The history of a company town: Labour, space and social relations in Değirmisaz

This thesis examines the former company town of Değirmisaz, now a "ghost town" that is little known but fondly remembered by its former inhabitants. Company towns emerged during the industrialization period, growing around a single mode of production. Değirmisaz, which developed between 1938 and 1966 under the state-owned Garp Lignites Enterprise (GLİ), is a prime example. Using archival sources, oral narratives, and ethnographic data, this study investigates the dynamics of capital, labor, and space that shaped the town's social relations, focusing on the notion of "social cohesion"—an experience its former residents took pride in yet mourned. To this end, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 31 former residents, complemented by archival research. The analysis reveals that "social cohesion" in Değirmisaz was rooted in a dynamic of inclusion and exclusion, shaped by labor hierarchies and the spatial organization of work. This dynamic emerged within the Fordist industrialization process, which sought to create ideal workers and citizens through the intertwined roles of the nation-state and family, offering security and the promise of middle-class mobility in return. However, this cohesion was conditional and exclusionary, relying on paternalistic practices and the unequal distribution of resources such as housing, education, and entertainment. While paternalism provided families living in the town with a sense of community and stability, it also reinforced dependency on the company and entrenched hierarchical social relations. At the same time, migration to the town, despite its small size, facilitated face-to-face and positive personal "stranger" relations in spaces outside the enterprise's control. This form of sociality primarily involved families who settled in the town rather than "single workers" who left their families in villages. Today, it is the post-Fordist affective subjects—the participants of this study—who preserve and transmit the memory of Değirmisaz's "social cohesion." Keywords: Değirmisaz, GLİ, company town, paternalism, post-Fordist affect