The Effect of Translation on Gaining Symbolic Capital for Publishing Houses: A Case Study on Ayrıntı Yayınları's Publishing Strategy in Ağır Kitaplar Series

Abstract

This descriptive and explanatory study analyzes the effect of translation on gaining symbolic capital, one of the most striking notions suggested by sociologist Pierre Bourdieu, for publishing houses as agents with a case study of Ayrıntı Yayınları’s Ağır Kitaplar series, which consists of completely translated books. The theoretical framework of the study is based on social turn in Translation Studies and sociologist Bourdieu’s notions applicable to the discipline of translation. However, cultural turn sets the starting point for this theoretical framework, since it is closely related with the social turn. The thesis is based on the understanding that the act of translation has a manipulative and an ideological nature, and translation process in a publishing house is affected by the sociocultural/political conditions of the country and world at that time and the translators’ habitus and ideologies, as well as the ideology and publishing policy of the publishing house. As a result, it has been revealed that translation can be a tool for a publishing house to position itself in the world of books according to its own ideology and expectations of the target readers and this position can help that publishing house gain the symbolic capital, which is as much important as the economic capital to be accepted by readers. It has been demonstrated that Ayrıntı Yayınları is a publishing house that adopts a spesific ideology and with Ağır Kitaplar series, has an important place especially for the readers in Turkey who also adopts the more or less same ideology.