A SOCIOLOGICAL STUDY ON THE CHANGING SOCIAL PROFILE OF THE BORDER SMUGGLER

Abstract

In this article, the changing social profile of border smugglers is examined. Although informal
flows (smuggling) create increasingly complex problems at origin, destination and intermediate
points in the globalization process, the fact that smugglers, the main actors of this process, are not
sufficiently recognized is the important reason for this review. This issue has not received the
necessary attention in the field of science. This issue, which is problematized in the article, is
described with a phenomenological study. For this purpose, information about the social profiles of
old-style border smugglers was obtained from the border smuggling themed movies "The Law of
the Borders" and "Mule Makers". Information about the social profiles of the new type of border
smugglers was obtained by interviewing 30 people who were connected to the border smuggling
phenomenon in Van province in 2022 and determined in accordance with the snowball sampling
technique, using a semi-structured questionnaire tool. Data obtained from two sources were
examined in accordance with the interactional discourse analysis technique. In this analysis, the
social profile of old and new border smugglers is described within the framework of four features:
Demographic features; Social roles, behaviour’s and attitudes; Social network and relationships;
and Social status and power structures. The article is based on the social network theory
perspective. According to the general finding reached as a result of the article review, in the
province of Van, the border smuggler social profile has a traditional and modern form. Although the
traditional essence of the border smuggler social profile is preserved, the socio-cultural network is
fragmented.