![Sample our Area Studies journals, sign in here to start your access, latest two full volumes FREE to you for 14 days]({"type":"image" , "src" : "/sda/5922/TOC-Subject-Sample-2021-Area-Studies.jpg"})
ABSTRACT
Financial literacy is defined as the knowledge, skills, and ability to navigate increasingly complex financial markets, and is considered to empower consumers to make responsible financial decisions. It has been widely promoted as a crucial life skill following the 2008 financial crisis. This study critically analyzes financial literacy education initiatives in Turkey through ethnographic research. Financial literacy curricula provide the basic knowledge of finance as well as instruct subjects ways to conduct financial planning, budgeting, debt management, creditworthiness, saving, and investment. Financial literacy agenda deepens neo-liberal governmentality by promoting an entrepreneurial subjectivity and making individuals more aware and responsible for social risks. The cultural political economy perspective of this study analyzes financialized capital accumulation dynamics together with the reshaping of culture and the constitution of financialized subjectivities.
Acknowledgements
The author would like to thank Stephen McBride, Ali Rıza Güngen, Elif Karaçimen and two anonymous reviewers for their comments.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.
Notes on contributor
Berkay Ayhan is a part-time instructor in the Department of Political Science and Public Administration at the Middle East Technical University. He received his Ph.D. in political science from McMaster University, Canada. His previous work has focused on political economy analyses of central banking, corporate social responsibility, social policy, and public procurement. His articles have been published in journals such as International Review of Administrative Sciences, Amme Idaresi Dergisi, and Praksis.
Notes
1 Atkinson and Messy, “Measuring Financial Literacy,” 6–9.
2 OECD, Core Competencies Framework, 3.
3 OECD, Improving Financial Literacy, 10.
4 Erturk et al., “The Democratization of Finance,” 554.
5 OECD, Overlooked Aspects of Crisis, 7–9; World Bank, Financial Development Report, 74–5.
6 Atkinson and Messy, “Promoting Financial Inclusion,” 7.
7 OECD, National Strategies Policy Handbook, 11.
8 Denizmen, Cebinde Mucize Yarat; Kartlarınla Mucize Yarat; Bolluk ve Bereket.
9 Temizel and Bayram, “Financial Literacy”; Gerek and Kurt, “Economic Literacy Scale”; Şantaş and Demirgil, “Economic Literacy Level.”
10 Sevim, Temizel, and Sayılır, “Financial Literacy on Borrowing Behaviour.”
11 Ünal, Düğer, and Söylemez, “Rational Usage of Credit Cards.”
12 Kahya and İmamoğlu, “Economic Literacy on Entrepreneurial Intention.”
13 Participant anonymity was secured by giving pseudonyms to all informants and not disclosing their affiliated institution’s name. Individuals are only identified through their affiliation with stakeholders (corporate, civil society, academia, etc.).
14 Jessop and Sum, “Pre-disciplinary Post-disciplinary Perspectives”; Sum and Jessop, Cultural Political Economy; Best and Paterson, “Cultural Political Economy.”
15 Pryke and du Gay, “Cultural Economy and Finance,” 340; Aitken, Performing Capital; Langley, “Uncertain Subjects.”
16 Callon, “Laws of the Markets.”
17 Santos, “Cultivating.”
18 Brady, “Ethnographies of Neoliberal Governmentalities,” 14.
19 Jessop, “Cultural (Re-)Turns.”
20 du Gay and Pryke, “Cultural Economy,” 16.
21 Ray and Sayer, “Culture and Economy,” 4–5.
22 Best and Paterson, “Cultural Political Economy,” 8.
23 Ibid., 12.
24 Jessop, “Cultural (Re-)Turns,” 4.
25 Epstein, “Financialization and World Economy,” 3.
26 Erturk et al., Financialization at Work, 24–5.
27 van der Zwan, “Making Sense of Financialization,” 99.
28 Foster, “Financialization of Capital.”
29 Dumenil and Levy, “Costs and Benefits of Neoliberalism.”
30 Arrighi, Long Twentieth Century.
31 Lapavitsas, “Financialized Capitalism.”
32 van der Zwan, “Making Sense of Financialization,” 106.
33 Christophers, “From Marx to Market,” 12.
34 Sum and Jessop, Cultural Political Economy, 181.
35 van der Zwan, “Making Sense of Financialization,” 107.
36 Lazonick and O’Sullivan, “Maximizing Shareholder Value.”
37 Jessop and Sum, “Pre-disciplinary Post-disciplinary Perspectives,” 93.
38 du Gay and Pryke, “Cultural Economy,” 2.
39 Callon, “Laws of the Markets,” 2.
40 Aitken, Performing Capital.
41 de Goede, Virtue, Fortune, and Faith, 7 (emphasis original).
42 MacKenzie, “Is Economics Performative,” 66.
43 de Goede, Virtue, Fortune, and Faith, 10.
