ABSTRACT
This chapter analyses the process of social bifurcation and ethnicization of the labourscape in Istanbul’s globalizing urban tourism and entertainment sector. Tourism in Istanbul is part of a larger amalgamation that includes tourism, entertainment and leisure settings in the city. This sector, which has risen to prominence in recent decades, has largely been shaped by the changeover in Turkish society to an increasingly diversified consumerism and the transformation of Istanbul into a city of urban consumption – a globalizing tourist and entertainment city catering to both tourists and residents. Before I discuss the role of ethnicization in the divided stratification of this labourscape, let me first describe the locus of these transformations and trace the major developments that have shaped the changes in Turkey and in Istanbul during the past quarter of a century.
