Goerg Simmel'ın yabancı kavramı ve Simmel sonrası analizler: Günümüz İstanbul'unun yabancıları olarak Pakistanlılar ve Suriyeliler

Thanks to the modern communications systems and advancement in transportation technology, the world becomes "a global village" as many scholars refer to. With its increased flows of goods, people and ideas, globalization exposes our assump-tion about cultures, nations and societies as a localized, fixed and rooted into place. The disappearance of the constraints of geography affects placed-based loyalties. Globalization (in general) and strangers (in particular) are together the harbinger of the disappearance of boundaries between cultures, and antagonistic "inside-outside/us-them" mentalities. In today's world, described by hyper mobility and unprecedent population change, the stranger, as a figure of mobility, is in a clash with the local people who adhere to the traditional boundaries of space and belonging. In sociology of stranger, we see that the existing literature is full of theoretical discussions. However, the concept has not so far sufficiently applied to specific groups, such as immigrants of current day cities. Therefore, this study investigates two stranger groups in modern-day Istanbul: the undocumented Pakistani and Syrian immigrants. The study applies Georg Simmel's concept of the stranger and related literature to these two groups. Like the existing scholarship, I argue that the stranger is a relational figure who takes different idiosyncratic forms and roles in different contexts. The study seeks to show the construction of stranger in a specific time and place. To this end, I collect data through the semi-structured interview method and partial observation. I illustrate how the local people and the strangers of Istanbul perceive one another. I argue that the Pakistanis and the Syrians do not receive the same treatment from the host society. The low-income group of the host society has a discriminatory attitude towards the Syrians since they seek to protect their economic interests, maintain the existing order and thus to solidify the borders between "us and them." Briefly, by applying the concept of the stranger to the Pakistanis and the Syrians who are now living in modern-day Istanbul, the present thesis aims at filling the gap in the existing literature.