Political Socialisation Patterns of Turkish High Skilled Migrants

Abstract

Political socialisation has been studied from different perspectives, such as voting behaviour, the impact of social networks, socialisation types and political culture on voting as well as engagement in political life. This article examines the political socialisation patterns and participation of high-skilled Turkish migrants living in different parts of the world. The main purpose is to shed light on the ways in which these migrants participate in Turkish politics; how much they are engaged or interested in Turkish politics; and how their socialisation patterns are formed. The results show that Turkish high-skilled migrants have a strong interest in Turkish politics; however, their political socialisation and engagement, except for voting, is low. In this article, it is pointed out that there is a strong relationship between the level of education and political participation as well as interest in politics. The data (N=350) were collected by an online survey conducted among Turkish migrants, who had at least a university degree and were living abroad at the time of the survey.