Papers by Salman Türken
Psychology of violence, May 23, 2024
Journal of Social and Political Psychology, 2019
The present study examines current social representations associated with the origins of the Grea... more The present study examines current social representations associated with the origins of the Great War, a major event that has profoundly affected Europe. A survey conducted in 20 European countries (N = 1906 students in social sciences) shows a high consensus: The outbreak of the war is attributed to the warring nations’ leaders while the responsibility of the populations is minimized. Building on the concept of social representation of history (Liu & Hilton, 2005), we suggest that the social representations of the Great War fulfill social psychological functions in contemporary Europe. We suggest that WWI may function as a charter for European integration. Their content also suggests a desire to distinguish a positively valued ingroup ("the people") from powerful elites, construed as an outgroup.
Social Psychology, 2013
Few social psychological investigations have focused on the potential active role of the majority... more Few social psychological investigations have focused on the potential active role of the majority in integration. The present study examines the relationship between intergroup perception and majority attitudes toward the proactive integration of immigrant minorities in Norway. It assesses how and whether perceived entitativity of immigrants, endorsement of counterstereotypic portrayals of immigrants and metaperspectives along the appraisal dimensions of warmth/competence predict the integration attitudes of majority members in Norway as measured by the Majority Integration Efforts (MIE) scale. Correlational and multiple regression analysis yielded two strong (perceptions of positive immigrant integration intentions and perceived entitativity) and two moderate (perceptions of high immigrant competence in Norwegian society and metawarmth) predictors of these attitudes. Further analysis indicated that the main effect of perceived immigrant entitativity on MIE attitudes was partially m...
International Journal of Child, Youth and Family Studies, 2016
Youths' well-being and subjectivity are strongly related to prevailing political, economic, and s... more Youths' well-being and subjectivity are strongly related to prevailing political, economic, and social conditions. Neoliberalism has extensively permeated societies worldwide, changing the way individuals, especially youth, make sense of their surroundings and themselves. There is thus an increasing need to investigate how youth subjectivities are influenced in contemporary societies that are under the influence of neoliberalism. Through an analysis of the future orientation of youth, we can investigate discourses that shape youth subjectivities. In this study, we perform a Foucauldian discourse analysis of the future orientation of youth-high school students, from two national contexts, Turkey and Norway-who were asked to write an essay on their personal futures. We investigate what dominant discourses are revealed in the youths' writings and how they may influence their subjectivities and well-being. We detail two frameworks of discourses, one pertaining to materialism and the other pertaining to education and career, that our participants drew upon in their writings. We relate these discourses to neoliberalism and discuss the extent to which youth constitute themselves as neoliberal subjects of their respective societies. We discuss how these discourses may also be related to their well-being in diverse ways.
Globalization creates new sociocultural environments, leads to greater interconnectedness of peop... more Globalization creates new sociocultural environments, leads to greater interconnectedness of people across borders, and demands new ways of understanding the world. One psychological effect of globalization is on how people self-identify themselves. This paper details a development of a cross-culturally stable scale to measure global identity, the degree to which people identify with a global culture.
Chasing happiness through personal debt: An example of neoliberal influence in the Norwegian welf... more Chasing happiness through personal debt: An example of neoliberal influence in the Norwegian welfare society. In C. Walker & S. M. Degirmencioglu (eds.), Social and psychological dimensions of personal debt and the debt industry (pp. 160-179
Youths' well-being and subjectivity are strongly related to prevailing political, economic, and s... more Youths' well-being and subjectivity are strongly related to prevailing political, economic, and social conditions. Neoliberalism has extensively permeated societies worldwide, changing the way individuals, especially youth, make sense of their surroundings and themselves. There is thus an increasing need to investigate how youth subjectivities are influenced in contemporary societies that are under the influence of neoliberalism. Through an analysis of the future orientation of youth, we can investigate discourses that shape youth subjectivities. In this study, we perform a Foucauldian discourse analysis of the future orientation of youth — high school students, from two national contexts, Turkey and Norway — who were asked to write an essay on their personal futures. We investigate what dominant discourses are revealed in the youths' writings and how they may influence their subjectivities and well-being. We detail two frameworks of discourses, one pertaining to materialism and the other pertaining to education and career, that our participants drew upon in their writings. We relate these discourses to neoliberalism and discuss the extent to which youth constitute themselves as neoliberal subjects of their respective societies. We discuss how these discourses may also be related to their well-being in diverse ways.
