A sociological study on the intangible labor of university students working in call centers: The case of Van province

In this study, which deals with the non-material labor of university graduate students working in call centers with the example of Van province, it has been investigated how the social, economi, educational and other problems experienced by university graduate students working in call center sectors lead them to call centers and whether they are exposed to labor exploitation call centers. In the study, qualitative research method was used and in-depth interview technique was used with 20 participants. Snowball sampling was used to reach participants in the interview. The research was conducted in more detail using the in-depth interview technique. The data obtained were evaluated and interpreted within the scope of the research. This sociological study phenomenologically revealed the positive and negative situations experienced by unemployed university graduate students in call centers. Recently, the main reasons for the sudden increase in demand for call center sectors have been investigated. The intensity caused by this increase in demand has led to the intense exploitation of the nonmaterial labor of university graduate students. In this context, working conditions between different sectors of call centers (public, finance, service, telecommunication, etc.) were investigated. The existence of different working conditions across sectors and the difficult working conditions have caused university graduate students to be exposed to labor exploitation. University graduate students say that due to the difficult working conditions, they cannot socialize, cannot fulfill their daily life practices, experience physical and psychological health problems, cannot focus on different career fields, etc. The problems were identified at the end of the research. Therefore, it has been determined that university graduate students are exposed to job exploiters and mobbing (pressure) applied by managers/team leaders in some call center sectors.