Prof. Nevzat Tarhan: “Social Injustice Weakens Social Capital”

President of Üsküdar University, Psychiatrist Prof. Nevzat Tarhan, online attended the “Colonial Crimes Conference” organized by OSTİM Technical University. Tarhan, who delivered a speech titled “Holistic Approaches to the Psychosocial Consequences of Historical Injustices,” underscored that injustices experienced in the past do not merely remain in history but leave their mark on the human psyche, society's memory, and even biology. Tarhan stated that injustice weakens social capital and emphasized that micro-interventions would also have macro consequences.

Ambassadors, diplomatic mission representatives, deans, academics, and students attended the conference, which was held in a hybrid format at the main campus of OSTİM Technical University.

“Micro-Interventions Have Macro Consequences”

President of Üsküdar University, Psychiatrist Prof. Nevzat Tarhan, made evaluations about concepts known as historical injustices in the online program he attended under the title “Holistic Approaches to the Psychosocial Consequences of Historical Injustices.” Tarhan said; “When we talk about historical injustices, colonialism, colonization movements, enslavement, war, and genocide come to mind. These are seriously known concepts of historical injustice. For example, there is ethnic discrimination, forced migration. Another one, which is not widely understood, is cultural assimilation, which is also a historical injustice. All of these have serious effects from the individual to society. Here, micro-interventions have macro consequences. If micro-interventions occur in a significant part of society, it's like this: if two people are unhappy in a family of 10, it is very difficult for the other eight people to be happy. Similarly, in a society, if a group experiences discrimination, if the strong oppress or exploit the weak, or if there is no fair sharing in any way, a fundamental sense of trust does not form in this environment. The family is the miniature form of society, and society is the enlarged form of the family; one can be called a micro-society, the other a macro-society. In such a situation, the same psychological dynamics work within an individual's inner world.”

“They Live with a Sense of Fear, Not Trust, Due to Discrimination”

Tarhan spoke about studies related to the sense of justice; “A genetic study is being conducted on kindergarten children. Kindergarten children's abstraction skills have not yet developed. In school, four chocolates are distributed to a group of 30 children. That chocolate is given equally to all children and observed. Children play in the classroom, do their lessons, and then disperse. Later, they take the same chocolates to the same group, but they give one to some children, seven to others, and none to some. They observe a fight has broken out. These children have not yet developed abstraction skills; their brains do not produce a theory of mind. It is being investigated whether there is a metacognition gene related to fair sharing. Because there are cognition genes that guide our thoughts, and there are metacognition genes; these are meta-mind genes. For example, the gene for seeking meaning, the gene for seeking novelty, these exist only in humans. The gene for seeking freedom exists only in humans; it is more limited in other animals. The other is the social connection gene, the social bonding gene. All of these have genetic counterparts; some have been proven, some are being researched. Justice should also be one of these genetic, that is, metacognition genes. Because what happens when there is no fair sharing? Imagine a family where the mother favors one child, and the father favors another, you see coalitions forming. Polarization occurs in the family, and this time everyone tries to undermine each other, and problem-solving skills deteriorate. They live with a sense of fear, not trust, because of discrimination.”

“The Foundation of Society is the Sense of Trust”

Tarhan pointed out that when the sense of trust weakens, breakdowns emerge from minor stress; “What is the foundation that keeps a society, that keeps a human being standing? Just as the foundation of a building, the foundation of society is the sense of trust. When the sense of trust weakens, minor stresses lead to disintegration. Just as a building with a weak foundation collapses quickly, it has the same effect. Therefore, historical injustices do not remain confined to that period; interestingly, they settle into collective memory. When they settle into collective memory, they are transmitted across generations, and it has been understood that this transmission, cultural transmission, is actually epigenetic transmission. Epigenetic transmission occurs when a piece of information reaches the brain, and when we add emotion to that information, it turns into a belief. When we repeat it, it becomes a habit; and when repeated for six months and thereafter, it turns into a personality, it becomes automatic. The person now gives that reaction without thinking. If this continues in the form of cultural transmission, it is reflected in gene expression. There are mechanisms like methyl and histone related to gene expression, and mechanisms like micro RNA; with these, the body now produces automatically. Genes are fixed; main genes do not change, but gene expression changes.”

“Social Injustice Weakens Social Capital”

Tarhan stated that in high-security societies, there is freedom and the rule of law; “There is a monkey experiment. They teach learned helplessness to monkeys in a cage. When they are about to give bananas, they give an electric shock. After a while, the monkeys stop eating bananas. But, interestingly, the laboratory floods. All animals are taken out; after a while, they come together again; the monkey that had previously learned helplessness starts eating bananas again. In other words, shock experiences bring the accumulated epigenetic learning back to normal. Historical traumas are similar; shock experiences can also repair some things while correcting others. Now, social injustice weakens social capital. Social capital consists of two main elements: one is trust, and the second is social cooperation. If these two capital materials are absent, for them to form, there must certainly be a trustworthy, honest, open, transparent, and accountable relationship. If there is a person who is open, accountable, plans behind others' backs, exploits, or discriminates, after a while, trust weakens, and the human brain now works threat-focused, not risk-taking focused. That's why in high-security societies, there is freedom and the rule of law. People see that investments can be made for a predictable future.”