Phelps, J. M., Eilertsen, D. E., Türken, S. & Ommundsen, R. (2011). Integrating immigrant minorit... more Phelps, J. M., Eilertsen, D. E., Türken, S. & Ommundsen, R. (2011). Integrating immigrant minorities: Developing a scale to measure majority members’ attitudes toward their own proactive efforts. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology 52, 404–410.The present study is based on the premise that the integration of ethnic minorities may involve more than the majority’s expression of tolerance. In order to promote inclusion, the majority may have to play a more active role in the integration process. We describe the development and validation of a new psychometric scale which assesses majority members’ attitudes toward their own proactive contribution to the integration of immigrants within three domains: cultural and structural efforts, and openness to diversity. The scale is investigated by analyses of internal structure and exploration of construct validity in relation to relevant social psychological and personality constructs in a sample of 486 Norwegian university students (28% male, mean age = 26.5, SD = 6.08). Factor analyses supported a unidimensional structure and the estimated reliability of an additive scale was satisfactory (Cronbach’s α = 0.91). The scale correlated negatively with measures of right-wing authoritarianism and social dominance orientation, and positively with global identity. It was weakly related to the personality traits agreeableness, intellect, extraversion, and conscientiousness. The potential utility of the scale in both applied and experimental social psychological studies are discussed.
Globalizations, 2015
ABSTRACT
The present study reports the development of a brief scale of global identity. Based on literatur... more The present study reports the development of a brief scale of global identity. Based on literature review and on responses from 137 students from 24 countries answering open-ended questions, a pool of 113 Likert items was produced, which were then evaluated by 6 experts, resulting in a total trial item pool of 110 items. These items and a social desirability scale were administered to three samples of students: 684 Norwegians, 605 Turkish, and 406 Americans. Items were ranked based on equal weighting of 22 psychometric criteria: a) for each sample, few omissions, low correlation with social desirability, high response standard deviations, high item-total correlations, high correlations with indices of multicultural experience and cosmopolitan behaviour; b) for English and Turkish versions, few words and few characters. The best 24 items were subjected to item analysis, resulting in a 10-item Global Identity Scale (GIS-10) with high Cronbach alpha coefficients in all three samples. Factor analysis found a 2 factor orthogonal solution that replicated in each of the three samples: one factorial sub-scale representing cultural openness and the other representing non-nationalism.
Few social psychological investigations have focused on the potential active role of the majority... more Few social psychological investigations have focused on the potential active role of the majority in integration. The present
study examines the relationship between intergroup perception and majority attitudes toward the proactive integration of immigrant minorities in Norway. It assesses how and whether perceived entitativity of immigrants, endorsement of counterstereotypic portrayals of immigrants and metaperspectives along the appraisal dimensions of warmth/competence predict the integration attitudes of majority members in Norway as measured by the Majority Integration Efforts (MIE) scale. Correlational and multiple regression analysis yielded two strong (perceptions of positive immigrant integration intentions and perceived entitativity) and two moderate (perceptions of high immigrant competence in Norwegian society and metawarmth) predictors of these attitudes. Further analysis indicated that the main effect of perceived immigrant entitativity on MIE attitudes was partially mediated by perceptions of counterstereotypic intentions and competence. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed. We conclude by highlighting how the perception of immigrants’ positive integration intentions and their heterogeneity as a group may best promote majority support for proactive integration
efforts.
