Different periods, similar challenges, opposing paths: Exploring the social structure of popular science magazines in Turkey

CANPOLAT E.

Public Understanding of Science, cilt.32, sa.8, ss.1048-1062, 2023 (AHCI) identifier identifier

  • Yayın Türü: Makale / Tam Makale
  • Cilt numarası: 32 Sayı: 8
  • Basım Tarihi: 2023
  • Doi Numarası: 10.1177/09636625231182528
  • Dergi Adı: Public Understanding of Science
  • Derginin Tarandığı İndeksler: Arts and Humanities Citation Index (AHCI), Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI), Scopus, CAB Abstracts, Communication & Mass Media Index, Communication Abstracts, Educational research abstracts (ERA), EMBASE, Food Science & Technology Abstracts, MEDLINE, PAIS International, Veterinary Science Database
  • Sayfa Sayıları: ss.1048-1062
  • Anahtar Kelimeler: popular science, popular science magazines, relations of production, science communication, Turkey
  • Hacettepe Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet

Özet

This study questions the social relations behind the challenges that popular science magazines in Turkey have faced from their onset, by focusing on the peculiarities of different historical periods and prevailing relations of production. The history of popular science magazines from the Ottoman Empire to the present day is also the history of the transition from artisan-like relations of production to factory-like relations of production and more. In this long historical period, premodern social relations and market conditions come to the fore as the main source of the challenges these magazines face. In recent years, big capital’s interest in popular science and the enthusiastic struggle of “zero capital” magazines on the other hand reveal two different sides of the picture. Similar challenges and divergent experiences across different periods indicate that popularizing science goes far beyond bringing science to lay people. This study shows that it is possible to trace a frustrated story of modernization, as well as economic and political turmoil, in these magazines’ survival struggle in a country which has not been closely studied in this respect.