Politics and/of Popular Culture

It is generally acknowleged that the 1980s §was a turning point in the history of modern Turkey. §Marked by the rise of the New Right, it was also the §period when popular cultural forms like football and §arabesk were transformed. Although there has been an §increasing sociological interest in the issue of §social transformation in Turkey in the 1980s, most §studies have been conducted from a perspective §focusing on its economic and political aspects. §Contrary to this large literature on Turkey, this §book aims to analyse this important transformation §period from an angle focusing on the issue of §the relationship between politics (i.e. the New §Right) and popular culture (i.e. football and §arabesk music). With its theoretical framework based §on the works of Gramsci and Foucault along with many §other scholars, this book should help to shed some §light on some of important theoretical and practical §issues that concerns those who are working on the §issue of politics of popular culture. It should also §be specially useful to those who are interested in §socio-historical analysis of sport/football and §music/arabesk in Turkey.