Mar 30, 2026
White-Collar in the Age of Artificial Intelligence
An extended sociological assessment of white-collar decision-making processes, career anxieties, corporate identity transformation, and their new relationship with artificial intelligence in Turkey.
Sociology
Career
Artificial Intelligence
White Collar
The white-collar worker, who once looked at the stars to find their way, today tries to read their future through algorithms.®
The Story of the White-Collar Worker in Turkey
With the growth of the service sector in Turkey since the mid-2000s, a new sociological class has become more visible: white-collar workers. This class was not just an occupational group. At the same time, it generated a new language, a new lifestyle, a new understanding of success, and a new imagination of the future.
Plaza culture, performance management, target-based working systems, English corporate terminology, meeting rituals, and career steps became the defining elements of this period. Being a white-collar worker meant a regular income, respectability, urban life, prestige, and a sense of trust in the future. However, over time, this identity did not only produce opportunities; it also produced unseen pressures, the obligation of continuous progress, and the constant anxiety of being sufficient.
The white-collar worker is no longer just an employee; they have transformed into a profile that is expected to constantly improve themselves, must compete, has to stay up-to-date, and is expected to perform at any moment. This transformation brought along a new psychology: the obligation of continuous development. And right at this point, the search for meaning began.
Man's Search for Meaning
Looking for direction in the face of uncertainty, the white-collar worker had begun looking at the stars.®
The 2010s: The Rise of Astrology in Corporate Life
In the 2010s, a remarkable shift began in the decision-making practices of white-collar workers in Turkey. Career decisions were no longer shaped solely by performance data, salary expectations, or corporate opportunities. The search for personal meaning also started to influence these decisions.
During this period, astrology ceased to be merely an individual interest. Times for changing jobs, launch dates for new projects, the timing of critical meetings, team cohesion, and meetings with managers began to be evaluated through birth charts, planetary movements, and retrograde periods.
This trend occasionally seeped into the corporate sphere. Asking candidates about their zodiac signs during some recruitment processes, the formation of biases against certain star signs in some teams, and these topics circulating—semi-humorously but semi-seriously—on platforms like LinkedIn demonstrated that astrology had entered the cultural language of working life.
Astrology turned into a decision-support mechanism. Project launch dates were planned around retrograde periods; job changes were postponed or accelerated based on planetary movements. This situation showed that white-collar workers were not becoming irrational, but rather establishing a new safety net to manage uncertainty.
Spiritualism
The New Way of Coping with Corporate Stress
The rise of astrology was not an isolated phenomenon. During the same period, yoga, meditation, breath therapies, mindfulness trainings, energy work, and personal development programs also became part of the daily lives of white-collar workers.
Although this trend seemed like an escape on the surface, it actually arose from the individual's effort to generate their own meaning in an environment of uncontrollable corporate uncertainty. In this system where daily workflows accelerated, decision-making processes constantly changed, and predictability decreased, individuals were turning towards seeking a firmer ground within themselves. As corporate life accelerated, individuals consciously wanted to slow down and re-establish their own rhythms. While performance pressure was steadily increasing, they felt the need to invest not only in business results but also in their mental and emotional balance. In environments where competition became fiercer, the search for a sense of trust, belonging, and internal consistency stood out, not just success.
For this reason, spiritualism has gone beyond being a simple leisure activity for white-collar workers; it has become one of the tools for managing the stress of daily life, gathering fragmented attention, and reconstructing a constantly changing identity. At the same time, it offered a framework that integrated intuition into decision-making processes, made coping with uncertainty easier, and made the future more bearable. In big cities, this field took on a more visible, organized, and collective structure; departing from being merely an individual practice, it transformed into a lifestyle, even a white-collar identity shaped around specific symbols, habits, and rituals.
A day that starts with morning meditation and ends with an evening breathing session can no longer be seen merely as an individual preference or a personal well-being routine; these practices have transformed into a more conscious and systematic defense mechanism developed against the continuity of corporate pressure. While the intense pace, uninterrupted communication, and performance expectations exposed to during the day deplete the individual not only physically but also mentally; such rituals function as a kind of balancing act by creating small but effective moments of rupture within the day. Mindfulness practices do not eliminate uncertainty, nor do they make the uncontrollable external world more predictable. However, they change the way the individual makes contact with this uncertainty; instead of fighting it, they make it possible to coexist with it, transforming it into a manageable experience.
