Demographic transformation, rural aging and socio-political repercussions in Turkey

The social and economic changes experienced with industrialization have brought demographic transformations and societies have entered a rapid aging process. Therefore, this process, which manifests itself as an increase in life expectancy, has been directly influenced by the reflection of the development of science and technology on medical technology; the development of birth control methods and the accompanying decrease in mortality rates. In addition to these, women's entry into working life and the transfer of the consciousness of being modern have also reduced fertility, while the process has increased the average life expectancy and consequently the average age. This demographic transformation, which manifests itself in the form of social aging and is primarily specific to modern Western societies, has necessitated a new institutional organization in many areas from health and care services to old age policies. As such, modern society, organized in line with the benefits of industrialization, has produced an urban-centered form of organization and a parallel socio-political structure in which many needs are met by professional services and dominated by institutions with rational functioning. Moreover, this form of organization has been hegemonically transformed into a universal doctrine and presented as a model that can be applied in all societies. However, in terms of the dynamics of demographic transformation, one can speak of different outlooks in terms of being an industrial society, building a modern society, and the characteristics of demographic transformation, as in the case of Turkey. Although Turkey has undergone a transformation process similar to that of Western societies in terms of the general characteristics of the demographic change created by industrialization and has relatively produced the organizational structure required by this transformation, it has some differences due to its own structural characteristics - with the effect of late industrialization and modernization - and the fact that a unique demographic transformation and related aging process is taking place in the rural/villages of Turkey, which has been rapidly liquidated under the influence of Neoliberal policies in the last 35 years, is an indicator of these differences. Thus, the main problem of this study is to examine the impact of the demographic transformation that occurred with the industrial society on social aging by taking into account the aging dynamics in rural Turkey and to question its socio-political reflections within the framework of the basic fictions of the modern projection.