Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
CRITICAL CRIMINOLOGY, 2024 (SSCI)
Crime rates in Turkey have surged dramatically, contrasting with the crime drop observed in Western countries. Despite this upsurge, there has been a lack of criminological analysis on this rise. This article, for the first time, offers Institutional-Anomie Theory to explain the crime rise phenomenon, by scrutinising Turkey’s integration into the globalized market economy since the 1980s and its repercussions on the polity, family and education. It argues that over two decades, the pro-Islamist and pro-market political power has precipitated an institutional breakdown which stems from shifting towards authoritarianism, reconfiguring the family as an economic–productive unit and redesigning the national education to promote entrepreneurial skills and competition whilst instilling Islamic values. The unique blend of neoliberalism and political Islam has cultivated a distinct form of entrepreneurialism and consumerism, which we suggest should be considered to be influencing crime rates in Turkey and thus corroborates a globalised version of Institutional–Anomie Theory.