"The present study is based on the premise that the integration of ethnic minorities may involve ... more "The present study is based on the premise that the integration of ethnic minorities may involve more than the majority’s expression of tolerance. In order to promote inclusion, the majority may have to play a more active role in the integration process. We describe the development and validation of a new psychometric scale which assesses majority members’ attitudes toward their own proactive contribution to the integration of immigrants within three domains: cultural and structural efforts, and openness to diversity. The scale is investigated by analyses of internal structure and exploration of construct validity in relation to relevant social psychological and personality constructs in a sample of 486 Norwegian university students (28% male, mean age = 26.5, SD = 6.08). Factor analyses supported a unidimensional structure and the estimated reliability of an additive scale was satisfactory (Cronbach’s α = 0.91). The scale correlated negatively with measures of right-wing authoritarianism and social dominance orientation, and positively with global identity. It was weakly related to the personality traits agreeableness, intellect, extraversion, and conscientiousness. The potential utility of the scale in both applied and experimental social psychological studies are discussed.
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Book Chapter by Salman Türken
The relationship between creditors and debtors is fundamentally social and political. Although pr... more The relationship between creditors and debtors is fundamentally social and political. Although predominantly considered a financial relationship, this chapter demonstrates how the social and political dimensions feature through an analysis of the Norwegian TV show Luksusfellen (the luxury trap). It argues that reality television programs, or ‘debt-TV’, function as technologies of governmentality that produce and reproduce narratives associated with debt, principally that it is exclusively an individual financial problem not a social or political one. Through a Foucauldian discourse analysis of the TV show we utilize social theory about debt and neoliberalism as well as social psychological literature on individualization. The chapter demonstrates how debt-TV functions to discipline both the participants and, importantly, the audience into more ‘financially literate’ subjects, and by extension more governable citizens. The term ‘debt subjectivity’ is also introduced in order to capture the significance of being in debt to the contemporary social and political order. Moreover, the analysis highlights how debt as a problem is often treated in a simplistic individualized manner, not addressing more structural concerns that might both lead people to be in debt in the first place and force them to remain indebted over time.
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Papers by Salman Türken
study examines the relationship between intergroup perception and majority attitudes toward the proactive integration of immigrant minorities in Norway. It assesses how and whether perceived entitativity of immigrants, endorsement of counterstereotypic portrayals of immigrants and metaperspectives along the appraisal dimensions of warmth/competence predict the integration attitudes of majority members in Norway as measured by the Majority Integration Efforts (MIE) scale. Correlational and multiple regression analysis yielded two strong (perceptions of positive immigrant integration intentions and perceived entitativity) and two moderate (perceptions of high immigrant competence in Norwegian society and metawarmth) predictors of these attitudes. Further analysis indicated that the main effect of perceived immigrant entitativity on MIE attitudes was partially mediated by perceptions of counterstereotypic intentions and competence. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed. We conclude by highlighting how the perception of immigrants’ positive integration intentions and their heterogeneity as a group may best promote majority support for proactive integration
efforts.
"
Book Chapter by Salman Türken
study examines the relationship between intergroup perception and majority attitudes toward the proactive integration of immigrant minorities in Norway. It assesses how and whether perceived entitativity of immigrants, endorsement of counterstereotypic portrayals of immigrants and metaperspectives along the appraisal dimensions of warmth/competence predict the integration attitudes of majority members in Norway as measured by the Majority Integration Efforts (MIE) scale. Correlational and multiple regression analysis yielded two strong (perceptions of positive immigrant integration intentions and perceived entitativity) and two moderate (perceptions of high immigrant competence in Norwegian society and metawarmth) predictors of these attitudes. Further analysis indicated that the main effect of perceived immigrant entitativity on MIE attitudes was partially mediated by perceptions of counterstereotypic intentions and competence. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed. We conclude by highlighting how the perception of immigrants’ positive integration intentions and their heterogeneity as a group may best promote majority support for proactive integration
efforts.
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