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Social changes often take place when a culture is confronted with the influence of an overpowering, ‘higher’ culture with predetermined sets of values. In Kate Chopin’s The Awakening, the Creole culture is changing due to the influence of the North (of America) and in Halit Ziya Uşaklıgil’s Aşk-ı Memnu, Turkish culture is affected by the West (Europe). The results of these influences are observed best in the characters of women and conceptions about womanhood. Two heroines of these novels, Edna and Bihter, do not conform to the norms of their society, resulting in conflicts in their family and friend circles and leading to their subsequent suicides. They represent the new type of woman or the ‘new woman’, who seeks to set the rules of her own life and enjoys the same social freedom as men do, however, these women cannot manage the overwhelming social changes and eventually falter. The aim of this research is to analyse the periods of big social and political transitions in the communities and the representation of new women in the face of these changes.

This paper uncovers the link between economic development and environmental degradation in Turkey by employing two distinct methods. We test the so-called EKC hypothesis for four various outcomes, including carbon dioxide emissions, wastewater, sulfur dioxide, and particulate matter by implementing time-series and panel data models. Fully modified ordinary least squares provide an N-shaped linkage between environmental degradation, such as carbon dioxide emissions and economic growth between 1961 and 2014. The random- and fixed-effects models indicate that there exists an N-shaped connection between wastewater and particulate matter quality indicators and economic growth spanning 1992 and 2013. However, we find inverted N-shaped relationship between SO2 and economic growth over the same period. Our findings urge policymakers in Turkey to take precautions by implementing national policies to fight against pollution to increase environmental quality.

In this study, we reexamine the impact of foreign direct investment inflows on carbon emissions in middle-income and OECD countries over the period 1992–2017. For that purpose, we employ a two-step system GMM dynamic panel data estimator controlling for endogeneity, omitted variable, and simultaneity biases in our panels. Employing a dynamic panel estimation methodology, we introduced some new findings and believe that these have important policy implications. The empirical results from the analyses show that FDI increases carbon emissions in middle-income countries and provide evidence of the pollution haven hypothesis in developing countries. Our findings suggest that FDI has a small halo effect on advanced economies. Our study also provides evidence of the Environmental Kuznets Curve hypothesis as we consistently find an inverted-U-shaped relationship between carbon emissions and per capita income across different panel samples. Policymakers planning to attract FDI in middle-income countries should do a cost-benefit analysis by considering its damage to the environment and its positive impact on economic growth.