Reflections of Passion for Ownership on the Collective Memory of Turkey: An Analysis of the Focus in Orhan Kemal’s Novels / Mülkiyet Tutkusunun Türkiye Toplumsal Hafızasına Yansımaları: Orhan Kemal Romanları Odağında Bir İnceleme

The matter of ownership is among the most controversial subjects of critical economy-politics, and it basically notes the materialized insecurity of the acquisition of wealth through inefficient processes. The concept has been a subject of many critical studies, not only in terms of the political economy, but also in sociological, artistic, and literary fields. Essentially, the methods of addressing and framing the levels of ownership ideology, which names the imperious power of capital against productive labor in literary-sociological discourse, can give important clues about the dominant relations in a particular historical period, the conception of ownership, and the place that this conception has in the collective memory. In this study, the issue of the types of cultural value debates the passion for ownership and ownership ideology, as reflected in Orhan Kemal’s novels and novel characters, and therefore, their effects on the collective memory of Turkey, as well as the various perspectives, relationship styles, and behavioral patterns this influence creates. For this purpose, six of Orhan Kemal’s novels dated between the beginnings of the 1950s to the end of the 1970s, were examined using content analysis and focusing on the passion for ownership if any and the criticism of ownership ideology. It is assumed that this study will be an important contribution to the research field of Turkish literature sociology, in the sense that it showcases the relationship between passion for ownership and collective memory to the discussion in Turkey. It was concluded that the ownership forms that change over time also change the perception and thought of ownership in individuals, and this situation draws attention to different personality types and related behavioral patterns in the collective memory of Turkey.