Trust, Control, and Direction
The New Way of Coping with Corporate Stress
The rise of astrology was not an isolated phenomenon. During the same period, yoga, meditation, breath therapies, mindfulness trainings, energy work, and personal development programs also became part of the daily lives of white-collar workers.
Although this trend seemed like an escape on the surface, it actually arose from the individual's effort to generate their own meaning in an environment of uncontrollable corporate uncertainty. In this system where daily workflows accelerated, decision-making processes constantly changed, and predictability decreased, individuals were turning towards seeking a firmer ground within themselves. As corporate life accelerated, individuals consciously wanted to slow down and re-establish their own rhythms. While performance pressure was steadily increasing, they felt the need to invest not only in business results but also in their mental and emotional balance. In environments where competition became fiercer, the search for a sense of trust, belonging, and internal consistency stood out, not just success.
For this reason, spiritualism has gone beyond being a simple leisure activity for white-collar workers; it has become one of the tools for managing the stress of daily life, gathering fragmented attention, and reconstructing a constantly changing identity. At the same time, it offered a framework that integrated intuition into decision-making processes, made coping with uncertainty easier, and made the future more bearable. In big cities, this field took on a more visible, organized, and collective structure; departing from being merely an individual practice, it transformed into a lifestyle, even a white-collar identity shaped around specific symbols, habits, and rituals.
A day that starts with morning meditation and ends with an evening breathing session can no longer be seen merely as an individual preference or a personal well-being routine; these practices have transformed into a more conscious and systematic defense mechanism developed against the continuity of corporate pressure. While the intense pace, uninterrupted communication, and performance expectations exposed to during the day deplete the individual not only physically but also mentally; such rituals function as a kind of balancing act by creating small but effective moments of rupture within the day. Mindfulness practices do not eliminate uncertainty, nor do they make the uncontrollable external world more predictable. However, they change the way the individual makes contact with this uncertainty; instead of fighting it, they make it possible to coexist with it, transforming it into a manageable experience.
Human Factor and Corporate Success
In the coming period, the success of institutions will not only be limited by how effectively and quickly they adopt technology. The main determining factor will be how correctly they manage the human element in this transformation process. While digitalization radically changes business methods, organizational structures, and decision-making processes, it also brings along a serious adaptation process for employees.
When emotions such as uncertainty, anxiety, and resistance that employees may experience during this process are ignored, even the strongest technological investments may fail to provide the expected efficiency. For institutions to achieve sustainable success, they must invest not only in technical infrastructure but also in employee experience, internal communication, and change management.
Employees feeling secure in this transformation journey, understanding that they are a part of the change, and being able to adapt to their new identities will directly affect the competitiveness of institutions. Therefore, the successful organizations of the future will be those that see technology only as a tool, place the human at their true focus, and manage transformation with a holistic perspective.
My Recent Posts
(Gökhan Akdağ)
©2026
FAQ
01
What does Gökhan Akdağ do?
02
What is the working approach?
03
How do projects progress?
04
What is the focus point?
05
In which fields does it work?
06
What does it bring to brands?
07
Which brands is it suitable for?
08
How long does a project take to deliver results?
Mar 30, 2026
White-Collar in the Age of Artificial Intelligence
An extended sociological assessment of white-collar decision-making processes, career anxieties, corporate identity transformation, and their new relationship with artificial intelligence in Turkey.
Sociology
Career
Artificial Intelligence
White Collar
The white-collar worker, who once looked at the stars to find their way, today tries to read their future through algorithms.®
The Story of the White-Collar Worker in Turkey
With the growth of the service sector in Turkey since the mid-2000s, a new sociological class has become more visible: white-collar workers. This class was not just an occupational group. At the same time, it generated a new language, a new lifestyle, a new understanding of success, and a new imagination of the future.
Plaza culture, performance management, target-based working systems, English corporate terminology, meeting rituals, and career steps became the defining elements of this period. Being a white-collar worker meant a regular income, respectability, urban life, prestige, and a sense of trust in the future. However, over time, this identity did not only produce opportunities; it also produced unseen pressures, the obligation of continuous progress, and the constant anxiety of being sufficient.
The white-collar worker is no longer just an employee; they have transformed into a profile that is expected to constantly improve themselves, must compete, has to stay up-to-date, and is expected to perform at any moment. This transformation brought along a new psychology: the obligation of continuous development. And right at this point, the search for meaning began.