44 Aitken, Performing Capital, 40.
45 Langley, “Uncertain Subjects,” 70.
46 Christophers, “From Marx to Market,” 18; Barry and Slater, “Interview with Michel Callon,” 295.
47 Sum and Jessop, Cultural Political Economy, 177.
48 Christophers, “From Marx to Market,” 12; Jessop and Sum, “Pre-disciplinary Post-disciplinary Perspectives,” 94.
49 Foucault, Security, Territory, Population; Birth of Biopolitics; Miller and Rose, “Governing Economic Life”; Burchell, Gordon, and Miller, The Foucault Effect; Barry, Osborne, and Rose, Foucault and Political Reason; Lemke, “Neoliberal Governmentality.”
50 Gordon, “Governmental Rationality,” 2–3.
51 Burchell, “Liberal Government,” 19.
52 Lemke, “Neoliberal Governmentality,” 191.
53 Burchell, “Liberal Government,” 23, 27.
54 Foucault, Birth of Biopolitics, 242.
55 Burchell, “Liberal Government,” 29.
56 Foucault, Ethics, Subjectivity, Truth, 89.
57 Miller and Rose, “Governing Economic Life,” 18.
58 Becker et al., “Peripheral Financialization,” 229.
59 Ibid.
60 FESSUD, Country Report Turkey, 169.
61 Ibid., 220–1.
62 Güngen, “Financial Inclusion,” 334.
63 Yeldan and Ünüvar, “An assessment,” 12.
64 Güngen, “Financial Inclusion,” 335.
65 Karacimen, “Consumer Credit,” 257.
66 Ibid., 254.
67 Bonizzi, “Financialization in Developing Countries,” 93.
68 Karatepe, “Construction Industry in Turkey,” 48.
69 FESSUD, Country Report Turkey, 61.
70 Bonizzi, “Financialization in Developing Countries,” 93.
71 Enrolment into the individual pension system has grown gradually in its first years, reaching to 2,641,843 participants by the end of 2011. It has accelerated with the introduction of 25% state contribution incentive in 2013 and automatic enrolment of public and private employees in 2017. Pension Monitoring Center website indicates that as of July 2018, there are 6,977,575 participants in the individual pension system as well as 4,200,062 automatically enrolled individuals.
72 Sources of are the annual activity reports and websites of relevant institutions.
73 Capital Markets Board, 2010 Annual Report, 102.
74 Capital Markets Board, 2012 Annual Report, 105–6.
75 OECD, Advancing National Strategies, 276–9.
76 Financial Stability Committee, Access, Education, Consumer Protection, 2.
77 OECD, Advancing National Strategies, 278.
78 OECD, National Strategies Policy Handbook.
79 Sources of are the annual activity reports and corporate websites of relevant institutions as well as financial education project websites and project documents.
80 Financial literacy activities of financial capital are not confined to education projects. Turkish Economy Bank and Financial Literacy and Inclusion Association have co-hosted ‘Financial Literacy and Inclusion Summit’ in 2013 & 2014 for raising awareness and bringing policy-makers together. Moreover, Turkish Economy Bank supported academic efforts for measurement of financial literacy by publishing ‘Financial Literacy and Inclusion Index of Turkey’ in 2013 & 2014. In a similar way, ING Bank publishes quarterly reports on Turkey’s savings tendencies in cooperation with a university since the end of 2011. Overall, financial capital has pursued its long-term interest to embed financial literacy into the public policy and academic agendas by promoting various activities.
81 References are given to the financial literacy project names in this section. Project curricula typically encompass various documents including websites, instructor manuals, PowerPoint presentations, brochures, and educational handouts.
82 Pinto and Coulson, “Social Justice,” 65.
83 Şarlak, Finansal Okuryazarlık, 20.
84 Denizmen, Cebinde Mucize Yarat, 27.
85 Callon, “Laws of the Markets,” 23.
86 Foucault, Birth of Biopolitics, 226.
87 Lemke, “Neoliberal Governmentality,” 201.
88 Beggs, Bryan, and Rafferty, “Shoplifters,” 986–8.
89 Denizmen, Bolluk ve Bereket.
90 Denizmen, Cebinde Mucize Yarat, 79.
91 Lazzarato, Making of Indebted Man, 11.
92 Şarlak, Finansal Okuryazarlık, 32–5.
93 Langley, “Uncertain Subjects,” 74–5.
94 Arthur, Financial Literacy Education, 77.
95 Uluhan, Girişimcilik Kılavuzu, 8–9.
96 Beggs, Bryan, and Rafferty, “Shoplifters,” 988.
97 Santos, “Cultivating,” 418.
98 Erturk et al., “The Democratization of Finance,” 555.
99 Langley, “Uncertain Subjects,” 81.
100 Ibid., 82–3.
101 Arthur, Financial Literacy Education, xii.
102 Center for Financial Inclusion, Change in Behavior, 9; World Bank, Financial Development Report, 80.
103 World Bank, Financial Capability Surveys, 7.
104 Gabor and Brooks, “Digital Revolution,” 430–1; Santos, “Cultivating,” 416–17.