Social service practices during the Turgut Özal era

Social work is a field of application that has existed since ancient times. The development of the field of social policy has made social service applications more visible in social life. The discipline of social policy has taken on an active role in the solution of social problems that emerged as a result of the Industrial Revolution. Along with the strengthening of social policies, social services that ensure the implementation of social policies in the field have also been strengthened. Social service applications intervene to ensure the maximization of social functionality of individuals who are in a disadvantaged position in social life. Throughout the study, social policies and social service applications have been tried to be presented in an integrated manner. As a result of the Industrial Revolution, changes in the nature of the state began to emerge with the social problems that emerged. The state intervened in the social field to solve the increasing social problems and took on the identity of a social welfare state after the 1929 crisis. The social welfare state is a type of state that struggles to provide citizens with minimum living conditions. Minimum living conditions were tried to be provided to citizens with social policies and social service practices. The welfare state experienced its golden age between 1945 - 1970, during which states gave importance to social policies and social services and their development was ensured. In the 1960s, Turkey adopted the principle of the "social state" and institutionalization efforts were made in the field of social services in this direction. As a result of the crises experienced in the 1970s, the concept of social welfare was criticized due to public social expenditures ; and with the changing world conditions, the concept of social welfare began to be abandoned. Neoliberal policies implemented in developed countries in the early 1980s were adopted in Turkey with the January 24 decisions. The practices implemented with neoliberal policies began to weaken the concept of the social state. With this study; the importance given to social policies and social service practices implemented during the period of Turgut Özal, who was politically influential in Turkey between 1980-1993, will be determined. It is an obligatory to examine the social services and institutionalization studies of social services, which are the application areas of social policies affected by globalization and neoliberal policies experienced in this period. As a result of the study, it was seen that the necessary institutionalization studies were not carried out except for the Social Assistance and Solidarity Foundations, where social service practices were generally concentrated in the field of poverty with the effect of the neoliberal policies adopted during the Turgut Özal period.