A Sociological Analysis of the Transformation Process From Biopolitics to Theopolitics in Turkey

In Turkey, the fact that a significant portion of the population, especially pensioners, has been condemned to live below the poverty line in recent years is not coincidental, but rather stems from consciously implemented social policies. In this context, the problem addressed in the research presented in this article is how the government, particularly targeting pensioners and the vast majority of the population, subjects them to both "symbolic violence" and condemns them to poverty and hunger with wages below the poverty line. The fundamental aim is to understand why the government continues to implement necropolitics despite all the reactions from the public and opposition parties, such as "if there is no livelihood, there will be elections." Based on discourse analysis, the research attempts to answer two questions: a) What are the reactions of trade unions, opposition parties, and street movements to the necropolitics implemented by the government in Turkey? b) What does the discourse of the government mean from the perspective of critical discourse analysis? The study findings reveal that the data from the State Statistics Institution (TÜİK), which the government uses as a basis for constructing its wage policies, has lost its credibility in society, and that necropolitics can no longer be concealed and is openly criticized. By setting the minimum wage very close to the poverty line, the ruling party, while asking workers to be patient until the elections, manages to maintain its solidified 30% vote share by suspending workers' dissatisfaction with a rhetoric of gratitude through its security-oriented policies.