Man's Search for Meaning
Looking for direction in the face of uncertainty, the white-collar worker had begun looking at the stars.®
The 2010s: The Rise of Astrology in Corporate Life
In the 2010s, a remarkable shift began in the decision-making practices of white-collar workers in Turkey. Career decisions were no longer shaped solely by performance data, salary expectations, or corporate opportunities. The search for personal meaning also started to influence these decisions.
During this period, astrology ceased to be merely an individual interest. Times for changing jobs, launch dates for new projects, the timing of critical meetings, team cohesion, and meetings with managers began to be evaluated through birth charts, planetary movements, and retrograde periods.
This trend occasionally seeped into the corporate sphere. Asking candidates about their zodiac signs during some recruitment processes, the formation of biases against certain star signs in some teams, and these topics circulating—semi-humorously but semi-seriously—on platforms like LinkedIn demonstrated that astrology had entered the cultural language of working life.
Astrology turned into a decision-support mechanism. Project launch dates were planned around retrograde periods; job changes were postponed or accelerated based on planetary movements. This situation showed that white-collar workers were not becoming irrational, but rather establishing a new safety net to manage uncertainty.
Spiritualism
The New Way of Coping with Corporate Stress
The rise of astrology was not an isolated phenomenon. During the same period, yoga, meditation, breath therapies, mindfulness trainings, energy work, and personal development programs also became part of the daily lives of white-collar workers.
Although this trend seemed like an escape on the surface, it actually arose from the individual's effort to generate their own meaning in an environment of uncontrollable corporate uncertainty. In this system where daily workflows accelerated, decision-making processes constantly changed, and predictability decreased, individuals were turning towards seeking a firmer ground within themselves. As corporate life accelerated, individuals consciously wanted to slow down and re-establish their own rhythms. While performance pressure was steadily increasing, they felt the need to invest not only in business results but also in their mental and emotional balance. In environments where competition became fiercer, the search for a sense of trust, belonging, and internal consistency stood out, not just success.
For this reason, spiritualism has gone beyond being a simple leisure activity for white-collar workers; it has become one of the tools for managing the stress of daily life, gathering fragmented attention, and reconstructing a constantly changing identity. At the same time, it offered a framework that integrated intuition into decision-making processes, made coping with uncertainty easier, and made the future more bearable. In big cities, this field took on a more visible, organized, and collective structure; departing from being merely an individual practice, it transformed into a lifestyle, even a white-collar identity shaped around specific symbols, habits, and rituals.
A day that starts with morning meditation and ends with an evening breathing session can no longer be seen merely as an individual preference or a personal well-being routine; these practices have transformed into a more conscious and systematic defense mechanism developed against the continuity of corporate pressure. While the intense pace, uninterrupted communication, and performance expectations exposed to during the day deplete the individual not only physically but also mentally; such rituals function as a kind of balancing act by creating small but effective moments of rupture within the day. Mindfulness practices do not eliminate uncertainty, nor do they make the uncontrollable external world more predictable. However, they change the way the individual makes contact with this uncertainty; instead of fighting it, they make it possible to coexist with it, transforming it into a manageable experience.
Trust, Control, and Direction
The New Way of Coping with Corporate Stress
The rise of astrology was not an isolated phenomenon. During the same period, yoga, meditation, breath therapies, mindfulness trainings, energy work, and personal development programs also became part of the daily lives of white-collar workers.
Although this trend seemed like an escape on the surface, it actually arose from the individual's effort to generate their own meaning in an environment of uncontrollable corporate uncertainty. In this system where daily workflows accelerated, decision-making processes constantly changed, and predictability decreased, individuals were turning towards seeking a firmer ground within themselves. As corporate life accelerated, individuals consciously wanted to slow down and re-establish their own rhythms. While performance pressure was steadily increasing, they felt the need to invest not only in business results but also in their mental and emotional balance. In environments where competition became fiercer, the search for a sense of trust, belonging, and internal consistency stood out, not just success.
For this reason, spiritualism has gone beyond being a simple leisure activity for white-collar workers; it has become one of the tools for managing the stress of daily life, gathering fragmented attention, and reconstructing a constantly changing identity. At the same time, it offered a framework that integrated intuition into decision-making processes, made coping with uncertainty easier, and made the future more bearable. In big cities, this field took on a more visible, organized, and collective structure; departing from being merely an individual practice, it transformed into a lifestyle, even a white-collar identity shaped around specific symbols, habits, and rituals.
