Labor for sale: A case study of precariousness and political tendency in the workers bazaar

This thesis aims to determine the qualitative characteristics of precariousness and political orientation of the workers in the Ulus Labor Bazaar located in the center of the city in Ankara and to reveal the possible relationship between these two. This study is based on ethnographic research, non-participant and participant observations and in-depth interviews with workers in the Ulus Labor Bazaar. The findings regarding precariousness and political orientation in the field research were evaluated with the literature of precarity and political orientation in the world and Turkey in particular, and similarities and differences were analyzed in this context. The field has been handled based on the precarity literature, and the forms of precariousness specific to the case, the folded precariousness, and the aspects of precarity that go beyond the working life of the workers have been identified. While determining the political orientation of the workers, the factors that are effective on political orientation were determined and it was discussed whether precariousness is one of them. This thesis, which was prepared to increase the visibility of non-factory labor in the social sciences literature and to determine the effect of precariousness on political preferences, is the first academic study on the Ulus Labor Market. Keywords: labor market, precariousness, employment norms, precariat, worker, political tendency