Sociology 2016, Vol. 50(6) 1106–1122 © The Author(s) 2015 Reprints and permissions: sagepub.co.uk/journalsPermissions.nav DOI: 10.1177/0038038515591944 soc.sagepub.com Class and Passports: Transnational Strategies of Distinction in Turkey Özlem Altan-Olcay Koç University,Turkey Evren Balta Yıldız Technical University, Turkey Abstract This article analyses the process whereby members of new classes in Turkey mobilize their resources so that their children receive US citizenship at birth. Following the actors’ self- perceptions and motivations, we argue that US citizenship acquisition is a new capital accumulation strategy, aimed to forestall against risks in intergenerational transmission of class privileges. With this article, we aim to contribute to cultural class studies in the following ways: we suggest that the unpredictable nature of classification struggles becomes more evident in contexts where transition to neoliberalism is accompanied by dramatic political shifts. We situate the desire for US citizenship within class anxieties in Turkey, informed by historical meanings attached to the binary of ‘the West’ versus ‘the East’. Finally, we break down the boundaries between different country-cases by drawing on citizenship as capital, rather than as a backdrop that actors share. We explain the new ways in which class distinction strategies are transnationalized in the contemporary period. Keywords citizenship, cultural capital, new classes, social capital, transnationalism, Turkey, United States In 2011, an estimated number of 600 Turkish women in the later stages of their preg- nancy travelled to and stayed in the United States for several months; they put their lives in Turkey on hold and spent tens of thousands of dollars, all for the purpose of giving Corresponding author: Özlem Altan-Olcay, Koç University, Rumelifeneri Yolu, Sariyer, Istanbul 34450, Turkey. Email: ozaltan@ku.edu.tr 591944SOC 0 0 10.1177/0038038515591944SociologyAltan-Olcay and Balta research-article 2015 Article