Being human in Turkey and Maslow's Theory

According to Türk-İş data for October 2025, the poverty line for a family of four has exceeded 92 thousand TL, and the hunger threshold has surpassed 28 thousand TL. We are discussing these figures in a land where the minimum wage is 22 thousand lira. The same figures tell us that 40% of this country survives on an income at the minimum wage level. In other words, in our country, where people claim to hold a monopoly on religion, faith, and morality, millions of people live without even being able to afford basic food items. And since almost all of its theologians, religious communities, sects, and organizations that claim to have religious sensitivity do not say a single word in the face of this economic collapse, they view this situation as normal from a religious or moral perspective; they say, “We are in a system that is compatible with both religion and morality.” Silence implies consent, right? Let us note that once again. Let us remind those who walk around with a morality-meter or religion-meter and sometimes engage in so-called religious proselytizing of this reality:

Which morality, which religion? 

While the figures we shared above reveal the poor and, in the literal sense, hungry face of this country, it is also necessary to discuss the political, economic, and social reasons for this situation. There are a series of reasons for this, ranging from capitalism to a predatory, individualistic economic and political system. This is one side of the issue. The other side is the consequences. We can discuss the results of impoverishment under many headings, but in this article, I want to address this situation from the perspective of Maslow's theory.

Let us first recall the theory, if you will.

Maslow's theory, or Maslow's hierarchy of needs, is a theory of human psychology proposed in a study published by American psychologist Abraham Maslow in 1943 and subsequently developed.

According to this, as people meet their needs in certain categories, they tend to meet their needs at higher levels, and the individual's personality development emerges to this extent. In other words, whichever category of needs an individual remains in, their personality development is determined by the nature of the need category that is dominant at that moment. At the lowest level of these needs are physiological needs. These are followed by safety, belonging/bonding, esteem, and ultimately self-actualization. In this pyramid, it is emphasized that the first three stages are particularly important. Because “these three stages contain the motivational factors that allow a person to grow, develop, mature, and continue their lineage by establishing a family as they age. The needs that arise in the body for the continuation of a person's physiological aspect are related to the individual's world of movement and emotion. Therefore, all of a person's internal and external senses are the tools and servants of this force. Maslow calls these three stages deficiency needs and states that if the needs categorized in these three levels are not met, the individual will encounter a number of negative physiological and psychological obstacles in the context of maintaining their existence.”  

As we have stated, these categories reflect the pyramid of needs. The first two levels of the pyramid emphasize physiological needs, while the subsequent levels emphasize psychological and sociological needs.

So, what does this pyramid tell us? Let us share the answer immediately: Wherever an individual remains in the pyramid, they look at the world a bit from there and create themselves from there. Their quality and human development do not emerge independently of their needs. For example, a person who can only feed themselves daily but is not in a state of safety and perceives themselves as constantly under threat will not have a need such as reading books to develop their worldview, nor can they. Because the reality they live in and the conditions they are in will also shape their existential story.

If we come to the reality of Turkey from here, almost three-quarters of the country can only meet their physiological and safety needs at the end of the month. Therefore, the remaining needs are constantly postponed; in other words, millions of people are trying to survive deprived of them. Of course, the consequences of this situation will be inevitable; such a picture of the country will not describe the state of the nation well. Because this picture will tell us that people have problems with belonging, that they cannot develop themselves intellectually and artistically, and that they are ultimately inadequate in terms of esteem, self-respect, and self-actualization. This is the language of lack and deprivation, and this language will affect not only today but also the future of the country.  

We can only understand the reality of what is reflected on the surface as we go deeper. Despondency, apathy, losing hope, withdrawal, desensitization, perhaps losing one's sensitivities, becoming trapped in mediocrity by moving away from what is qualified; approving of various charlatanisms, devaluing one's time, becoming ordinary in one's choices, and many other phenomena are related to Maslow's theory. Undoubtedly, while explaining the phenomena we mentioned, we can also benefit from other dynamics or other theories and explain the state the society has reached based on other reasons. But one should not forget this: even in a slave system, people were fed and their housing needs were met. If humanity is still in a similar place centuries later, this will of course have social consequences. What we are experiencing already confirms this result.  

  !Muraş Şengöz, Reinterpreting Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs Model as an Integrated Process