Re-visiting Gellner’s Social Theory in Reference to the Turkish Case

Abstract

Ernest Gellner held the Ottoman Empire and Turkey to be a special case; that it was an exception to other Islamic countries and to liberal democracies. This chapter re-visits his writings on the both and examines the insights and the weaknesses of his diagnosis. Furthermore, it reflects on how Gellner’s writings have been received by Turkish scholarship and what impact these had on Turkish historiography and social science. The endeavour is to help us see the relevance of Gellner’s sociological models of the state and society in relation to the Turkish case.

Comment on Lale Yalçın-Heckmann’s ‘Re-visiting Gellner’s Social Theory in Reference to the Turkish Case’

David Shankland david.shankland@therai.org.uk

Royal Anthropological Institute, London, UK

I have read Lale Yalçın-Heckmann’s piece with great interest. The comparison there between Gellner and Mardin (1927–2017) is very well made. The two scholars were of similar age, Mardin being only two years younger. They knew each other’s work well, and were friends, albeit at a time in that pre-Internet age when it was much more difficult to meet up with overseas colleagues frequently. Nevertheless, the respect that they had for each other was palpable, and it is quite right to note that Mardin was one of those whom Gellner would have met and discussed his ideas concerning Muslim society.

It is also a telling comparison, because it highlights one of the fascinating things about working in the social sciences, which might be termed, for the sake of our discussion, the counter-factual assertion masquerading as a legitimate (from the intellectual point of view) position. Mardin’s work in highlighting the importance of centre-periphery in Turkish Studies, as Yalçın-Heckmann writes, was widely criticized in the 1980s, and the impact of that criticism was very significant in shaping Turkish social sciences in subsequent decades. Yet, was Mardin wrong? The simple answer is, of course not. The tension between the centre and the periphery in Turkish society is profound and pervasive; one can argue about the fine details and nuances of his position, but the contrast between the central state (devlet) and wider society is a key to appreciating the motivations and orientation of persons throughout Turkey, whether in terms of their seeking to improve their social position or to obtain favours or remuneration, the way that they pursue politics, or indeed organize their society and create their identity, religious or otherwise. As I say, one can argue about the details (Gellner himself felt that the move to Ankara from Istanbul had not been particularly successful in transferring the pull of the capital away from the former imperial centre), but to deny its importance as a key trope is akin to (as indeed did begin to emerge in the following decade) arguing that the Ottoman Empire did not really decline.

Turning back to Gellner’s analysis on Turkey, perhaps what is underestimated above all (but not by Gellner), is the importance of religion as an independent variable. Another way of appreciating this point is as follows: Gellner appreciated that there are many different forms of religious belief in the world, but he did not hold for one moment that they are all the same. On the contrary, he felt that there was an absolutely fundamental difference between those who pursue a particular course of action through a set of cultural or symbolic actions (rather as, for instance, came to be characteristic of the Anglican church in the twentieth century, as Gellner himself was fond of remarking) and those who actually believe that as a consequence of their actions they will be judged in the afterlife, and damned to hell or blessed with salvation. Belief, in this sense, can become the important thing in the world for those who uphold it, a factor that shapes their motivations, political and otherwise, in a way that simply cannot be comprehended if one assumes that all beliefs are the same. Mardin was equally aware of this, as the opening chapter of his biography of Nursi (to which Yalçın-Heckmann refers) makes very clear. In this sense, Gellner felt that the republican project had failed; it simply had not managed to create a sustainable body politic that it could persuade to allow religion to be internalized and made an individual rather than a state responsibility.

In the second part of her chapter, Yalçın-Heckmann refers to her own work amongst the Kurds, as well as that of Van Bruinessen. This I found equally intriguing, for I have long felt that Van Bruinessen’s writings offer equally strong support for Gellner’s insistence on tribal ‘penumbra’. Gellner’s analysis here, as so often, is a remarkably quick-witted and perceptive assessment of the empirical situation; perforce, we return to the point that it is surely healthy that there should be multiple and varied approaches in the social sciences, and equally that we do not feel bound to the views of those who have come before us. However, to assert that what they wrote is incorrect simply in order to be able to assert a contrary position is just that: an assertion, not a reasoned discussion.

In the end, though, through our analysis of Turkey, do we find much to support Gellner’s position? The answer is certainly: the groundswell of support for the AKP who are now in power, and have been for the last two decades, stemmed from many causes, but amongst the most important of these is not only the unifying force of an appeal to create a unified religious community, but also the profound sense of need, even yearning, that a very significant proportion of Sunni believers express. It is no coincidence that they came to power through the local and greater city municipalities, which were able to reassure their supporters as to the legitimate, even necessary concatenation between modernizing and fulfilling the tenets of religion. This was the message that Mardin, too, explored so frequently in his work, and it is most appropriate that the two should be read alongside one another.