Hayriye Özen

Hayriye Özen is a Professor of Sociology at Izmir University of Economics, College of Social Sciences. Her academic career spans political sociology with a focus on social movements and environmental politics in Turkey.

Dr. Özen earned her PhD in Sociology from Middle East Technical University in 2007. Her educational background established the foundation for her research in political sociology and social movements.

Her research interests concentrate on political sociology, social and political movements, populism, and environmental politics, with particular attention to authoritarian populism's responses to environmental mobilizations. She examines resistance dynamics against resource extraction projects and the intersection of gender, energy, and activism in Turkey.

Analysis of her recent publications reveals a consistent focus on environmental conflicts in Turkey, particularly gold mining and geothermal energy projects. Her work demonstrates how digital platforms facilitate environmental activism while authoritarian populist discourses strategically frame environmentalists as anti-people.

Dr. Özen has authored numerous publications in prestigious journals including Current Sociology, World Development, and Environmental Politics, along with book chapters published by Routledge and Lexington.

Her scholarly contributions include extensive research on Turkey's social movements, examining the Gezi protests' long-term effects, hybrid political systems' impact on mobilization, and intersectional resistance dynamics in energy conflicts.