The Unknown Muzafer Sherif
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E L C I Nonetheless, the two sides of Sherif, T and the two periods of his life, are also R The unknown intimately interlinked. Sherif’s academic A work was social in the sense that it was immensely influenced by sociopolitical events. He passionately devoted all his Muzafer Sherif scientific activity to the ideal of universal peace and cooperation. And we can only Aysel Kayaoğlu, Sertan Batur and Ersin Aslıtürk consider the social psychologist understand how that happened if we try and political activist to recover his ‘unknown’ early years in Turkey. Like many of the ‘greats’ of social uzafer Sherif’s life was shaped psychology, Muzafer Sherif is by his experience of a turbulent Sherif’s early years frequently cited in the textbooks for mhistorical period: the final years Muzafer Sherif was born Muzaffer S¸erif his most famous research – on the of the Ottoman Empire, the rise of the Ba s¸og˘ lu in 1905. He came from a small autokinetic effect, and the Boys’ Turkish Republic, one party regime in town (Ödemi s¸, near Izmir) in 1905, one Camp Studies. At the same time, Turkey, the Great Depression of 1929, of the five children of a wealthy family. his wider intellectual and political Hitler’s rise in Germany, the Second After attending the Elementary School perspective, and his vision of the World War, McCarthyism in the US in of Ödemi s¸ for six years, Sherif, like the discipline as a whole, has generally the 1950s and finally the Cold War children of other well-to-do families, went been ignored Recently, however period (Aslıtürk & Batur, 2007, pp.9-10). to Izmir International College (Çetik, social scientists from across the Sherif developed his social psychology 2007). By 1922, when Sherif was 17 years world have started to pay attention in a catastrophic context of war and old, he had lived 11 years of his life in a to Sherif’s critical contribution to ideological conflicts. Moreover, he was country riven by war and ethnic conflict social psychology. Books have been actively involved in the politics of these (see Ahmad, 1993; Zürcher, 1993). He written, symposia organised. So, times, particularly during his years in had witnessed rising nationalisms, during what was Sherif’s wider Turkey. the 1911 Libyan War, the 1912 and 1913 contribution? And what was the Looking at his entire life, one cannot Balkan Wars and the 1914 outbreak of the context from which it arose? help thinking that there are two Sherifs: First World War, during which the one is a brilliant social psychologist; the other B s What is the impact of early life of a n is a political activist ş k o i Muzafer Sherif in Turkey on his later a t who had to flee his n l s ı ğ e approach to social psychology? country and died in ı n u ı q exile. Sherif’s life, like a Why is Muzafer Sherif only known by his y d ı studies on formation of social norms his times, was full of n E r and inter-group conflict, but not by his difficulties. His life was k m E other work on psychology of race, divided between Turkey n / a t racism and political psychology? and the US. This sharp a t ü r separation of life k v between two countries E k s Dost-Gözkan, A.& Sönmez Keith, D. (Eds.) u r e can be seen as a voyage t c u r (in press). Norms, group conflict, and l u u from Muzaffer S¸erif to ş o social change: Rediscovering Muzafer S s Muzafer Sherif, from a v e Sherif ’s psychology. new Brunswick, a r ş one life to another ı nJ: transaction Publishers. m ü Nalbantoğlu, H.Ü. (2007). Gene de (Batur & Aslıtürk, z E S unutulmayan adam. in S. Batur & E. 2007). As Çetik (2007) i aslıtürk (Eds.) Muzaffer Şerif ’e states, for Sherif, there armağan: Muzaffer Şerif ’ten Muzafer was a transition from Sherif ’e (pp.107 –117). istanbul: the ‘membership group’ İletişim. to the ‘reference group’. Sherif witnessed the city of Izmir changing hands in 1922 s Ahmad, F. (1993). The making of modern Aslıtürk, E. & Batur, S. (2007). muzaffer Atılgan, G. (2009). Behice Boran: Öğretim manuscripts). university of vienna. e c Turkey . london; new york: şerif’ten muzafer Sherif ’e: Giriş. in S. üyesi, siyasetçi, kuramc ı [Behice Batur, S. (in press). muzafer Sherif in FBi n e routledge. Batur & E. aslıtürk (Eds.). Muzaffer Boran: academician, politician, files. in a. dost-Gözkan & S. Sönmez r e f Aslıtürk, E. (in press). muzafer Sherif in Şeri f’e armağan: Muzaffer Şeri f’ten theoretician]. istanbul: yordam. keith (Eds.) Norms, groups, conflict, e r america: Confidence, crisis and Muzafer Şeri f’e (pp.9 –20). istanbul: Batur, S. (2013). Muzaffer Şeri f’in Türkçe and social change: Rediscovering beyond. in a. dost-Gözkan & d. İletişim. metinleri neden okunmal ı? muzaffer Muzafer Sheri f’s psychology . new Sönmez keith (Eds.) Norms, group, Aslıtürk, E. & Cherry, F. (2003). muzafer şerif Sempozyumu , 3–4 november, Brunswick , nJ: transaction. conflict, and social change: Sherif: the interconnection of politics Ödemiş, izmir. Batur, S. & Aslıtürk, E. (Eds.) (2007). Rediscovering Muzafer Sheri f’s and profession. History and Batur, S. (2014). a young scientist in a Muzaffer Şeri f’e armağan: Muzaffer psychology . new Brunswick , nJ: Philosophy of Psychology Bulletin, 15 , changing world: muzafer Sherif’s Şeri f’ten Muzafer Şeri f’e. istanbul: transaction. 