UNDERSTANDING THE ORDER IN DISORDER:
PROFESSIONAL IDEOLOGY OF INDUSTRIAL DESIGN IN TURKEY

Apart from the classical approaches that theorize the concept of ideology mainly around the notion of a “false belief” that conceals the real social relations and serve to deceive others (Marx, 1974; Althusser, 1984) ideologies can also be understood simply as the basis of the social representations shared by members of a group: Ideologies give people, as group members, foundation stones around which they can arrange a variety of social beliefs like what is the case, good or bad, right and wrong and act accordingly (Dijk, 1998). This definition simply implies that, ideologies are entities that both operate on social and cognitive levels simultaneously which are one of the key elements that form the “identity” of a social group.

Members of a certain profession form a solid social group as people obviously having similar activities, goals and interests and with which many or most members may identify. Given the conflicting nature of interests between different professional groups, the domain of professions is a suitable candidate for the formation of ideologies or more explicitly “professional ideologies”.

Within this context, this paper aims to lay down a conceptual framework that can be used to analyze the professional ideology of industrial design (henceforth it will be referred to as ID) in Turkey. This analysis will be based upon the following questions:

1. Is there a consistent professional ideology of ID in Turkey?
2. Consistent or inconsistent what are the basic sets of beliefs that this particular ideology based upon?
3. Who are the people that “invent” (ideologues) this ideology?
4. How is this particular ideology produced, reproduced, used and changed by group members?

As ideologies are generally reproduced and expressed by and through discourse, the above mentioned theorization will be based on a critical analysis of the discursive manifestations of Turkish industrial designers in a variety of media.

Although having a history of more than 30 years, especially discursive and ideological development of industrial design in Turkish context has not been completely and systematically theorized. This lack of conceptualization leads to a weak understanding of the degree of professionalization of industrial design and its place in the “order” of professions.

Like the order of things, order of professions and professional discourses is a chaotic domain. Amongst this conflicting discourses and interests, professional ideology is the set of beliefs that ensure the survival of a profession. Therefore an understanding of professional ideology is crucial for fully analyzing the reproduction and evolution dynamics of industrial design in Turkey where it is still a fairly young profession.