Aspects of rural underdevelopment in South eastern Turkey: the household economy in gisgis and kalhana

Abstract

The thesis is concerned with the relationship between the household economy and capitalism in South eastern Turkey, It is argued in the thesis that capitalism develops unevenly and that regional underdevelopment is a spatial reflection of uneven development in capitalism. In Turkey the State tries to ensure a continuous process of capital accumulation, and in Diyarbakir province the main contributor to this process is the peasant household through the loss of its surplus product and surplus labour. The exploitation of peasants does not take place in the form of capital-wage labour relations. Instead, peasant production in South eastern Turkey has gradually become commoditised, with unfavourable market conditions ensuring the appropriation of the surplus of the peasant household by merchants and the State, The impoverishment of the peasant household is intensified through their exploitation by landlords and usurers. Migration from the village becomes inevitable for the poor, either permanently or temporarily. Capitalism benefits from this cheap labour, part of whose subsistence is met by the peasant households. It is the self-exploitation of the household members, mainly in the form of women's labour, which makes this cheap labour force available for the use of urban-based capitalism.