A sociological analysis on "Anxious Moderns" in Aydın

Debate on classes cannot be understood independently from their social, political and cultural context where the classes are located. In this sense, while middle classes in Western societies are examined by looking at economic positions, reproduction strategies and meritocratic ideologies, the middle classes in Turkey are at the forefront in terms of ideological conflicts and political values. Parallel to the expansion of the economy and bureaucracy in Turkey, the visibility and weight of the middle classes in the economic, cultural and political arena has also increased. Earlier, the middle classes, largely articulated by state and its ideology had a different appearance after the emergence of a new group that began to be incorporated into the professional middle class category with conservative Islamic values, along with the widespread use of modern educational institutions thanks to political and economic transformations after 1980. This situation became even deeper, especially in the 1990s and 2000s when the clash between "the modern" and "reactionary" in politics emerged with the multiparty system that turned into a secular-Islamist-oriented conflict. There is a struggle for power among the different segments of the middle classes at the center of political conflict in Turkey. This conflict is taking place between the conservative new Islamic middle classes, which have long been regarded as "reactionary" and the secular middle classes whose position in politics and society have been eroding . In this study, the secular middle classes who are experiencing the process of 'peripheralization' will be analyzed through subjective evaluations of the middle class of Aydın in terms of the concerns.