-A. Chappe. 2011. “La Discrimination, de La Qualification Juridique à l’outil Sociologique.”
Politix, 94 (2): s. 16.
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