The McDonaldization of Public Services: A Case Study of City Hospitals in Turkey

Year 2022, Volume: 6 Issue: 2, 81 - 92, 22.07.2022

Mert Söyler

https://doi.org/10.47478/lectio.1112548

Abstract

A huge-scale transformation and neoliberalization of the Turkish healthcare system is happening under the rule of AKP, and the city hospitals as a public-private partnership model constitutes the centerpiece of this transformation. The “effectiveness” argument is utilized both by politicians and financial actors to promote the role of the private sector in the management of public services as in the case of city hospitals. This paper argues that the McDonaldization thesis of George Ritzer can help analyze the transnational nature of neoliberalization of the Turkish healthcare system, and features of McDonaldization, most notably the irrationality of rationality through the argument of effectiveness can explain the transformative role of city hospitals in the healthcare system. Moreover, as a general theoretical observation, it is argued that neoliberal transformation and McDonaldization of public services lead to broader sociopolitical consequences by deteriorating the public service ethos.

Keywords

McDonaldization, neoliberalization, public services, healthcare, Turkey

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