Refugees in the era of globalization case study: behind "Made in Turkey" label

This dissertation describes consumerism and the phenomenon of fast fashion in the era of global capitalism, and investigates the effect on purchasing behaviour of the people towards the situation of Syrian refugees that are working in the illegal factories, or sweatshops, from Turkey. In the first part of this thesis we have the examination of globalization from a skeptic perspective, and also the importance of socio-economy in order to move towards a more progressive society. Later on, the focus is on the relation between globalization and migration, especially centring on the flow of migration presented in the media in the last year, with which a hate discourse against the refugees was created. The study was made with the help of both qualitative methodology and quantitative, within which we applied a survey to analyze people's knowledge about consumerism, Syrian refugee workers in Turkey and their attitude towards this problem. The results of the survey showed us that education and access to information do have an impact on people's awareness of the problems that appear because of the current economic system, but also the fact that even though education is an important factor to consider if we want things to improve in this matter, it is not enough to change the entire mentality which is deeply rooted in the consumerist behaviour. The hegemony of consumerism affected the entire lifestyle and even if we accept there is a problem in the system, it is difficult, near to impossible to change. We should consider studying the deconstruction of the consumerist discourse.