A day that starts with morning meditation and ends with an evening breathing session can no longer be seen merely as an individual preference or a personal well-being routine; these practices have transformed into a more conscious and systematic defense mechanism developed against the continuity of corporate pressure. While the intense pace, uninterrupted communication, and performance expectations exposed to during the day deplete the individual not only physically but also mentally; such rituals function as a kind of balancing act by creating small but effective moments of rupture within the day. Mindfulness practices do not eliminate uncertainty, nor do they make the uncontrollable external world more predictable. However, they change the way the individual makes contact with this uncertainty; instead of fighting it, they make it possible to coexist with it, transforming it into a manageable experience.
Human Factor and Corporate Success
In the coming period, the success of institutions will not only be limited by how effectively and quickly they adopt technology. The main determining factor will be how correctly they manage the human element in this transformation process. While digitalization radically changes business methods, organizational structures, and decision-making processes, it also brings along a serious adaptation process for employees.
When emotions such as uncertainty, anxiety, and resistance that employees may experience during this process are ignored, even the strongest technological investments may fail to provide the expected efficiency. For institutions to achieve sustainable success, they must invest not only in technical infrastructure but also in employee experience, internal communication, and change management.
Employees feeling secure in this transformation journey, understanding that they are a part of the change, and being able to adapt to their new identities will directly affect the competitiveness of institutions. Therefore, the successful organizations of the future will be those that see technology only as a tool, place the human at their true focus, and manage transformation with a holistic perspective.
My Recent Posts
(Gökhan Akdağ)
©2026
FAQ
01
What does Gökhan Akdağ do?
02
What is the working approach?
03
How do projects progress?
04
What is the focus point?
05
In which fields does it work?
06
What does it bring to brands?
07
Which brands is it suitable for?
08
How long does a project take to deliver results?
Mar 30, 2026
White-Collar in the Age of Artificial Intelligence
An extended sociological assessment of white-collar decision-making processes, career anxieties, corporate identity transformation, and their new relationship with artificial intelligence in Turkey.
Sociology
Career
Artificial Intelligence
White Collar
The white-collar worker, who once looked at the stars to find their way, today tries to read their future through algorithms.®
The Story of the White-Collar Worker in Turkey
With the growth of the service sector in Turkey since the mid-2000s, a new sociological class has become more visible: white-collar workers. This class was not just an occupational group. At the same time, it generated a new language, a new lifestyle, a new understanding of success, and a new imagination of the future.
Plaza culture, performance management, target-based working systems, English corporate terminology, meeting rituals, and career steps became the defining elements of this period. Being a white-collar worker meant a regular income, respectability, urban life, prestige, and a sense of trust in the future. However, over time, this identity did not only produce opportunities; it also produced unseen pressures, the obligation of continuous progress, and the constant anxiety of being sufficient.
The white-collar worker is no longer just an employee; they have transformed into a profile that is expected to constantly improve themselves, must compete, has to stay up-to-date, and is expected to perform at any moment. This transformation brought along a new psychology: the obligation of continuous development. And right at this point, the search for meaning began.
Man's Search for Meaning
Looking for direction in the face of uncertainty, the white-collar worker had begun looking at the stars.®
The 2010s: The Rise of Astrology in Corporate Life
In the 2010s, a remarkable shift began in the decision-making practices of white-collar workers in Turkey. Career decisions were no longer shaped solely by performance data, salary expectations, or corporate opportunities. The search for personal meaning also started to influence these decisions.
During this period, astrology ceased to be merely an individual interest. Times for changing jobs, launch dates for new projects, the timing of critical meetings, team cohesion, and meetings with managers began to be evaluated through birth charts, planetary movements, and retrograde periods.
This trend occasionally seeped into the corporate sphere. Asking candidates about their zodiac signs during some recruitment processes, the formation of biases against certain star signs in some teams, and these topics circulating—semi-humorously but semi-seriously—on platforms like LinkedIn demonstrated that astrology had entered the cultural language of working life.
Astrology turned into a decision-support mechanism. Project launch dates were planned around retrograde periods; job changes were postponed or accelerated based on planetary movements. This situation showed that white-collar workers were not becoming irrational, but rather establishing a new safety net to manage uncertainty.
Spiritualism
The New Way of Coping with Corporate Stress
The rise of astrology was not an isolated phenomenon. During the same period, yoga, meditation, breath therapies, mindfulness trainings, energy work, and personal development programs also became part of the daily lives of white-collar workers.
