Spatial Economy and Integrative Labor in Turkey: An Ecological, Modernization, and World-System Investigation

Abstract

General theories about urban primacy and world-system/dependency describe spatial economy in the ideal-typic developing nation as distorted and fragmented. In applying these notions to the experience of Turkey, we conclude that both urban primacy and foreign influence have been on the decline due to the emergence of a strong central government. This research views the spatial economy of Turkey as constrained by the ecological variables of (1) system size and (2) contact technology and by the level of modernization in a province. Three cross-sections of data on provinces are used to uncover the determinants of two indicators of integration: administrative occupations and integrative industries. The data analysis produces three major results. First, there is no systematic relationship between the size of a province and its level of labor performing integrative tasks. Second, more modernized provinces possess proportionately higher levels of integrative activity. Third, contact technology is not a major determinant of the level of integrative activity. Implications of these findings for the perspectives that motivated this research are discussed.