Understanding the Process of ‘Othering’ in Encounters: Discussing Empathy and Equality with Youth in Turkey

The research of "Understanding the Process of ‘Othering’ in Encounters: Discussing Empathy and Equality with Youth in Turkey", conducted in 2015-2017 with the support of TÜBİTAK, aimed to display the process of ‘othering’: how it starts, how it is realized, what the determinants of its growth are and in what forms it constructed is; to explore the mechanism of ‘othering’, the determining commonalities and differences and the main factors that affect the ‘othering’ process through the encounters with the other individuals rather than me/us.

“How can we live in a just and fair society?” was the main question that shaped the research. In the qualitative part of the research, in the summer and autumn of 2015, 37 in-depth interviews were conducted. In March and April 2016, 5 focus groups discussions were conducted with youngsters with different identities. Both in-depth interviews and focus group discussions were analyzed separately as well as helped forming the quantitative questions. In the quantitative part of the research, in April and May 2017, in 18 provinces of Turkey, 1224 face-to-face questionnaires were conducted with youngsters aged 18-29 representative of youth in Turkey.

Multivariate Analysis according to the Research Results:

While youngsters’ belief in their group’s superiority increases, their othering perception against other groups also increases.

Youngsters performing at or involved in activities like theatre and alike have less othering perception than the ones who are not.

Traditional methods of political participation such as voting and political party membership increase youngsters’ othering attitude.

The over-identification of youngsters with their identity increases their othering attitude.

When people are in contact with other groups, their othering attitude decreases.

The research findings have been published by Istanbul Bilgi University Publications under the title of "Biz"liğin Aynasından Yansıyanlar: Türkiye Gençliğinde Kimlikler ve Ötekileştirme [Reflections of “We”ness: Identities and Othering in Turkish Youth].

Research Team: Pınar Uyan Semerci, Emre Erdoğan, Serra Müderrisoğlu, Abdullah Karatay, Adil Sarıbay, Başak Ekim Akkan, Elif Sandal Önal, Tuğçe Erçetin, and Hüseyin Yüksel