Fields Within the Field: How Turkish Postgraduate Media Research Has Engaged with Bourdieu’s Sociology?

Abstract

In Turkey, where media studies have rapidly evolved institutionally since the early 2000s, Bourdieu’s theoretical framework has emerged as a prevailing source for postgraduate researchers examining the interplay between media, culture, power, and social stratification. Despite growing reliance on Bourdieu in Turkish academia, a comprehensive thematic analysis of this trajectory is lacking. This study addresses this gap by systematically analyzing the application, adaptation, and contextualization of Bourdieusian frameworks across media-focused postgraduate theses. A comprehensive dataset of 95 theses (50 doctoral and 45 master’s) defended in postgraduate programs in Turkey between 2001 and 2025 was analyzed using reflexive thematic analysis. Five predominant themes emerged from the findings: “journalism and the media field”; “digital media, platforms, and digital capital”; “cinema and television studies”; “symbolic violence and gender”; and “cultural consumption, taste, and distinction”. These themes are primarily grounded in habitus, field, and capital, while symbolic violence and cultural reproduction are analytically significant within gender and screen studies. The study demonstrates the advancement of Turkish postgraduate media scholarship beyond derivative application toward significant theoretical progression, particularly evident in the adaptation of Bourdieusian concepts to non-Western media ecologies and digital platform cultures. Additionally, persistent gaps have been identified in political-economic analysis and quantitative relational methodologies, which necessitate further research.