DEVELOPMENT OF THE WORKER CLASS IN THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE

Abstract

When the Ottoman economy and social structure is examined in the historical process, it is seen that managements working according to the capitalist market requirements or intensively producing goods didn‟t exist or, if any, their effects on the market were at a minimum level. The emergence of the worker class in the Ottoman Empire was first seen in the construction sector, mining and military. However; in real terms, the worker class emerged in the agricultural managements founded in the second half of the 19th century by the foreign investors in the Aegean Region. In the same periods, the railroad constructions underway used to provide additional income for many people. The government officials became stipendiary after the Tanzimat (the political reforms made in the Ottoman Empire in 1839). The formation of the worker class, the re-structuring of labor life during the Late- Ottoman Era will be discussed in this article.