The “Turkish Model” of Sociology: East–West Science, State Formation, and the Post-Secular Susan C. Pearce Published online: 28 September 2012 # Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2012 Abstract The field of sociology in Turkey has a history that is perhaps unique to Europe (and the “West”) in its co-founding with a modern nation-state, and yet its story is more central to the discipline’ s general development than that of a marginal “outlier.” Positioned at an East–west crossroads, Turkey, and its sociological tradi- tion, have been in an ongoing conversation between the two cultural poles. Drawing on Edward Said’ s Orientalism, this article traces the discipline’ s history through the lens of an East–west gaze. Touching on the lived public social questions that this story invokes, regarding ethnic relations, gender, migration, democracy-building, religion, and international relations, this article surveys the growth and present state of the discipline, including methodological trends and current issues. Keywords Turkish sociology . Turkey . Orientalism . History of sociology . Post-secular . Gender The opening scene for this article is taken from one of the author ’ s experiences as a sociology summer instructor for international graduate students for the scholarship program of Open Society Foundations. It is early July of 2007, in an Istanbul, Turkey university auditorium. Approximately 80 graduate students from the predominantly Muslim societies of Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Palestine, and other Central Asian and Middle Eastern abodes are gathered to begin an orientation course for their study-abroad scholarships. “I must announce that you are not allowed to pray on campus,” I apologetically explain to these social science and law students. This stricture and others—emanating from the Turkish government, not from this private, progressive university that hosted the course—follow us into our 4-week experience. I use this vignette to introduce one of the key bifurcations in Turkish society, setting the stage for understanding the history of the field of sociology in Turkey. The story above continues: Midway through our summer school courses, two Indonesian students who wear head coverings (hijabs) to class are informed that this practice too, Am Soc (2012) 43:406–427 DOI 10.1007/s12108-012-9163-4 S. C. Pearce (*) Department of Sociology, East Carolina University, Brewster 402-A, E. Fifth Street, Greenville, NC 27858, USA e-mail: pearces@ecu.edu