Social turbulence is not going to settle down as rapid change reverberates across the globe. Even we in the West have been shaking in our boots these past two decades as religious fundamentalists have gained political muscle. The use of cultural issues is repeatedly a tactic to mobilize the religious right aligned with the economic and political conservatives in the U.S.. The situation in Turkey appears a bit more complex for the reasons explained by the author.

The focus of sociological analysis should be on the “crossover” of values and ideas in the chaos…… documenting the emerging patterns is our task…..

Where the author attempts to complicate this paradigm, I believe there is success. In spite of this, I believe that the paradigm, however potentially flattening, still remains, and should not itself be overlooked for those factors that complicate it. While it seems that the author utilizes this stance as well throughout much of the essay, I believe that statements such as, “Focusing on the religious/secularist divide—and thus assuming ideology is the major problem—serves to cover up material conflicts of interest,” are problematic in that they seem a bit too heavy handed and not necessarily consequential.

Overall though, the point is well taken that this conflict is all too often discussed in merely such monochromatic terms that the author derides, and that such oversimplification cannot help but obscure the issues at hand.