11 –16. early years in turkey. (unpublished İletişim. 830 vol 27 no 11 november 2014 camps, conflict and collectivism Ottoman Empire was an ally of against the economic crisis, and Germany. He had lived through in 1935 the Comintern took the deportation of Armenians in a decision to promote broad 1915 (even in a little place like popular fronts with social Ödemi s¸ some 1500 people were democratic parties in order to expelled – see Kévorkian, 2006), form a worldwide anti-fascist and between 1918 and 1924, front. These developments while in Izmir, he had witnessed constituted a convenient milieu the occupation of the city by for communist ideas in the US, Greek soldiers, and then especially among academic circles. reoccupation by Turkish soldiers Like other Turkish intellectuals during the Turkish National who visited the US in those years Independence War. Sherif saw his (Atılgan, 2009), Sherif is thought survival as a ‘miracle’ (Trotter, to be influenced by this context 1985). and to have developed a Marxist After graduating from social analysis to stand beside his International College in 1924, psychological gestaltism. He was Sherif enrolled in the Philosophy influenced by the Deweyian Department at Istanbul University. socialist journal Social Frontier , He also participated in political which supported collectivism debates on the modernisation against individualism, and on his (which Sherif strongly supported) return to Turkey he continued to and westernisation processes in promote both the journal and the new Turkish society. In this Dewey’s ideas (Sherif, 1937b). context, the young student Sherif fell out with Allport became interested in McDougall’s both personally and intellectually ‘hormic psychology’ (which, in and so transferred from Harvard contrast to behaviourism, to Columbia, where he completed emphasised the purposive and his PhD with Gardner Murphy. His goal-directed nature of human Photo from 1944 including Behice Boran and thesis was titled ‘A study of some action). Sherif translated Muzafer Sherif social factors in perception’ (1935). McDougall’s Physiological His main question was ‘What is the Psychology (1905) into Turkish and psychological basis of social norms or also, by way of comparison, the Harvard, Sherif visited Europe in 1932. frames of reference, and how do they behaviourism chapter of Ogden’s Meaning Under the influence of two of his work?’ (p.10). The work has since gained of Psychology (1926). After graduating, teachers, Gordon Allport and Caroll Pratt, foundational status in social psychology Sherif went to the US for his MA and PhD he went to Berlin in order to attend the through its publication, in 1936, as A studies. lectures of Köhler. Here he witnessed the Psychology of Social Norms . Sherif’s MA years were the time of rise of Nazism (Granberg & Sarup, 1992). After the doctorate Sherif returned to the Great Depression in the US. Under Intellectually, Sherif’s letters to Allport Turkey where his politics, his psychology, the influence of Gordon Allport at reveal that he was planning to work on a and the links between them, became ever Harvard, he widened the scope of his social psychological theory of (social) more clearly defined. He was in contact intellectual interests towards other fields perception based on gestalt principles with the Communist Party of Turkey. of social sciences. During this period (Samelson, 2007). During the years of WWII, he published Sherif was moving away from McDougall’s In the autumn of 1933 Sherif went in Adımlar [Steps] journal with Behice intentionalism towards a focus on the back to Harvard for his PhD. He Boran, another Marxist sociologist and social structuration of perception and contributed to the work of Hadley Cantril important political figure after the war. understanding. This change led him to and Gordon Allport on radio psychology Sherif struggled against the rising tide of experimental studies of ‘prestige- (Cantril & Allport, 1935) and developed fascism and racism in Turkey (e.g. Sherif, suggestion’ which became the subject a psychology of slogans (Sherif, 1937a). 1943a, 1944). Like many, he believed in of his MA thesis (Batur, 2014). In terms of sociopolitical developments, modernisation, but he was distinctive After finishing his MA degree at there were Roosevelt’s New Deal policies both in distinguishing modernisation Cantril, H.