Bourdieu’nün Devletin Sınıflandırma Gücü Perspektifi Üzerinden Türkiye'deki “Bütünşehirleşme” Sürecinin Yapısal ve İşlevsel Analizi

This article examines the administrative status changes of villages within the boundaries of metropolitan municipalities in Turkey, specifically the process of their transformation from neighbourhoods to rural communities. This process can be viewed as a transformation that leads to changes in the traditional village structure. The transformation of these villages, along with the reductionist perspective of central governance towards rural areas, has caused crises in rural ways of life. As the scope of metropolitan municipalities' duties and authorities expands, rural areas are classified administratively as urban, and rural residents are held responsible for various financial obligations required by urban life. This situation blurs the distinction between urban and rural areas both administratively and legally, while also gradually weakening the distinctive characteristics of urban and rural lifestyles. The classification of all settlements within metropolitan boundaries as "urban areas" and their residents as "urban residents" means ignoring the functional and structural differences between rural and urban areas in many provinces in Türkiye. The main aim of this study is to examine the transformative effects of central governance on local administrations through Law No. 6360 and Law No. 5216 on Metropolitan Municipalities. Specifically, it investigates how the concept of villages and rural areas has changed and weakened during this process. To achieve this, the findings have been analysed within the framework of Pierre Bourdieu’s concept of the classification of state in Bourdieu’s perspective from critical social science approaches, focusing on the impacts of the administrative transformation of rural areas on societal structures.