“The Greatest Stress is Uncertainty”

Tarhan underlined that when people cannot foresee the future, there will be uncertainties; “Low-security societies are fear-driven societies, existing in cultures of oppression. Justice is weak here; if people in a society think that someone might come to their door at any moment, that they won't know what will happen if they end up at the police station, or that something irregular might happen to them if they go to court, then there is no rule of law, no legal security. In such cases, because people cannot foresee the future, uncertainties arise. One thing the human brain cannot tolerate at all, the greatest stress, is uncertainty. Someone who recognizes uncertainty can manage it; undoubtedly, there are uncertainties in life from time to time, and they can be managed when we give them meaning. Now, there is also an experiment conducted on mice regarding historical traumas. In this experiment, electric shocks are given to mice in a cage. When electricity is given, the mice cannot make sense of it, cannot solve it, and this time they turn on each other, fighting. Another experiment is conducted on ants. Black ants and brown ants are placed in the same container. When this container is stirred, the calm ants suddenly divide into groups and start eating each other. This is called 'controlled tension strategy' in psychological warfare. When you view a segment of society as an enemy and discriminate against them, this creates an unjust situation and leads to what we call 'social schizophrenia.' What happens in social schizophrenia? One part of the brain cannot communicate with another part. In social schizophrenia, one segment of society cannot communicate with another segment. War, conflict, polarization, and tension emerge.”

“A Widespread Feeling of Fragility Emerges in Society, Cooperation Weakens”

Prof. Nevzat Tarhan pointed out that the psychosocial consequences of social injustices are more rapid: “In human history, there are societal periods. There is the agricultural period, and sociologically, there is the period of human slavery. When the period of slavery ended, the era of labor began, and when the era of labor ended, the era of freedom began. Now, in the 20th and 21st centuries, sociologically, we are in the era of freedom. Slavery and labor have ended. Here, social injustices are now emerging very rapidly, and their psychosocial consequences are also faster. And currently, globally, in our civilization's geography; the approaches of the barons in England that encouraged conflict among themselves are now being globally manipulated through global injustice to cause people in our civilization's geography to clash with each other. Awareness needs to be raised. When social trust weakens in this way, social networks weaken, a widespread feeling of fragility emerges in society, and cooperation weakens. Because people consider their future unpredictable, they live all their defenses focused on survival. Not focused on development and growth. In other words, distrust in institutions, for example, weakens social capital. When capital like trust and cooperation weakens, according to resource management, if the resource weakens, you see the result of the resource's weakness.”

“We Need to Teach Post-Traumatic Growth”

Tarhan touched upon the necessity of avoiding social segregation; “The year 1453 is a traumatic date for the Western world, especially for the Catholic world, and currently, the sum of 1453 is 13, and the number 13 is unlucky. The conquest of Istanbul happened on a Tuesday, and Tuesday is unlucky. Let's consider the background of some superstitions in the Western world. For example, when someone comes, we shake hands, right? This is actually a global custom. It means 'I have no weapon in my hand.' How does social trust change social behavior? For social injustices not to occur, and for them to be corrected, there needs to be social trust and no social segregation. Leadership is very important here. We need to emerge from historical injustices by asking, 'What did we learn from this?' We need to teach post-traumatic growth. For example, the collapse of the Ottoman Empire was due to historical trauma. Our ancestors missed the Industrial Revolution of the Ottoman Empire. Here, we need to ask, 'Why did they miss it?' We try to solve problems by externalizing them. This is a tremendous mental distortion, a situation we call cognitive distortion. It happens socially; against this, we need to say, 'where did we make a mistake?'”

“We Failed to Modernize While Preserving Our Culture”

Prof. Nevzat Tarhan underlined that as Anatolia, identity development has not been completed; “Sultan Abdülhamit opens Darülfünun, and the status quo of that time has it closed. Subsequently, he opens Mekteb-i Sultaniler, and only the 'people of the school' emerge. On one side, there are the 'people of the madrasa,' and on the other, the dervish lodges (tekke). What was the duty of the dervish lodges and dergahs then? When people came to learn something, they first spoke of etiquette, and in the Republic, the exact opposite emerged as a reaction to the wrong status quos and management strategies of the late Ottoman period. While we should have modernized by preserving our own culture, we created a society that thinks with Western cultural concepts. We failed to modernize while preserving our own culture; this is also a type of injustice. As Anatolia, we could not complete our identity development. To complete the development of our own identity, we need to reconcile with our past, learn lessons, determine common ideals and goals for the future, and for today, we must work on our similar areas, not our conflict areas. Because without internal alliance and cooperation, we will not have the cohesive power with the outside world. Therefore, historical injustices are not a threat to us but rather an opportunity to develop ourselves and serve global peace.”