Although this trend seemed like an escape on the surface, it actually arose from the individual's effort to generate their own meaning in an environment of uncontrollable corporate uncertainty. In this system where daily workflows accelerated, decision-making processes constantly changed, and predictability decreased, individuals were turning towards seeking a firmer ground within themselves. As corporate life accelerated, individuals consciously wanted to slow down and re-establish their own rhythms. While performance pressure was steadily increasing, they felt the need to invest not only in business results but also in their mental and emotional balance. In environments where competition became fiercer, the search for a sense of trust, belonging, and internal consistency stood out, not just success.
For this reason, spiritualism has gone beyond being a simple leisure activity for white-collar workers; it has become one of the tools for managing the stress of daily life, gathering fragmented attention, and reconstructing a constantly changing identity. At the same time, it offered a framework that integrated intuition into decision-making processes, made coping with uncertainty easier, and made the future more bearable. In big cities, this field took on a more visible, organized, and collective structure; departing from being merely an individual practice, it transformed into a lifestyle, even a white-collar identity shaped around specific symbols, habits, and rituals.
A day that starts with morning meditation and ends with an evening breathing session can no longer be seen merely as an individual preference or a personal well-being routine; these practices have transformed into a more conscious and systematic defense mechanism developed against the continuity of corporate pressure. While the intense pace, uninterrupted communication, and performance expectations exposed to during the day deplete the individual not only physically but also mentally; such rituals function as a kind of balancing act by creating small but effective moments of rupture within the day. Mindfulness practices do not eliminate uncertainty, nor do they make the uncontrollable external world more predictable. However, they change the way the individual makes contact with this uncertainty; instead of fighting it, they make it possible to coexist with it, transforming it into a manageable experience.
Trust, Control, and Direction
The New Way of Coping with Corporate Stress
The rise of astrology was not an isolated phenomenon. During the same period, yoga, meditation, breath therapies, mindfulness trainings, energy work, and personal development programs also became part of the daily lives of white-collar workers.
Although this trend seemed like an escape on the surface, it actually arose from the individual's effort to generate their own meaning in an environment of uncontrollable corporate uncertainty. In this system where daily workflows accelerated, decision-making processes constantly changed, and predictability decreased, individuals were turning towards seeking a firmer ground within themselves. As corporate life accelerated, individuals consciously wanted to slow down and re-establish their own rhythms. While performance pressure was steadily increasing, they felt the need to invest not only in business results but also in their mental and emotional balance. In environments where competition became fiercer, the search for a sense of trust, belonging, and internal consistency stood out, not just success.
For this reason, spiritualism has gone beyond being a simple leisure activity for white-collar workers; it has become one of the tools for managing the stress of daily life, gathering fragmented attention, and reconstructing a constantly changing identity. At the same time, it offered a framework that integrated intuition into decision-making processes, made coping with uncertainty easier, and made the future more bearable. In big cities, this field took on a more visible, organized, and collective structure; departing from being merely an individual practice, it transformed into a lifestyle, even a white-collar identity shaped around specific symbols, habits, and rituals.
A day that starts with morning meditation and ends with an evening breathing session can no longer be seen merely as an individual preference or a personal well-being routine; these practices have transformed into a more conscious and systematic defense mechanism developed against the continuity of corporate pressure. While the intense pace, uninterrupted communication, and performance expectations exposed to during the day deplete the individual not only physically but also mentally; such rituals function as a kind of balancing act by creating small but effective moments of rupture within the day. Mindfulness practices do not eliminate uncertainty, nor do they make the uncontrollable external world more predictable. However, they change the way the individual makes contact with this uncertainty; instead of fighting it, they make it possible to coexist with it, transforming it into a manageable experience.
Human Factor and Corporate Success
In the coming period, the success of institutions will not only be limited by how effectively and quickly they adopt technology. The main determining factor will be how correctly they manage the human element in this transformation process. While digitalization radically changes business methods, organizational structures, and decision-making processes, it also brings along a serious adaptation process for employees.
When emotions such as uncertainty, anxiety, and resistance that employees may experience during this process are ignored, even the strongest technological investments may fail to provide the expected efficiency. For institutions to achieve sustainable success, they must invest not only in technical infrastructure but also in employee experience, internal communication, and change management.
Employees feeling secure in this transformation journey, understanding that they are a part of the change, and being able to adapt to their new identities will directly affect the competitiveness of institutions. Therefore, the successful organizations of the future will be those that see technology only as a tool, place the human at their true focus, and manage transformation with a holistic perspective.
FAQ
What does Gökhan Akdağ do?
What is the working approach?
How do projects progress?
What is the focus point?
In which fields does it work?
What does it bring to brands?
Which brands is it suitable for?
How long does a project take to deliver results?