Enquête sur les relations entre politisation et études supérieures : le cas turc (1971-1980)

Abstract

The high proportion of students among radical organization activists who were active prior to the September 12th, 1980 coup d’etat raises the question of the relationship between political involvement and time spent in institutions of higher education in the 1970s. Through what channels did the process of politicization take place at the university ? Three variables are considered here : pre-university political socialization of students, their type of residence while at university (individual or collective) and the presence in the university of radical student organizations actively engaged in recruitment and mobilization. One thus discovers that, in Turkish universities during the 1970s, the forms and intensity of politicization depended less on family political socialization than on ways of life within university establishments and the specific structure of the availability of political organizations. Mobilized groups encouraged or constrained individuals to politically position themselves and participate in their activities. This was made all the easier by the fact that many students were housed in university residences, creating a rupture with the environment from which they came. ■