Employee Obligations as an Instrument of Hegemony in Turkish Labour Law

The study titled “Employee Obligations as an Instrument of Hegemony in Turkish Labour Law” (DOI: 10.70269/9123777213), developed from a final paper prepared for the doctoral course “The Conceptual Framework of Marxism” during the Spring 2018-2019 semester, has been published as a book chapter. It appears in the volume Social Policy in the Age of Crises: Resilience and Transformation, edited by my dear colleague Res. Asst. Nuray Şahin.

Offering a critical perspective on Turkish labour law within the axis of Antonio Gramsci’s concept of hegemony, this study argues that law functions not merely as a coercive apparatus but simultaneously as a cultural and ideological mechanism that manufactures consent. Within this scope, the contractual obligations of the employee, specifically the duties of performance, obedience, non-competition, and loyalty, are examined. The analysis focuses on how these obligations legitimise employer authority under the discourse of “formal equality” inherent in the liberal legal order. Through these obligation relationships, the study demonstrates how law contributes to the reproduction of the dominant ideology by obscuring or deferring class contradictions within the dialectic of force and consent.

To access the digitally published volume (ISBN: 978-625-372-751-2, DOI: 10.70269/FY2H9NJV2AUT), please click on the book cover image below.